The playful South African kid’s song that ended up in Equality Court
· The South African
The year is 1962, and Ag Pleez Deddy is a cheerful tune about suburban kids nagging their dad for a trip to the drive-in. Firstly, how did it become the best-selling single in South Africa that year? Secondly, why did a song about peanuts and popcorn end up causing so much offence? It was eventually banned by the national broadcaster, the SABC. And it even ended up in the Equality Court.
AG PLEEZ DEDDY
If you’re unfamiliar with Ag Pleez Deddy, singer and songwriter Jeremy Taylor tells the story behind it below. For context, Taylor was born in England and educated at Oxford. He moved to Johannesburg in 1959 to teach. He later explained he was “enchanted” by the way his pupils in the southern suburbs of Joburg spoke.
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The areas’s unique blend of English and Afrikaans, with slang all of its own, inspired him to write Ag Pleez Deddy. It was also known as The Ballad of the Southern Suburbs. The seemingly harmless song became the showpiece of the revue Wait a Minim!, which opened in Johannesburg in January 1962. A live recording was released by Gallotone as a single.
A SMASH HIT
Originals are selling on Ebay for several hundred US dollars. Image: EbayNo one could have predicted how successful Ag Pleez Deddy would become. The single reached number one on the LM Radio charts in June 1962. This earned Taylor a gold disc for more than 75 000 copies. It outsold Elvis Presley, and every other domestic single in South Africa at the time.
However, the Apartheid-era SABC proceeded to ban the song, along with most of Taylor’s work. The offence was not the racial slur describing one particular sweet, which did eventually end up in the modern-day Equality Court. Instead, it was Taylor’s mixing of English and Afrikaans that forced the ban. At the time, keeping the languages separate was official broadcasting policy, and linguistic purity carried political weight.
STIRRED STRONG FEELINGS
However, there’s perhaps more to Ag Pleez Deddy than initially meets the ear. Taylor himself said the song stirred strong feelings long before it was banned. “A lot of people were offended by it. The song held up a mirror to white middle-class suburban life and its sort of mongrel speech. Some felt it mocked their language and class,” said Taylor.
Nevertheless, as is so often the case, the ban couldn’t stop it. In fact, it emboldened people to get hold of the record and sing along to the chirpy chorus around the braai. It’s just one of those songs that South Africans of a certain generation know by heart. And others are happy they’ll never hear again …
But what do you think? Have you heard Ag Pleez Deddy before? Are you offended when you hear it today? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …