Ice Cream, Ice Cream

I was driving home from work listening to the radio when this song came on. It by far was the oddest thing I have ever heard. The singer started rambling about how much he loved ice cream and the different flavours. Eating so much ice cream until his "belly must bust". At first I was annoyed with the atrocity of it and that rush hour traffic never seems to end; then I started to laugh, how absurd. But as the song played further it started to formulate into something.

The name of the song is "Junkfood" and it wasn't until it was over that I thought I should have paid more attention to it, maybe it was really about something. So I when I got home I googled it, took awhile to find, but here it is.

http://www.mutabaruka.com/junkfood.htm

Independent artist and dub poet Mutabaruka, apparently this song was done in '96 and 12 years later it's my first time hearing it.

The beat to the song is real raw, sounds like the clanking of tin cans and a synth are the only things supporting his vocals. But after taking another listen to it without any distractions, I have come to appreciate the song.

Mutabaruka paints a nostalgic picture of a granny's good home cooked meals and dumpling and ackee, stew peas and rice. All the good stuff, until one day an ice cream stand moves in and takes over and it's all about ice cream and how everyone wants it. Kind of reminds me of the Ice Cream fashion apparel (BBC). The ice cream stand replicates the American dream and how it has tarnished all the good that once was.


Clever...