"Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens

Song 35:

"Ahab the Arab" by Ray Stevens

Peak: 5

Year: 1962

Year end position: 61

Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/6

Chronological Songs by Artist: 1/6

Video?: No

Wikipedia?:  Yes:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahab_the_Arab

Spotify?:  Yes

Lyrics:  http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/raystevens/ahabthearab.html

We are more than a month into this blog, and this is the first novelty song we've had.  Novelty songs have a strange history with the pop chart.  Maybe more than other types of songs, novelty songs really reflect the times.  Not everything that is funny at the time stays funny over time.  I also think that novelty songs tend to be more directed towards the lower ages of the consumer public.  As people age, I think they tend to grow out of liking novelty songs.  That makes the window pretty narrow for novelty songs.  For whatever reason, the public's appetite for novelty songs was much larger back in the 60s and 70s than it has been since, say about 1975.  I can only think of a handful of novelty songs that have hit the top 20 since I started following the charts in the early 80s, and that includes "Pac Man Fever" and "Do the Bartman" among the two Weird Al songs that hit the top 20.  That's not a lot of success.

There are people that a few people that can lay claim to the crown of "King of Novelty" songs, but I think the best claim belongs to today's act, Ray Stevens.  He had a total of six top 20 hits, although somewhat surprisingly, not all of them were novelty songs.  Today's song definitely is.  This song was also the first song to hit the top 20 by Ray Stevens, and it made such an impact on Ray's career that he named his publishing company Ahab Music Publishing Co. until sometime in 1977 when he eventually changed it to a much less lustrous Ray Stevens Music.

The story is based on the stories in the book 1,001 Arabian Nights.  It tells the story of an Arab who is having a secret affair with dancer in the sultan's harem named Fatima.  He meets her clandestinely at night until one night the sultan catches him and chases him and Fatima across the desert before Ahab gets away and they live ever after.

Given the state of Arab relations in this country today, it's hard to imagine a song this getting made, much less considered funny or popular enough to hit #5.  That's why this song is interesting as a reflection of the times.  I'm guessing that in 1962, most people had very little interaction with Arabs of any kind.  Actually, a song like this, and the source material of 1,001 Arabian Nights, may have been the extent of the exposure a lot of people had to Arabs at all.  Obviously, times have changed.  The first few times I listened to this song, I was pretty convinced that it was pretty racist.  After listening to it more, I decided that it wasn't as racist as I originally thought, but you have to be in the right frame of mind to see that, and Ray doesn't exactly make that easy.  For example, Ahab rides a camel and Fatima is part the sultan's harem.  Those seem like stereotypical Arabic things unless you consider that the song is set back in ancient times.  Then again, Ray mentions such modern things like Coca Cola, candy bars and transistor radios, so it seems like maybe it's supposed to be more modern.  He also name checks to recent songs ("Let's Twist Again" and "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It's Flavor...") so it's kind of hard to tell when this song is supposed to be set.  If I'm generous, I'd say that it was set a long time ago, and the modern touches were thrown in for humorous effect.

It's a little harder to explain away the "Arabic" words that Ray Stevens uses.  At two different times, Ray says a bunch of gibberish, and follows it up with, "That's Arabic for....".  I don't see much way around that being racist.  He's not saying anything derogatory, but making fun of how someone speaks is not considered in good taste.  Then again, back then, Mickey Rooney could play a Japanese man in the movies, so times have definitely changed.

There is also a line that I can't quite decide is racist or just plain wrong.  That line is where he's describing Fatima, and he says that she has "a bone in her nose". That doesn't even seem like he's got his stereotypes correct.  It's a strange reference in a song chock full of strangeness.

I don't think this song holds up over time.  I bet elementary school kids were played this song for years, and I bet it was a big smash with them.  I can't imagine that being the case anymore.