Clever lyrics
Bookworm on May 04 2009 at 5:32 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
One of the things I love about satellite radio is the 40s station, and one of the things I love about 40s radio is how clever the lyrics are. Here are just three examples of ordinary songs from that era, mostly forgotten now, with just wonderful lyrics. And as you listen to them, ask yourself, what happened to language and the way we think about it that sophisticated word play has pretty much vanished from popular culture?
Way down among Brazilians
Coffee beans grow by the billions
So they’ve got to find those extra cups to fill
They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You can’t get cherry soda
’cause they’ve got to fill that quota
And the way things are I’ll bet they never will
They’ve got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil
No tea or tomato juice
You’ll see no potato juice ’cause the planters down in Santos all say “No, no, no”
The politician’s daughter
Was accused of drinkin’ water
And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill
They’ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil
You date a girl and find out later
She smells just like a percolator
Her perfume was made right on the grill
Why, they could percolate the ocean in Brazil
And when their ham and eggs need savor
Coffee ketchup gives ‘em flavor
Coffee pickles way outsell the dill
Why, they put coffee in the coffee in Brazil
No tea, no tomato juice
You’ll see no potato juice
The planters down in Santos all say “No, no, no”<<<
So you’ll add to the local color
Serving coffee with a cruller
Dunkin’ doesn’t take a lot of skill
They’ve got an awful lot of coffee
An awful lot of coffee
Man, they got a gang of coffee Brazil!!
Up here in the land of the hot-dog stand
The atom bomb and the Good Humor Man
We think our South American neighbors are grand
We love ‘em to beat the band
South America, baba-loo, ay-yi-yi, baba-loo
One favor you can do, ay-yi-yi, you can do
You beautiful lands below
Don’t know what you began
To put it plainly, I’m tired of shakin’
To that Pan-American plan
Take back your Samba, ay!, your Rumba, ay!, your Conga, ay-yi-yi!
I can’t keep movin’, ay!, my chassis, ay!, any longer, ay-yi-yi!
Now maybe Latins, ay!, in their middles, ay!, are built stronger, ay-yi-yi!
But all this takin’ to the quakin’ and this makin’ with the shakin’ leaves me achin’, olé!
First shake around and settle there
Then you shake around and settle here
Then you shake around and settle there
That’s enough, that’s enough
Take it back, my spine’s outta-whack
There’s a strange click-clack
In the back of my Sacroiliac
Take back your Conga, ay!, your Samba, ay!, your Rumba, ay-yi-yi!
Why can’t you send us, ay!, a less strenu-, ay!, -ous number, ay-yi-yi!
I got more bumps now, ay!, than on a, ay!, cucumber, ay-yi-yi!
While all those Latin drums are cloppin’, like a Jumpin’ Jack I’m hoppin’ without stoppin’, olé!
South America, take it away
First you shake around and settle there (where?)
Then you shake around and settle here (oh, there)
And then you shake around and settle there (why Bing!)
That’s enough, that’s enough
Take it back, my spine’s outta-whack
There’s a strange click-clack
In the back of my Sacroiliac
Oh, my achin’ back
Take back your Conga, ay!, your Samba, ay!, your Rumba, ay-yi-yi!
Bring back the old days, ay!, of dancing I remember, ay-yi-yi!
My hips are cracking, I am shrieking “Ay-Carumba!”, ay-yi-yi!
I got a wriggle and a diddle and a jiggle like a fiddle in my middle, olé!
This fancy swishin’ imposition wears out all of my transmission ammunition, olé!
Though I like neighborly relations all these crazy new gyrations try my patience, olé!
South America, take it away
Related posts:
- A little offering from the era of good singing and clever lyrics
- AP tries for clever, but comes up with stupid
- Clever parody about the parodist’s delight, Larry Craig
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11 Responses to “Clever lyrics”
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Thanks for the memory! My father always sang “Mairzy Doats” to me when I was a child. Wasn’t there another about the “Three Little Fishes”–”they swam and they swam to the edge of the dam”?
Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. A kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?
Bobbie, indeed there was a song about three little fishies swimming around the dam
I was nine years old in 1944, and some of those songs were really confusing.
There were some really great songs during the war years; my mother’s favorite after my father left was “I’ll walk alone”. I expect that was true for a lot of women.
My favorite was probably, “Coming in on a wing and a prayer”. There were several older boys I could think of as I belted that one out. Some didn’t come home.
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I worked in a lab a few years back where the senior chemists all joined in and sang these ridiculous songs and commercial jingles from that era. About two weeks ago I introduced our children to the likes of “Mairzy Doats,” “Cement Mixer, Putty Putty,” “Sweet Violets,” and “Teddy Bears’ Picnic.” At first, they thought I was a bit crazy (per normal), but they can now know the words.
Though just a bit before my time, that music was very good-natured.
BTW, two nights ago we got into “Don’t Eat Yellow Snow.”
Last year I was at Costco and they had a number of albums that were from WWI, WWII, the Great Bands…4 different ones, each with 5 CDs. At about $15 each, not exactly cheap, but I bought all of them. They may be out there on the market somewhere else, but if so, I haven’t seen them. There’s so much that has just disappeared from our culture – I thought it would be a good idea to get them while I could. It was definitely a splurge, but you just have to grab the golden ring when you get the chance – you might not get another one.*
You mention commercial jingles…they do stick in the mind, don’t they! And yes, they think you’re a bit crazy – because you have a reference point in your mind from your experience in the past, and they have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about – for them, it’s just nonsense. The commonalities of culture seem to speed by so fast that we don’t even have the same culture as our grandchildren have – even though we haven’t gone anywhere. Sort of like studying Shakespeare – not only is the language structure and use different from “English” today, but you have to get a professional to interpret some of the jokes that were undoubtedly political, but referred to people we’ve long forgotten. Also true of the old common nursery rhymes – they were political commentary as well, but we’ve forgotten the historical characters, and now they’re just nonsense rhymes.
*There’s another one…Anybody here born after 1950 or so that knows what it means?
And as you listen to them, ask yourself, what happened to language and the way we think about it that sophisticated word play has pretty much vanished from popular culture?
Come now, Book, isn’t “ F@&% the Ho” rather sophisticated in the way it turns stagnant uncreative white racist archconservative conventions on their head, not to mention the unabashed way it subverts the cultural hegemony of Dead White European Males? (Dead Minority Females: well, that’s another issue.)
Eh?????
And as you listen to them, ask yourself, what happened to language and the way we think about it that sophisticated word play has pretty much vanished from popular culture?
That seems rather simple and obvious to me. Those that have not experienced complexity in word play and the mental images and ideas such things produce as an exercise in the mind’s ability to think swiftly and surely, those become vulnerable to propagandists and con man.
If you don’t understand complex logic and word play, how will you understand complex spy networks, con-artist tricks, and basic human manipulation?
Those that don’t get complexity, who attribute it to “intelligence”, as if you needed to born with it to get it, are extremely easy to be manipulated by charisma or cult personalities.
It is only by exercising onself in propaganda can one become resistant to propaganda. Those that do not, who rely upon simplicity, vulgarity, and rudeness for the shock and awe value, those have not been exposed to sufficient personal experiences to resist high level manipulation.
Of course, there’s always the 1984 explanation that the elimination of different definitions for a word is a form of mind control and brainwashing.
It’s the play part of word play that is not appreciated today. Silliness, exuberance, joy at being alive are all so yesterday. Today everything has to have a message. I think one of life’s great pleasures is to be with a child just learning to talk. They can laugh and laugh at the sound of a word without knowing its meaning. Then comes the time when they learn the meanings and delight in playing word games on their elders. Wonderful!
suek: Eh?????
An attempt at humor.
Yeah…and a good one! Totally verbally anarchistic. Lots of words, nothing said. In fact, probably globally warming. Speech like that should be subject to cap and trade…!