The League of David

Totally Un-PC Lyrics from the 40s

Part of a series.

It's 1948, and singer Peggy Lee penned this winner with her husband, Dave Barbour.

Mañana is soon enough for me

The faucet she is dripping and the fence she's fallin' down
My pocket needs some money, so I can't go into town
My brother isn't working and my sister doesn't care
The car she needs a motor so I can't go anywhere
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)
My mother's always working, she's working very hard
But every time she looks for me I'm sleeping in the yard
My mother thinks I'm lazy and maybe she is right
I'll go to work mañana but I gotta sleep tonight
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)

Oh, once I had some money but I gave it to my friend
He said he'd pay me double, it was only for a lend
But he said a little later that the horse she was so slow
Why he give the horse my money is something I don't know
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)

(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)

My brother took a suitcase and he went away to school
My father said he only learned to be a silly fool
My father said that I should learn to make a chile pot
But then I burned the house down, the chile was too hot
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)

The window she is broken and the rain is comin' in
If someone doesn't fix it I'll be soaking to my skin
But if we wait a day or two the rain may go away
And we don't need a window on such a sunny day
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)  Oba! Oba!
(mañana, mañana, mañana is soon enough for me)  Oba! Oba!

Totally Un-PC Lyrics from the 40s

More from my ongoing series:  Totally Un-PC lyrics

Personality

Words by Johnny Burke
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen
Featured in Road to Utopia (a Hope, Bing, and Lamour movie)

Madam Pompadour was on a ballroom floor
Said all the gentlemen "Obviously,"
"The madam has the cutest personality"

And think of all the books about Du Barry's looks
What was it made her the toast of Paree?
She had a well-developed personality

(What did Romeo see in Juliet?)
(Or Figaro in Figarette?)
(Or Jupiter in Juno?)
You know!

And when Salome danced and had the boys entranced
No doubt it must have been easy to see
That she knew how to use her personality

(A girl can learn to spell and take dictation well)
(And never sit on the boss's left knee)
(Unless she's got a perfect personality)

(A girl can get somewhere in spite of stringy hair)
(Or even just a bit bowed at the knee)
(If she can show a faultless personality)

Why are certain girls offered certain things
Like sable coats and wedding rings?
By men who wear their spats right?
(That's right!)

(So don'tcha say "I'm smart and have the kindest heart"
(Or "what a wonderful sister I'd be")
Just tell me how you like my
Mercer> "Rufff!!
(Personality)

Baby, you've got the cutest
Personality!!

Church Music Bleg

Does anyone know the history of this horrible, disgraceful song:  "This is my song."  At my church this song is regularly chosen during patriotic holidays like Memorial Day and July 4th.  It's chosen over, you know, patriotic songs.  The music is based on the unsingable melody of Jean Sibelius' Finlandia.  The lyrics, however, are by a man name Lloyd Stone. 

Does anyone know anything about this man?  I can't find a thing about his biography.

I did a quick Google search and found mostly lefty churches and antiwar groups posting the songs lyrics on their sites.   However, I'm interested in learning a little about the fellow who wrote it.

Any suggestions?

Totally Un-P.C. Lyrics from the 40s

There'll be a hot time
In the town of Berlin
When the Yanks go marchin' in
I wanna be there boy,
And spread some joy
When they take old Berlin

There'll be a hot time
In the town of Berlin
When the Brooklyn boys begin
To take the joint apart
And tear it down
When they take old Berlin

They're gonna start a row
And show them how
We paint the town back, in Kokomo
They're gonna take a hike
Through Hitler's Reich
And change his "Heil" to "What ya know, Joe"

There'll be a hot time
In the town of Berlin
When the Yanks go marchin' in
You could never keep'em happy down on the farm
After they take Berlin

<instrumental interlude>

I'm gonna grab a frau
And show her how
We paint the town back, in Michigan
Im gonna take a hike
Through Hitler's Reich
And change that "Heil" to "Gimme some skin"

There'll be a hot time
In the town of Berlin
When the Yanks go marchin' in
You know that you could never keep 'em happy down on the farm
After they take Berlin

Make It Stop!!!

I'm adding a new member to the Catholic Church Music for the Deaf (CCMD) team:  Sr. Suzanne Toolan.  She's the composer of this, with the added pleasure of a refrain that is unsingable for the average churchgoer:

And I will raise him up,
And I will raise him up
And I will raise him up
On the last day

This song and its composer will be added to the grand opuses, or opi, or whatever, of my favorite CCMD artist,  Dan Schutte, the Thomas Kinkade of contemporary Roman Catholic "music:" 

"City of God"

"Glory and Praise to Our God"

"Here I Am, Lord"

If you're Catholic and you can't take it anymore, you can take your frustrations out by joining the SMMMHDH.  I know I am.

Great Show

The host of  local jazz and swing show called Hot Jazz Saturday Night dedicated a recent program to "the extraordinary musical partnership of tenor saxophonist Lester Young and singer Billie Holiday."

Wonderful stuff.

Requiem

The agonizing death watch for Pope John Paul II brought back many of the same feelings I had when my family and I were sitting vigil for my father.   Dad was diagnosed as terminal on a Friday.  He was brought to the hospital on Saturday, and died on Sunday afternoon.  Throughout the vigil,  I took solace in my mind's ear.  I had the music of Brahms' German Requiem in my mind, particularly the second movement:  All Flesh is Grass. 

I've had the same music in my mind once again.  Kennedy Center has program notes for a 2004 performance I had the pleasure of attending.

The Ein deutsches Requiem (1867-8, Op.45)

I.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.  Matthew 5:4    

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his
sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5,6

II.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
1 Peter 1:24

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
and latter rain. James 5:7    

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. 1 Peter 1:25

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain
joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10

III.

Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my
days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am. Behold,
thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age
is as nothing before thee. . . . Surely every man walketh in a
vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up
riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now,
Lord, what wait l for? my hope is in thee. Psalm 39:4-7

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and
there shall no torment touch them.  Wisdom of Solomon 3:1

IV.

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Blessed are
they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.
Psalm 84:1,2,4

V.

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from
you. John 16:22

Ye see how for a little while I labor and toil, yet have I found
much rest. Ecclesiasticus 51:27

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. . . 
Isaiah 66:13

VI.

For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one
to come. Hebrews 13:14

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. . . . then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death,
where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1 Corinthians 15:51,52,54,55

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and
power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
they are and were created. Revelation 4:11

VII.

. . . Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and
their works do follow them. Revelation 14:13

 

 

 

Saturday Nights Are Taken

There is one last thread holding me to broadcast radio.   It's a show called Hot Jazz Saturday Night.  From 7 to 10 PM Saturdays, public radio station WAMU graces the DC area with the calm, intelligent voice of Rob Bamberger.  A government policy analyst by day, he is a powerhouse of information about traditional Jazz and Swing music.  He has a deep admiration for the men and women who lived the era's music, and it's matched by a vast collection of rare music.

Over the years, Bamberger introduced me to,  among others:

Hoagy Carmichael
Bix Beiderbecke
Leadbelly
Tommy Dorsey
Billie Holiday
Les Paul & Mary Ford
Tex Beneke
Artie Shaw
Jelly Roll Morton

Not bad company for Saturday nights,

It's cold, but...

...hell hath not frozen over.

Pop culture sometimes gets it right, albeit 80s pop culture.

Yesterday was Sunday, which means Mass, which means the weekly descent into really bad music.

This week practicing Roman Catholics all over the DC metro area got to listen to an appalling setting of Psalm 40.  Worse than the music was the translation, that when sung sounded like a 4th grade recital.

Like all bad art, bad music takes away from Creation.  It scratches a dark wounds on our day, and after many years it creates big scars in our understanding and appreciation of the Liturgy.  It's well-intentioned evil.

Through the swamp of The New American Bible translation, I could discern Bono's arrangement of the same psalm:

I waited patiently for the Lord.
He inclined and heard my cry.
He brought me up out of the pit
Out of the miry clay.

I will sing, sing a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song.
How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long
How long to sing this song?

You set my feet upon a rock
And made my footsteps firm.
Many will see, many will see and hear.

Man & Piano

There hasn't been a more perfect combo of pianist and composer than this man's recordings of Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier, Book 1. 

If you can open your heart to this music.  It will illuminate your life.

A couple of years ago local governments began experimenting with classical music.  It seemed that when classical music was played in public spaces there was less loitering and petty crime.  Perfection and goodness have that effect on petty evil.  Place it before the scum of the earth, and they will scatter, like turning on a kitchen light and watching the roaches scurry in blinded fear.

The light shines in darkness...