Tonight we’ve got a couple of Tom Waits songs suitable for Halloween. First, the scary little number God’s Away On Business (“digging up the dead with a shovel and a pick / it’s a job, it’s a job”). And if you run out of candy for the trick-or-treaters, simply hide a couple of speakers behind your pumpkins and crank up The Black Rider – that oughta keep the porch clear.
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Sixty nine years ago animator/producer/director Walter Lantz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker, produced a animated short film set in a fictional place called Lazytown, in America’s deep south, where the weather is hot and humid, and the denizens’ thought processes – and reaction times – are sluggish. Everything seems to happen in slow motion – until, that is, a stylish, lighter-skinned woman from the north shows up to liven things up. Centered around an eponymous song by The Andrews Sisters, here’s the 1941 Universal release Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat.
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The late Jacques Tati was a French actor and film director most famous for a series of dialogue-less comedy films featuring a stoically put-upon character named Monsieur Hulot, who was played by Tati himself. In tonight’s amusement, from his 1953 film Les Vacances de M. Hulot (Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday), Hulot and a herd of his fellow travelers cluster together in a train station listening for arrival and departure information via the public address system.
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A lot of veteran teachers suggest that the children of immigrants, particularly those from from Asia, tend to be more disciplined and less distracted than other students who are often more interested in partying and video games than the pursuit of scholastic excellence. American songwriter Randy Newman proposes a solution to this lack of discipline: non-immigrant students should simply purchase their very own Korean Parents.
They’ll be strict, but they’ll be fair.
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In tonight’s musical selection, a lighter-than-air musical artifact from the the murky depths of the nostalgia barrel, Cathy Carroll sings her 1963 non-hit I’m Available.
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There are great love songs, and then there’s tonight’s amusing misfire which sees a legendary Wagnerian tenor making an ill-advised foray into popular music. Intended (one assumes) as an earnest romantic plea, the song instead evokes a Homer Simpson-esque chap with a chewed up stogie in one hand and an oniony hot dog in the other pleading his hopeless case to an indifferent moll. When the backing choir swells to prop up his wailing entreaty, it just gets worse. From the Florence Foster Jenkins-heavy album Murder On The High C’s – I highly recommend it – here’s Lauritz Melchior singing – nae, begging – Please Don’t Say No.
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At one point during the appearance on FOX that got him fired from NPR, Juan Williams said “I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts.” He was, sadly, incorrect; members of the progressive left are more than capable of getting away from any fact whatsoever. Here’s a short and funny animated primer on How Liberals Argue. Sound familiar?
(h/t Robert W.)
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Twelfth century Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen, a deeply religious woman beset by visions, was a polymath of sorts – an early pharmacologist, poet, preacher, visual artist, and composer. Here are the Benedictinians of Abbey St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany (where von Bingen’s remains are encased in stone) chanting von Bingen’s Spiritus Sanctus.
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Prompted by a lyrical snippet posted last night by SDA commenter John Begley, our Saturday night selection will be a performance of the opening song from Brendan Behan’s 1954 play The Quare Fellow. Backed by the vocals of his fellow Dubliners (from left to right) Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, and Jim McCann, here’s the late Luke Kelly belting out a bracing version of The Auld Triangle.
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The Parting Glass is a traditional Irish/Scottish song dating back to at least the early 1600s. Some believe the song is about a traveler saying a fond farewell to friends, others hear the kind words of a dying man; I lean towards the latter interpretation, but here’s a friendly debate on the matter.
No matter how you interpret it, it’s a kind, warm-hearted song, suitable for toasts. From a recording of a live performance, here’s the late Liam Clancy’s fine version of The Parting Glass. (Lyrics here.)
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The Tarrants are Britain’s oldest couple. Ralph, 107, a former RAF corporal and steelworker, and his wife Phyllis, who is considerably younger at 101, have been married for 77 years now; Phyllis says “Our secret is getting on with each other, a good diet, exercise, avoiding cigarettes – and a tot of whisky each night.”
Seems to be working fine. Here they are having a short chat with a reporter from ITN News.
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Tonight’s entertainment en route to the Tips comes in the form of some freestyle improvisational trumpeting: here’s Hollywood film extra Hrundi V. Bakshi, played by Peter Sellers, making the absolute most of his limited screen time.
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