Foam on deranged
In yesterday’s reprint, both John Patterson and Ted McCaulay have the shaded noses of drunkenness. In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, only Ted’s nose is a blackened in. We learn that not only does Dr. Ted McCaulay apparently not know when to stop drinking; but that when he drinks too much he turns into Grandpa Jim. Look at these song selections:
Foamm, Foam on de-raanged
Where th’ beer an th’ cantaloupe praaayy
Is a beer-drinking take-off on "Home on the Range", state song of Kansas, written back in 1873. It would work except for the reference to praying cantaloupes, something which is not normally associated with drinking. I will give Lynn Johnston that one. There are just not that many words that rhyme with antelope other than cantaloupe. The original lyrics are:
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Ted's next song reference is this:
And, her hair hung over her shoulder …tied up with black velvet band.
This is pretty close to “The Black Velvet Band” an Irish drinking song that probably originated between 1837 and 1853. The original lyrics are:
Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band
It’s 1980 and Ted is about the same age as John, in his early 30s, so the music of his generation is music of the 60s. If we needed any more proof that Lynn Johnston thinks of Ted as his 60-year-old aging lethario persona instead of his 30-something self. The sad part is that Lynn missed an opportunity to tell a story there. The dialogue missing could have gone like this:
John: It’s late, I think I’ll go home.
Ted: Don’t forget, we came over here together.
John: Oh right, Ted. I forgot that the first time we did this 30 years ago, we took separate vehicles and we both drove home drunk. We can't do that today in the era of the designated driver.
Ted: I know what will put you in the right spirits. How about a couple of drinking songs from the 19th century? Mother never lets me play the devil music of rock-and-roll. All she has are these recording of 19th century music.
John: Now I really want to get home.
Foamm, Foam on de-raanged
Where th’ beer an th’ cantaloupe praaayy
Is a beer-drinking take-off on "Home on the Range", state song of Kansas, written back in 1873. It would work except for the reference to praying cantaloupes, something which is not normally associated with drinking. I will give Lynn Johnston that one. There are just not that many words that rhyme with antelope other than cantaloupe. The original lyrics are:
Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.
Ted's next song reference is this:
And, her hair hung over her shoulder …tied up with black velvet band.
This is pretty close to “The Black Velvet Band” an Irish drinking song that probably originated between 1837 and 1853. The original lyrics are:
Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band
It’s 1980 and Ted is about the same age as John, in his early 30s, so the music of his generation is music of the 60s. If we needed any more proof that Lynn Johnston thinks of Ted as his 60-year-old aging lethario persona instead of his 30-something self. The sad part is that Lynn missed an opportunity to tell a story there. The dialogue missing could have gone like this:
John: It’s late, I think I’ll go home.
Ted: Don’t forget, we came over here together.
John: Oh right, Ted. I forgot that the first time we did this 30 years ago, we took separate vehicles and we both drove home drunk. We can't do that today in the era of the designated driver.
Ted: I know what will put you in the right spirits. How about a couple of drinking songs from the 19th century? Mother never lets me play the devil music of rock-and-roll. All she has are these recording of 19th century music.
John: Now I really want to get home.
posted by howard at 10:35 PM
16 Comments:
My thoughts exactly about the song choices. I didn't even know "The Black Velvet Band", but figured it must date from the 19th century. I suppose the lyrics must be out of copyright, but as for making the strip timeless, it works only if you assume that Ted loves folksongs or that the strip is set in the Gay Nineties.
howard,
It’s 1980 and Ted is about the same age as John, in his early 30s, so the music of his generation is music of the 60s. [As i]f we needed any more proof that Lynn Johnston thinks of Ted as his 60-year-old aging [lothario] persona instead of his 30-something self.
Lynn has made no secret of her love of both country music and old folk tunes like this; since even Ted is her, his tastes in music faithfully reflect her own.
I forgot that the first time we did this 30 years ago, we took separate vehicles and we both drove home drunk. We can't do that today in the era of the designated driver.
LOL--I know; amazing how John's shaded nose of drunkenness has become a clear nose of sobriety for today's strip.
Despite her having mentioned a desire to "be Joan Baez," I suspect LJ was always pretty square musically. I can't help thinking of the strip from where April was a toddler riding in the back seat of the car while Elly drove with Grandpa Jim in the passenger seat, and she and Gramps sang moldy oldy songs together. I'll bet that was always the music nearest and dearest to her poseur heart.
Joan Baez started her career singing the moldiest oldies of all--ballads from the British Isles, often by way of Appalachia. Later on she recorded songs written by the hip singer-songwriters & helped start their careers. Many people preferred her lovely voice to, for example, Bobby Dylan's nasal whine. (Eventually, we learned to appreciate him. So did she!)
According to Wikipedia, "The Girl in The Black Velvet Band" was a hit for the Irish Rovers--an Irish-Canadian group who later gave the world "Grandma Got Run Over by a Raindeer." I'll bet that's the version LJ remembers.
The Dubliners & the Dropkick Murphys sang it more to my taste. And the great Bill Monroe recorded it as "The Girl in The Blue Velvet Band" with his Bluegrass Boys.
So I have no problem hearing somebody of my/LJ's generation singing that tune. The time shift does make it less believable, of course.
Ethnomusicology aside, LJ's Joan Baez remark explains a lot. Early in her career, Joanie seemed an innocent flower child gifted with an amazing voice. But she was seriously ambitious & worked at her career, sometimes offending the Cambridge folkies who were only in music to be "authentic." (It was the late Beat era. Rock sucked & jazz was too hard--you actually had to know music. Learn 3 chords & a few Child ballads--you, too can be a folksinger!) She became a huge star back in Folkie Days & continues touring & recording--after 50 years.
It seems that LJ wanted to become a singing star but was unwilling to work at it. Which is why she looks down on anybody actually trying to make a career out of music.
Joan Baez started her career singing the moldiest oldies of all--ballads from the British Isles, often by way of Appalachia.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the version of Baez she'd imprinted herself with--this would explain a lot.
It seems that LJ wanted to become a singing star but was unwilling to work at it. Which is why she looks down on anybody actually trying to make a career out of music.
I think this is exactly right. ISTM she wanted to sit in a club with an acoustic guitar on her lap, look pretty, and be admired--practicing, working, writing? Crazy talk!
Lynn wanted to be Joan Baez. Consequently, so does Ted McCaulay. Today we learn that, when Ted McCaulay gets so drunk he can’t walk, his admiration for the kind of music Joan Baez would sing surfaces. I have to admit, this is not a character trait I would have imagined out of Ted McCaulay. You would think, if this is the kind of music Lynn Johnston likes, and she is trying to put the idea across that Ted is scum, she would pick different tunes. Music from a band she hates. She had no trouble making fun of the kind of music Liz and April liked, after all. Maybe back in Lynn Lake, when the men got really drunk, these are the kinds of songs they sang. Or maybe, Lynn simply does not know any other songs to use for lyrics in her strip.
So here's my question -- in these new runs, IS it 1980s or is it 2000s?
Harley Quinn,
So here's my question -- in these new runs, IS it 1980s or is it 2000s?
No one knows, including the author. She wants it to be timeless, so she put in a reference to Shania Twain instead of Cheryl Ladd. She has removed all pictures of typewriters, removed John Patterson’s sideburns, and his giant-sized 1980s glasses. On the other hand, we have had numerous references to the women’s liberation movement as it existed in the 1980s, prejudices against yoga for being too girly, and the pre-Jane Fonda workout belief that people look funny in exercise outfits if they are not exercising. The less progressive side of the storyline shows a world where Michael Patterson rides a bus to his preschool, and where the children generally can run amok outside unsupervised in the time before and after school. The more progressive side of the storyline showed an inflated price for an exercise outfit that may be a standard price sometime in the future.
I suspect what we really have is a fluid time, and the stories are being pulled out of different time periods. Mike and Lizzie don't seem to be the same age from appearance to appearance, especially Lizzie who goes from infact to toddler on a regular basis.
Well... my friends and I used to sing, and warp, old songs when we were in college, and we're of Ted's generation, if the strip takes place in 2009 and if Ted is supposed to be a contemporary of John's. Admittedly, we were a group of music, art, theater and history geeks. I have no problems with Ted's choice of song.
I do have problems with the fact that he's apparently the amazing inflatable shrinking man.
clio-1
Admittedly, we were a group of music, art, theater and history geeks. I have no problems with Ted's choice of song.
Are you saying that you think Ted, in addition to being a family practice doctor, was also a music, art, theater and history geek; except for the fact he is also the amazing inflatable shrinking man, an ability not known to most family practice doctors or music, art, theater and history geeks? Or are you saying that if you spent an evening with John Patterson you would get stinking drunk and start warping old songs too?
Lol! Doctors can have interests outside doctoring, so if Ted likes to sing 19th century songs, more power to him. I probably wouldn't get drunk if I had to spend an evening with John Patterson; just having to be around him would give me enough of a headache, I wouldn't want to compound it with a hangover.
Lynn obviously wants to portray Ted as an old, ugly, short, fat, dark-haired loser nowadays. This doesn't gel with how he's drawn in the old strips. This annoys me.
clio-1
Lynn obviously wants to portray Ted as an old, ugly, short, fat, dark-haired loser nowadays. This doesn't gel with how he's drawn in the old strips. This annoys me.
It annoys me even more that I should have seen it coming; I've made a meal of pointing out how the characters of the New-Run era act like the Declining Years versions of themselves so it should have been obvious that Ted would devolve into the deluded protagonist of BNL's "King of Bedside Manor." I'd prefer it if he were more like the affable goof who looked and acted like Hawkeye did before Alan Alda turned him into a mouthpiece for his Hollywood leftist viewpoints.
For the record, the Irish Rovers did not give the world "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." They did record it eventually, but the original and most famous recording is by Elmo and Patsy.
Joshua: Thanks for the correction about The Irish Rovers & that dreadful song. That's what I get for trusting Wikipedia.
Knowing them from "The Unicorn" I always considered the Rovers one of the more lightweight Irish groups. But I'm glad to absolve them from guilt about "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." (Well, they did record a cover--but that's merely a venial sin.)
Any Canadian Maritimer or Newfoundlander of any age will know "Black Velvet Band." The Irish influence runs strong in eastern Canada, and it's still sung regularly in pubs. Plus, a lot of traditional Irish songs have been revived in recent years by the Canadian bands Irish Descendants and Great Big Sea. So I don't see this one as a stretch at all.
I don't hear too many people singing "Home on the Range," though.
Kristina,
Home on the Range is definitely from the United States, being the state song of Kansas and considered to be a typical Western US song. I had never heard The Black Velvet Band before, which should have automatically told me it was a Canadian favourite. Possibly Ted McCaulay, with his Irish / Scottish surname knows it from his family background. Nevertheless, it is an unusual combination of songs to be sung. Then again, Ted McCaulay just recently quoted from the US Declaration of Independence, so there is no telling what his background really is.
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