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Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spring!!

Well, there may still be a foot of snow on the ground, and it may have been 6 degrees last night (which is like what? -105 for you celsius folks?), but today is the first day of Spring!

In celebration, Amy and I will do what we always do- dress up in our Traditional Spring Festive Garb (which looks remarkably like what we wear every day, but I assure you, it's really quite different- every Spring I change to new socks) call our nieces on the telephone, and sing, in unison, our favorite Spring Song (courtesy of The Master, Tom Leher) ...

Spring is here, Spring is here!
Life is skittles and life is beer!
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don't you? 'Course you do.
But there's one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes every Sunday a treat for me.

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

When they see us coming,
the birdies all try an' hide,
But they still go for peanuts,
when coated with cyanide.
The sun's shining bright,
Everything seems all right,
When we're poisoning pigeons in the park.

We've gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it's not against any religion-
To want to dispose of a pigeon.

So if Sunday you're free,
Why don't you come with me,
And we'll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we'll do
In a squirrel or two,
While we're poisoning pigeons in the park.

We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin'
With each drop of strych'nine
We feed to a pigeon.
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cor what a great idea, count me in for a bit of that.

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Jim

Cissy Strutt said...

Lehrer is The Master. In my childhood, we played a record when having Sunday lunch. It was a treat. Stan Freberg, Anna Russell & Tom Lehrer were on high rotation, as well as Dame Edith Evans in "The Importance of Being Earnest". (We kids were less enthusiastic about the Harry Belafonte records.)

Forrest Proper said...

Silver- we are with you ALL THE WAY! Rats with feathers is all they are. In the 19th century pigeon pie was a delicacy. Too bad it's not anymore. Thank you for stopping by- I cannot promise anti-pigeon posts every day, but you are always welcome here.

Cissy- I know what you say. A few years ago on Ebay someone had a handwritten note by Tom Leher written in something like 1962 to a friend at Harvard that said, in effect, "I'd be glad to come and sing some of my songs, if you arrange for the piano rental". I dropped out at $500, and was ridiculously upset.

Tom Leher is THE MAN. Just this past weekend we were playing his songs for the uninitiated at a party. For some reason folks are always leery of us when we know all the words...

jgodsey said...

Stan Freberg, Anna Russell & Tom Lehrer - i have all those albums too!! i hardly ever play then since i have them memorized.
"i'm not making this up you know!"
"what's that? French horns."

Cissy Strutt said...

jgodsey - my parents took me to an Anna Russell concert back then. She did the Ring Cycle. When she got to the end bit "And guess who turned up next?" I was so excited I called out "The Rhine Maidens!" (We too had it all memorised). Well, Miss Russell loooked startled, but took it in her stride.

Sorry, Colonel, for the brief hi-jack.

Forrest Proper said...

Gods & Cissy- is Anna Russell the one who introduces the Rhine Maidens by saying "They are a noisy bunch!" ?

Cissy Strutt said...

No, it's the Valkyries who are a noisy bunch.

She also comments on the meeting of Siegmund and Sieglinda by saying "She's the only woman he's ever met who hasn't been his aunt."

Anonymous said...

Ah, Spring, when a young man's fancy turns to lager...

Forrest Proper said...

Cissy- Aha! Thank you!

Reverend- I do love Scared Traditions...

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

It's always a thrill to come across a Kindred Soul who appreciates Lehrer (or Cohen or Pratchett, you get the drift?)

Any takers for "favourite Lehrer line"? Mine is the one about the US Army - "the only truly democratic institution in the world, which does not discriminate on grounds of race-creed-colour-sex or merit!"

J.A.P.

Forrest Proper said...

JAP- thanks for stopping by!

The Leher line that always comes first to mind is-

"It's a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age he'd been dead for ten years".

Then there's almost anything from "National Brotherhood Week"- "Be nice to people who are inferior to you, it's only for a week so have no fear- be grateful that it doesn't last all year!"

so much Leher, so little time.

Forrest Proper said...

Once the rockets are up,
who cares where they come down.
"That's not my department",
says Wehrner Von Braun.

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

The version I heard, Mozart had been dead for two years. Horrible thought - did Tom recycle the same joke for another 8 years?!
This, of course, was in the prelude to that delight, Alma's Song.

J.A.P.

Forrest Proper said...

JAP- Actually, I think you're right- I've just always remebered it as ten.

Ah well... Fight fiercly, Harvard, Do!