Songs that Make No Sense to the Younger Generation

Mares eat oats
And does eat oats
And little lambs eat ivy
A kid'll eat ivy too
Wouldn't you?

Setanta - I'll bet that YOU know why the Dulles song was so funny!

A song about an airport?


I don't get it . . .

Lobachevsky
Tom Lehrer

Who made me the genius I am today,
The mathematician that others all quote?
Who's the professor that made me that way,
The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat?

One man deserves the credit,
One man deserves the blame,
and Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache...

I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky.
In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize!

Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize...
Only be sure always to call it please, "research".

And ever since I meet this man my life is not the same,
And Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache...

I am never forget the day I am given first original paper to write. It
was on Analytic and Algebraic Topology of Locally Euclidean Metrization
of Infinitely Differentiable Riemannian Manifold.
Bozhe moi!
This I know from nothing.
But I think of great Lobachevsky and I get idea - haha!

I have a friend in Minsk,
Who has a friend in Pinsk,
Whose friend in Omsk
Has friend in Tomsk
With friend in Akmolinsk.
His friend in Alexandrovsk
Has friend in Petropavlovsk,
Whose friend somehow
Is solving now
The problem in Dnepropetrovsk.

And when his work is done -
Haha! - begins the fun.
From Dnepropetrovsk
To Petropavlovsk,
By way of Iliysk,
And Novorossiysk,
To Alexandrovsk to Akmolinsk
To Tomsk to Omsk
To Pinsk to Minsk
To me the news will run,
Yes, to me the news will run!

And then I write
By morning, night,
And afternoon,
And pretty soon
My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed,
When he finds out I published first!

And who made me a big success
And brought me wealth and fame?
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache...

I am never forget the day my first book is published.
Every chapter I stole from somewhere else.
Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory.
This book, this book was sensational!
Pravda - ah, Pravda - Pravda said:
"Jeel beel kara ogoday blyum blocha jeli," ("It stinks").
But Izvestia! Izvestia said:
"Jai, do gudoo sun sai pere shcum," ("It stinks").
Metro-Goldwyn-Moskva bought the movie rights for six million rubles,
Changing title to 'The Eternal Triangle',
With Brigitte Bardot playing part of hypotenuse.

And who deserves the credit?
And who deserves the blame?
Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name.
Oy!

HA-HA!

This song, made popular by the Kingston Trio, was based on a true election issue. I never found out if George O'Brien won!

Dewey was an Admiral
At Manila Bay
Dewey was a candidate
Just the other day
Dewy were her eyes
When i heard her say
"Do we love each other?
Yes indeed we do !

1948 . . . anyone know the context?

P.S. Found this:




http://users2.ev1.net/~smyth/linernotes/thesongs/MTA.htm

Set- Admiral Dewey was involved in the Spanish American War. Thomas E. Dewey ran against Harry Truman, in a very close race. The Chicago Tribune published a newspaper proclaiming, "Dewey Wins!" The real winner, Harry Truman, was shown in a famous picture waving the newspaper over his head.

just found this one the other day while doing a search for another song, and laughed at the title - it was about the Prohibition Era 1920-1933

"I Never Knew I Had a Wonderful Wife Until the Town Went Dry", sung by Eddie Cantor

My dad hated this song:

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so

Call up your friends, dilly, dilly
Set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly dilly,
Some to the fork

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,
Some to thresh corn
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly,
Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so

Didn't understand it then, still don't

probably 90% of the songs of alan sherman would make no sense to most young people today

case in point, this next song:
The Let's All Call Up AT&T And Protest To The President March
(Parody of ???)

It's the "The Let's All Call Up AT&T And Protest To The President March."
Can you see him smirking and smiling?
'Cause he's got us all digit dialing.
So let's all call up AT&T and protest to the president march.

So protest! Do your best!
Let us show him that we march in unity.
If he won't change the rules,
Let's take our business to another phone company.
Let's all call up AT&T and protest to the president march.

Let us wake him up in his slumber.
Get a pencil, I'll give you his number.
It's 3 1 8 5 2 7 3
0 8 7 4 2 9 dash!
5 1 1 4 9 0 6 7
4 0 8 5 2 hyphen!
1 1 4 6 2 0 5
7 9 hyphen dash 0 3.

And now that you're on the right road,
Don't forget his Area Code.
Which is 5 1 8 2 4 7 9
0 5 hyphen dash 9 4.

Where are the days of Auld Lang Syne?
Butterfield 8! Madison 9!
Let's keep those beautiful names alive.
Crestview 6! Gramercy 5!
Get ready to fight before it's too late!
Temple 2! Murray Hill 8!
Let's let them know that this means war!
Gettysburg 3! Concord 4! Hurray!

To all telephone subscribers,
We'll erect a triumphal arch,
For the let's all call up AT&T and protest to the president march.

A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)
Paul Simon, 1965

I been Norman Mailered, Maxwell Taylored
I been John O'Hara'd, McNamara'd
I been Rolling Stoned and Beatled till I'm blind
I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
Communist, 'cause I'm left-handed
That's the hand I use, well, never mind

I been Phil Spectored, resurrected
I been Lou Adlered, Barry Sadlered
Well, I paid all the dues I want to pay
And I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce
And all of my wealth won't buy me health
So I smoke a pint of tea a day

I knew a man, his brain so small
He couldn't think of nothing at all
He's not the same as you and me
He doesn't dig poetry. He's so unhip that
When you say Dylan, he thinks you're talking about Dylan Thomas
Whoever he was
The man ain't got no culture
But it's alright, ma
Everybody must get stoned

I been Mick Jaggered, silver daggered
Andy Warhol, won't you please come home?
I been mothered, fathered, aunt and uncled
Been Roy Haleed and Art Garfunkeled
I just discovered somebody's tapped my phone

Now, see, the MTA song I sang as a 4th grader in 1979 or so. I sing it to my daughter, too.

I thought Burnett's "Dulles" song was hilarious, Phoenix and I love the MTA one.

I remember my mother singing a song about Wylie Post once upon a time, but today I can't remember one line of it. Paul Robeson and Joan Baez sang about "Joe Hill", the union leader, but he was before everybody's time.

Pal Joey's been around since, I think, 1940, but without checking I don't know the year of my record that has Elaine Stritch singing this song, which is her strip tease number in the play. Rita Hayworth did the same song in the 1957 movie version and I think she updated the lyrics (which would be out of date today. (lol) The song's called ZIP.

Zip! Walter Lippmann wasn't brilliant today
Zip! Will Saroyan ever write a great play?
Zip! I was reading Schopenhauer last night.
Zip! And I think that Schopenhauer was right.
I don't want to see Zorina, *
I don't want to meet Cobina. *
Zip! I'm an intelectual.
I don't like a deep contralto,
Or a man whose voice is alto.
Zip! I'm a heterosexual.
Zip! It took intellect to master my art.
Zip! Who the hell is Margie Hart?*

Zip! I consider Dali's painting passe.
Zip! Can they make the Metropolitan pay?
Zip! English people don't say clerk, they say clark.
Zip! Anybody who says clark is a jark!
I have read the great Cabala,
And I simply worship Allah.
Zip! I am just a mystic.
I don't care for Whistler's mother,
Charlie's aunt, or Shubert's brother.
Zip! I'm misogynistic.
Zip! My intelligence is guiding my hand.
Zip! Who the hell is Sally Rand?

Zip! Toscanini leads the greatest of bands.
Zip! Jergens Lotion does the trick for his hands.
Zip! Rip Van Winkle on the screen would be smart.
Zip! Tyrone Power will be cast in the part.
I adore the great Confucius,
And the lines of luscious Lucius.
Zip! I am so ecletic.
I don't care for either Mickey Mouse and Rooney make me sicky!
Zip! I'm a little hectic.
Zip! My artistic taste is classic and dear.
Zip! Who the hell is Lili St. Cyr?

I had never heard of Cobina (Wright) or Margie Hart, and had to look them up at the time.

Now Pal Joey is going to be revived. It will be interesting to see what names are substituted. (Maybe Gypsy Rose Lee for Lili St. Cyr?)

P.S. This thread is making me feel very old.

bookmark

kewl stuff!

Blossom Dearie knocked me out with this one:

See, I'm hip. I'm no square.
I'm alert, I'm awake, I'm aware.
I am always on the scene.
Makin' the rounds, diggin' the sounds.
I read People Magazine.
'Cuz I'm hip.

Like, dig! I'm in step.
When it was hip to be hep, I was hep.
I don't blow but I'm a fan.
Look at me swing. Ring a ding ding.
I even call my girlfriend "man,"
'cuz I'm hip.

Every Saturday night
with my suit buttoned tight and my suedes on
I'm gettin' my kicks
diggin' arty French flicks with my shades on.

I'm too much. I'm a gas.
I am anything but middle class.
When I hang around the band,
poppin' my thumbs, diggin' the drums,
sqaures don't seem to understand
why I flip. They're not hip like I'm hip.
I'm hip!

I'm on top of every trend.
Look at me go. Vo-dee-o-do.
Sammy Davis knew my friend.

I'm hip, but not weird.
Like, you notice, I don't wear a beard.
Beards were in but now they're not.
They had they're day. Now they're passé.
Just ask me if you're in doubt,
'cuz I'm hip.

Now I'm deep into Zen
meditation and macrobiotics,
and as soon as I can
I intend to get into narcotics.

'Cuz I'm cool as a cuke.
I'm a cat, I'm a card, I'm a kook, kook, kook.
I get so much out of life.
Really, I do. Skoo ba dee boo.
One more time play "Mack the Knife."
Let 'er rip. I may flip, but I'm hip.

Mambo Italiano
Rosemary Clooney

A girl went back to Napoli
Because she missed the scenery
The native dances and the charming songs
But wait a minute, something's wrong
Hey, mambo! Mambo italiano!
Hey, mambo! Mambo italiano
Go, go, go you mixed up sicialiano
All you calabraise-a do the mambo like a crazy with a
Hey mambo, don't wanna tarantella
Hey mambo, no more a mozzarella
Hey mambo! Mambo italiano!
Try an enchilada with da fish a bac a lab and then a
Hey goombah, I love a how you dance a rhumbah
But take a some advice paisano
Learn how to mambo
If you gonna be a square
You ain't a gonna go nowhere
Hey mambo! mambo italiano!
Hey mambo! mambo italiano!
Go, go, Joe, shake like a Giovanno
Hello kess-a-deetch-a you getta happy in the feets a
When you mambo italiano
Shake-a Baby shake-a cause i love a when you take a me
Mama say "stop-a or I'm gonna go to papa"
And a hey ja drool you don't a have to go to school
Just make-a wid da beat bambino
It's a like a vino
Kid you good a lookin' but you don't a-know what's cookin' till you
Hey mambo, Mambo italiano
Hey mambo, Mambo italiano
Ho, ho, ho, you mixed up Siciliano
it's a so delish a ev'rybody come copisha
How to mambo italianoooooo!
'Ats nice!
UNH!