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Oh well I wonder
Yes I wonder
What would happen
What would happen to this world
Well I wonder what would happen to this world

Now if a man tried
To take his time on Earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
Well I wonder what would happen to this world

And if a woman
She used a life line
As something more than
Some man's servant mother wife time
Well I wonder what would happen to this world

Oh well I wonder
Yes I wonder
Oh yes I wonder
'Bout what would happen
What would happen to this world
Well I wonder what would happen to this world

As I look around us
There's such strange things
There's muggers and there's jugglers
And we are led by clowns
If an answer ever found us
Would we change things
Or are we just a people
Rotten ready for the ground

And if our future
Lies on the final line
Are we brave enough
To see the signals and the signs
I wonder what would happen to this world

We see the people
We see them marchin' down
Do we join the parade
Or do we try and turn around
Well I wonder what would happen to this world

Disciple children walk the streets
Selling books and flowers
Can they be last ones
With a semblance of a dream
If we say that no one's out there
And we say we're goin' nowhere
And we avoid the question
Is this all that it means?

Oh if a man tried
To take his time on earth
And prove before he died
What one man's life could be worth
I wonder what would happen to this world
Harry Chapin Lyrics

The River Song

Oh, the waters flow over rock and stone
O'er the waters blow windy wind so cold
Oh, the rivers flow so old
Oh, the rivers flow so old.
O'er the rivers fly stately kingfishers
Through the waters swim stickleback fishes
Oh, the rivers flow so old
Oh, the rivers flow so old.
Oh, the waters flow over rock and stone
Through the waters swim stickleback fishes
Oh, the rivers flow so old
Through the rivers swim so old
Oh, the rivers flow so old.
Ooh.

Makes me think of the Ballad of Easy Rider:

The river flows
It flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes
That's where I want to be
Flow river flow
Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town

All he wanted
Was to be free
And that's the way
It turned out to be
Flow river flow
Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town

Flow river flow
Past the shaded tree
Go river, go
Go to the sea
Flow to the sea

The river flows
It flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes
That's where I want to be
Flow river flow
Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town

TCM just finished showing the 1934 production of The Merry Widow with Maurice Chevalier and Jeannette MacDonald. It was shot in both English and French. There are no known copies of the French version extant. It had been so long since I'd seen it that I was afraid it may have lost it's charm. It hadn't.

From the film:

Maurice Chevalier - Girls, Girls, Girls! Song Lyrics



Refrain 1


Though our country will never make war
We've a reason that's worth marching for
Not for battle our banner unfurls
But for girls, girls, girls, girls, girls.
When we're marching we never retreat
For we're charging a foe that is sweet!
But we're caught in the swirls
Of the enemy's curls
And surrender to girls, girls, girls.

Reprise

Verse (Not heard in the film)

Ruby lips taste like claret
When they're pressing close to mine.
What a flavor!
I compare it to that oldest vintage wine.
I don't need a book of verses
Or a jug beneath the bough,
And my memory rehearses
Not a moment so sweet as now.

Refrain 2

Let us gaze in the wine while it's wet.
Let's do things that we'll live to regret.
Let me dance till the restaurant whirls
With the girls, girls, girls, girls, girls!
When there's wine and there's women and song
It is wrong not to do something wrong!
When you do something wrong,
You must do something right,
And I'm doing all right tonight.



MGM.
Released November 2, 1934.
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.
Produced [uncredited] by Irving Thalberg and Ernst Lubitsch.
110 minutes. (Current running time: 103 or 99 minutes. See "Censorship Cuts" below)
French version: Filmed simultaneously in English and French versions. See La Veuve Joyeuse.
American TV title: The Lady Dances (to avoid confusion with the 1952 Lana Turner version).


Based on the operetta Die Lustige Witwe with music by Franz Lehar, book and lyrics by victor Leon and Leo Stein. Screenplay: Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda. Contributions to script: Ernst Lubitsch and Lorenz Hart. New Lyrics: Lorenz Hart and Gus Kahn. Photographer: Oliver T. Marsh. Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons and Frederic Hope. Sets: Edwin B. Willis and Gabriel Scognamille. Editor: Frances Marsh. Assistant Directors: Joseph Newman, Joe Lefert. Costumes: Ali Hubert. Miss MacDonald's Gowns: Adrian. Sound: Douglas Shearer. Musical Adaptation: Herbert Stothart. Orchestrations: Charles Maxwell, Paul Marquardt, and Leonid Raab. Dance director: Albertina Rasch. MacDonald's Waltz Instructor: Bob Spencer.

Lehar's operetta premiered in Vienna on December 30, 1905. It opened in New York on October 21, 1907 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, produced by Henry W. Savage and starring Ethel Jackson and Donald Brian.

More on The Merry Widow operetta

The Merry Widow was filmed four times in the United States. In 1912 there was a one-reel version starring Wallace Reid and Alma Rubens for Reliance Majestic. The famed Erich von Stroheim silent in 1925 starred Mae Murray and John Gilbert. Both these two versions and the 1934 MGM film were photographed by the very talented Oliver T. Marsh, brother of the great silent actress Mae Marsh. MGM remade The Merry Widow in 1952 in Technicolor, with Fernando Lamas as Danilo and Lana Turner as a nonsinging widow from America. Joseph Pasternak produced and Curtis Bernhardt directed. Una Merkel, who had played the queen in the 1934 version, appeared as Miss Turner's companion.

The trailer for the 1934 film version is a visual and historical delight. It contains footage of Franz Lehar himself wielding a baton and begins with an entrancing shot of Danilo and Sonia waltzing atop a spinning earth against a star-studded sky. In a companion promotional short, Happy Days Are Here Again, Franz Lehar addresses American audiences in English: "I greet you on the thirtieth anniversary of my Merry Widow!"

http://www.dandugan.com/maytime/f-merryw.html

Die Lustige Witwe, I can picture one of those.
I wish I had seen that film.

I'm back, had a quick read
Playing catch-up to you late birds
Nice to see what's going on
In your heads, over there

Did you know that
On Friday evening
Francis and I
The famous boulevardier from Paree, no less
Will meet in Piccadilly, London?

And then we meet some more guys and gals from A2K on Saturday evening, for a meal

So, hooray.

Good news Mctag. I envy you. Please tell mon ami the hawk man wishes him all the best from across the pond. Hope all of you have a frivolous evening.

Good morning, night owls and early birds of WA2K radio.

I just listened to Raggedy and edgar singing away, and nice voices they have, too.<smile>

Bob, I don't know why I miss all those oldies. The Merry Widow operetta? Wow! I would have loved to see that. My mom adored Jeannette MacDonald. Hmmmm. John Gilbert. Was he the one who faded from the silver screen when the talkies came in? I recall something about his voice being too high pitched, etc. Thanks for all that info, Boston.

McTag, boulevardier? I love that. I'm with Bob. I'm very envious of the lot of you, but know that you'll all have a wonderful time. Who, besides you, Francis, dys, Diane, and Walter will be there?

I do hope a travelogue will be forthcoming upon your return as we all would love to enjoy via pictures and descriptions.

I can close my eyes, listeners, and imagine what Piccadilly, London would be like for REAL!

Walter is the lensman. He knows how these digital e-thingummies work.
Remind me to borrow your camera and take YOUR picture, Walter .....

or, you could post here, the one I took which I sent you. :wink:

I was quite pleased with that.

We're coming into the season where more people start to travel. People in Boston realize that visitors from other areas of the country have trouble understanding us. Logic tells us this happens if for instance we travel there. Here's a partial guide for Bostonians to follow if the visit The South.

Rules of the South


Save all manner of bacon grease. If it can't be fried in bacon grease, it ain't worth cooking, let alone eating.

Just because one can drive on snow and ice does not mean we can't stay home the two days of the year it snows.

If you do run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four-wheel-drive with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way: This is what they live for.

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and fishing bait in the same store.

Remember: "Y'all" is singular.

"All y'all" is plural. "All y'all's" is plural possessive.

There is nothing sillier than a northerner imitating a Southern accent, unless it is a Southerner imitating a Boston accent.

People walk slower here.

Don't be worried that you don't understand anyone. They don't understand you either.

The first Southern _expression to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "Big ol'", as in "big ol' truck" or "big ol' boy". Eighty-five percent begin their new southern influenced dialect with this _expression. One hundred percent are in denial about it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

"He needed killin'" is a valid defense here.

If attending a funeral in the South: remember, we stay until the last shovel of dirt is thrown on and the tent is torn down.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this!" stay out of his way. These are likely the last words he will ever say.

Most Southerners do not use turn signals, and they ignore those who do. In fact, if you see a signal blinking on a car with a southern license plate, you may rest assured that it was on when the car was purchased.

Northerners can be identified by the spit on the inside of their car's windshield that comes from yelling at other drivers.

The winter wardrobe you always brought out in September can wait until November.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the tiniest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It does not matter if you need anything from the store, it is just something you're supposed to do.

Satellite dishes are very popular in the South. When you purchase one it is to be positioned directly in front of your trailer. This is logical bearing in mind that the dish cost considerably more than the trailer and should, therefore, be displayed.

Tornadoes and Southerners going through a divorce have a lot in common. In either case, you know someone is going to lose a trailer.

Florida is not considered a Southern state (except Gainesville). There are far more Yankees than Southerners living there.

As you are cursing the person driving 15 mph in a 55 mph zone, directly in the middle of the road, remember, many folks learned to drive on a model of vehicle known as John Deere, and this is the proper speed and lane position for the vehicle.

You can ask a Southerner for directions, but unless you already know the positions of key hills, trees and rocks, you're better off trying to find it yourself.

and as we wait for Walter to appear with pictures, here is an interesting item from Germany:




Exploding Toads Puzzle German Scientists Wed Apr 27, 5:55 PM ET



BERLIN - More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and scientists still have no explanation for what's causing the combustion, an official said Wednesday.

ADVERTISEMENT

Both the pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find a bacteria or virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper, of the Hamburg-based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment.

"It's absolutely strange," she said. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere before."

The toads at a pond in the upscale neighborhood of Altona have been blowing up since the beginning of the month, filling up like balloons until their stomachs suddenly burst.

"It looks like a scene from a science-fiction movie," Werner Schmolnik, the head of a local environment group, told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily. "The bloated animals suffer for several minutes before they finally die."

Biologists have come up with several theories, but Kloepper said that most have been ruled out.

The pond's water quality is no better or worse than other bodies of water in Hamburg, the toads did not appear to have a disease, and a laboratory in Berlin has ruled out the possibility that it is a fungus that made its way from South America, she said.

She said that tests will continue. In the meantime, city residents have been warned to stay away from the pond.

Hey, Bob. You snuck that in on us. Bob is absolutely right about Florida no longer being a Southern state, listeners. It's a polyglot of people, but that's one of the things that I love about where I am located.

Did a little research in the archives, and found some great info about John Gilbert. Let's see if this is legible:


Often, this does not work, but when I sent it via e-mail to myself, it seemed just fine.

Nope! I'm not quite certain why that is a problem, so I deleted the link.

Letty, you know you can always count on a friend...

This could be the solution to the Australian cane toad infestation problem.

And the boys could use them for footballs.

(Sorry, ladies)

That should read "soccer balls" for sport-challenged people.

Indeed, Francis. A man of magic is our Frenchman, listeners. I was surprised to find out that Gilbert died at the age of 36, and that the myth of his voice being unacceptable, was just that--a myth.

McTag, What in the world? Can you imagine the fall out of exploding toads as one casually walks by a pond; however, the humor is somewhat modified by the fact that the little creatures took so long to die.

Darn, I missed out on the movie segment of WA2K.
I, too, saw the "old" version of Merry Widow recently and also enjoyed the Lana Turner remake. I particularly like "Vilia". TCM showed both versions. As TCM (Turner Classic Movies) says : Theres no such thing as an "old" movie - they are only wonderful movies that you haven't seen yet.

As for John Gilbert - I saw him in Queen Christina with Garbo (who was his lover for many years) and I thought his voice was very pleasant.

As for the European gathering - Have a great time all. It sounds very exciting.

Be back shortly with some BD celebrities.

Songs for London? How about "Doing the Lambeth Walk?" or "Down at the old Bull and Bush?"

or even "I Can't Do Me Bally Bottom Button Up"

McTag, you are delightful. Isn't he listeners? What in the world is "I Can't Do Me Belly Bottom Button Up"?

Raggedy will be back later with her celebs update, and we'll do that Lambeth Walk for one of them.