WA2K Radio is now on the air

Thank you, my staff and my friends for holding down the fort of WA2K. This commentary is a bit long but fits the echo of the song:










World's Laziest Journalist

Sunday, December 5, 2004

By Bob Patterson



Los Angeles let Frank Sinatra down because they didn't overwhelmingly approve his candidate for becoming the town's theme song. New Yorkers love his New York, New York song. How long do you think you would be in Chicago before you hear some radio station play Sinatra's song Chicago? He tried to go three for three but lost out to Randy Newman as far as Los Angeles was concerned. Frank's attempt to win over the city of angels was titled LA Is My Lady. Don't feel bad if you don't know it, because most folks in LA can't hum that tune, while almost all citizens can sing along when I Love LA is played.



At one point, it seemed like all a rock band had to do was use the name of a town in California in the title of a song and they would have a hit. The most obvious examples would be: Mendocino, Oh, Lord, Stuck in Lodi Again, Do You Know the Way to San Jose? - and the hippie anthem San Francisco done by Scott McKenzie. Not to mention the fact that the Mamas and the Papas had a big hit with California Dreamin'.



After a while kids in California think all songs are about them. There is a city park in Santa Monica called Palisades Park and I've heard local folks brag that the song, written by Chuck Barris, was about that location. Folks in New Jersey know where the Palisades Park with roller coaster rides really is.



[When a friend and I arrived in London (England not the one in Ontario province) and started looking for lodgings we walked past a construction site where the workers were playing a radio. The fact checker will have a short circuit when I tell you the first song we heard there in 1989 was Roger Miller's 1965 hit: England Swings. Does the BBC still ban the song Deep in the Heart of Texas? It was nixed during WWII because workers used it as a protest song.]



Bing Crosby had a hit with a song titled The San Fernando Valley. Frank Zappa wrote the lyrics and Moon Unit Zappa did the vocals for the song that immortalized the Valley Girl, which was an "answer song" to the lesser known predecessor about Malibu done by the Surf Punks titled My Beach. (Did you know the only beach in the United States named after a cartoon character is Zonker Harris State Beach in Malibu?) Do you remember the Fender IV song: Malibu Run? You never hear the radio play the Rolling Stones song with the line "Let's go back to Zuma Beach." Wonder why that is; it was a great song.



What better public relations can a town ask for than a hit song? Marty Robbins is still loved for his song El Paso and the lesser-known sequel. Wasn't the song Abilene pretty? Chuck Berry had Havana Moon on the A side, unfortunately listeners preferred the B side. Have the fact checker verify this but I think the B side was his big hit You Can't Catch Me. Boston is still singing the song about the guy stuck on the subway there. It was the Kingston Trio's song (Charlie on the) MTA. How about Johnny River's song Memphis Tennessee? Or Bobby Bare's song about Detroit City. Then there's I Left My Heart in San Francisco. What about Roger Miller's Kansas City Star? We thought of asking if there was an official song for Concordia Kansas, but "we won't go there." Pittsburgh was the home of Super Chicken ("You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.") so they'll have to settle for his theme song.



We'll have to check with a friend and see what the theme song for Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia is. What duya bet that over in the Queensland coastal city of Surfers Paradise, the jukeboxes are still playing the Beach Boys hits as well as Jan and Dean's Surf City, the Sunrays I Live for the Sun and the Surfaris song Surfer Joe. Click here for surf conditions there.


Does Perth have an official theme song?



For our Canadian readers we will mention Canadian Sunset sung by Andy Williams and the country song Just a Little Bit South of Saskatoon sung by Sonny James.



Just about any song Edith Piaf sings reminds us of the City of Lights, but what about Les Baxter's: The Poor People of Paris? [Editor's note - I have a copy of Piaf singing it.]



If you think no one has ever sung about Scranton, Pa., you'd be wrong. Folks in WARM-land can probably still hear local stations play the Where Do You Work-a John?(On the Delaware Lakawan…). That song was done by Harry Reser's group called the "Six Jumping Jacks." Which of course reminds us of the Perry Como song: What Did Della Wear? (She wore a brand new jersey.) Como also had a hit with Seattle. Scranton was also the location referred to in Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas sung by Harry Chapin.



It's sloppy sentimentality but I still like Andy William's Hawaiian Wedding (because it always reminds me of Lake Tahoe.)



What about Okie From Muskogee, North to Alaska and The Battle of New Orleans?



If the people at Rhino Records Headquarters happen to read this column, maybe they will get the idea to do a CD of geography songs. Speaking of their HQ, their town reminds us of the old Dr. Demento favorite: To Hear Veronica Play Her Harmonica on the Pier in Santa Monica. (Have the fact checker work on that title; the Internet doesn't produce a definitive title for that particular song.)



In his book, The War Between the State, Jon Winokur quotes Jim Heimann as saying: "You have to work LA; San Francisco just lies on its back for you to pet."



Now, if the disk jockey will play Harlem Nocturne, we'll drift on out of here like a puff of cigarette smoke vanishing into thin air in a friendly bar. Come back again next week. Until then, be cool daddy-o.









Copyright © 2004 - Robert Patterson

Just a blast from the past and a little retro.

and, listeners, for those of you who love the mystery of history, this site is fabulous.

9:00 o'clock; tonight; on Discovery.

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/pompeii/index.html

Now someone pleas play Harlem Nocturne.

El Rancho Grande

El Rancho Grande
(English lyrics Bartley Costello,
Spanish lyrics by J. del Moral, Music by Emilio Uranga)

CHO: I love to roam out yonder
Out where the buffalo wander
Free as the eagle flying
I'm roping and a-tying
I'm roping and a-tying.
Give me my ranch and my cattle
Far from the great city's rattle
Give me a big herd to battle
For I just love herding cattle.

CHO: Alla en la rancho grande
Alla donde vivia
Habia una ranche rita
Que alegre me decia
Que alegra me decia.
Te voy hacer tus calzones
Como los usa el ranchero
Te los comienzo de lana
Te los acabo de cuero.

Sometimes the winter storms tearing,
Set all the cattle a-raring.

But when the winter is over,
We're sure enough in the clover.

Give me the wide-open spaces,
That's just where I know my place is.

I love the rodeo dearly,
And the big round-up yearly.

Though we play seven eleven,
My ranch is next door to Heaven

We smile when we take a beatin',
But hang a rat when he's cheatin'.

edgar and his ranchero.

There's a phrase nowadays folks are using
It's an old one that's always new
If you run into friends in your cruising
This friendly greeting will always do:

Saludos amigos
A fond greeting to you
A warm handshake or two
Good friends always do

Saludos amigos
A new day's waiting to start
You must meet it, wake up and greet it
With a gay song in your heart!

Speaking of gay songs. Where is the PRINCE?

Dedicated to Letty:

Harlem Nocturne
Words & Music by Dick Rogers & Earle Hagen, 1940
Recorded by Mel Torme, 1963


Am A9 Am Am+7 Am C Am C Am Dm
A nocturne for the blues played on a bro - ken heart string

Dm D9 Dm Dm+7 F7 E7 Fdim Am
It's wailing out the news my baby is gone from me.


Am A9 Am Am+7 Am C Am C Am Dm
Dark shadows in the rain, a tel - e - phone that won't ring

Dm D9 Dm Dm+7 F7 E7 Fdim Am
Just mem - o - ries re- main of lovers that used to be.

A Cdim G A Cdim G
I miss the laughs and the fun, my spot in the sun

A Cdim G Cdim A A7
When I was the one one and only.

D Fdim C D Fdim C
The music and lights, those wonderful nights

E D C Bb G#7 F#7 E7
The morn - ing is the time we'd kiss.

A Cdim G A Cdim G
The laughs and the fun, my days in the sun,

A Cdim G Cdim A A7
They're over and done, and I'm lonely;


D Fdim C D Fdim C
Don't ask me to hide the heartbreak in - side

E D C Bb G#7 F#7 E7 Fdim Am
The gleam - ing spark is gone, the light went dark.


Am A9 Am Am+7 Am C Am Dm
This nocturn for the blues took all and left me nothing

Dm D9 Dm Dm+7 F7 E7 Fdim Am
Nothing but the blues 'til baby comes back to me.

Raggedy, my dear colleague. I didn't even know Harlem Nocturne had lyrics. I can hear that minor music in my head. Thank you from me and from our listeners.

Now off to watch Pompeii.

Bubble, bubble toil and trouble.

<good evening WA2K, i'm back with some mindless self indulgence, i found out today that one of my fave bands is getting the back catalouge re-release and upgrade treatment, so in honour of this some selections from irelands own, the boomtown rats>

Traffic's wild tonight
Diamond smiles her cocktail smile.
Tonight she's in heavy disquise.
She looks at her wrist to clock the passing time.

Weather's mild tonight
She wonders will her glamour survive,
She wonders do they notice her eyes,
And can they see she's going down a third time.

Everybody tries,
It's Dale Carnegie gone wild,
But Barbara Cartland's child
long ago perfected the motionless glide.

In the low voltage noise,
Diamond seems so sure and so poised
She shimmers for the bright young boys,
And laugh's "Love is for others, but me it destroys"

The girl in the cake
Jumped out too soon by mistake,
Somebody said the whole things half baked
And Diamond lifts her glass and says "cheers"

She stands to the side
There's no more to this than meets the eye,
Everybody drinks Martini dry,
And talks about clothes and the latest styles.

Chorus:

They said she did it
With grace.
They said she did it
With style.
They said she did it all
Before she died
Oh No
I remember Diamond's smile

Nobody saw her go,
They said they should have noticed
'cos her dress was cut so low.
Well it only goes to show
Ha, ha, how many real men any of us know.

She went up the stairs,
Stood up on the vanity chair,
Tied her lame belt around the chandelier,
And went out kicking at the perfumed air.

Repeat Chorus

<that was diamond smile, from 1979's album the fine art of surfacing, also from the same disc is this offering, when the night comes>

The offices are emptying their pale-faced wards into the street,
Flickering their strip-light eyes, shivering they readjust their lives
From the air-conditioned heat.
The humdrum and mundane
Is nearly driving them insane.
But you get hooked so quick to anything
Even your chains,
You're crouching in your corner 'til they open up your cage.

Chorus:
And when the night comes
It'll help you disappear
And when the night comes
Forget about the day that brought you here.

Frankie takes the train and makes it home in time to catch the evening news,
Opening a can of beans he learns the world has turned without much help from him.
Hey Frank, why not get drunk tonight?
Hey Frank, I think it'll be alright,
You'll be too far gone to notice when the neighbors start complaining,
But they're used to it by now, every day's the same.

(repeat chorus)

And when the night comes,
He might get on the phone,
She's a stuck-up bitch,
But she lives on her own,
And he heard her talking dirty to the girls the other day,
And she knew that he had heard her and she looked "as if to say"
And then later up in marketing while going through the files,
She bent a little too far down, then turned around and smiled.
He got her number,
He got the phone,
He dialed the number,
He heard the tone.
He said "Tonight's the night that I've been waiting for,
Oh I know you've seen me worship you from afar,
And I might tell you that I love you and I will but just for
Tonight, one night, alright tonight."
In his three piece cunning camouflage nobody
can guess what Frankie's thinking,
Last night she said "I don't know if I'm drowning
Maybey it's because I'm sinking."
He said "It'll be okay
I'll get outta here one day"
And she said "Frankie, you're no different from any of the rest,
They've nailed you to that table and chained you to your desk."
But when the night comes....

(repeat chorus)

<next we have something from the first album, joey's on the streets again>

Sooner or later when the dawn was breaking
The joint was jumping and the walls were shaking
Joey sneaked in the backdoor way
Pretending he was with the band, he never used to pay
He was no great draw at pulling the chicks
He used to lie against the wall like he was holding up the bricks
And all the things that guy used to do to get his kicks
He was a legand in his lifetime with the neighborhood kids

They said "Joey did this" and "Joey did that"
Oh that guy was crazy, what a crazy cat
Then something strange would happen, there's trouble on the way
And trouble only means one thing....
Joey's on the street again.

Joey grew older, older without a cause
Got married, had some kids and had his brushes with the law
Settled down and got a job, then said "I'm leaving" one day
"I've gotta hang loose a while, take care while I'm away."
People said they'd seen him, they were nearly always wrong
'Cause no one knew how much he had, where he'd gone or for how long
'Til one day there came a rumor, floating from the docks
Saying a crazy stranger had been found lying among the rocks.

The said "Joey was this" and "Joey was that"
Oh that guy was crazy, what a crazy cat
But no one quite believed it, all rumors are the same
And now if something happens they say....
Joey's on the street again.

When Joey moved away
A lot of the kids said "I can't stay around here"
They said "I'm moving out, going away
They said "I'm leaving, getting out
"I'm gonna go somewhere where it doesn't stink
Away from the alleys, somewhere I can think
Wash the dirt from my hands, watch it wash down the sink
It's a strain on the brain living close to the brink

Look at the brickwall gravestone where some kid was sprayed
Saying nobody could be bothered here to rule O.K.
Don't believe it, don't believe it what they say on TV
There's no romance, no romance
For Joey in this city.

<the rat's tackled some political issues on the album mondo bongo, with songs like banana republic and another piece of red>

Chorus:
Banana Republic
Septic Isle
Screaming in the suffering sea
It sounds like crying
Everywhere I go
Everywhere I see
The black and blue uniforms
Police and priests

And I wonder do you wonder
While you're sleeping with your whore
That sharing beds with history
Is like a-licking running sores
Forty shades of green yeah
Sixty shades of red
Heroes going cheap these days
Price; a bullet in the head

repeat chorus

Take your hand and lead you
Up a garden path
Let me stand aside here
And watch you pass
Striking up a soldier's song
I know that tune
It begs too many questions
And answers to,

repeat chorus

The purple and the pinstripe
Mutely shake their heads
A silence shrieking volumes
A violence worse than the condemn
Stab you in the back yeah
Laughing in your face
Glad to see the place again
It's a pitty nothing's changed

repeat chorus

***************

I was reading in New Zealand about Ian Smith
I was thinking they were lucky to be rid of that ****.
The people here can still believe in stiff lips and stiff collars
They're speaking deals in English
But they're making deals in dollars.
They're breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
They're calling for an umpire
Nobody's playing cricket
The flags are coming down everybody stands saluting
But somewhere in the distance, I can hear somebody shooting.

And another piece of red left my atlas today.

It's so long Hong Kong and no more Singapore
Those steaming nights of Malta
Goodbye Gibraltar
I'll give you arms for Africa
I'm hungry for India
The sun's set on Australia
And vive le Canada

Theyre breaking up an empire
Nobody's buying British
Calling for an umpire
It really isn't cricket
The flags are coming down
There's a minimum of looting
Somewhere in the distance I can see somebody shooting
And another piece of red left my atlas today.........

<they were however at their best, when crafting tight pop songs, like these two, from the album tonic for the troops, she's so modern, and me and howard hughes>

La-la-la-la
She's so 20th century
She's so 1970's
She knows the right things to say
She's got the right clothes to wear
Cos she's a modern girl, oh yeah
A modern girl yeah, ga-ga-ga-ga-ga.
A modern girl, oh yeah.

And Suzie is a jewel,
She flashes when she smiles.
She's cunning and she's clever
She's got the lowdown in her files.
Magenta is the best
You know she really makes me laugh
She's always tryin' her impressions
She wants to be a photograph, I gotta say now

She's so 20th century
She's so etc....

Jean confided to me
She's Mona Lisa's biggest fan
She drew a mustache on her face
She's always seen her as a man
And Charlie ain't no Nazi
She likes to wear her leather boots
Cos it's exciting for the veterans
And it's a tonic for the troops.

She's so 20th century, oh yeah.

*****************************

Hand me down a strong panacea,
One that's guaranteed to make me feel like Hercules,
There's flies everywhere, buzzing in the air,
Filling my body with filth and disease....and I think,

He thinks he should develop a complex,
He thinks that he really owes it to himself,
His friends'll all say he's looking sick and unhealthy
An' then he can wallow in sweet self-neglect

Oh oh yeah...he's gonna

Lock himself up in his room
Shutter the windows and bolt all the doors,
Wrap himself round in his Wall Street cocoon
He's painting the ceiling, the walls and the floor,

He's gonna lock himself up in his room
And when he emerges have a new change of style,
He keeps saying things like it's me and Howard Hughes
You'd wana watch out for that dangerous smile.

Oh, oh yeah....

< the later albums saw them take some chances, with varying degrees of success, from the last album, in the long grass, comes the song drag me down, which contains one of my favourite rats lines ever
"And when the record is over
The passion's been spent
The movie winds down and says "The End" in French
I'll turn on the lights
But do I have to pretend it's true?">

Drag me down in colors pink and gold
(Like a ship that's going under..
Bring me home in rain and thunder)
Bless the night before the day grows old
(Like a ship that's going under...
Bring me home in rain and thunder)

Drag me down in colors pink and gold
(Like a ship that's going under...
I'll be home in rain and thunder)
Bless the night before the day grows old
(With pink and...With pink and gold)

It's just a moment of terror
A fraction of bliss
Your hearts in my mouth and
My soul's in your wrist
I love you I think
But is it always like this with you?

Tuck me up with stories I've been told
(Like a ship that's going under...
I'll be home in rain and thunder)
Then wake me up with days that come and go
(With pink and...With pink and...With pink and gold)

And when the record is over
The passion's been spent
The movie winds down and says "The End" in French
I'll turn on the lights
But do I have to pretend it's true?

I love you....oh, oh, oh, oh...
and...
I need you...oh, oh, oh, oh...

Drag me down, Drag me down, oh, oh, oh, oh...
Drag me down, Drag me down, oh, oh, oh, oh...
Drag me down in colors pink and gold.

<finally tonight, the song that everyone knows, the rats were touring america and during a visit to a radio station the news came over the wire of a schoolyard shooting in california, the girl involved, when asked the reason behind her crime, offered this as one explanation, i don't like mondays>

The silicon chip inside her head
gets switched to overload
and nobody's gonna go to school today
she's gonna make them stay at home
And Daddy doesn't understand it
He always said she was good as gold
And he can see no reason
Cos there are no reasons
What reasons do you need to be shown

Chorus:
Tell me why
I don't like Mondays
I want to shoot
The whole day down

The telex machine is kept so clean
and it types to waiting world.
And Mother feels so shocked
Father's world is rocked
And their thoughts turn to
Their own little girl
Sweet 16 ain't that peachy keen
No it ain't so neat to admit defeat,
They can see no reasons
Cos there are no reasons
What reasons do you need to be shown

Repeat Chorus

All the playing's stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys awhile
And school's out early and soon we'll be learning
That the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
With the problems and the how's and why's
And he can see no reasons
Cos there are no reasons
What reasons do you need to die

Repeat Chorus

Good morning, WA2K radio fans and staff.

dj, I'm not familiar with Diamond Smile, but those lyrics were unique and haunting. Thank you for sharing them with our audience and staff.

Pompeii was a truly good reenactment, folks. Perhaps they will show it again on The Discovery Channel. Amazing to me that people always return to their homes after natural disasters, but as I understand it, all older settlements tend to be where the water is.

Back later with more requests and music

Sorry I missed Pompeii, but I doubt if the Discovery Channel's version compared with this:

The Last Days
of Pompeii
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Novel 1834

"First lines:
"Ho, Diomed, well met! Do you sup with Glaucus tonight?" said a young man of small stature, who wore his tunic in those loose and effeminate folds which proved him to be a gentleman and a coxcomb.
"Alas, no, dear Clodius! He has not invited me," replied Diomed, a man of portly frame and of middle age. "By Pollux, a scurvy trick! For they say his suppers are the best in Pompeii."
Most unbelievable lines:
"Die, then, in thy rashness!" he muttered. "Away, obstacle to my rushing fates!"

....book starts with an evening not at all dark or stormy, something like an ancient Greek dialogue actually, two friends meeting and discussing their dining plans. (See above dialogue) But already the signs of bad writing are evident.

A scurvy start indeed. And it's all downhill from there. Literally. As the melodrama unfolds among the residents of Pompeii, the mountain Vesuvius starts hissing and eventually rains volcanic ash onto all below.

No wonder The Last Days of Pompeii has often been made into films. It's an exciting story, if rather inevitable, involving young lovers, early Christians meeting in secret, an evil Egyptian pagan who imprisons and tries to rape our heroine, a conflicted pathetic blind girl, our hero being led to the lions as his friends plot his release.... And the retributive eruption."

My cousin once owned a book of the 1936 screen version with pictures of Preston Foster and Basis Rathbone which fascinated me at the time. (lol) The special effects were by the same people who did King Kong. A really big deal in its time. I saw it on TCM a few months ago. I wish I hadn't. All
that lovely magic down the drain.

Be back shortly with Celebrity Birthdays.

Wow! Raggedy. Great info. I need to do some further research myself. I vaguely remember The Last Days of Pompeii with Foster. It seems to me that Christ appeared to him as the city died.

This is the place to be, listeners, for all the latest in archaeology. (among other things)

and now the January 31 celebrities:

1797 Franz Schubert, composer (Vienna, Austria; died 1828)
1872 Zane Grey, Western novelist (Zanesville, OH; died 1939)
1919 Jackie Robinson, 1st African-American baseball player in the modern major leagues (Cairo, GA; died 1972)
1923 Carol Channing, actress (Seattle, WA)
1923 Norman Mailer, author (Long Branch, NJ)
1929 Jean Simmons, actress (London, England)
1931 Ernie Banks, baseball player (Dallas, TX)
1937 Philip Glass, composer (Baltimore, MD)
1937 Suzanne Pleshette, actress (New York, NY)
1941 Richard Gephardt, Missouri congressman and House minority leader (St. Louis, MO)
1944 Jessica Walter, actress (New York, NY)
1947 Nolan Ryan, baseball pitcher (Refugio, TX)
1956 Johnny Rotten, singer (near London, England)
1971 Minnie Driver, actress (London, England)



Happy Birthday, Ms. Channing and many more.

Hey, Raggedy. Didn't Carol do Hello Dolly? What a talent.

Isn't it odd, listeners, how coincidences can come into play. I was trying to get back in the classical groove by playing Schubert's Serenade, and he has popped up twice; here and in the NYT's puzzle. (makes the sign of the cross)

Kickcan had a thread going about The Perfect Moment which elaborated on the right time for a kiss, and this lovely song came to mind:

If you hear
A song in blue
Like a flower crying
For the dew
That was my heart serenading you
My prelude to a kiss

If you hear a song that grows
From my tender sentimental woes
That was my heart trying to compose
A prelude to a kiss

Though it's just a simple melody
With nothing fancy
Nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A shubert tune with a gershwin touch

Oh how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss

(bridge)

Though it's just a simple melody
With nothing fancy
Nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A shubert tune with a gershwin touch

Oh how my love song so gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss

See? There Shubert again. <smile>

too lazy to edit. Make that: there's Schubert again.

That's a lovely tune.
You can be sure there will be a lot more synchronization in the offing. There's some sort of wave length that we're riding here at A2K. Believe me. And speaking of believing, would you believe that Carol Channing debuted in Hello Dolly in 1964? I can't believe it was that long ago.

It is difficult to believe, Raggedy. That was the hippy generation, too. Dear ole Louis did a version of that song. Incidentally, Johnny Rotten singer gave me a chuckle.

Listeners, I've been searching the better part of a day to locate more about Pompeii, but I couldn't find Silverberg's version and my copy has vanished.

Here's an interesting medical item:

Leprosy is still alive and affecting many people in Europe. I'll have to locate that and post the item in its entirety. I think it's now called Hansen's disease to eliminate the stigma.

1 in 3 teens says First Amendment goes 'too far'
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press
SURVEY
THE ISSUE: The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation sponsored a study of high school students' attitudes about the First Amendment to the Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly.
THE FINDING: More than one in three students surveyed said the guarantees went too far, in sharp contrast to teachers and principals who were questioned.

THE REMEDY: Better teaching of the Constitution and the rights that it protects, which the study suggests will be embraced by students once they know of them.


WASHINGTON - The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.

It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released today.

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

"These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."

The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says.

When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.

The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn't know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights.

Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.

"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment."

The partners in the project, including organizations of newspaper editors and radio and television news directors, share a clear advocacy for First Amendment issues.

Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has even pushed through a mandate that schools must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the date it was signed in 1787.

The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, is billed as the largest of its kind. More than 100,000 students, nearly 8,000 teachers and more than 500 administrators at 544 public and private high schools took part in early 2004.

The study suggests that students embrace First Amendment freedoms if they are taught about them and given a chance to practice them, but schools don't make the matter a priority.

Students who take part in school media activities, such as a student newspapers or TV production, are much more likely to support expression of unpopular views, for example.

About nine in 10 principals said it is important for all students to learn some journalism skills, but most administrators say a lack of money limits their media offerings.

More than one in five schools offer no student media opportunities; of the high schools that do not offer student newspapers, 40 percent have eliminated them in the last five years.

"The last 15 years have not been a golden era for student media," said Warren Watson, director of the J-Ideas project at Ball State University in Indiana. "Programs are under siege or dying from neglect. Many students do not get the opportunity to practice our basic freedoms."

edgar, The Bill of Rights. Does anyone ever re examine The U.S. Constitution? I must admit that I have been very lax in doing so.

Listeners, while we think about The US Constitution, I was searching out a song.

You're a nobody till somebody loves you
You're nobody till somebody cares
You may be king, you may possess the world and its gold
But gold won't bring you happiness when you're growin' old

The world still is the same, you'll never change it
As sure as the stars shine above
You're nobody till somebody loves you
Find yourself somebody to love

[very brief instrumental]

You're a nobody till somebody loves you
You're nobody till somebody cares
You may be a king, you may possess the whole world and its gold
But gold won't bring you happiness when you're gettin' old

The world still is the same, you'll never change it
As sure as the stars shine above
You're nobody, nobody till somebody loves you
So find yourself somebody

[bridge]
Gotta get yourself somebody

Because you're nobody till somebody loves you
You're nobody till somebody cares
You may a king, you might possess the big fat world and its gold
But gold won't bring you happiness when you're growin' old

The world, the whole world's the same, you'll never change it change it
As sure as the stars shine above
You're a nobody till somebody loves you
So find yourself somebody somebody to love


FRANK SINATRA

I guess we won't be able to change the world, old blue eyes





www.OldieLyrics

Busted our conga, rusted out Dodge,
California dreamin' of an international hodgepodge.
An old roach in the ashtray, a closed sidewalk cafe,
A saxophone in pieces, a moth-eaten beret.

A little bird told me, I heard it on the wind,
All of them old beatniks, ah they're gonna rise again.
Daddy-o and mommy-o, kiddie-o and me,
To a beat cool city landscape in the key of E.

Where all our styles of poetry will leap right off the page,
And ride upon a hi-igh lonesome riff across the stage.
Our lovers will meet us mysteriously in rainy night hotels,
And we'll all be always traveling, sometimes under spells.

Oh praise the battered sunflower, grows in the Kwik Trip lot,
Ah, we'll all get naked in little pairs, and we'll get so loose and so hot.
We'll troop across the country; bring joy to the Midwest,
Redesign our houses to the shape of a gentle breast.

And we'll laugh away the government; we'll laugh away the years,
When we get tired of laughing away, ah, we'll taste each other's tears.
We'll taste the cool spring water and learn where it can be found,
We'll take a little taste of everything, and we'll hand the knowledge down.

A little bird told me, I heard it on the wind,
All of them old beatniks, ah they're gonna rise again.
Daddy-o and mommy-o, kiddie-o and me,
To a beat cool city landscape in the key of ecstasy.

and the beat goes on, dys.

I know there's a song called Stagga Lee, but the only lyrics that I could didn't pass FCC. Soooooooooooooo

MOODY BLUES LYRICS

"The Night: Nights In White Satin"

Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters I've written,
Never meaning to send.

Beauty I'd always missed
With these eyes before,
Just what the truth is
I can't say anymore.

'Cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.

Gazing at people,
Some hand in hand,
Just what I'm going thru
They can understand.

Some try to tell me
Thoughts they cannot defend,
Just what you want to be
You will be in the end,

And I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

Nights in white satin,
Never reaching the end,
Letters I've written,
Never meaning to send.

Beauty I'd always missed
With these eyes before,
Just what the truth is
I can't say anymore.

'Cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

'Cause I love you,
Yes, I love you,
Oh, how, I love you.
Oh, how, I love you.

Moody Blues. Ah, me. What a night.

Later, all.

With Love from Letty

Letty, I believe you're thinking of "Stagger Lee." Here's the lyrics to Huey Lewis's version, also done by Neil Diamond, Wilson Pickett, the Grateful Dead and many others. There's also a different set of lyrics by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but as you said, it's largely unprintable.


STAGGER LEE

The night was clear, and the moon was yellow
And the leaves came tumblin' down. . .

I was standin' on the corner
When I heard my bull dog bark.
He was barkin' at the two men
Who were gamblin' in the dark.

It was Stagger Lee and Billy,
Two men who gambled late.
Stagger Lee threw a seven,
Billy swore that he threw eight.

"Stagger Lee," said Billy,
"I can't let you go with that.
You have won all my money,
And my brand-new stetson hat."

Stagger Lee went home
And he got his .44.
He said, "I'm goin' to the ballroom
Just to pay that debt I owe."

(bridge)
Go, Stagger Lee

Stagger Lee went to the ballroom
And he strolled across the ballroom floor.
He said, "You did me wrong, Billy."
And he pulled his .44.

"Stagger Lee," said Billy,
"Oh, please don't take my life!
I've got three hungry children,
And a very sickly wife."

Stagger Lee shot Billy
Oh, he shot that poor boy so hard
That a bullet went through Billy
And broke the bartender's bar.

Go, Stagger Lee, go, Stagger Lee!
Go, Stagger Lee, go, Stagger Lee!
(to fade)