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#69315 05/10/02 12:38 AM
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Amazing, Max! I was thinking of that song when I saw your post! Great tune! But we left a couple out, so here's the complete lyric so we can make sure everybody gets hated equally!

The Merry Minuet
The Kingston Trio
Words and Music by Sheldon Harnick

-From their 1959 LP "From the Hungry"

They’re rioting in Africa (whistling)
They’re starving in Spain (whistling)
There’s hurricanes in Flo-ri-da (whistling)
And Texas needs rain
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch
AND I DON’T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH!!

But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud
For man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud
And we know for certain that some lovely day
Someone will set the spark off
AND WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN AWAY!!

They’re rioting in Africa (whistling)
There’s strife in Iran
What nature doesn’t do to us
Will be done by our fellow *man*---

&rcopy; 1959 by Sheldon Harnick



The Only WO'N!

#69316 05/10/02 12:59 AM
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#69317 05/10/02 01:05 AM
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> my Dad's Kingston Trio LPs and listen to them with adult ears.

heh, it's amazing how formative these kind of influences can be, isn't it? I am sure my political view was skewed for all time by hooting with laughter at my Dad's LP of The Goons' How To Win An Election (Or Not To Lose By Much) - I can still laugh at the modern manifestations of their brilliant archetypes! :rollin


#69318 05/10/02 01:49 AM
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Along with the Kingston Trio classic, I'd give the nod to Tom Lehrer for the final word on misanthropy:

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek.
It's fun to eulogize
The people you despise
As long as you don't let 'em in your school.

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It's American as apple pie.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans 'cause it's very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can't stand,
You can tolerate him if you try!

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
It's National Everyone-Smile-At-One-Another-Hood 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!


------------------------------------------------------------------------



#69319 05/10/02 03:58 AM
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Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;


Funny you should mention this, since I just returned from a lecture by black writer/scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. He was talking about surruptitiously buying the manuscript from which his new book, The Bondwoman's Narrative was taken. Since he is known as a collector of Africana, he sent a white friend to bid on the manuscript. His friend was there, as Gates said, "incognegro."

Now, to address my earlier comment: The concept of "ball busting" is often broached by misogynists, though it's usually meant metaphorically. I have a theory that because women can use both the reasoning and the emotional parts of their brains simultaneously, whereas most men can only use one or the other, some men feel "beat up" by women's superior verbal skills. They feel fear, and lash out physically, since that's the only weapon they have to balance the power, or to regain power. This is not an excuse for physical violence against women, but a possible explanation. Comments, please.

Geoff, donning flak jacket and flameprof suit.


#69320 05/10/02 01:00 PM
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Sometimes, and somtimes it could be they are responding to superior whining.

Having spent my fair share of living in a trailor park and other unsavory environments, what I've witnessed in these fights (having almost gotten the snot beaten out of me on several occasions for being stupid enough to intrude in these things) is that both parties are pretty stupid. Very often the woman was literally begging the guy to hit her so she could "throw his ass in jail" jumping up in the guy's face and spitting in it. I don't discount other people's experiences, but I don't discount my own either.

One thing I've noticed is that women often don't play fair. They start on the whining, carping, sniping thing and guys don't know how to respond other than to hit it.


Of course this doesn't apply to every case. Case in point. I knew a guy for a year or so before I realized he was hitting his wife. (In fact I was pretty dense about it. I made some remark - really innocent, I had no idea - about a mark on her face to a friend [also a psych] and he looked at me like I was a complete idiot, which I guess I was, and said "Don't you know what's going on?" And I frankly didn't till the second he mentioned it.) I mean, I knew the guy was a prick, I just never thought of that. He was a professional psychologist. She was trained in psychology, but had no practice. These guys never made a scene in public. She was a total babe, too. Smart, good-looking in a classy Julia Roberts in Notting Hill kinda way. No idea why she stayed with him.

Well, you asked.

k



#69321 05/10/02 01:19 PM
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Wasn't it Mark Russell who had a song that ended each stanza with "And everybody hates the Jews."



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Myex



TEd
#69323 05/10/02 01:31 PM
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What do you call a man who loves women? Someone who is just plain smitten with the fair sex and how it is?

And what do you call a woman who feels the same way about the brute sex and how it is? (Just kidding, really...almost...) What do you call a woman who feels the same way about men--finds a lot to admire and love about men?

And what do you call a person who loves human beings--takes joy in our humanity?


Curious,
WW


#69324 05/10/02 01:32 PM
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Maybe, but I'm pretty sure Tom Lehrer did it before him.

I never liked Mark Russell's shows that much, because he was just not that good compared to TL. If I hadn't heard TL first, maybe I would have had a greater appreciation for MR.

k



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