Spike Jones went to the opera ...
Well, Melina, representing the down-home point of view - here is a Spike Jones take on a couple guys from the country who find themselves at an opera by accident. I'm thinking about trying to convince Bob we could learn this song ...
When we wuz in the city we wuz wond'rin' where to go.
A sign spelled out Pal-Yat-Chee up in lights above a show.
We thought 'twould be a Western till the stage lit up with lights,
An' ninety seven people sung without a horse in sight.
We couldn't understand 'em 'cause they spoke a foreign tongue,
But we can give you some i-dee of what we think they sung:
Ridi, Pagliaccio, Sul tuo amore'in fronto
All at once there's a fat guy in a clown suit.
Ain't Haller-ween, that's for shore.
Then this here feller, this Punchy Neller,
Begins to beller -- Like we all was deef:
Ha ha ha ha ha!
That was Pal-Yat-Chee! an' he sung:
Invest in a tuba an' somthin' or other 'bout Cuba
He sung about a lady who weighed two hundred and eighty.
When she takes a powder he just starts chirpin' louder
And he don't do a gol-durn thing 'cept to stand up there an' sing.
When we listen to Pal-Yat-Chee we get itchy an' scratchy.
This shore is top corn so we go and buy some popcorn.
We hate to go back but we can't git our dough back.
There ain't no use complainin' 'cause outside it's a-rainin'.
Seven hours later we're still in the dern theater,
Takin' turns at nappin', a-waitin' for somethin' to happen.
Pal-Yat-Chee he ain't hurryin' but the folks on stage are flurryin'
And it sounds like Kat-chee-tur-ry-in's Sabre Dance.
When ol' Pal-Yat-Chee finds the guy he's seekin'
Cheek-to-cheekin' with his wife he grabs a knife
And stabs the louse who stole his spouse
An' then he stabs the lady and himself.
Ain't very sanitary.
They all collapse but ol' Pal-Yat-Chee sets up
Then he gets up, sings "I'm dyin',
I am dyin', I am dyin'."We start cryin'
'Cause to tell the truth we're dyin' too.
As the footlights fade out we see Pal-Yat-Chee laid out
But the dagger never caused it. Pal-Yat-Chee was plumb exhausted.
Technorati Tags: Opera, Pagliacci, Culture, Redneck
1 Comments:
I always loved that bit. Jones, brilliantly, got Homer and Jethro to play his bumpkins, and they're perfect, even maintaining their cool during the two verses sung over the "Sabre Dance".
And to this day, I can't hear "Vesti la giubba" without wondering if I should invest in a tuba - or a box of Rice Krispies.
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