Re: The Peanuts annotation project (at Wiki)


Bill Lentz wrote:
On 5 May 2006 19:27:47 -0700, "D. D. Degg" <dddegg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Brian Huntley wrote:
How about an annotated Bugs. It took me *years* to track down "Notice I
didn't say "Richard?""

And now with that remarkable research tool called Google
it only takes minutes.

Bugs Bunny in Freleng's "High Diving Hare" (for those wishing to
take a short cut it's a bit over 3/4 of the way through the short):
http://thetravisty.com/Looney_Tunes/wmv/High_Diving_Hare.htm

For the source it's disc four, song two; listen to a few seconds of it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/samples/B00005KFUG/ref=dp_tracks_all_2/102-0289896-0504906?%5Fencoding=UTF8#disc_2

D.D.Degg


Boy that brings back memories. When I was a freshly minted music
teacher my first job was teaching band, chorus and general music
half-time at a small school in central Illinois. For the general
music class (which was, I think 5th and 6th grade), I did a couple of
weeks on how music can tell a story. One of the assignments was for
each student to bring in a record (this was back in the '70's) or
piece of music and talk about the story it told.

One child procrastinated and finally brought in "Open the Door
Richard". I had never heard of it, so I sat there with the rest of
the class as this kid played the song and narrated "Here Richard's
trying to get in the door" "Here somebody's starting to get drunk"
"Now he's really drunk" "Now he's trying to get in the door again."

I managed to keep a straight face, and prayed that most of the story
went over the kids heads.


It's a hilarious "song," which I put in quotation marks because much of
it depends on the delivery -- the version I first heard, by Dusty
Fletcher, who wrote it, was almost a recitive, with a chorus coming in
periodically with the recurring quatrain but the rest of it done as a
monologue with a very drunk, black ne'er-do-well ... apparently he used
to perform it as a live comedy act that also involved climbing an
unsupported ladder. If you had THAT version come up in a 1970s music
class, you would have been squirming for sure, because it's the kind of
humor that would really have raised hackles in those days, though it
would probably be okay today in the right context. (Fletcher performed
mostly for black audiences).

I later heard a much tamer version and it was kind of blah by
comparison.

I found a web site with the top hits of 1947 and there were a half
dozen people who had hits with it. In those days, it was the songs and
not the artists that became hits, though of course some were emblematic
for certain groups. But here's a spread on that one:
Open the Door, Richard - Count Basie (#1)
Open the Door, Richard - Charioteers (#6)
Open the Door, Richard - Dusty Fletcher (#3)
Open the Door, Richard - Louis Jordan (#6)
Open the Door, Richard - Jack McVea (#3)
Open the Door, Richard - The Pied Pipers (#8)
Open the Door, Richard - The Three Flames (#1)

Mike Peterson
Glens Falls NY

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Puppies
    ... My boss and friend Richard is a recent empty nester. ... Now that we live next door to Robin and Craig, ... Our garage is a side entry, ... Robin was telling me, one evening when craig got home from work he went out ...
    (rec.pets.dogs.behavior)
  • RE: wanting to do MCSA (its a bit long tho)
    ... Richard: All the advice offered so far is good. ... in personality as well as proficiency, a career in IT is difficult ... "volunteer" for a school, lbrary, etc. ... front door, early in their careers. ...
    (microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsa)
  • Re: JKR Site Update Sept.29
    ... I've got the little green thing to continually spark once. ... but the door stayed shut. ... The first time, the handle will move ... Richard The Blind Typer ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)
  • Re: JKR Site Update Sept.29
    ... I've got the little green thing to continually spark once. ... but the door stayed shut. ... The first time, the handle will move ... Richard The Blind Typer ...
    (alt.fan.harry-potter)
  • Re: Dylans doors
    ... >Why does Dylan call the song Open the Door, Homer, when he wants ... There must have been an old song with the title or lyric "Open the Door, ... Richard" because in the early 70s, my mother-in-law used to sing the ... she didn't know much about Dylan back then, ...
    (rec.music.dylan)