Thursday, January 3, 2019

Is there an echo echo echo in here here here?

I've had this thought rattling around in my noggin (actually in my hippocampus according to Dr.Christine Blasey Ford) for a while now to blog about echo songs, and I may have blogged about them already. I can't remember. It's too tedious to wade through all the previous posts and labels to find out, so if you have encountered the subject before in these parts, my most sincere apologies but you are about to encounter it again.

Some songs were written with echoes and some have acquired them through the years. Here's one of the classics:

Bill Grogan's goat (Bill Grogan's goat)
Was feeling fine (was feeling fine),
Ate three red shirts (ate three red shirts)
From off the line (from off the line).
Bill took a stick (Bill took a stick),
Gave him a whack (gave him a whack)
And tied him to (and tied him to)
The railroad track (the railroad track).

The whistle blew (the whistle blew),
The train grew nigh (the train grew nigh);
Bill Grogan's goat (Bill Grogan's goat)
Was doomed to die (was doomed to die.)
It gave three groans (it gave three groans)
Of awful pain (of awful pain),
Coughed up the shirts (coughed up the shirts)
And flagged the train (and flagged the train)!


There are others of that type, I am sure, but that's the best one, in my opinion. Here's one of the not-in-the-original-version type. Kids everywhere have been singing it this way for decades:

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer)
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it (saw it)
You would even say it glows (like a light bulb).
All of the other reindeer (reindeer)
Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio);
They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly).

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say,
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"

Then how the reindeer loved him (loved him)
As they shouted out with glee (ha ha ha),
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer (reindeer),
You'll go down in history (like Columbus)!


A song I remember from my own childhood has to be one of the most boring songs ever written:

Little Sir Echo
How yo you do?
Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)

Little Sir Echo
We'll answer you
Hello
(Hello)

Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)

Won't you come over and play?
(And play)
You're a nice little fellow
I know by your voice
But you're always so far away
(Away)

Little Sir Echo
Is very shy
Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)

Little Sir Echo
Will make reply
Hello
(Hello)

Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)
Hello
(Hello)

Won't you come over and play?
(And play)
You're a nice little fellow
I know by your voice
But you're always so far away
(Away
)

Tell me about other echo songs that you love or hate. It will be as therapeutic as testifying before Congress. I just know it.


11 comments:

  1. Notice her hand is not on a bible. Christine Blatant Fraud she should be called.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People no longer swear on a Bible. Check your local court.

      Delete
    2. Just as well. There'd be thunderbolts flying through court roofs.

      Delete
    3. On his radio program, Rush Limbaugh always referred to her as Christine Ballsy Ford. His was just plain rude; yours is more clever by a country mile.

      Delete
    4. Emma, Adrian is in Scotland. Maybe people still swear on a Bible over there. I really don't know.

      Delete
  2. I used to sing Bill Grogan's Goat to my kids. I learned it from the Mich Miller Sing-along show.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Little Sir Echo was a brilliant catchy wee song. I still have in on an old 78rpm.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graham, are you being sarcastic? Brilliant? Catchy? Really? I remember it chiefly because our school's chorus teacher made a quartet of us boys sing it in public in a school program when we were about 13. I found it humiliating as the song seemed intended for six-year-olds.

      Delete
  4. From The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

    Michael Rennie was ill, the day the Earth stood still, but he told us where we stand. (ON OUR FEET!)
    And Flash Gordon was there, in silver underwear. Claude Rains was the invisible man.(WHO’S CLAUDE RAINS?).
    Then something went wrong, for Faye Wray and King Kong, they got caught in a celluloid jam. (YEAH JAM!)
    Then at a deadly pace, it came from (WHERE?) outer space.

    And this is how the message ran…

    That’s all I can post as it’s too rude/crude from thereon in for here, but I know the show and all it’s extra lines well. I first heard the record when I was a teenager and have been to see it several times. I like the audience participation, it adds some extra fun and connects the listeners to the performers usually, much like your examples have. x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michelle, I have never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show because (a) it seemed so unsavory and (b) I don't care to go out to movies in the middle of the night. After looking up some of the lyrics and audience responses just now, I know I made the right decision. But that's just me. To each his or her own. That's why they make vanilla and chocolate. But why does fun have a way of turning into sleaze? That's the question.

    ReplyDelete

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