Grandfather's Clock

[davemarc]

> From: Linda Highland <lrgh at webtv.net>
> 
> Seems to me that Ruthsings "abridged" version IS the entire Lawrence
> Welk rendition....if this is the case, who recorded the complete work?
> HW himself?
> (And Ruthsings--thanks for correcting my "fifty" years for the correct
> "ninety"  The first thing I thought when I woke up at 5:30 AM this
> morning is "I think I posted the wrong lyrics to "Grandfathers Clock" to
> the Pynchon list last night!")
> A feeble attempt to bring this back more closely tpo Pynchon--no chance
> that a-and was inspired by the old a-one and a-two, hmmm?  Didn't really
> think so.....

I still think the a-and came from the comix (a-and also, maybe, from P's
alleged speech impediment and Writer's Ear).  On the subject of stuttering:
 at the Time Warner shareholder meeting this fine morning, CEO Gerry Levin
talked about how Porky Pig is a positive, much-loved role model for the
speech-impaired. (Levin was prompted to do so by an activist for
speech-impaired people who was in complete accord with him.)  Apparently
there's now a downloadable pro-tolerance coloring page, featuring Porky
among other Toons, somewhere at the Pathfinder site.  Noting that this is a
great triumph for post-Nazi propaganda techniques, I gotta admit that that
the spectacle of Levin extolling Porky Pig's character was also completely
surreal.

A-and now for a-one a-more remark on "Grandfather's Clock."  There's at
least one well-known parody of the tune.  It was used against Benjamin
Harrison during a presidential campaign:  "His grandfather's hat was too
big for his head...."  Don't recall the rest of it, unfortunately.

davemarc