DAY 70 - COUNTING DOWN TO THE 50TH

Good Morning, Class of '64

Record Player - Karen Sloan

“No man is exempt from saying silly things;
the mischief is to say them deliberately.”
Michel de Montaigne
The Complete Essays

Have You Ever Seen

Anonymous

Have you ever seen a sheet on a river bed?
Or a single hair from a hammer's head?
Has the foot of a mountain any toes?
And is there a pair of garden hose?

Does the needle ever wink its eye?
Why doesn't the wing of a building fly?
Can you tickle the ribs of a parasol?
Or open the trunk of a tree at all?

Are the teeth of a rake ever going to bite?
Have the hands of a clock any left or right?
Can the garden plot be deep and dark?
And what is the sound of the birch's bark?

"Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans.
It is lovely to be silly at the right moment."
Horace

In the world we live in there are serious heartbreaking stories, disappointing happenings, and unbelievable events. This ever has been and ever will be - escalating as the years pass, so it seems.

To constantly dwell in that chaotic place would depress and confuse us and cause unceasing weeping. Out there, in that sometimes sordid world, there are and have always been creative people who carry us away and help us forget, if only for a short amount of time. 

They make us smile, grin, chuckle, or laugh. With their writing, their art, their antics or their music we escape for a while into a silly but saner place. Refreshed, we can go back to that other world and maybe find some solutions.

"If by chance some day you're not feeling well and
you should remember some silly thing I've said
or done and it brings back a smile to your face
or a chuckle to your heart, then my
purpose as your clown has been fulfilled."
Red Skelton


My Younger Days

Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days,
I weighed a few pounds less,
I needn't hold my tummy in
to wear a belted dress.

But now that I am older,
I've set my body free;
There's the comfort of elastic
Where once my waist would be.

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes
My feet have not forgiven;
I have to wear a nine now,
But used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose-
They're sized by weight, you see,
So how come when I put them on
The crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses
As the print's been getting smaller;
And it wasn't very long ago
I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to gray
and my skin no longer fits,
On the inside, I'm the same old me,
It's the outside's changed a bit.

Witch Doctor
A song performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., 

and released in 1958 by Liberty Records 

under the name David Seville,

 of David Seville and the Chipmunks,

 a character whom Bagdasarian portrayed.
Peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Also peaked at number one on the Billboard
R&B chart and on the Cash Box chart as well.
Considered a major surprise hit on the chart,
where it stayed at number one for two weeks
and became Seville's first number-one single.
Sold over one million copies in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_Doctor_%28song%29
David Seville - 1958
(Ed Sullivan Show)

   

"The best things in life are silly."
Scott Adams

Blue Chapel - Alice Mason

 
Ya Ya
The song was inspired by a children’s nursery rhyme.
Reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and 

number one on the R&B singles chart in 1961.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya_Ya
Lee Dorsey - 1961

Oh, well, I'm, UH!, sittin' here,la la
Waitin' for my ya ya, ah-um, ah-um
A sittin' here la la, waitin' for my ya ya, ah-um, ah-um
It may sound funny but I don't believe she's comin', ah-um, ah-um
 

"God invented mankind because
he loved silly stories."
Ralph Steadman

Cows Night Out - Sue Gunter

 

The Name Game
A rhyming game that creates 

variations on a person's name.
Released in late 1964 as 

"The Name Game" and went to number 3

on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 4 

on the magazine's R&B charts in 1965.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_Game 
Shirley Ellis - 1964

The name game!
Shirley!
Shirley, Shirley bo Birley
Bonana fanna fo Firley
Fee fy mo Mirley, Shirley!
 

 "Don't be afraid to look silly."
Tara Strong

Le Visage de la Paix - Alice Mason

It's All Relative

Alessandra Liverani

My mother's brother's sister's name is Grace
She's my aunt and likes to go from place to place
My mother's sister's brother's name is Brad
He's my uncle and he is my cousin's Dad

My grandmother on my mother's side
Is my maternal gran, she is my grandfather's bride
She also is my father's mother-in-law
And not surprisingly they often go to war

My cousin is the nephew of my mother
His father happens to be my mother's brother
My aunty's niece is in fact myself
I hope you're not too confused, because I can't help

"If people never did silly things nothing 

intelligent would ever get done."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Green Dream - Alice Mason

 “There is something beautiful about watching
two people lovingly act silly together;
behaving as though no one else existed.”
Steve Maraboli
Unapologetically You: 

Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

I Love Lucy
Top Ten Episodes
From the 50th Anniversary Show
I Love Lucy was the most watched show in the
United States in four of its six seasons, and was the
first to end its run at the top of the Nielsen ratings.
The show won five Emmy Awards and received
numerous nominations. The show won the coveted 

George Foster Peabody Award for
"recognition of distinguished achievement in television."
In 2002, it ranked second on TV Guide's list of
television's greatest shows.
In 2007, it was listed as one of Time magazine's
"100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Lucy

 

Stunned Surprise

Anonymous

I dreamed death came to me one night,
and Heaven's gates flew open wide.
With kindly grace, St. Peter came
and ushered me inside.

There, to my astonishment, were friends
I had known on Earth.
Some I had labeled as unfit
and some of little worth.

Indignant words flew to my lips;
Words I could not set free.
For every face showed stunned surprise --
No one expected ME!
 

 "We find it hard to believe that other

people's thoughts are as silly as our own,
but they probably are."
James Harvey Robinson

Houses and a Swirl Tree - Karla Gerard

“Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.”
Shel Silverstein
  A Light in the Attic

Father

Edgar A. Guest

My father knows the proper way
The nation should be run;
He tells us children every day
Just what should now be done.

He knows the way to fix the trusts,
He has a simple plan;
But if the furnace needs repairs,
We have to hire a man.

My father, in a day or two
Could land big thieves in jail;
There's nothing that he cannot do,
He knows no word like "fail."

"Our confidence" he would restore,
Of that there is no doubt;
But if there is a chair to mend,
We have to send it out.

All public questions that arise,
He settles on the spot;
He waits not till the tumult dies,
But grabs it while it's hot.

In matters of finance he can
Tell Congress what to do;
But, O, he finds it hard to meet
His bills as they fall due.

It almost makes him sick to read
The things law-makers say;
Why, father's just the man they need,
He never goes astray.

All wars he'd very quickly end,
As fast as I can write it;
But when a neighbor starts a fuss,
'Tis mother has to fight it.

In conversation father can
Do many wondrous things;
He's built upon a wiser plan
Than presidents or kings.

He knows the ins and outs of each
And every deep transaction;
We look to him for theories,
But look to Ma for action.

Whimsical Sheep - Thaneeya Mcardle