Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: melinda abplanalp who wrote (38909)	9/29/1999 2:01:00 PM
From: Rambi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

Why!-- Funny you should mention this! There was a children's opera written about this very thing! As you know, Thomas and I have been having one of our little erudite and intellectual disputations about the origin of The Banana Boat Song. (I know it's difficult for the rest of the thread to have not just one, but TWO such brilliant and learned authorities of musicology on the thread) Thomas, of course, is usually not right, but he works hard. Yesterday he affirmed that the early lyrics of the Banana Boat Song were about eating spiders and cited The Unabridged Musical Folklore Dictionary. (I know, I know, rather surficial, but what can one say) And it's six foot seven foot eight foot BUNCH! We take da black tarantula make 'im tasty LUNCH Certainly this reference has some merit, but, as usual, I have delved deeper and gone farther. Note the preponderance of monosyllabics-one of the indicators that I as a professional knew to look for in determining origin. This coupled with the use of sequential numbers indicated an earlier source, most likely having some connection to children and sure enough! I discovered in MY Unabridged Early Opera for Children and Simple Minds, a small opera, one might even say operetta except for the ecologically tragic ending, dealing with a farmer who ate a cow who ate a dog who ate a cat who ate a spider who ate a fly which had unfortunately-even ironically- eaten cowdung, and gave e coli to the farmer and his family. The original title of the opera was The Farmer Died ToDay-O and the final aria, sung by the only surviving member of the clan, a vegetarian, is the moving Requiem with its stirring chorus: Day-O,Today ay ay O, Today is done and the farmer go home. THe librettist couldn't resist adding a somewhat moralistic verse about how, had the farmer abstained from meat and eaten bananas, all would have been well. And thus through the years, the song evolved...one variation being the still popular and now sanitized Farmer in the Dell, another the vegetarian version, THe Banana Boat Song.