Monday, February 23, 2009

Ceci N'est Pas Une Gospel Song

Somebody posted this over at Eschaton the other day, but in case you missed it...



Ever hear the classic Lenny Bruce routine about a hipster jazz musician auditioning for a gig with Lawrence Welk?

Hiptster jazz musician: Uh, I gotta tell you man, I got a monkey on my back.

Welk: That's okay, we love animals in da band!

15 comments:

TMink said...

Might I nominate this for the clueless Christian Hall of Fame? As a professing and practicing Christian, I believe that I can do so without fear of bigotry or condemnation.

The prize? A dollar with which to purchase a clue.

Trey

Kid Charlemagne said...

You should hear their version of "Born to Be Wild"!

geor3ge said...

You should hear their version of "Born to Be Wild"!

"Pusherman"

Anonymous said...

"Rocky has a duck. They can play together!"

Strangely enough, I was just telling the offspring about this bit last week; it came up in the context that he thought "bread" was new slang term for money. I quoted the passage:

"Hey, I hate to cop out on myself, Jim..."

"It's Lawrence!"

"Yeah. But you think I can get some bread up front?"

"You hungry? You want a sandwich?"

The kid thought that was hysterical. A good sign indeed.

TMink said...

Then there is the one where my then father in law told me he was working on a sermon based on the song Graceland. I wondered out loud if an atheist Jew (not that there is anything wrong with either distinction I must say) like Paul Simon was referring to where Elvis was buried instead of a more theological understanding of grace.

The woman and I divorced wshortly thereafter. Coincidence? You decide. 8)

Trey - whose word verification was canned

MJConroy said...

Oh, sweet Jesus!
Brewer and Shipley probably busted a gut laughing when they say that.

Got anymore like that?

David Rasmussen said...

I love this as much as Minnesota Baby Boomers hate the Puppini Sisters (whom I also love).

Noam Sane said...

Their follow-up was "Rainy Day Women," if I recall.

Count me as a Welk fan, though. I'll watch it beginning to end if it's on. The hair, the outfits, the bubbles. Fine cheese.

I love it when they show the audience dancing, all the women look like they're right out of a Far Side cartoon.

steve simels said...

It's a very psychedelic show, which is why I used to watch it.

The only thing that came close back in the day was the opening on-ice musical number on the old Donny and Marie hour.
:-)

Anonymous said...

A Paul Simon quote might apply here:

"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.'

ROTP(lumber)

agitpropre said...

Still my all time favourite L Welk quote:

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, we're going to play that old Duke Ellington standard: 'Take a Train.'"

Priceless. And clueless...

TMink said...

My wife, shown the video, stopped laughing nearly long enough to ask if they thought they were singing about railway TOKEns.

Her maxim: Just because it contains the word "Jesus" or even the phrase "Jesus Christ" does not make the song spiritually edifying.

Trey

MBowen said...

I must admit when this song came out I was a rather sheltered 13-year-old and had no idea what a "toke" was. In fact, I'm not sure I knew until I went to college.

TMink said...

MB, me too! Course, I made up for lost time in college. 8)

Trey

Anonymous said...

"One Toke Over the Line" is such a horrible song that even the Lawrence Welk treatment doesn't hurt it.