← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 13100 | Posts: 9 | Started: 2004-04-09
2004-04-09 08:28 | User Profile
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
Rolf wrote this in 1957, inspired by Harry Belafonte's calypsos. The song was number 1 for about four weeks in Australia in 1960; this version was re-recorded in England in 1962. Apparently, the verse marked * caused offence (leading to the song being banned in Singapore), and was removed in later years.
(Harris) Ardmore & Beechwood Ltd / EMI (P) 1963 Arr. Johnnie Spence - Produced by George Martin
[Spoken:] There's an old Australian stockman, lying, dying, and he gets himself up on one elbow, and he turns to his mates, who are gathered 'round him and he says:
Watch me wallabys feed mate. Watch me wallabys feed. They're a dangerous breed mate. So watch me wallabys feed. Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down sport, tie me kangaroo down. Tie me kangaroo down sport, tie me kangaroo down.
Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl, keep me cockatoo cool. Don't go acting the fool, Curl, just keep me cockatoo cool. Altogether now!
Take me koala back, Jack, take me koala back. He lives somewhere out on the track, Mac, so take me koala back. Altogether now!
Let me Abos go loose, Lou, * let me Abos go loose. They're of no further use, Lou, so let me Abos go loose. Altogether now!
Mind me platypus duck, Bill, mind me platypus duck. Don't let him go running amok, Bill, mind me platypus duck. Altogether now!
Play your digeridoo, Blue, play your digeridoo. Keep playing 'til I shoot thro' Blue, play your digerydoo. Altogether now!
Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred, tan me hide when I'm dead. So we tanned his hide when he died Clyde, (Spoken) And that's it hanging on the shed. Altogether now!
é 1960 Castle Music Pty, Ltd. Words and music by Rolf Harris
2004-04-10 01:46 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport[/QUOTE]
We used to sing this song at least once or twice a week in Mr. Padgett's 4th grade class (Mr. Padgett had a thing about music and used to make us sing various folk-type songs for about 30-45 minutes each day - interestingly enough, the buildings of the former Ralph O. Berry Elementary where I sang along with Mr. Padgett's other pupils was demolished last Thursday in order to make way for a new Los Gatos Jewish Community Center, despite the present shortage of elementary classroom space in the school district). Our version of the song didn't include the reference to "Abos," perhaps not surprisingly, so that explains the mystery as to why anyone was ever offended by such a ditty. I always loved the ending part that goes "Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred, Tan me hide when I'm dead. We tanned his hide when he died, Clyde - and that's it hanging on the shed!!!"
2004-04-11 07:37 | User Profile
Kevin_O'Keeffe,
Yes Have always loved the song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport." :cheers:
"Oh Susannah!" used to have a very un-PC line it.
[QUOTE]Oh Susannah!
. . .And killed five hundred. . .
The Lyrics: [url]http://www.geocities.com/dyxie_angel/songsusannah.html[/url] [/QUOTE]
:whstl:
2004-04-29 22:12 | User Profile
Only the land that produced such rancid Ultra-PC clones as Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes could produce such standards of deathless verse. There was another, around the same time, by an English comic, called ''My Boomerang Won't Come Back""........
""My boomerang won't come back, ..my boomerang won't come back, I've waved the thing all over the place, ..practiced untill I was black in the face, I'm a big disgrace to the Aboriginal race.. My boomerang won't came back..."'
2004-05-06 08:56 | User Profile
[QUOTE=satu largi]Only the land that produced such rancid Ultra-PC clones as Germaine Greer and Robert Hughes could produce such standards of deathless verse.'[/QUOTE]
[CENTER]A Job for McGuinness
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson
Oh, it's dreadful to think in a country like this With its chances for work - and enjoyment That a man like McGuinness was certain to miss Whenever he tried for employment.
He wrote to employers from Bondi to Bourke, From Woolloomooloo to Glen Innes, But he found - though his wife could get plenty of work - There was never a job for McGuinness.
But perhaps - later on - when the Chow and the Jap Begin to drift down from the tropics, When a big yellow stain spreading over the map Provides some disquieting topics,
Oh, it's then when they're wanting a man that will stand In the trench where his own kith and kin is, With a frown on his face and a gun in his hand - Then there might be a job for McGuinness! [/CENTER]
[url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~natinfo/poems01/index.html]Fire of the Southern Cross [/url]
2004-05-06 17:20 | User Profile
I was raised in Tennessee, and yet I remember having the song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" on a children's record when I was a boy. I loved singing along with it; quite a catchy little tune. This also reminds me of the old Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry cartoons that I watched when I was a kid. Some of the WWII-era Bugs Bunny shorts had hilarious and extremely-un-PC Japanese characters. The Tom & Jerrys had the huge black mammy who would always yell, "Thomas! Thomas Cat!" They don't show any of these anymore, as they've all been banned by the sensitivity police.
2004-05-06 22:39 | User Profile
...as Un-PC qualities go, it would be hard to beat "'Amos And Andy"', shown here on TV in the fifties, I think...or maybe it was a radio show?
And well before the thought-police clamped their dead hand on humor, I remember buying a LP called "'When You'r In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish"", with gems like a song about a cowboy riding The Bar Mitzvah Spread.....
2004-05-06 22:47 | User Profile
satu largi,
It was both. You can now get both on CD and DVD. [QUOTE]...as Un-PC qualities go, it would be hard to beat "'Amos And Andy"', shown here on TV in the fifties, I think...or maybe it was a radio show?[/QUOTE]
I have never seen either of them.
2004-05-09 17:34 | User Profile
[B]Faust[/B][QUOTE]It was both. You can now get both on CD and DVD. [QUOTE]Quote: ...as Un-PC qualities go, it would be hard to beat "'Amos And Andy"', shown here on TV in the fifties, I think... [/QUOTE] I have never seen either of them. [/QUOTE]Amos'n Andy was both a radio show with white (!!) readers and a television show with black actors that I rate along with the Honeymooners the best comedy ever on American TV.
The cartoons starring the black crows Hekyll and Jekyll with southern black voices was right up with the best of the Loony Tunes. The memory of seeing those crows strut and sing still brings a smile to my face.