A-ROOTIE TOOT TOOT
by Bryce Martin
As slang for the affirmative “all right,” I wasn’t inclined to say something along the lines of “aw right,” “ah right,” and definitely not “all righty.” A certain show did persuade me to use a silly alternative, “ahrootie.” I still say it today. Then there was “gosharootie.”
Rootie Kazootie was a great marionette show on television. I didn’t get to see many of the episodes before it went off the air, sometime in 1954. The comic books were good too. Rootie was freckle-faced and wore a baseball cap back on his head. Polka Dottie was his girlfriend and a sidekick was a mouse named El Squeako. The villain was Poison Zoomack. I thought that clever but a bit of a stretch. I knew what poison sumac was but what about the kids who didn’t, who lived in the city or places it didn’t grow. Anyway, the bad guy with his tacky mustache and top hat and tails was always trying to steal Rootie’s magic Kazootie, a kazoo. I obtained a kazoo for myself and after several attempts finally got a sound out of it. By then the show had disappeared and soon did my kazoo.
Chuck Berry, the brilliant songwriter and performer, may have been familiar with the show. A good thing maybe since it is a rare word that resonates well with “tutti frutti.”
Tutti frutti, awrootie/I gotta gal named Sue/She knows just what to do…
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Tell them how the weather was... -- Ernest Hemingway bryce_martin_1@Lycos.com
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Sunday, May 23, 2004
THEY DON'T WRITE THE SONGS
by Bryce Martin
The artwork for Rick Beziat's "Encore" article in the current issue of the Nashville Scene is great (May 20). Beziat writes a fun piece about the more memorable concerts held in Nashville during the 1960s and 1970s. I especially liked seeing the old ticket stubs and posters, many of them rare.
I was disappointed though right off the bat when the first song title was written as "Down in the Boon Docks." This is "Music City," and as such I would expect an editor (I reckon the Scene has them) to correct it to "Down in the Boondocks." That is the title of the song, you know.
Then comes "I Can't Stop Lovin' You." Sure, country people tend to drop every "g" they meet head on. But, give Don Gibson credit on this classy song; he didn't do it in title or in his vocal rendition.
Rufus Thomas did let his "g's" thud to the dance floor on his classic song, but the title is dictionary correct. It's "Walking the Dog" and not "Walkin' the Dog." The title of a Rolling Stones smash is "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Just citing it as "Satisfaction" is okay the second time around, but not the first. Bobby "Boris" Pickett did his best Boris Karloff impression to pull off "Monster Mash." It is not "The Monster Mash."
In fairness, The Tennessean is not any better. Just recently columnist Gail Kerr became the 4,192nd writer at her daily newspaper to refer to Porter Wagoner as Porter Waggoner.
Maybe it is like my old friend Leon always says when I bring up such things, "Nobody cares anymore." Sounds like a song title to me.
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by Bryce Martin
The artwork for Rick Beziat's "Encore" article in the current issue of the Nashville Scene is great (May 20). Beziat writes a fun piece about the more memorable concerts held in Nashville during the 1960s and 1970s. I especially liked seeing the old ticket stubs and posters, many of them rare.
I was disappointed though right off the bat when the first song title was written as "Down in the Boon Docks." This is "Music City," and as such I would expect an editor (I reckon the Scene has them) to correct it to "Down in the Boondocks." That is the title of the song, you know.
Then comes "I Can't Stop Lovin' You." Sure, country people tend to drop every "g" they meet head on. But, give Don Gibson credit on this classy song; he didn't do it in title or in his vocal rendition.
Rufus Thomas did let his "g's" thud to the dance floor on his classic song, but the title is dictionary correct. It's "Walking the Dog" and not "Walkin' the Dog." The title of a Rolling Stones smash is "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Just citing it as "Satisfaction" is okay the second time around, but not the first. Bobby "Boris" Pickett did his best Boris Karloff impression to pull off "Monster Mash." It is not "The Monster Mash."
In fairness, The Tennessean is not any better. Just recently columnist Gail Kerr became the 4,192nd writer at her daily newspaper to refer to Porter Wagoner as Porter Waggoner.
Maybe it is like my old friend Leon always says when I bring up such things, "Nobody cares anymore." Sounds like a song title to me.
...