Seattle 1978

Seattle 1978

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sailors Prayer

From Visiting Vintage

My parents recently found this postcard sent to my great-grandmother in Bremerton from her daughters living in Ballard (my grandfather's sisters) in 1922. I thought it was sweet. I tried to leave the spelling of the poem "as is"

A Sailors Prayer
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Grant no other sailor take
My shoes and socks before I wake
Lord guard me in my slumber
And keep my hammock on its number
May no clews nor lashings break
And let me down before I wake
Keep me safely in thy sight
And grant no fire drill tonight.
And in the morning let me wake
Breathing scents of sirloin steak
God protect me in my dreams
And make this better than it seems
Grant the time may swiftly fly
When myself shall rest on high
In a snowy feather bed
Where I long to rest my head
Far away from all these scenes
And the smell of half-done beans
Take me back into the land
Where they don't scrub down with sand
Where no demond typhoon blows
Where women wash the clothes
God thou knowest all my woes
Feed me in my dying thoes
Take me back, I'll promise then
Never to leave home again.

THEREE YEARS LATER
Our Father who art in Washington
Pleas dear Father let me stay
Do not drive me now away
Wipe away my scalding tears
And let me stay my thirty years
Please forgive me all my past
And things that happened at the mast
Do not my request refuse
Let me Stay another cruise

Published by P. Wischmeyer 2131-8-AVE. Seattle

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Solid Potato Salad - Ross Sisters 1944



I originally became obsessed with this video featuring the Ross Sisters a few years ago - I watched it several times a day for quite a while and "had" to decipher the lyrics. There's something about this: the goofy song, the stage setting, the vintage costumes - not to mention the amazing contortions that had me enthralled. My sister-in-law gave me the VHS of the movie; it's from Broadway Rhythm (it's not released on DVD - go figure). I was curious to see how this clip fit in to a movie but the video got buried and I forgot about it. Last week a friend posted it on Facebook and again I can't get it out of my head! Now to track down my copy of the movie.
Here's my best attempt at lyrics - can anyone help me fix them?
Root toot tooo yew dut
Root toot tooo yew dut
Da doo day
Root toot tooo yew dut
Roo doo loo dooo loo dut bah doodle bay boys
Solid potato salad That's solid salad, Jack
Hit your _____ with

Solid potato salad, boys
Take my plate, Fill it up, And bring it right back
Solid potato salad

And lets have no Yak Yak
Solid potato salad, boys
Take my plate, fill it up, And bring it right back
The farmer said to the spud (solid solid salad days)
Your skin looks slightly pallid (solid solid salad days)
So I'll dig you later bud (solid solid salad days)
For some solid potato salad hoy hoy
Solid potato salad

It's a groovy, movie salad, Jack
Solid potato salad, boys

Dat do dat do dat do day
Bring it back!

And speaking of "bring it back" What say we re-introduce "solid" into the vernacular? You know . . . as in "that's sooo SOLID".
"Awesome" and "You rock" are totally over-used these days. We need this groovy word back as another way to say "excellent". Who's with me?