The Merry Minuet
Sat., August 27, 09:41 AM
There’s a convoluted explanation to this post. A meme was circulating about the songs that were popular when one graduated from high school. Should be fun, right? I went to the site, only to find that it has no lists that far back.
Thank you very much; I’m not dead yet. And I will compile a list for 1958; I have my own sources.
Meanwhile I remembered something that was very popular my freshman year in college. The Kingston Trio’s first album was played in every dorm. That was the first time we heard “Wimowe,” later known as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” years before the Tokens turned it into a hit single. But I really loved “The Merry Minuet.”
“The Merry Minuet,” also known as “Merry Little Minuet,” is an early satirical song by Broadway lyricist Sheldon Harnick, whose shows with composer Jerry Bock include “Fiorello!,” “She Loves Me.” and “Fiddler on the Roof.” This topical rundown of world trouble spots was introduced by Orson Bean in the 1953 revue “John Murray Anderson's Almanac.” This live performance, on the “From the Hungry I” LP, is from 1959.
They’re rioting in Africa. (whistling)
They’re starving in Spain, (whistling)
There’s hurricanes in Flo-ri-da, (whistling)
And Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the Poles.
Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch,
AND I DON’T LIKE ANYBODY VERY MUCH!!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud,
For man’s been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud,
And we know for certain that some lovely day,
Someone will set the spark off …
AND WE WILL ALL BE BLOWN AWAY!!
They’re rioting in Africa (whistling)
There’s strife in Iran
What nature doesn’t so to us
Will be done by our fellow man.
It seems to me that, forty-five years ago, they sang “there’s strife in Japan.” But it wasn’t long before I was singing “Iran” instead. Great minds run in the same channels…yeah, yeah, yeah. The fact is, not much has changed in two generations; we have so much to be proud of.
