buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 5:02:01 PM

1

For those who might have missed it the other day:

Coronavirus, givin' you
The lullaby of Broadway
There are no shows you can go to
The lullaby of Broadway
The rumble of the subway train
Empty with no-one ridin'
Because of the virus strain
All folks at home are hidin'
If you step outdoors without a mask
You might well be arrested
If your job's not an essential task
Your furlough is requested
Good grief, baby
Good grief---you can't go shop freely
Listen, baby
Do you know where I can buy TP?

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 6:26:31 PM

2

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 1:

Jukebox

buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 6:41:17 PM

3

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 2:

Still one of the great tap numbers of all time.  And, like the superb "42nd Street" finale in the film of the same name, displays Busby Berkeley's misogynistic streak---in both of them the girl dies at the end.

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 6:45:59 PM

4

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 3:

Had to reply with this

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 6:51:37 PM

5

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 6:52:46 PM

6

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 5:

Not proper social distancing?

Kickin' the COVID around

buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 7:05:57 PM

7

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 6:

Heh.  Notice that in that clip, Cab Calloway pantomimes grinding cocaine in the hollow of his hand, snorting it, and then jerks his head like a junkie inhaling the narcotic.

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 7:07:34 PM

8

In #7 buzzsawmonkey said: Heh.  Notice that in that clip, Cab Calloway pantomimes grinding cocaine in the hollow of his hand, snorting it, and then jerks his head like a junkie inhaling the narcotic.

I did notice that - not smoking opium. But then, Smokey was cokey

buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 7:14:28 PM

9

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 8:

By the way, the line "Countin' millions on the floor..." is a reference to the original song Minnie the Moocher, when "She had a dream about the King of Sweden/He gave her things that she was needin'/He gave her a house built of gold and steel/A diamond car with platinum wheels/He gave her his townhouse and his racing horses/Each meal she ate was a dozen courses/She had a million dollars' worth of nickels and dimes/And she sat around and counted 'em up a million times"---in other words, a cokehead's dream.

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 7:16:09 PM

10

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 9:

And yes, I caught that, too, having listened to the original many times.

I wonder, though, how well platinum wheels ride. Although, a diamond car would be very sharp./

buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 7:27:58 PM

11

Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 10:

"Ask the man who owns one," as Packard, I think it was, used to say...

buzzsawmonkey 5/3/2020 7:34:35 PM

12

Kosh's Shadow 5/3/2020 7:34:58 PM

13

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 11:

I don't know a song about a Packard off the top of my head, but here's one about a Terraplane

Occasional Reader 5/3/2020 8:01:11 PM

14

Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 7:

I remember being dumbfounded reading the novel “Babbitt” in high school, and coming across a passage in which there is a quick reference to a cocaine dealer being shot dead in the city that the title character inhabits. That seemed like a very 80s reference to me, and of course I was reading it in the early 80s.