Here is another song by the classic Doyle, Dooley, and Britt. Well, actually I think this is just Doyle and Britt. And I’m pretty sure this is my dad singing. I believe it is from 1971.
My brother and I used to reference this song in a joking kind of way because it is this subversive, dark song about commercialism and media and violence and anti-establishment and all that stuff, and there’s this lyric about pointing a Thompson submachine gun at the principal of your high school and threatening him/her: “gonna blow your ass into the hall”. And well, it just showed a younger and different side of our father than we were used to, so my brother and I were always semi-fascinated with it.
Recently, Mr. Doyle explained to me how the song was inspired:
- “On Saturday mornings, [my wife] and I would do apartment cleaning and [our baby] would be in a porta crib parked in front of the TV set. Well, one day I realized the sneaky insidiousness of both the cartoons (violence as comedy) and the commercials (all designed to make kids pester their parents to buy this, that or the other thing). So, I imagined this psycho having a Saturday morning show, and this is what came out…”
LYRICS:
Hey there kiddies, I hope you all enjoyed the show / We got a special offer today, and I want you all to go down to your local supermarket / Walk on in, buy yourself a box of Sugar Coated Frapples and send it on in with 50 cents in coin and a boxtop, too / Mail it to your uncle Philsey, he’ll be glad to send to you…
A genuine Thompson submachine gun complete with ammunition / Then go down to the high school, put your principal against the wall and tell him / If he don’t give in to your demands you’re gonna blow his ass into the hall!
I’m not talkin’ ‘bout a revolution but a violent problem needs a violent solution / I said hey, kiddies, mail them box tops today…
Hey there kiddies, we got a Benny Banana Cartoon / Just watch Benny knock the socks off a Louie when he flies in his jet powered balloon / WAP! SOCK! BAM! BOOM! / See the blood flowing out from his skin, Oh! He’s dying!
I’m not talkin’ ‘bout a revolution but a violent problem needs a violent solution / I said hey, kiddies, mail them box tops today…
It is cool to have a small peak into this world - it’s like a time-capsule, allowing me to travel back in time to before I was born, to see a small glimpse into my dad’s life. But there is not meaning simply because it is my dad; it can be anyone. I mean, that’s essentially what pop songs and poems are - a person marking a moment in time. Like a stamp, so you can look back at something that was. And as an artist, you can create these time capsules for yourself, or you can share them with others. If you share them with others, well then hopefully others can relate to and think about these frozen moments in time.
It is always incredible to me when, for example, I read something from mystic poet Rumi, and it resonates and make sense to me so deeply, and yet, he was writing all the way back in the 1200s. I am so thankful that he made little time-capsule stamps with his thoughts and poetry. And I am glad that I get to experience them even though they are like 800 years old. To read some cool Rumi quotes about love, click HERE.
