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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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1963: "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh"
2012: "Call Me, Maybe"*
*The Yiddish word for maybe is "efsher."
Thesd days it's better to face the music than to have to listen to it.
"Call Me, Maybe" by 26-year-old Canadian recording artist, Carly Rae Jepsen, is Billboard's "Song of the Summer." In the United States the track has reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song received generally positive reviews from contemporary critics, who praised its composition and clever ("klug") lyrical content. "Call Me, Maybe" has attained commercial success worldwide.
As the chorus begins, the background
incorporates synthesized string chords,
and Jepsen explains that her feelings towards the guy are unexpected. "Hey, I
just met you. And this is crazy ("meshuge").
But here's my number ("tsol"). So call me
maybe." Yes, the song is about a love at
first sight and a girl who hopes for a call
back from a crush.
Let's now go back to 1963, when Alan Sherman (1924-1973) had his biggest hit single: "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh." It was a comic novelty in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours.
"Tate-mame" (parents), do you recall these lyrics?
Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we'll have some fun if it stops raining
I went hiking with Joe Spivey
He developed poison ivy
You remember Leonard Skinner
He got ptomaine poisoning last night after dinner
All the counselors hate the waiters
And the lake has alligators
And the head coach wants no sissies
So he reads to us something called Ulysses
Now I don't want this should scare ya
But my bunkmate has malaria
You remember Jeffrey Hardy
They're about to organize a searching party
Take me home, oh muddah fadduh, take me home, I hate Granada
Don't leave me out in the forest where I
might get eaten by a bear
Take me home, I promise I will not make
noise or mess the house with other boys,
oh please don't make me stay, I've been
here one whole day.
Dearest fadduh, darling muddah
How's my precious bruddah?
Let me come home if ya miss me
I will even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me
Wait a minute, it stopped hailing,
guys are swimming, guys are sailing
Playing baseball, gee that's better,
Muddah Fadduh kindly disregard this letter.
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Marjorie Wolfe says that everytime she hears a disc jockey play the top ten tunes at a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, she gets the shakes
wondering what the bottom ten will be.
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