Granny's in the Cellar - Song #24

Song #23, "Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord," begins "Oh the deacon went down to the cellar to pray, but he got drunk and stayed all day." So why not post about the only other Camp Ajawah song that uses the word "cellar" (I always say "basement" myself, "cellar" is more evocative, I have to admit). And it's a song mentioned in the last two posts about Lisa Loeb's new CD: "Granny's In The Cellar."

Evidently lots of beloved authority figures get in trouble in cellars.

Just as "Ain't Gonna" is mildly scandalous, making fun of a deacon and drinking, "Granny" is playful with grandma and grossness. All in good fun...

Granny's in the cellar
Lordy, can't you smell her
Cooking greasy biscuits on the stove
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose
Down her nose, down her nose
She whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose

Granpa's in the basement
And to his amazement
There is something in the wine he made last fall
And his eyes are getting redder
As his tongue is getting wetter
'Cause it's ninety-seven percent alcohol
Alcohol, alcohol
It's ninety-seven percent alcohol
His eyes are getting redder
As his tongue is getting wetter
'Cause it's nInety-seven percent alcohol.

Granny's in the laundry
And she's in a quandary
'Cause she put some starch in with her underwear
And it's gonna be disaster
When it dries as hard as plaster
But she's tough as nails and so she doesn't care
Underwear, underwear
She put some starch in with her underwear
And It's gonna be disaster when it dries as hard as plaster
But she's tough as nails so she don't care.


Tune: "Y'All Come"

From _A Prairie Home Companion Folksong Book_ by Marcia & Jon
Pankake; (Viking, 1988)

Instructions given in text: "Where it says [sniff] just wind 'er up
and give a real good snort. Just don't be too long about it, and
don't be too disgusting, and above all, try not to get any on you."

Link to Camp Lisa

Here, at last, is the link to the new album I mentioned in the last post - check it out...

Lisa Loeb - Camp Lisa

Lisa Loeb's new album

Just saw on iTunes' new releases that Lisa Loeb, who had a big alternative hit with "Stay" a few years back, has just put out "Camp Lisa." Listened to two excerpts of songs from Camp Ajawah which couldn't be more different:

Granny's in the Cellar - a rarely sung humorously gross song from Boys' Camp.

Linger - A sweet song that was part of the closing medley at all Girls' Camp evening campfires.

Check them out; I will try to get a link up soon...

Third and final cat post

There is an excellent wikipedia entry on "The Cat Came Back." Here is the cover of the sheet music (1893):




And here is another video of the song being sung, this time by Boy Scouts around a campfire, so closer to approximating the summer camp experience...

More Cats

Following up on my last post, perhaps some of you may remember this National Film Board of Canada animated version of The Cat Came Back. Or, if not, check it out anyway...

The Cat Came Back - thanks to technology

Yahoo's homepage features this story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080910/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_britain_cat

And even had a link to search for the song "The Cat Came Back." The song was (is?) sung at Camp Ajawah, but never became a Top 40 hit, so to speak. To me, while the lyrics are quite fun, the melody was neither easy nor memorable enough. The chorus is okay, but to this day the tune for the verses is hard to recall - a vaguely monotonous rush of words.

One version I like listening to is Garrison Keillor's. He grew up in Anoka, not far from Ajawah. Perhaps we are Camp Woebegone? I can't find a link to the version of TCCB that I know, but he did a version on his CD "Songs of the Cat."