 sj |
||
|
||
| ||||||
|
Share
AMAZING PRESS (Judy McCulloh) Amazing Press, how sweet the book That saved a wretch like me; They wrought a miracle, gadzook: My manuscript set free. The Press has saved my tenure here, The Press my fears relieved; How precious did that Press appear When books I first received. Through many dangers, toils, and snares My editor has come; The Press has kept my job thus far, The Press has saved my home. Yes, when the spoken word shall fail And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess in printed tale A life of joy and peace. note: I can't resist offering this parody from two decades ago. It appeared in the "Exchange", the newsletter of the Association of American University Presses (our AAUP), no. 13 (January, 1977). One of our trade journals, "Publishers Weekly", had just run an article about the American Booksellers Association's contest--first/only prize $40,000--for a song that would inspire greater attention to (read: purchase of) books. The winning song was hugely insipid. If it was sung once, it surely was never sung again. Some of us got to thinking If only we'd known about this contest, we could have come up with something a whole lot better than "that", for pete's sake. One comment led to another, and suddenly the phrase "amazing press" suggested itself. I pulled my Sankey et al. "Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6 Complete" off my shelf and in five minutes had created the following, which we fired off to the "Exchange" in a so-there! spirit. Since Illinois is a scholarly, non-profit organization, it and its resident lyricist, editorial staff member Judith McCulloh, are providing this song at no charge. It is Illinois' hope that all university press employees will set to learning this song, so that it can be sung at the annual meeting in Asheville next summer. When our then-director, Miodrag Muntyan, read this in the "Exchange", he called me in to his office and asked how "Amazing Grace" went, since he'd never heard it. For him, "Amazing Press" was not a parody, just some mildly amusing verses, presumably sung to a known tune, that one of his employees had cobbled together. At least he didn't fuss that I'd done this on office time.... @book @parody filename[ AMAZPRES TUNE FILE: AMAZGRAC CLICK TO PLAY JMcC Apr98 |
|
