Pogo comic strips (cuts???) commonly had musical instruments -- banjos in particular -- especially when the characters were lounging in a flat-bottom boat, drifting slowly with the current. The sides of the boat always had in-group joke names (and the names changed from panel to panel -- if they were incorporated into a film, the continuity girl would take to drink by the third day of shooting).

Typically, the banjo was a 3 1/2 string tenor -- never a 5-string that I recall -- and was seldom played by Pogo, but more commonly by Churchy La Femme or Porkypine. I don't remember Howland Owl ever playing, and Albert the Alligator may have, but I don't think so.

Of course, Pogo always featured Walt Kelly's 'renditions' of well-known songs, too. In addition to "Deck Us All With Boston Charley," there was:

Whom, how many rage?
Weary beer in a canteloupe age.
Aunt Selma was hurt amidst Corsican wurt,
... and at that point, Churchy, who is singing this at the top of his voice to a baby, gets interrupted by the baby shouting, "QUIET!"

And no, I don't know what "wurt" is, either. I think Kelly ran out of steam just there.

The modern comic strip in my local paper, "Zits," features a teenager who plays a Stratocaster and has a garage band with his friends, but they don't seem to do any vocals, so we can't tell what they're playing.



Bob