Did Beethoven do the dishes?

Subject: looking for song title
From:
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:19 PM

Greetings!

I'm looking for the song title/writer/publisher of a song that includes the words: "Did Beethoven do the dishes? Did Mozart sweep the floor? Did all those great musicians have to do their chores?"

If you have any info about this song, please email me at [e-mail]

Thanks!

Mary McClintock

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Peter T.
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 05:40 PM

No, but one day Wagner was looking at the dishwasher, and he said, "That's it! I'll call it the Rinse Cycle!"
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Bradypus
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 06:08 PM

Haydn did the dishes. His wife came home, and he said 'Surprise!'

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 08:00 PM

Hi, Mary - I guess you oughta head over to the library and look for back issues of Sing Out!. This one is by Ginny Reilly, and you'll find the song printed in volume 31, #4 . It's on a recording called "A Collection," by Reilly and Maloney. If you can, could you post the lyrics for us here?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 17 Apr 00 - 10:06 PM

Schubert started making the beds but he didn't finish.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Hotspur
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 12:19 AM

Reminds me of Monty Python's "Decomposing Composers"...

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 12:36 AM

I don't know squat about a bunch of dead guys.....All I hnw is that Spaw does the dishes.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Kelida
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 01:54 AM

I work at a restaurant almost every night of the week, so my parents hardly ever feed me, and I simply refuse to wash dishes I didn't use. I mostly just clean up the mess from my art supplies. . .

Peace--Keli

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Helen
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 05:24 AM

Harp (that's strings, not suck-and-blow harmonica type harps) players aren't supposed to wash dishes because it softens up the finger tips too much and causes nasty pain & blistering, therefore I don't do dishes - unless the wild horses come in to the kitchen and drag me to the sink. I love this excuse.

Helen

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Grab
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 06:28 AM

Helen - ever heard of rubber gloves? Being a fingerstyle guitarist, washing-up weakens my fingernails, so I get the marigolds out. Not that I wash up that often, though... :-)

Grab.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 06:35 AM

No, he rolled over and let his jockey take over the platters.
RtS [Harp players can't wash up,hmm? Maybe I should swop my kazoo for a harp, no SHE wouldn't stand for that..]

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: GUEST,James
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 08:22 AM

No, but he ate leftovetures

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From:
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 01:40 PM

Thanks, Joe Offer! I really appreciate your help with this and my other query re: It's a pleasure to know you. I'll try to track down Sing Out! and try to post the lyrics here.

Mary

Subject: ADD: Did Beethoven Do the Dishes?
From: GUEST,JenEllen
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 03:22 PM

Thanks Mary. It's one of my favourite 'poor-me' pout songs ! Lyrics follow:

One afternoon, in sunny June
I happened to think, as I stood at the sink
And scrubbed away, at the dirty plates
And listened to music on my phonograph
I thought a question I've often asked....

Did Beethoven do the dishes?
Did Mozart sweep the floors?
Did all those great musicians have to do their chores?
I can't help but think of the songs I'd sing
If I just didn't have to clean the house
I know I'd be on top of the Billboard charts
If my cat had not just killed a mouse, and brought it into the house

I have these great ideas, but I also have a life
If I don't do the laundry, I'll soon run out of socks
I'll bet that Johann Sebastian Bach never had to worry about clean socks
I'll bet that Pjotr Tchaikovsky never took the garbage out
I'll bet that Verdi rarey helped rake the leaves
Even when his wife asked 'please-pretty please'

My driver's license did expire just two weeks ago
I'll bet that thought never occured to Michaelangelo
Madame Curie never had to serve on a jury
Joseph Hayden hid from taking care of the kids
Mozart was poor but you can be sure
He never had to baby-sit
And this is it, it's all she writ
Didn't have time for more of it

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From:
Date: 18 Apr 00 - 04:00 PM

Thanks, JenEllen! Great lyrics! I'm still trying to track down the writer/publisher. I'm off to the library to check out Sing Out! and see what it has to say. Mary

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 19 Apr 00 - 12:52 AM

Mary--

And if you like this one, check out another by Ginny Reilly called "The I Don't Know What I Want From You, But I Ain't Gettin' It Blues"--very funny and one most of us ladies can relate to!

Reilly and Maloney were a very popular local duo around the Seattle area for a number of years. Ginny has an absolutely gorgeous voice, real torch-song quality (and Dave Maloney ain't bad, either). Their tapes/recordings are getting hard to find, but well worth hunting for. (I think the one Joe mentions is a CD; I have several on tape.) Dusty Strings in the Fremont District (Seattle again) used to carry them...

Lin

Subject: Lyr Add: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Jun 02 - 11:29 PM

Needs harvesting? - Lyric 3 posts up. Doesn't appear that the thread got a Lyric marker.

John

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: JenEllen
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 12:02 AM

Whosoever harvests: It's supposed to be
"Verdi rarely helped rake the leaves"

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: SharonA
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 11:08 AM

I don't know if Beethoven did the dishes but Handel did. In fact, Handel was inspired to write one of his greatest works when his buddy Franz Joseph Haydn visited him, bringing along Haydn's young protégé, Luigi Boccherini, and entreated Luigi to help Handel with the dishes. Luigi was washing a plate when it slipped from his hands and broke, whereupon the young man swore like a sailor and Handel responded with an oath of his own: "Hell! Hey, Lu, you're coarse!" The rest is history.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: allanwill
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 11:38 AM

SharonA

Go to your room NOW!

Allan

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Amos
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 12:19 PM

History? I'd say muted hysteria! LOL! Sharon, where were you brought up? In a boiler factory? LOL! Wodda clanger!

A

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 12:52 PM

Well, when it came to grocery Chopin*, Schumann had his Liszt. (Or was it Clara Schumann who had HER Liszt?)

----------------------

Lin, I love that Ginny Reilly "...I ain't gettin' it blues" song, too! BTW, Ginny and David teamed up together again for the NW Folklife Festival in Seattle last weekend. David performs there just about every year, but the duo had been apart for some time.

Also, if you're looking for their tapes, the Portland, OR public library has several--which makes me think some other big city libraries may, too.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 01:35 PM

Lin, here's their website. If nothing else, you can probably get tapes & CDs directly from them.

http://www.reillyandmaloney.com click

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 04:16 PM

Sharon, that was a real groaner! [I'm proud of yez.]

The question is, though, did Handel clean up his own Messiah?

[I'm leaving now...]

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: SharonA
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 04:40 PM

Genie: Touché! *BG*

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Jun 02 - 05:52 PM

What a load of old Boleros!

Best present I ever bought myself was a dishwasher....

LTS

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: Genie
Date: 06 Jun 02 - 09:57 PM

I don't know about Ludwig, but every time Franz Josef's wife wanted him to help with the housework, he was Haydn.

Subject: RE: Did Beethoven do the dishes?
From: CamiSu
Date: 07 Jun 02 - 12:23 AM

One of my favorites, besides "I don't know what I want..." is "If you want" (You've got a fan, you've got a friend, you've got a lover..... if you want!)

But all the ones I have worn out and want back are out of print!

CamiSu