Lyr Req: So Round So Firm So Fully Packed (Travis)

Subject: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,Butch Wilson
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 10:28 AM

So round so firm so fully packed thats my gal
Shes complete from front to back, shes my pal
Shes roasted by the sun, Ima so-of-a-gun
If she dont make my 5 oclock shadow come around at 1.

Does any one know the name of this song, or the artist who did it? Would love to know rest of lyrics.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 10:32 AM

Title: So round, so firm, so fully packed. First Line: So round, so firm, so fully packed, that's my gal Chorus: So round, so firm, so fully packed, that's my gal Music by: Travis, Merle, Cliffie Stone, and Eddie Kirk. Words by: Travis, Merle, Cliffie Stone, and Eddie Kirk. P/P/D: Hollywood, Calif. : American Music, Inc., c1947.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 10:34 AM

Merle Travis ... he may even have wrote it. It's called So Round So Firm So Fully-Packed.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Bagpuss
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 10:38 AM

Silly old me, I thought this was yet another thread about Lts' derriere!

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Noreen
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 11:02 AM

*LOL* Bagpuss!

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: SINSULL
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 11:07 AM

I thought it was another hotdog thread!

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 11:24 AM

I couldn't find the lyrics, but you can listen to it on realaudio from this site.

Brian

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Louisa
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 11:44 AM

sounds like an awful song to me ...

Subject: Lyr Add: SO ROUND SO FIRM SO FULLY PACKED (Travis)
From: davidg
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 12:26 PM

In fact it was written by Merle Travis, composer of many fine songs such as "Dark as a Dungeon," "16 Tons," and "Kinfolks in Carolina," to name a few. He's also the guy who Doc Watson credits with teaching him to fingerpick. Here's the lyrics:

So round so firm so fully packed, that's my gal
So complete from front to back, that's my pal
Toasted by the sun, and I'm a son of a gun
If she don't make my 5 o'clock shadow come around at one
You can bet your boots I'd walk a mile through the snow
Just to see that toothpaste smile they mention on the radio
If you don't think she's a lot of fun
Just ask the man that owns one
So round so firm so fully packed, that's my gal

So round so firm so fully packed, boy, she's for me
She's just like a money-back guarantee
Like the barfly goes for drink, like bobbysoxers go for Frank
And just like Jesse James would go for money in the bank
From head to foot she's a perfect size, she's a whiz
But she wears a 45 gun that is
She's got the look that's so impressin'.
She's got the pause that's so refreshin'.
So round so firm so fully packed, that's my gal


My wife finds this song distasteful, if not offensive. I admit that lines like "Just ask the man that owns one" are not exactly PC, but I can't resist that toothbrush smile and those bobbysoxers goin' for Frank. In addition to Merle's recording, I know that Ricky Skaggs did this song on one of his early albums and I think there may be a Doc Watson recording around somewhere. Also, if you're interested in the chords, drop me a PM.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 12:37 PM

I hate to get involved in so much of this "theme" stuff, but I find myself reminded of the fisherman describing his somewhat substantial wife: "She's purty near 'bout perfect - all floatation from the waist up, and all ballast below!"

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Gary T
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 12:52 PM

To put this song in perspective, it's a parody of advertising phrases that were in use at the time. "So round, so firm, so fully packed" was used to describe Lucky Strike cigarettes, "Just ask the man that owns one" was a line in Buick commercials. Written in a time when most folks didn't even consider whether it might be disrespectful towards women, it's a pretty clever incorporation of many well-recognized ad slogans. Today, when most of them aren't even remembered, much less widely recognized, it loses most of its comedic hook.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 01:44 PM

Gary's got the truth of it. It was a send-up that was funnier in context of the time.

Now That's What I Like About That Fat Gal of Mine by Merle Travis will really tick you off. Includes lines like "If times ever get too hard/ I'll render up that gal and sell the lard". This by the same guy who wrote "I am a pilgrim and a stranger/Wandering through this wearisome land/I've got a home in that yonder city/And it's not...not made by hand". Go figure.

My favorite is "When my bee-ba-baby does her hubba-double talk to mee-ka-dee", other wise known as Double Talk. Merle wrote a wide variety of song styles from story songs to gospel, but he had a real affection for these comedy-novelty tunes. Most were great (Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette), others were in definite bad taste, and I swear I've never got a laugh out of any of the latter.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Maryrrf
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 01:51 PM

It may have been written by Merle Travis but it was recorded and became a "hit" of sorts by Johnny Horton. He also sang "North to Alaska", "When It's Springtime in Alaska it's Forty Below" oh and "The Battle of New Orleans". If I remember he was killed in a car wreck sometime around 1963. My dad owned that album and played it all the time. I liked it too, when I was a kid!

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Margo
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 02:09 PM

Hey Gary T! My first thought when I read the thread name was... a cigar? so I was on the right track - Margo

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Jul 01 - 02:15 PM

yeah but it was my cigar...

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:42 PM

Gary T, major thread creep in the interests of trivia: "Ask the man that owns one" was the slogan of the Packard Motor Car Company.

Packard fizzled out in the Fifties, but prior to that (pre-World War II -- pre-World War I, in fact) the Packard marque was considered to be the American Rolls-Royce. When the Austin Bement advertising agency asked William Doud Packard (who was more interested in mechanics than in advertising) if he had some kind of advertising slogan in mind, he said "Just tell them to ask the man who owns one." They thought it was great, so they used it. The company converted to making PT boat engines during WW II, but never really recovered when they went back to making automobiles after the war. My Dad owned several Packards, including one of these. They were fantastic automobiles

Don (encyclopedia of useless information) Firth

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,Jack The Lad
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 03:47 PM

I thought it was a kishka. Jack The Lad

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,petr
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 04:09 PM

round and firm and fully packed it was hanging on the rack someone stole the kishka when I turned my back hey

who stole the kishka ..

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Gary T
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 06:50 PM

Thanks for the correction, Don. Well, at least I knew it was for a car.

And Margo, yes, you had the right idea. And for your prize--give the lady a ceegar!

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:28 PM

Uh, I always associated "Just ask the man who owns one." with Buick. Did GM take it over from Packard?

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 11 Jul 01 - 08:31 PM

Oh, and I heard the tune from Johnny Bond.

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Armen Tanzerian
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 12:08 AM

"So round, so firm, so fully-packed." -- Lucky Strike
"Toasted by the sun" -- Lucky Strike again, I think ("It's toasted.")
"Five o'clock shadow." -- Razor manufacturer, Gillette, I think.
"I'd walk a mile.." -- "for a Camel".
"That toothpaste smile" -- Ipana

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 12:15 AM

The smile that's so exciting -- also a toothpasrte, I believe...and according to my sometimes faulty memory, the soundbite was "Buick...ask the man who owns one". But I could be making that up.,p>A

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 12:18 AM

I TAKE IT BACK!!!! Here's the original Life Magazine copy for "Packard -- ask the man who owns one!". Sorrrreeeeeee!!!

Forgetful Samantha....mno....wait....

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,Butch Wilson
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 10:16 AM

Thanks so much for the information. Didnt know such a simple query would invoke such a thoughtful discussion. Kudos to yall (not the snack,LOL).

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 10:19 AM

When Packard failed to regain the quality and prestige it had before World War II, it was eventually (sometime in the Fifties) bought out by Studebaker, which in turn went belly up sometime in the mid-Sixties. From what I've been able to find, several companies tried to pre-empt the slogan "Ask the man who owns one" before Packard was actually defunct, and were ordered to cease and desist.

I goofed. I had heard that it was William Doud Packard who coined the phrase sometime in the Twenties or Thirties, but I just found out that it was James Packard, two years after he founded the company in 1899 in Warren, Ohio, ". . . showing the confidence he had in his cars. American luxury at its finest, Packard was and continues to be an icon of automotive brilliance."

My dad put 250,000 miles on one. It was basically in pretty good shape when he traded it in (on another Packard), except that tended to burn oil. One can truly say "they don't make 'em like that anymore."

Don Firth

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Mudlark
Date: 12 Jul 01 - 06:39 PM

Whatever happened to Pontiacs? That was my Dad's favorite car. Signiture line: "Pontiac....Fine car!" spoken in a strong "Indian" voice. PC was not even a gllint in this culture's eye back then...

Wasn't the LS/MFT's finish to that line...."...so free and easy on the draw" ?

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 15 Jul 01 - 01:29 AM

I don't know how relevant this is, but I heard a would-be suggestive song at the Bejant Smoker at St Andrews [University]in 1950, something like
How I like my baby's cup-cakes, cup-cakes [bis]
So round, so firm, so fully packed...

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Mark Clark
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 08:53 PM

on 10 Jul 01, above davidg offered to supply chords for this great Merle Travis song. But a month or so later, in a thread called Chords: So Round, So Firm - M. Travis, M.Ted, et al., provide a great set of chords. I just thought these threads should be linked.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Avril Betts
Date: 07 Apr 04 - 09:53 AM

So who was peeking when I was trying on my new bra. It wasn't my fault that there was a queue for the fitting room in the shop and I had to use the telephone kiosk outside in the High Street !

Subject: RE: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Apr 04 - 10:29 AM

I think the (long since defunct) Jowett motor company from Bradford, England, was using "Ask the man who owns one" from rather before Packard, but it would mean rummaging in some old motor books to be certain.

Subject: Lyr Add: FAT GAL (Johnny Bond)
From: Inükshük
Date: 07 Apr 04 - 08:17 PM

With respect to Lonesome EJs earlier post, I'm pretty sure that Merle Travis didn't write "That's What I Like About That Fat Gal of Mine" Be that as it may, it's sure to get quite a reaction. We used to do it in medley with Queen's "Fat Bottom Girl" but we have to be very careful these days. Personally I think they are both beautiful love songs.

FAT GAL
Johnny Bond

She keeps me warm in the winter, shady in the summer time
That's what I like about that fat gal of mine;
And when I see my landlord she's got so much behind that I can hide behind
You don't pay rent when your time is spent like mine.
She's so sweet with the softest heart. She's pretty soft around her other parts;
And at night when I lay me down, I don't need a pillow when she's around
Warm in the winter; shady in the summer time
That's what I like about that fat gal of mine.

When she's laughing there's so much of her to have a real good time
I tell all my jokes to that fat gal of mine
She's never fickle; you'd better sign right on the dotted line
The first chance you get with a good fat gal like mine.
Hard luck talk don't bother me; I'm as happy as a honey bee;
If things get tough and times get hard I could render that gal and sell the lard
Warm in the winter; shady in the summer time
That's what I like about that fat gal of mine.

She's a bargain, for the same low price look at all you get
Well I got a lot when I got that gal of mine
And when I'm working she sits at home on her diamonette
I've got no troubles with that fat gal of mine
She's my shelter, in times of storm I helter skelter right under her arm.
She's a beauty if you look at her face and you'd better not look any other place.
Warm in the winter; shady in the summer time
That's what I like about that fat gal of mine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,taper
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 05:37 PM

The version I have of "So Round, So Firm, So Fully-Packed" is by Ernest Tubb, but probably lots and lots of country artists did a version. Not sure if ET's lyrics are exactly the same as what I've been reading on these posts, but I think they've been very helpful anyway.

I've been singing a few dates in retirement homes lately, and I think they'd get a kick out of such a song. A few would probably remember it (and the products that were being advertised with those slogans back then); and they will remember those halcyon days BEFORE everything was so PC and people weren't so easily offended. Why were they called The Greatest Generation?? Well, in part, probably because they could buck up and not spend their entire lives gazing at their own navels, wondering what they could dream up to be "offended" by next. That's just my nickel's worth of an opinion, but sometimes I think I was born too late. I'd like to go back in time to a day where society's collective ego wasn't so delicate and withering. Men were men and women were women; now, women say they want men to act like women, but when they do, they complain there aren't any men. No wonder my generation is so confused.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: so round, so firm, so fully packed
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 11:18 AM

Don:

One of the nice features of old Packard sedans was that you could get an entire trio, with their instruments, in the back seat and have room left over for a wet bar. Dunno if anyone ever actuallly tried that, but I know my late uncle's '38 Packard would have accommodated it. They were powerful, long, sleek and beautful cars, from a time when autos were built by coach builders, not automated welders. In my estimation, only the Deusenberg - a custom-built car - was in the same league.

As to the songs that started this thread, some were funny as contemporary humor, others were just plain awful - in any era. Most of them would not resonate with anyone save "seasoned citizens" now.
Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette is still a cautionary tale though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Round So Firm So Fully Packed (Travis)
From: GUEST,Pat in Menifee
Date: 30 Aug 11 - 11:00 AM

I need the chords to this song and gilligans island theme....I got the lyrics for both BUT I NEED THE CHORDS..HELP    [e-mail] send them if you got them please

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Round So Firm So Fully Packed (Travis)
From: open mike
Date: 30 Aug 11 - 11:36 AM

i remember that Ipana tuoothpaste came in a squeeze bottle and were they the ones that had a beaver in their ad? (or was that pepsodent-- You'll wonder where the yellow went when yubrush your teeth with pepsodent)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipana..bucky beaver-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0po-g28uTg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: So Round So Firm So Fully Packed (Travis)
From: Mark Clark
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 11:52 AM

So [I]round so firm so fully packed, [IV7]that's my [I]gal
She's complete from front to back, yeah [II]she's my [V]pal
[III]Toasted by the [vi]sun, and [I]I'm a son-of-a-gun
If [II]she don't make my five o'clock shadow come [V]around at one.

If someone else wants to email this to the guest, go ahead.

      - Mark