Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge

Subject: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 01:26 AM

OK, I don't know if the Gaelic Goddess is lurking about and would like to "adopt" this Song Challenge! to bless it with her official imprimatur and Cow Chips and B.L.O.B.s of wisdom, but it's too good a story not to be immortalized in song, I think.

=====================================================
Mouse Thrown Into Fire Sets House Ablaze


By Associated Press
Published January 9, 2006, 11:46 AM CST

FORT SUMNER, N.M. -- A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

"I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

"I've seen numerous house fires," village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, "but nothing as unique as this one."



Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press

=============================================

So, pens & keyboards ready?   What say we give this not-so-mousy rodent his rightful place in the annals of folksong?

Genie

§;-D

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Flash Company
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 10:00 AM

I saw a mouse (Where?)
There on the stair, (Where on the stair?)
Right there, a little mouse with matches,
Well I declare, and he's lighting a fire on the stair! Oh yeah!

FC

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: MMario
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 10:21 AM

I was thrown in a burning ring of fire
I fell down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

The house is a burning thing
and it makes a firery ring
Revenge was my desire
I was thrown in a ring of fire...

I was thrown in a burning ring of fire
I fell down,down,down
and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns
the ring of fire
the ring of fire.

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 12:32 PM

And people wonder why I prefer cats to bonfires......

LTS

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: MMario
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 12:46 PM

yeah - the mouse would have a hard time trying to talk a cat into eating a human.

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: CapriUni
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 04:30 PM

But, oh, poor mousie!

What a terrible way to die!

Methinks this is suitable for one of those grim, murder-revenge ballads, a la Child.

This will take some thinking...

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: MMario
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 04:31 PM

and they called him Mickey Flambe?

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 05:21 PM

Come on mousie, Light my Fire!
Come on mousie, light my Fire!
Try to set my house on fire!
Come on mousie, light my fire.
by
Mousee Feliciano

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 02:37 AM

Wunnerful start, youse guys!   

Flash, Mousee Feliciano, Mickey Flambe, MMario -- all of yez! LOL


---
Guess I oughta add my own bit of 'cheese' to the mix. §;-D



Hot, Hot Mousie Brown

(Parody by Genie
With apologies to Jim Croce)

Fort Sumner down New Mexico,
Where January grass is brown.
If you go down there, you better all beware
Of a rat name Mousie Brown.

Well, it's Hot, hot Mousie Brown
Hottest mouse in the whole damn town
Hotter than Godiva's gown,
Fast enough for Churchill Downs!

Well, ol' Luciano Mares
Spend a weekend doin' chores,
Sees a mousie munchin' on his lunch
Of salami and petit fours.

Luciano trap that mousie
While he be burnin' leaves outside,
Think he'll practice him some pest control
An' jes' watch that rodent die.

He throw ol' Brownie on the pile
As the flames keep gettin higher.
But that furry scurry right on back
'Cross the yard like a house on fire!

Hot, hot Mousie Brown
Meanest mouse in the whole damn town
Hotter than Vulcan's crown,
Burnin' all the housies down!

Now that racing rodent, he ignite
All the grass 'neath the window sill,
And the whole damn house go up in smoke
From a critter kinda hard to kill!

Hot, hot Mousie Brown
Meanest mouse in the whole damn town
Hotter than Funky Town,
Burnin' all the housies down!

Luciano shriek in horror
An' he tear his hair and curse!
Thought the Painted Desert, it was hot,
But a windblown mouse was worse!

Now they never find ol' Mousie,
So the legend, it begin,
And some say he still roam that town
When the fire meet the desert wind!

Yeah, it was Hot, hot Mousie Brown
Fastest mouse in the whole damn town
Rodent of great renown,
Burnin' all the housies down!

...

And, BTW,
Brownie, you're doin' a heck of a job!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 11:11 AM

Reminds me of the Billy Collins poem in which a mouse inadvertently lights a match & burns down a Vermont farmhouse.

bbc

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: MMario
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 11:17 AM

Revenge is mine, sayeth the Mouse!

Luciano, he had him
he had him a housie housie
Luciano, he had him
he had him a housie, housie
til' it burned down because of a mousie mousie

Revenge is mine says the mouse.

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 03:21 PM

Verily, forsooth, Mario! :-D

I think Rrrobbie Burrrns also had something tae say aboot a wee mousie, did he not?

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 03:49 PM

A bawket wee moose
Set fire tae ma hoose
An born ma braw roof tae the grun'

Noo that timorous wee beestie
Has ruined ma Burn's feastie
Ma haggis is far oo'er weel done.

sorry, Robbie

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 05:40 PM

ROTFLMAO, Laddie!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Wayne Mitchell
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 11:54 PM

This one's not much competition for you, Genie; "Hot, Hot Mousie Brown" still has me grinning.


Mousie, Mousie, Mousie, don't you know you done wrong;
You crept into my kitchen when the meal was on.
I dumped you in the embers, but you ran me a race,
And now you're settin' fire to the whole damn place!
I've been at this job too long!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Melani
Date: 12 Jan 06 - 10:07 PM

Great songwriting, guys! The story sounds a lot like one I heard on the NPR show "This American Life," which involved a squirrel that got under a sofa. The people called the police for help, the cops inadvertently chased the squirrel into the fireplace, and the rest is pretty much the same. I checked snopes.com, but couldn't find anything on it.

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: LadyJean
Date: 12 Jan 06 - 11:44 PM

Snopes says the story isn't true. But the songs are great. Rat on catters! Rat on!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 12:31 AM

Tell that to the folks who wrote the AP story (link in first post), complete with names of the town, the "mouse-tosser," and the local fire chief.   
I can't vouch for the story myself, but it's not just one of those detail-deprived generic stories that often spread around the net.

(Of course, maybe the mouse was from Nigeria and his heirs could inherit his secret fortune, if only you'd send in a mere $500 to help them access his Swiss account. Or something like that.) ;-D

Anyway, LadyJean, it's your turn to wax poetic!

Genie

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Amos
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:13 AM

Actually Snope's analysis leaves the issue open and the cast of characters intact.


A

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Flash Company
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 04:59 AM

As I sat down one afternoon, with a pie and a glass of beer,
A mouse hopped on my table-top, and to me it did steer,
It made a little puddle, the way that mousies do
And when it grabbed my piece of pie, I yelled 'Right, that will do'

It had a red and a wicked eye-eye-eye
And it's tail curled in a ring-a-let,
It was a small mouse, a proper mouse, but
One of the vermin kind!

I quickly grabbed it by the tail and headed for the door,
I shouted 'Mouse, you've had your chips, You won't come round no more'
A bonfire was a-blazing, the autumn leaves to burn,
I said 'Right, Mouse, you've had your fun, well now it is my tur-ur-urn'

Ch....

I quickly swung him by the tail and threw him in the fire,
I laughed to think how he would roast, the flames roared higher and higher,
When I saw something run past me, and found to my surprise,
He was nothing but a fire-mouse,and my house would be his pri-i-ize,

Ch

So come all you men of property, and warning take from me,
If mice invade your table just treat them carefully,
Don't try to burn their whiskers, just use them nice and kind,
Or you may find your house burns down the very same as mi-i-ine!

Ch

Tune: One of the Roving Kind

FC (aka Brian Quinn)

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: MMario
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 08:38 AM

Huzzah Brian!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 09:50 AM

Ditto to that, MMario!

Aye, Brian, ye done the wee critter proper!   LOL!

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Wayne Mitchell
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 10:08 AM

Aagh! Now I don't know which way to vote. I still like "Hot, Hot Mousie Brown", but that red and wicked eye-eye-eye was near perfect, and the over-cooked haggis has to get points.

Wayne

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 10:32 AM

Ah, Wayne, me dearie! As Aine, our "Gaelic Goddess" of the Golden Cow Chips, would tell ya, it's not that kind of a "Challenge."   We're 'competing' with the muse herself, not with each other.   So feel free to applaud whatever submissions you like. No need to take sides.

§ :-D

PS, I'm sure Aine would give that "haggis" line a GOLDEN "B.L.O.B" if she were here.
(Where are ya, Goddess?)

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: GUEST,Nancy King at work
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 01:57 PM

Excellent!

Kudos to all!

Nancy

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 03:50 PM

I think Flash Company's contribution is the most tasteful if that's an important criteria.

I really find it hard to enjoy this challenge as "fun" but then you didn't share a house with our mouse Dilbert for 3 years.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 04:15 PM

Charley, since when has "tastefulness" ever been a criterion for a Mudcat Song Challenge?
;-D

But I'm not sure whether you're having trouble finding the fun in this challenge because of what Luciano Mares did to the mouse or because of what Dilbert did to your house.

Dilbert was a pet, right?
Even if not, I think it's poetic justice that someone might suffer Mr. Mares's fate if they behaved in such cruel behavior toward a critter.

Actually, I rescued a couple meeces from my kitty Grisabella (who, like most cats, can make a mouse almost WISH to be thrown into the fire) and kept them as pets for a while. One managed to escape from the terrarium and one died. But, yeah, I'm a mouse lover too.

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: GUEST,Uncle DaveO
Date: 13 Jan 06 - 05:49 PM

By MARK EVANS
Associated Press Writer

January 10, 2006, 10:03 PM EST


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Was it really a mouse that burned down Luciano Mares' house? Or was it just the wind?

Mares' story of a flaming mouse that scampered from a burning pile of leaves into his rural home Saturday drew international media attention. Then on Monday, the 81-year-old told an Albuquerque television station that strong wind spread burning leaves, leveling his home of more than two decades.

   But on Tuesday, Mares and his nephew stood by his original version that a mouse was the culprit.

"That dang mouse crawled in there," Mares said in a telephone interview from a motel in Fort Sumner, where he is staying with his nephew. "I have an awful hate for those critters."

In the interview, Mares recounted three times the series of events Saturday: A little mouse got caught in one of the glue traps he'd set in and around his home. He was pleased -- mice were a nuisance, they'd been bothering him for some time, leaving droppings everywhere. And they were hard to get rid of. This mouse, too, was resilient -- trapped but still moving. The glue was sticky; he couldn't pull the mouse off.

So, according to Mares, he went outside and threw the whole deal -- mouse and trap -- onto the burning leaves. The mouse, now ablaze, scrambled to safety, then headed back for the house and disappeared inside a window. About 90 seconds later, the house was on fire.

How did the mouse run away, still trapped in the glue?

"The fire melted the glue and he got away," Mares said.

Is that plausible? Fort Sumner Fire Chief Juan Chavez said Tuesday he thinks so.

"There's no reason for him to lie about what he told us," Chaves said. "I don't doubt it at all."

Fire crews arrived within minutes of the blaze and questioned Mares.

"I think he knew right then what happened. It's the story he told us, it's the story he told everyone else," Chavez said.

Richard Mares, 37, who is helping his uncle recover from the fire and figure out what the future holds, said his uncle has told him the same story many times.

"He said the mouse wasn't dead and it took off," the younger Mares said. He added: "We're really devastated. We lost all photos of our family, all his papers. He's a veteran of World War II. He's been through a lot."

Could his uncle have been rattled by the events and mistaken about the mouse? "He may be a little confused," Mares conceded.

With no further investigation planned, Chavez said his department's report of the fire will reflect that the burning critter ran back to the house.

I'll go with Chief Chavez: I don't doubt it at all.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 14 Jan 06 - 02:28 AM

Well, Dave, the plot thickens, as they say.

The more embellished story, with its remaining questions and mysteries and more lurid details of mouse abuse, not to mention the plight of the old man, might make for even more creative "singable versions."

Subject: RE: Song Challenge! - The Rodent's Revenge
From: Genie
Date: 14 Jan 06 - 04:05 AM