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03 May 00 - 06:26 AM (#222089) Subject: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Mary Ann Daly My father talked of going into battle in WWII with the lines, "I don't care if it rains or freezes -- I'm in the hands of Jesus, Jesus." Later, he'd buck up to the same strains en route to surgery. Obviously, this old ditty was the basis for the parody "Plastic Jesus," but does anyone know if the original ever had a full set of words and music? |
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03 May 00 - 08:03 AM (#222108) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Callie didn't know there WAS an original - thanks for enlightening me (no pun intended)! |
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03 May 00 - 09:15 AM (#222130) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Bob Bolton G'day Mary Ann Daly, I thought I would look up the words on Plastic Jesus in Reprints from Sing Out! (vol. 8, p.18) but they didn't help. PJ is "Version by Ernie Marrs. © 1964 by the author" then they start the blurb "No one seem to know the origin of this song ..." It seems Irwin Silber had not heard the earlier form. Your Dad's song certainly looks like the original ... can we still find more? Regards, Bob Bolton |
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03 May 00 - 09:25 AM (#222135) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: MMario This actually reminds me most of "I don't care if it rains or snows, for I've got a lot of honey on my nice clean nose! Sing Ho for a bear, sing Ho for a pooh, we'll have another something in an hour or two!" |
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03 May 00 - 08:08 PM (#222637) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Irish sergeant The more I visit the more I learn. I thought "Plastic Jesus was the original. If so, your fathers version may be a far more religious adaptaion. And that is a military tradition going back to the earliest days od soldiery. Keep me apprised if you would on your progress. With best reguards, Neil |
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03 May 00 - 08:22 PM (#222643) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Joe Offer PLASTIC JESUS and PLASTIC JESUS 2 are in our database, in all their glory. This is the first I've heard of an "original" version, although I've been on the lookout for a long time for the gospel origins of labor and civil rights songs. Can you give us more of the lyrics, Mary Ann? This is intriguing. -Joe Offer- |
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03 May 00 - 11:50 PM (#222738) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: ddw Don't know if it leads any closer to an "original" version, but Mance Lipscomb used almost exactly the same tune for his version of Cocaine. Might it be helpful t0 poke around in some of the old blues/gospel areas for a lead on your dad's song? david |
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04 May 00 - 12:43 AM (#222756) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: catspaw49 We did have some other threads obviously abot Plastic Jesus and I seem to recall something like this coming up....maybe a year or so back??? Something rings a bell. Use the Super search and read the past stuff if nothing else..... This is a different request, but have y'all ever noticed that everytime TBS plays "Cool Hand Luke" we get a request for Plastic Jesus??? Now of course, I send them HERE. Spaw |
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04 May 00 - 02:09 AM (#222771) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Billy the Bus Hmmm.... My first recollection of the phrase predates "Plastic Jesus" it was a verse....
I don't care if it rains or freezes. It was a song popular with NZ tramping clubs in the 50s, and went to a march rhythm, which would suggest WWII origins. Hmm..... the humming noise is sparse brain cells trying to communicate.....
Me father was the keeper of the Eddistone lighthouse Ummmm... oh for me 1960 Varsity Songbook. Can't for the life of me think of any other verses. I'll sleep on it. However, even when singing the song, way back when, I had the feeling that I'd heard the first three lines from a gospel song. Hope that 2dworth helps a bit. G'night - Sam |
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04 May 00 - 04:27 AM (#222798) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Joe Offer Well, Sam, we've got four verses of the EDDYSTONE LIGHT (click) in our database - which may well be a far better songbook than your 1960 Varsity book. -Joe Offer- |
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04 May 00 - 12:29 PM (#222961) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Jeremiah McCaw To muddy the waters even further... I remember in one of the original "Reprints" books I got mine in the 60's, it had the information that the song had been originally written as a jingle for a company that made plastic 'Jesi'. Anybody confirm that? - my memory's uncertain and the wee books are packed away somewhere. I think perhaps in "Cool Hand Luke" it was used to show a certain amount of pathos for the character, that in a moment of grieving for an emotional loss (news of his father's death, was it?) the only comfort he could find, perhaps the only "religious" song he knew was a commercial jingle. |
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04 May 00 - 05:41 PM (#223151) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: dick greenhaus The version I heard in the '40s was: I don't care if it rains or freezes I am safe in the arms of Jesus I am Jesus' little lamb Yes, by Jesus Christ I am which sort of goes with: Jesus hates me, this I know 'Cause my rabbi told me so. or I am Jesus'little sunbeam And a fine fucking sunbeam am I or Stay with God! Stay with God! Jesus on the 5-yard line, Moses doin' Goddam fine Stay with God! Stay with God! Highty-tighty God Almighty Stay with God! (to the tune of Tammany) |
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04 May 00 - 05:57 PM (#223163) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Uncle_DaveO Billy the Bus:
Perhaps I'm dense, but I can't see what connection you find between Plastic Jesus and Eddystone Light. Would you enlighten (pun intended) me? Dave Oesterreich |
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04 May 00 - 06:20 PM (#223176) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Bill D for no reason than I wanted to look, I found this parody of "The Eddystone Light" in the DB....and lo, and behold,,,it was attributed to ME..or at least, my singing...I guess Dick Greenhaus has been taping at Getaways for years...so here it is...posted here so I could edit the words he got wrong from his tape and add one verse which is missing..*BG*...(I got it , I believe, from "Songs for Swinging Housemothers")...[yes, I Know it is sinister 'thread creep'...but...]
THE ASTEROID LIGHT
CHO:
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04 May 00 - 06:23 PM (#223178) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Bill D tsk..careless editing..that 'yo-ho-ho' part (2 lines) is the chorus,,,but you all are smart enough to figure that out. |
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04 May 00 - 06:41 PM (#223189) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Billy the Bus Joe & Dave O, 'Tis morning, and now I'm totally confused. Having refreshed the brain cells over Eddystone light, I'm not sure now whether the verse was an "add-on" to that, or something entirely different. The latter I think. It was certainly nothing like "Plastic Jesus" in tune or theme.
BTW - Joe, DT has a lot of catching up to do on NZ songs, but I am on the project...
Cheers - Sam |
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05 May 00 - 01:58 AM (#223371) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Billy the Bus Hi Team, Have found an Otago Tramping Club songbook (which I didn't know I had) - not as good as the VUW one from the 60s though. Anyway, it refreshed my memory. We used the verse I first quoted above as a final verse of "Caviare" - They also include the first verse of of "Eddystone Light", so maybe we included it too. Can't remember. I had a major panic when I checked for "caviare" in DT, and got no hits - so tried "sturgeon" wheww... NZ/US spellin' gets a bit confusin' Cheers - Sam |
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05 May 00 - 08:14 AM (#223434) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: catspaw49 That's OK Sam......Many of us are separated by a common language. Spaw |
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05 May 00 - 08:21 AM (#223436) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Billy the Bus Wotz a "common language" spaw? Please send the chopper! I'm disparite!!! LOL - Sam (I think)
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05 May 00 - 05:15 PM (#223708) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,me i heared it this way i don't care if it rains or freezes, 'long as i got my plastic jesus sittin' on the dashboard of my car, comes in colors, pink and pleasant glows in the dark 'cause its flourescent take it with you if you travel far. get yourself a sweet madonna dressed in rhinestones sittin' on a pedestal of abalone shell drivin' ninety, i ain't scary 'cause i got the virgin mary assurin' me that i ain't goin' to hell |
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06 May 00 - 07:40 AM (#223972) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Mary Ann Daly Dick, yours sounds close. What was the tune? Sam, yours does too. Was it "I don't care ..." that you sang as the last verse of "Caviare"? To the tune "Reuben, Reuben"?? And "Eddystone Light" thrown in with it? Must have made the miles go by! Mary Ann daly@rff.org
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06 May 00 - 09:38 AM (#223997) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Billy the Bus Hi Mary Ann, Yup, "I don't care..." at the end of "Caviare" to the tune "Reuben, Reuben" probably bits og "Eddystone" and oyher things thrown in too. I don't recall ever marching to it, we hardly ever sang on a route march. I remember it from tossing verses back and forth in fuggy tramping huts of an evening. Cheers - Sam |
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07 May 00 - 05:24 PM (#224402) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Tiger For what it's worth, my daughter (who went there) claims that Plastic Jesus was written by Steve Kuusisto, a professor at Hobart/William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY. Could be, or maybe it's of of those urban legends. |
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30 Jan 02 - 07:32 PM (#638988) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: wysiwyg I don't know where my Madonna went But I'll find her, she's iridescent Riding on the dashboard of my car... ~S~ |
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30 Jan 02 - 10:35 PM (#639071) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Mark Clark Many years ago, a friend of mine used to to this one but he embelished it with some patter as though it was being broadcast from one of those supercharged radio stations just south of the Mexican border. Went something kindly like this... (assume your best Texas drawl, y'all)
(Begin with intro and first chorus.) With the writing talent around this place, someone should be able to whip this into a full length bit. - Mark |
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30 Jan 02 - 10:38 PM (#639075) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,mgarvey@pacifier.com remember those plastic ones that you held up to a light bulb and went into a dark closet and they glowed..oh..guess those are the flourescent ones. We got them for selling Holy Childhood stamps. I still have a couple somewhere. mg |
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30 Jan 02 - 11:46 PM (#639116) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Ian Darby Damn. I spent ages doing this and I just looked at Joe Offer's contribution and it says it all. Great song though..... The version I have is from the King Earl Boogie Bands album, 'Trouble at Mill.'
Don't care if it rains or freezes,
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus,
Driving through the thoroughfare,
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus,
When pedestrians try to cross,
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus, Now. I've also heard an American biker sing,
"Don't care if its dark or scary, The King Earl Boogie Band were formed after Mungo Jerry split up. The guitar player Dave Lambert went on to work with the Strawbs. Mungo Jerry were largely ridiculed by the folkies & traditional clique in the U.K. but did loads of Leadbelly & traditional stuff and I thought they were great. We used to play loads of their songs in pubs and they always went down well. They did a cracking version of 'Midnight Special' and we used to do this with two guitars, drums, and a two part harmony kazoo solo. Hope this helps. I apologise in advance for any spelling mistakes or misprunts as I am currently over-refreshed. |
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31 Jan 02 - 12:03 AM (#639133) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Stilly River Sage I suppose it would tangle this mangled thread too much to mention that my father used to sing a parody of the parody Plastic Jesus called Plastic Devil.
I don't care if the road ain't level sung to the same tune as Plastic Jesus. The rest of the words don't come to me at the moment. The darn tune is probably stuck in my head for a while now though, so maybe I'll think of more of it to post. I'll have to come read this thread carefully in the morning. I haven't figured out where Eddystone Light falls in with Plastic Jesus. There's nothing remotely similar in the tunes or words. Probably thread creep that my quick scan through didn't catch. SRS |
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31 Jan 02 - 01:11 AM (#639166) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Haruo Among English-speaking Esperantists ca. 1972 the hit song began I don't care if my wheels are comin' offI learned that before I ever heard the Jesus version. Maybe I should get some animation freeware and do up a Dancing Zamenhof page... Liland |
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01 Nov 17 - 05:59 AM (#3886125) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Brian Cole My dad had a version from WWII I don't care if it rains or freezes I'm in the hands of the blessed Jesus. I am Jesus little lamb. Yes by Jesus, Christ I am |
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01 Nov 17 - 07:27 AM (#3886150) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: clueless don Back on 30 Jan 02 - 07:32 PM, wysiwyg posted what may be a Catholic version of Plastic Jesus I don't know where my Madonna went But I'll find her, she's iridescent Riding on the dashboard of my car... I once heard someone allude to another Catholic (I assume) version, that started I don't care if my legs get hairy long as I've got my Virgin Mary standin' on the dashboard of my car Don |
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02 Nov 17 - 04:33 AM (#3886328) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: BobL Since nobody else has mentioned it, and it's not in either Database version, I'll mention a third verse which starts: Now I've got the holy hat-trick, Jesus, Mary, and Saint Patrick etc. |
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06 Jun 18 - 10:25 PM (#3929569) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Big dog Mary Mary she's the most she got poked by the holy ghost... Riding on the dashboard of my car I remembered that way |
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07 Jun 18 - 03:07 PM (#3929679) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Helen Then there is Buddy Christ in Kevin Smith's very funny movie called Dogma. My favourite KS movie, in fact. Buddy Christ Dashboard Statue As for the Eddystone connection, just ignore it. Those Kiwis can get very confused, across the Tasman Sea. LOL |
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08 Jun 18 - 03:59 PM (#3929872) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch As mentioned, albeit seldom, in the linked threads, we can thank Fr. Gregory Bezy (1914-1982) and the Sacred Heart Auto League (Sacred Heart Southern Missions) and Hartland Plastics, Milwaukee, WI for all those Sacred Heart Auto Companions. And remember kids... Prayerful driving is Safe driving! "His foot nudged the brakes to slow him down. But the pedal floored easy without a sound. He said "Christ!" It was funny how he had named the only man who could save him now." [50,000 Pounds of Bananas, Harry Chapin] Do self-driving trucks pray to an electric Jesus? |
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09 Jun 18 - 03:01 PM (#3929994) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Helen Now that's a good question, Phil. Do Androids dream of electric sheep? |
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09 Jun 18 - 03:36 PM (#3930002) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Joe Offer Thanks, Phil - Yes, yesterday was the Feast of the Sacred Heart. I meant to say something to you all about that, but I was out having fun making music and playing Scrabble with one of my favorite nuns. The Sisters and I celebrated the feastday with taco salad. My Scrabble opponent started to tell a joke about Trump, but the other sisters cautioned her that they had agreed not to talk politics in the dining room because a recent anti-Trump joke had caused a conservative visitor to leave in dismay. But of course, the Sisters are free to tell their Trump jokes in other places. My friend, not to be impeded, went on to tell the joke about "this guy" who wanted to pardon Mohammed Ali.... I'm a volunteer driver for the Sisters, taking them to stores and doctor visits and such. The Sisters don't have Plastic Jesuses in their cars, but they always say a string of prayers every time I start driving. This tends to make me think they don't really trust my driving... Now, I'm never had a Plastic Jesus of my own, but I did acquire one for Bill Sables some years ago. At the time, I went to the Sacred Heart Auto League, and I had my choice of TWO Plastic Jesuses. One was the traditional hand-painted plastic statue with the flowing red robe and the anatomically-correct heart encircled with thorns and with flames coming out the top. The other was unpainted, glow-in-the-dark ivory. I chose the red-robed Jesus for Bill because it's the traditional Sacred Heart Auto League depiction, and authenticity is essential when choosing props for folk performances. But I went to the Official Sacred Heart Auto League Store today and alas, I could find no Plastic Jesuses. I think that the Sacred Heart Auto League (SHAL) finally figured out that Plastic Jesus obstructs the driver's vision, and thus constitutes a traffic hazard. And it may be that the SHAL finally figured out that most people buying Plastic Jesuses nowadays are folk musicians seeking props to illustrate the song. So, Friendly Folkies, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it appears that Plastic Jesus is dead. You can still get holy cards and stickers and crosses and keychains, but you have forever missed the thrill of driving with Jesus right there at your side, blocking your vision of that pedestrian.......Watch Out!!!! Update: while in the interest of safety, the Sacred Heart Auto League has discontinued the sale of Jesus statues, they are still available at W.J.Hirten of Massachusetts... All is not lost. |
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09 Jun 18 - 08:20 PM (#3930042) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Helen: "Do Androids dream of electric sheep?" Not behind the wheel I hope! Joe: "I think that the Sacred Heart Auto League (SHAL) finally figured out that Plastic Jesus obstructs the driver's vision, and thus constitutes a traffic hazard." According to Fr. Bezy it was the trend to sloped aerodynamic windhields and constant direct sunlight... melts the Jesus. Was three "Sarced Hearts" in one sentence being too obvious? ;) Kalenda! |
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09 Jun 18 - 08:59 PM (#3930049) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes From: Joe Offer I do think the Sacred Heart Auto League did a great service to Catholic schoolchildren by displaying the Heart in an anatomically-correct manner. Think of the consequences, if generations of Catholic schoolchildren had grown up thinking that The Lord had a Heart that looked like something off a St. Valentine's Day card. Well, I admit that encirclement of thorns on the flaming heart might pose some problem. Oh and the fact the The Lord wears his heart on his sleeve....er, chest. Think what a contribution it might have been to the education of Catholic humankind if other parts of Plastic Jesus had also been anatomically correct... Well, whatever the case, He got a good song out of it. -Joe- Phil, take those three Sacred Hearts and add two Glow-in-the-Dark Marys, and you'll have a Full House (you won't be able to see out your windshield at all, but you'll get a quantity discount) |