ADD: I don't care if it rains or freezes

Subject: RE: ADD: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Roderick A Warner
Date: 26 Oct 24 - 06:50 AM

Indulgence craved for obsession but I wanted to check my memory is still pretty good. I quote:

Plastic Jesus" is an American folk song written by Ed Rush and George Cromarty in 1957. They recorded it as a humorous ad spoof in 1962 as The Goldcoast Singers on World Pacific Records' Here They Are! The Goldcoast Singers (wp-1806).[1]

The authorship of the song has historically been incorrectly attributed to Ernie Marrs, who recorded a version in 1965, despite Rush and Cromarty being listed as the authors by ASCAP[1] and by the song's publisher, EMI Music Publishing. Ernie Marrs is sometimes credited as the songwriter because of the folk music magazine Sing Out! (Volume 14, issue number 2, page 40) crediting a version of the lyrics and music to him.


Caveats re Wikipedia’s accuracy but that seems to put it to bed. Nice to know my eidetic memory still working re my image retained all these years of the Sing Out page.

Subject: RE: ADD: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Roderick A Warner
Date: 26 Oct 24 - 06:42 AM

https://youtu.be/g6wXNmMyAPk?si=38Ph0hpAYOOeOzsf

For the sake of completeness, here’s a link to the above Cecil McCartney version of ‘Plastic Jesus.’ Not quite as bad as I remember, but I lived with the rehearsals for the album, predictably called ‘Om.’ An odd snapshot of 1968 London.

Subject: RE: ADD: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Roderick A Warner
Date: 26 Oct 24 - 06:29 AM

I knew a man in London in the sixties called Cecil McCartney from Northern Ireland who was an artist and had secured (by holy intervention one assumes because he was an awful singer) a record deal. His first and as far as I know only album was rehearsed in our house as the main guitar player Andy Dixon was living there at the time. (Dixon was a phenomenal guitarist but damaged the tendons in his wrist so took up playing violin instead and went deep into traditional music. There was already a Northern Irish connection as I think he had attended Queens University in Belfast. He was English but went back to Belfast at some point and stayed there as a stalwart on the traditional scene up till his death some years ago. Last time I saw him was at 3 in the morning asleep in the street cuddling his violin case at a fla (Listowel I think). Aside over. Point being that one of the songs McCartney was rehearsing was some godawful song called ‘Plastic Jesus.’ Coincidentally I have a dim memory of seeing the sheet music to Plastic Jesus, maybe in Sing Out when I was browsing a collection of that ancient magazine in the Eighties. Embedded in the realms of the coffin dodgers now many years on the image of the music seems strong. The McCartney album has become some kind of obscure psychedelic landmark of the late sixties. Apparently. I don’t know anything about his art but his music was not to my taste, shall we say, and not speak too ill of the dead. I thought he was a nutter with a strong fantasy life but the world is a wide place… apologies for length… a dive into his life will reveal more drollery for those who have the time… but I always assumed ‘Plastic Jesus’ was some sixties parody of an older song…

Subject: RE: ADD: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 24 - 09:30 PM

Ragtime Cowboy Joe - now there's an interesting introduction to the Plastic Jesus oeuvre! I hope someone comes up with more lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Paul Cotter
Date: 25 Oct 24 - 07:33 PM

Bit late to the party. I was looking for something my dad sang in the 50's.

I don't care if it rains or freezes
I'm in the arms of loving Jesus
I am Jesus' little lamb.
Yes, by Jesus Christ I am.

Jesus loves me this I know,
So does rag-time cowboy Joe,

...and now my memory fails me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 08:59 PM

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)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 08:20 PM

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!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 03:36 PM

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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Helen
Date: 09 Jun 18 - 03:01 PM

Now that's a good question, Phil.

Do Androids dream of electric sheep?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 08 Jun 18 - 03:59 PM

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?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Helen
Date: 07 Jun 18 - 03:07 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Big dog
Date: 06 Jun 18 - 10:25 PM

Mary Mary she's the most she got poked by the holy ghost... Riding on the dashboard of my car I remembered that way

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: BobL
Date: 02 Nov 17 - 04:33 AM

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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: clueless don
Date: 01 Nov 17 - 07:27 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Brian Cole
Date: 01 Nov 17 - 05:59 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Jan 02 - 01:11 AM

Among English-speaking Esperantists ca. 1972 the hit song began

I don't care if my wheels are comin' off
Long as I've got my Plastic Zamenhof...

I learned that before I ever heard the Jesus version.

Maybe I should get some animation freeware and do up a Dancing Zamenhof page...

Liland

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jan 02 - 12:03 AM

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
Long as I got my plastic devil
Standing on the dashboard of my car.

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Ian Darby
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 11:46 PM

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,
so long as I've got my plastic Jesus,
riding on the dasboard of my car.
Through my trials and tribulations,
and my travels throught the nations,
with my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus,
riding on the dashboard of my car,
I'm afraid he'll have to go,
his magnets ruined my radio,
and if I have a wreck he'll leave a scar.

Driving through the thoroughfare,
with his nose up in the air,
a wreck may be ahead but he don't mind.
Trouble coming he don't see,
he just keeps his eyes on me,
and any other wreck (I think) that lies behind.

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus,
riding on the dashboard of my car.
Though the sun shines on his back,
makes him peel, chip and crack,
with my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

When pedestrians try to cross,
I let them know whose boss,
I seldom sound my horn or give them warnin'
I run through the town,
tryin' to run them down,
it's seldom that they live to see the mornin'

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus,
riding on the dashboard of my car,
I'm afraid he'll have to go,
his magnets ruined my radio,
and if I have a wreck he'll leave a scar.

Now. I've also heard an American biker sing,

"Don't care if its dark or scary,
as long as I'm lying in the arms of Mary......."

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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From:
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 10:38 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Mark Clark
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 10:35 PM

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.)

Announcer: (In Southern revival presentation style) Yes friends, this program is brought to you by the Pink and Pleasant Plastic Icon company of Del Rio, Texas. Act fast and you can be the first in your neighborhood to collect the complete set of our Pink and Pleasant Plastic Icons. These smart looking blesed symbols will cast a warm light throughout the room that enhances any decor. Yes friends, we will send you a different member of the Holy Family each week. Just imagine the envy of your friends and neighbors when they come into your home and there, on top of your television set, is the entire Holy Family easin' eye strain and bringin' in better reception. Yes friends, it's as the song says...

Complete the song.

(Follow with more patter in the same vein with instrumental in the background.)

(One more chorus and out.)

With the writing talent around this place, someone should be able to whip this into a full length bit.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 07:32 PM

I don't know where my Madonna went

But I'll find her, she's iridescent

Riding on the dashboard of my car...

~S~

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Tiger
Date: 07 May 00 - 05:24 PM

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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 06 May 00 - 09:38 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Mary Ann Daly
Date: 06 May 00 - 07:40 AM

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 [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,me
Date: 05 May 00 - 05:15 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 05 May 00 - 08:21 AM

Wotz a "common language" spaw?

Please send the chopper! I'm disparite!!!

LOL - Sam (I think)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 May 00 - 08:14 AM

That's OK Sam......Many of us are separated by a common language.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 05 May 00 - 01:58 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 04 May 00 - 06:41 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Bill D
Date: 04 May 00 - 06:23 PM

tsk..careless editing..that 'yo-ho-ho' part (2 lines) is the chorus,,,but you all are smart enough to figure that out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Bill D
Date: 04 May 00 - 06:20 PM

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

(GCCG) C - - - / F G C - : / /

My father was the keeper of the asteroid light
And he slept with a Martian one fine night
From this union there came three,
Two were mutuants and the other was me. (not 'mutes)

G G / G C

Yo ho ho the jets run free
Oh for the life at the speed of c
When I was but a space cadet,
They put me in charge of the proton jet
I cleaned the tubes, and filled them with fuel,
And I cut my teeth on an old slide rule.

CHO:
One night as we were sailing toward the moon,
Singing the well known spaceman's tune
A voice came echoing out of the void
And there sat my mother on her as-teroid.

CHORUS

What has become of my children three
My mother then she asked of me
One is on exhibit in a zoo on Venus
The other keeps a telepathic link between us

CHORUS

Then the deuterons flashed in her hydrogen hair
And I looked again and my mother wasn't there
But she telepathed angrily out of the night
To Hell with the keeper of the asteroid light.

CHORUS

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Note: See EDDYSTON etc.
@parody
From the singing of Bill Day

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 04 May 00 - 05:57 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 04 May 00 - 05:41 PM

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)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 04 May 00 - 12:29 PM

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.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 May 00 - 04:27 AM

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-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 04 May 00 - 02:09 AM

Hmmm....

My first recollection of the phrase predates "Plastic Jesus" it was a verse....

I don't care if it rains or freezes.
I am safe in the arms of Jesus
I am Jesus' little lamb
My bloody oath I am....

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
Slept with a mermaid one fine night
From this union there came three
Two were fishes and the other was me.

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 May 00 - 12:43 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: ddw
Date: 03 May 00 - 11:50 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 May 00 - 08:22 PM

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-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Irish sergeant
Date: 03 May 00 - 08:08 PM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: MMario
Date: 03 May 00 - 09:25 AM

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!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 May 00 - 09:15 AM

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

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: Callie
Date: 03 May 00 - 08:03 AM

didn't know there WAS an original - thanks for enlightening me (no pun intended)!

Subject: I don't care if it rains or freezes
From: GUEST,Mary Ann Daly
Date: 03 May 00 - 06:26 AM

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?