Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)

Subject: Lyr Add: I HATE WOGS (Eric Bogle)
From: Wolfgang
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 04:25 AM

I often had thought of posting this Eric Bogle song. Now a GUEST has done that in the middle of a thread called 'Thank you Brits'. Lest it is not buried among the BS I link to it here. It is rumoured that Eric Bogle has stopped doing this song for the chorus could be sung with conviction by people coming from a completely different background on which the irony is lost.

Wolfgang

I hate wogs

---

Aw, I think it oughta be here, too.
-Joe Offer-

Thread #58253   Message #921394
Posted By: GUEST
29-Mar-03 - 05:33 PM
Thread Name: Thank you Brits
Subject: ADD: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)

I Hate Wogs
(Eric Bogle)

I'm a dicky-dye Australian guy and me name is Blooey Schmidt.
I love this sunburned country and I'm bloody proud of it
And I love our simple way of life and the things we all hold dear
Like V.F.L. and Big Ben Pies and foamin' Tueeze beer
I love our open friendliness where a man can make good mates
In fact in all Australia there's just one thing I hate:

I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

They can't speak proper English and they never seem to learn
And the awful guff that they call food would make your stomach turn
It's always dipped in garlic sauce or fried in olive oil
I've never tasted any meself, but I bet it all tastes vile!
What's wrong with good Australian food, you Slovaks and you Poles?
Good healthy stuff like pie and sauce and chips and chigger rolls

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

And the local chip shop down the street is run by a bloody Greek
He's open sixteen hours a day and seven days a week
And every cent that you spend there on a pie or on dumsim
Helps to send back home to Greece for a bastard just like him!
Oh, I never eat there meself 'cause I couldn't touch Wog meat
I usually eat at the Chinese caf' that's just across the street!

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

I was queueing down at the Registry, a-pickin' up me dole
In front of me was a Yugoslav, in front of him a Pole
Behind me was a Eyetalian, behind him was a Turk
Those lazy migrant bastards do, they never bloody work!
But in spite of what the papers say, there's work for those who want to
The wife and twenty-seven kids is all the work I'm going to!

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

So send the bastards home to Spain, and Italy and Greece
And maybe when they've all gone home, we'll get some bloody peace
To sit in the shade of the killabar tree and drink beer all day long
And run amok with a flat-bed truck, down by the billabong
And every night at twelve o'clock to show that we're not slaggards
We'll stand and sing our national song, "Advance Australia", backwards!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:28 AM

Well spoken Wolfgang. It is getting harder and harder to perform "ironic" material in public. Years ago when I'd sing a couple of funny songs, I'd be ready for the blank faced patron who'd give me shit because they'd completely missed the point. Later, it became obvious that those people were starting to have a lot of allies. Too much hassle.

Remember Bogle's "Yer a Bloody Rotten Audience"?

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: alanabit
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:46 AM

Satire is always dangerous. Jeremy Taylor's wonderful "Liberal Man" is about a passionate lefty with NO sense of humour. It is very useful for annoying people with either left or right wing politics - or at least those who do not take the trouble to listen properly.
Over here I do a song called, "Nach 'nem Bier", which is about a bloke who just knows that he is wittier, better looking and sexier after a few beers - but the women JUST DO NO NOTICE! It has a beery chorus. On one occasion I was doing it at the Irish Pub in Düsseldorf. A crowd of beery blokes came in and stood at the bar with their backs to me. They turned to face me to bawl out the chorus and turned around again to continue the serious business of boozing during the verses. I couldn't get upset about it. The irony of the situation was just too delightful!

Subject: Lyr Add: OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE (from Merle Haggard)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:49 AM

Well, Rick, I don't know about you but I'm still PROUD to be an Okie from Muskogee:

E
We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
                              B7
We don't take our trips on LSD;
B7
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street;
                                 E
We like livin' right, and bein' free.


E
I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
                                          B7
A place where even squares can have a ball ----
B7
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
                                                E
And white lightin's still the biggest thril of all

We don't make a party out of lovin';
We like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo;
We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

And I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightin's still the biggest thril of all.

Leather boots are still in style for mainly footwear;
Beads and roman sandals won't be seen.
Football's still the roughest thing on campus,
And the kids here still respect the college dean.


We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
In Muskogee, Oklahoma, USA.

Cheerily,
Merle Haggard

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 10:02 AM

Even if you wonder through the whole song, when you get to

"We'll stand and sing our national song, "Advance Australia", backwards!"

the irony ought to be quite clear. This won't stop folks to whom being offended isn't just a hobby, it's a way of life.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: JudeL
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 10:24 AM

If people are treating the singing as wallpaper they will be unlikely to notice any irony or subtlety. Unfortunately there are also occasions when it's not the amount of beer of background noise that hinders people's understanding but almost a type of mental laziness. It's as if they are used to everything being made so obvious only those with a mental disability could fail to understand. This seems to be true in lots of other areas as well. It was once expected that people would have basic common sense, now it seems more and more often the population is treated as if stupidity and ignorance is seen as the norm.   

But getting this thread back to the music another ironic song I love is Micca's "My grandfather hated the Germans".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 10:57 AM

Hi Alan, I LOVE annoying my fellow liberals (the ones who feel the whole cause is in jeapordy if they dare make fun of it's foibles).....have you got the lyrics to that?

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: harvey andrews
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 12:30 PM

Jude L speaks sense. I love irony and have used it for 40 years but undoubtedly more of it goes over people's heads today than it used to and some people appear to be professional umbrage takers!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: alanabit
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 01:32 PM

Mine is in German, so it's not much use to you, Rick. Jeremy Taylor's masterpiece from what I remember:
I am a Liberal man and I do the best I can
To set the world to rights so I can sleep at night
I always remonstrate against the things I hate
But there's nothing I hate more than that bloke who lives next door
For he's a Tory - an exploiter - a nouveau Fascist pig
And he struts around his swimming pool like Mr.Bloody Big...
Sorry, it's gone! Who can remember more?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 01:44 PM

Dear Mr. Noble: The term is Okie, not Oakie. (With fond memories of both Muskogee and Tulsa in the 1950s). But thanks for posting the song which I occasionally hum but never remember all the words. There is a parody, but I have lost that one completely.

Wolfgang, thanks for the link to the Bogle song. New to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 03:54 PM

"We're clashing by night, in dubious battle
An ignorant army are we--
We will solve the world's problems with infantile prattle
And slogans will set you all free!"

(chorus of unfinished song by dick greenhaus)

Any verses, anyone? (sings to Little old Sod Shanty)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 04:19 PM

There's the Alf Garnett factor in England. He was a white, cockney, working class fascist (television character) who played straight into the hands of white, cockney (and the rest) working class fascists. On one hand the irony worked but on the other hand it was manna to the fascists who quoted his catch phrases as gospel. He hated 'coons' etc and I often thought the only people to benefit were the white, working class, cockmey writers who were applauded on both sides and no doubt laughed all the way to the bank.

Subject: RE: Alf Garnett
From: lamarca
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 04:33 PM

I think Alf Garnett was the British TV character who became "Archie Bunker" when Norman Lear stole that sitcom for US television, changing the name to "All in the Family" - and Archie Bunker, too, became America's cute and cuddly racist. Everyone on that show was a charicature, but the irony went over the heads of most of the idiot-box generation who loved Carroll O'connor's "lovable" bigot...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: Inükshük
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 04:52 PM

We used to do a rather clever (we thought)tribute to BBW's. It was a medley of Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls" and Johnny Bond's "That Fat Gal of Mine", plus an introduction pointing out that it was, in reality, a love song. In spite of our sincere attempts to bridge a couple of generation gaps and to also enhance the self-image of those big sweeties, our efforts were not met with the accolades and showers of affection that we had anticipated. In fact, we were lucky to escape with only minor damage. It is true; the targeted audience frequently misinterprets the true message in a song.

Inukshuk

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I hate wogs
From: breezy
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 04:53 PM

see Eric in Watford on 24th July pm El greko for details

Subject: Lyr Add: POLITICAL SCIENCE (Randy Newman)
From: robomatic
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 05:00 PM

I used to live in an International House. I often picked up new arrivals from the airport and on the way home I sang them this song (Can't you just see W and Rummy arm in arm doing a rendition?):

POLITICAL SCIENCE by Randy Newman circa 1976

No one likes us, don't know why,
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
Now all around even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one, see what happens

We give them money, are they greatful
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us, so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one, and pulverize them

Asia's crowded, Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot and Canada's too cold
South America stole our name
We'll drop the big one, there'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia, don't want to hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an all American amusement park there
They've got surfin' too

Boom goes London, Boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city, the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh how peaceful it'll be, we'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono baby, Italian shoes for me!

They all hate us anyhow
Let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

Subject: Lyr Add: I HATE WOGS (Eric Bogle)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:00 PM

G'day Wolfgang, Joe, Rick, Charley and all ...

Being a pedant, I'll repost the full words with corrections!

The asterisks (*) are corrections and the carets (^) are terms probably needing some explanation!

I Hate Wogs
(Eric Bogle)

I'm a dinky-di* Australian guy and me name is Bluey* Schmidt.
I love this sunburned country and I'm bloody proud of it
And I love our simple way of life and the things we all hold dear
Like V.F.L.^ and Big Ben Pies and foamin' Toohey's* beer
I love our open friendliness where a man can make good mates
In fact in all Australia there's just one thing I hate:

I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

They can't speak proper English and they never seem to learn
And the awful guff that they call food would make your stomach turn
It's always dipped in garlic sauce or fried in olive oil
I've never tasted any meself, but I bet it all tastes vile!
What's wrong with good Australian food, you Slovaks and you Poles?
Good healthy stuff like pie and sauce and chips and Chiko* rolls

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

And the local chip shop down the street is run by a bloody Greek
He's open sixteen hours a day and seven days a week
And every cent that you spend there on a pie or a dim sim*
Helps to send back home to Greece for a bastard just like him!
Oh, I never eat there meself 'cause I couldn't touch Wog meat
I usually eat at the Chinese caf' that's just across the street!

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

I was queueing down at the Registry, a-pickin' up me dole
In front of me was a Yugoslav, in front of him a Pole
Behind me was a Eyetalian, behind him was a Turk
Those lazy migrant bastards do, they never bloody work!
But in spite of what the papers say, there's work for those who want to
The wife and twenty-seven kids is all the work I'm going to!

'Cause I hate Wogs, they live like dogs
Some eat bananas and some eat frogs
Some wear turbans some wear clogs
All the bloody same to me 'cause I hate Wogs.

So send the bastards home to Spain, and Italy and Greece
And maybe when they've all gone home, we'll get some bloody peace
To sit in the shade of the coolibah* tree and drink beer all day long
And run amuck* with a fat* jumbuck*, down by the billabong
And every night at twelve o'clock to show that we're not slaggards
We'll stand and sing our national song, "Advance Australia, Backwards*"!

*

Advance Australia, Backwards = (~) Advance Australia Fair ... Australian National Anthem ... after PC re-edit! (not Eric's)

Amuck = Variation of amok ... and it rhymes better!

Dinki-di = Familiar form of "Dinkum" - real, genuine.

Bluey = an Australian nickname for a red-haired man ... ?

Chiko rolls = Proprietory name for a large (enhanced ...?) spring roll

Coolibah = Eucalyptus (Gum) tree - like most gum trees, not actually noted for good shade

Dim Sim = Dumsim is better Chinese ... but Aussies aren't too good at getting anyone else's language right! (And, it means a single roll, not a meal of small morsels, in normal Aussie parlance.)

Fat jumbuck = a sheep (see Waltzing Matilda)

Toohey's = Sydney beer maker


^
V.F.L. = Victorian Footbal League = Australian Rules Football

There are probably some terms I've failed to highlight, because they are too familiar to me ... but this is a start!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:18 PM

Dim sum in Chinese restaurants in Canada. Dunno what the Chinese call it, but it is fun to try all the different items (note- takes many trips to try them all).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Bugsy
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 09:59 PM

Rick, if my memory serves me well(and it often doesn't these days) I think you'll find that "Bloody Rotton Audience" was written by the late Tony Miles.


Cheers


Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 10:30 PM

G'day GUEST,Q,

You're right ... it should be close to dim sum in English, from the Cantonese dim-sam (with a long 'a' that I can't accent in the standard ASCII set!). That means "dot of the heart" and refers to a meal of small savoury snacks.

In Australia (and probably other (~) English environments) "dim sim" means a single item: "a small roll of steamed or fried meat, cooked in thin pastry". These have specific names in Chinese - like gar gee for a steamed pork example. Eric's line: " ... pie or a dim sim ..." indicates that he is using the words in this singular sense - and "Bluey Schmidt" would not know of any other sense (except as a racial slur that calls all Asians "dim sims")!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 10:58 PM

Guest Q-

Sorry about "The term is Okie, not Oakie" but I didn't check very carefully what I was copying from another website.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 02 Apr 03 - 11:02 PM

I still do a lot of satire and irony in both my comedy patter and songs, and I get a raft of shit from people who obviously were not taught irony and satire in high-school English classes. It's no wonder Tom Lehrer is not performing any longer.
Sometimes I get written complaints or e-mails, and I always respond to them asking if the writer had read any Dean Swift. Invariably they don't know who Swift was.
The one song that I get dragged over the coals for regularly is Old McDonald's Deformed Farm in which I speculate about animals having human handicaps complete with "symptoms' and "effects,' stuttering, lisp, Tourette's Syndrome et al.
I checked with several friends of mine who have the handicaps mentioned in the songs, and asked if they were offended or hurt. To a man they said no. But they're adults, and I can see where the mocking of a handicap might have an adverse effect on a child. So I don't do it when kids are in the audience.
I figure that thinking adults can discern the difference.
But, often I'm wrong.
There are people in this world whose sole function is to go around being "offended" so they can get a little bit of attention.
And frankly, I wish they'd turn all their attention on Catspaw.*BG*

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 01:08 AM

G'day Seamus,

I know these people might annoy you ... but there is such a thing as over-reaction!

Regard(les)s,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 01:53 AM

personally I LOVE Old McDonald's Deformed Farm....

Subject: Lyr Add: NACH 'NEM BIER (A Moorhouse, M Nicholas)
From: alanabit
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 03:10 AM

Joe Offer asked me to post "Nach 'nem Bier" here, so I will. I have never thought about doing an English version, because the character sketch seems to fit a Cologne character so well - and after all -that's what I know best these days. When I sing it, I usually make the verses more Kölsch (Cologne dialect) with every successive verse. That would render it incomprehensible even to some German speakers, (and probably annoy Susanne!) so I'll keep it fairly close to Hoch Deutsch. Maybe one of the real linguists on Mudcat can offer a translation. I know that drunken, sexist pigs are not only to be found here!

NACH 'NEM BIER: (Alan Moorhouse and Mark Nicholas)

Hier ist so eine scheiße Stub'
Dreckig ist es nur – und trüb
Qualmig und die Luft ist grässlich
Diese Kellnerin ist hässlich
Beweg dein fetten Arsch und holst (du)
Dringend Mädchen mir ein Kölsch!
Auf Warten hab' ich keinen Bock
Wie lang muss ich sitzen noch?
Die Laune wird bald verdorben
Viel sind hier von Durst gestorben
Versteck mich in keiner Ecke
‚n echter Kerl sitzt an der Theke
Was hab' ich zu suchen hier?
Mir wird's klarer nach 'neu Bier
Nach 'nem Bier                
Nach 'nem Bier
Mir wird's klarer
Nach 'nem Bier

Blöde Musik – ich hasse Rap
Mach es aus – wir hören Bap
Lenk mich ab – ich will vergessen
FC gegen Rot Weiß Essen
Verdamp Lang Her! Hört sich gut an
So was muntert auf 'nen Mann
Kellnerin hat Bier gebracht
Kuk! Die dumme Fresse lacht
Sie ist 'ne Braut für Frankenstein
Ich mach' mir'n Spaß und lad' sie ein
Sie verschwindet – macht sich chic
Glaubt an Liebe auf 'n ersten Blick
Möchte sie vielleicht mit mir?
Mir wird's klarer nach 'nem Bier
        Refrain:

Zehn Bier haben gut geschmeckt
Jetzt trinkst du ein Gläschen Sekt
(Hic!) Ich muss zur Theke greifen
Und dich in die Backen kneifen
Das war Spaß nur – keine Lust
Ich bleib' brav ich habe Durst
Sitz gerade auf dem Hocker
Wir bleiben kühl und locker
Der Typ eben ist gegangen
Wollte was mit ihr anfangen
Ist jetzt auf seiner Heimfahrt und
Hätte hier nur schlechte Karten
Mag sie nur 'nein wilde Stier?
Mir wird's klarer nach 'nem Bier
        Refrain:

Kleine Schlucke – sind gesund
Wir machen jetzt ein Thekenrund
Jung bestell nicht so bedrohlich!
Kuk mal! Sie ist nett und fröhlich
Dieses Mädchen hab' ich gerne
Sie hat Augen wie die Sterne
Das ihr zu sagen – ich bin zu schüchtern
Ich bin immer noch zu nüchtern
Doch ich werde sie gleich verlieren
Sie will aber erst kassieren
Taxi kommt und sie will gehen
So was kann ich nicht verstehen
Wieso – es ist erst halb vier?
Mir wird's klarer nach 'neu Bier
Nach 'nem Bier                
Nach ‚nem Bier
        Mir wird's klarer
        Nachdem ich gekotzt hab!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 08:07 AM

I'm reading this while listening to Eric's "Just the Funny Stuff"

I put the tape on because it contains "Australian Through & Through" - referred to an another thread & I wanted to hear it again.

This album also contains my all time favourite, the live version of "Front Row Cowboy"

sandra

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 10:49 AM

I usually sing Sydney Carter's lovely song "Standing in the Rain" over the Cristmas period. However, I've lost count of the number of times which people have taken offense at the line "But I hope he won't be black". The whole song is trying to expose middle class suburban (mind you I live in the surburbs) hypocrisy.

To slightly change some of the late Dave Houlden's words:
If they can't understand bloody irony, it's high time that they could !

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 10:56 AM

Another classic example is what happened to Briuce Springsteen's "Born in the USA", taken and used as flag-waving triumphalism by people who never listened to the words:

Born down in a dead man's town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much
Till you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
I was born in the U.S.A., born in the U.S.A.

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

Born in the U.S.A....

Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man said Son if it was up to me
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said Son, don't you understand

I had a brother at Khe Sahn
Fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone

He had a woman he loved in Saigon
I got a picture of him in her arms now

Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go

Born in the U.S.A., I was born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., Born in the U.S.A.
Born in the U.S.A., I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: The O'Meara
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 12:38 PM

Seamus;
    Old MacDonald's deformed Farm is one of my favorite cuts on your CDs. (my first favorite is La Vie En Rose, but we're not doing French right now, so I've changed it to a Belgian folksong. Nobody does melancholy, nostalgic tunes like those Belgians.)
    A few years ago I wrote an absolutely hilarious satirical article in a Wyoming magazine about life in small, western towns, like Red Lodge MT and Rawlins, WY, where the gene pool is the size of a birdbath and all the children are 9-fingered albinos grafted at birth into their fathers' pickups. I recieved lots of interesting mail, much of which had to do with "Gut shot and left at the border", and invitations to various cowboy bars "Jist come on in around midnight and mention yer name." Fortunately I'd used a nom de plume that had leapt to mind when I sent the article off. So I just thought I'd suggest that if you ever entertain in a small western town you might want to call yourself Gus or Lefty or some such.

O'Meara

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 01:17 PM

Irony carried too far can become demeaning and libelous, as the article by 0'meara seems to do. In essence, it seems to call small town inhabitants incestuous. Did anyone besides the author consider it to be "hilarious"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Little Hawk
Date: 03 Apr 03 - 08:09 PM

Ha! Ha! Ha! Nice work, Eric Bogle! Right on the mark, as usual.

I also enjoy making fun of the seriousness of fellow liberals from time to time, Rick... :-)

- LH

Subject: Lyr Add: LIBERAL MAN (Jeremy Taylor)
From: alanabit
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 03:43 AM

Here we go folks. My second attempt at posting Jeremy Taylor's brilliant "Liberal Man". Those of you who have a better memory than me - and there are some people like that - please mail in the corrections!


LIBERAL MAN (Jeremy Taylor)

I am a Liberal man and I do the best I can
To set the world to rights so I can sleep at night
I always remonstrate against the things I hate
But there's nothing I hate more than that bloke who lives next door
'Cos he's a Tory, an exploiter and a nouveau Fascist pig
And he struts around his swimming pool like Mr. Bloody Big
And I hate him and I loathe him – I can't stand his silly head
If I have to see him any more I'd rather see him dead

I am a tolerant man and I do the best I can
To set the world to rights so I can dream at night
A chance I never miss to stamp out prejudice
But that bloke next door from me – he's got them all from A to Z (American Z)
He's a racist, an imperialist, a white man to the core
A lousy Empire Loyalist and a monumental bore
He talks about the Pakis and the Fuzzies and the Wogs
The Eyeties and the Gyppos and the Chinkies and the Frogs
And I hate him and I loathe him and I don't know what to do
But he isn't even English – he's just another bloody Jew!
Not that I care – not that I mind (Six eight time)
I believe in the brotherhood of mankind
I sift information and study the news
I've formulated my personal views

I am a studious man and I do the best I can
To set the world to rights so I can read at night
My philosophic tracts and Penguin paperbacks
But next door there'd be a riot if he changed his literary diet
He takes the Telegraph and Punch and Sunday Express
The Illustrated London News and Reader's Digest
Country Life and Field are his intellectual limit
And he always takes The Tatler – just in case he's in it
And I hate him and I loathe him
The fathead Lah di Dahdian
I've a mind to go and thrash him with my copy of The Guardian

I am a peaceful man and I do the best I can
To set the world to rights so I can dream at nights
My benevolence extends to all our feathered friends
Which is more than I can say for that bloke across the way (needs checking)
He's always hunting and shooting and chasing all the time
He likes to murder foxes with all those other swine
And I hate him and I loathe him and I can't stand his bloody dog
If it ever comes round here again I'll flush it down the bog!
And I hate him and I loathe him but I am I know I am
I'm a Liberal, tolerant, studious and REASONABLE sort of man!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 03:59 AM

O'Meara, any links to the article? I used to live in Wyoming and write for a few papers and mags up there as well as work on human rights issues. I'd like to read the whole article before answering GuestQ's question about the humour of it.

kat

Subject: Alternate Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 07:15 AM

G'day again,

As I dragged out the assorted Eric Bogle sonbooks, I just noticed that the original(1980) book has a different ending to the fourth stanza:

" ...
Those lazy migrant bastards do, they ever bloody work!
For there's plenty of jobs goin', though I've not worked since school
May be a bloody racist pig, but I'm no bloody fool!"

Maybe Eric decided that he could be a little more ironic!

REgards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: The O'Meara
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 09:17 AM

KAT: the article was written in the early 80s for Wyoming Horizons, the Sunday magazine for the Casper Star Tribune newspaper. I would be amazed if any electronic copy of it exists. Sorry. By the way, the invitation to drop by was a letter to the editor in the Rawlins newspaper and specifically mentioned the Rifleman Bar. I lived in Casper from'77 - 85, then Cheyenne from 85 - 95.

GuestQ: The article was fairly gentle. It concerned Springtime in the Rockies and the event I called Fruit Basket Turnover, when everyone in a small town hits the street as soon as the snow melts enough, (around mid-June,) suffering from acute cabin fever, and tries to find a new partner to "winter in" with. Trouble is small towns have small populations and it gets hard to find a fresh partner. One result of this is that after awhile the children tend to look like each other. (I did resist the temptation to mention 9- fingerd albino children who play the banjo really well.) At least 3 people thought it was funny - the editor, me, and the brain dead cowboy from Baggs WY who told me about it in the first place. Most of the mail was good, but I really was surprised by the few really nasty letters. Point being satire of any sort can be really tricky. I suspect Mr. Bogle would have agreed.

O'Meara

ps - the editor asked for a follow-up article explaining satire. my learning curve was not quite horizontal yet, and I respectfuul declined.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 10:19 AM

I am not surprised, O'Meara! A tad bit of exaggeration there, too, though and I think you'd find it a bit more tolerant now. I was in Casper from 77-9383 and previously as a young child. Then back to there from 93-02 and wrote an op/ed column for the Star Trib plus some feature articles, as well as some articles for the short-lived pubs Wyoming - Magazine of the Equality State (no intentional irony there) and Vista - New Perspectives on the West.

We also have another member who lives in Wyoming and we have had a Mudcat Gathering in Cheyenne with some members from Colorado.

Sorry for the thread drift, folks.

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: The O'Meara
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 03:29 PM

Kat: I heard about the mudcat gathering in Cheyenne just after I discovered mudcat. Would have loved to have been there. Was Charles Levandosky still doing the Star-Trib editorial page in '93? I can't recall. (The history of magazine publishing in Wyoming is rather abbreviated.) Casper wasn't very big on folk music. (More Willie Nelson country.) Cheyenne was better, being closer to you-dub in Laramie. But still, the mention of people like Eric Bogle drew a puzzled silence

O'Meara

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Hate Wogs (Eric Bogle)
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 07:29 PM

Yeah, it was Charles gave me my chance and led me to being included in the same pub as him, Liberal Opinion Week dot com. I'll write more in a PM as I really didn't mean to hijack the thread.*bg*