 sj |
||
|
||
Lyr Req: songs about health
|
|
|
Subject: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Carol Date: 16 Nov 98 - 01:58 PM Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: carol Date: 15-Nov-98 - 08:05 PM I have to do a consumer radio announcement for a class and I wanted to find a song about health. Transferred from another thread that had a title that didn't fit the topic. Carol, we don't have a "health" category in our database of folk songs, but you might want to look through our keywords (click here) and see if there's one that might lead you to something that will fit. Hope that helps.
|
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Skeandhu Date: 16 Nov 98 - 07:33 PM Look for lyrics by Adam McNaughtan. He did a nice wee song about cholesterol! |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: northfolk Date: 16 Nov 98 - 10:37 PM Joel Mabus did a great song that fits this category, but I don't recall the name, or know whether it is recorded. The good part, if you find it is that it is exemplary of Mabus fine wit. good luck! |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: AndreasW Date: 17 Nov 98 - 02:22 AM What about The Sick Note (Why Paddy's not at work today)? Ok, it's not about health, more about the absence of health... Andreas |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Allan C. Date: 17 Nov 98 - 07:57 AM Or you could enter [smoke yourself to death] -include the brackets and find a good song [Smoke! Smoke! Smoke That Cigarette!] by Merle Travis. It was recorded by various people including Jimmy Dean. |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: bigJ Date: 17 Nov 98 - 08:26 PM Leon Rosselson wrote a song called '(What Does It Matter) As Long As You’ve Got Your Health.' |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Felipa Date: 18 Nov 98 - 04:48 PM the song I requested today on a new thread, Some Little Bug Is Going to Find You, is about health there was a famous country song, TB Blues (Jimmie Rodgers) Hazel Dickens wrote/sings a song about Black Lung (mining disease) and I recall Tony Barrand and John Roberts singing "I dinna want tae die of silicosis" (though I might be wrong about the dialect. It's probably entitled 'Silicosis'. There's lots of songs about contraception, childbirth, etc - including The Death of Queen Jane (trad) and songs by Matt McGinn and Queen Jane songs about drugs - Rolling Stones- Mother's Little Helper, old blues/jazz nos. about Laudanum, Buffy Sainte-Marie about Codeine addiction a newish song with an Irish-sounding tune about
"Pills, pills, pills, pills; I saw that one in the same collection as "(What Does It Matter) As Long As You’ve Got Your Health" which another respondent has mentioned. Sorry, I don't recall the name of the collection or the singing radical theatre group which put it together. Even "The Man that Waters the Workers' Beer" is arguably a song about health "what do I care if it makes them ill, If it makes them terribly queer, I've a car and a yacht and an aeroplane And I waters the workers' beer" well, that's all that comes to mind just now I hope someone gives us the lyrics to "Some Little Bug" What sort of health songs are you looking for and why? |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Date: 18 Nov 98 - 05:21 PM "The Streets of Laredo / The Unfortunate Rake / The Buck's Elegy" where the hero dies from the mercury chloride used to treat his syphilis. Willie the Weeper, Cocaine Lil, etc. Popeye the Sailor Man Ballad of Lydia Pinkham, Cod Liver Oil
|
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: dick greenhaus Date: 18 Nov 98 - 05:57 PM If you try a search for @doctor {or} @illness {or} sick* you'll come up with 21 hits. |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Alex Date: 19 Nov 98 - 12:22 AM Adding to previous comments, Joel Mabus' song is a wonderful broadside against those vegetarians who are rather sanctimonious about the concept and is titled "Hitler Was a Vegetarian". Adam McNaughtan has written a couple of songs "Cholesterol" to the tune of Lilly Marlene "Cholesterol, Cholesterol, my chance of survival is small, But I'll no' get a dose o' Anorexia Nervosa 'cos I love my cholesterol" and his song "Erchie Cathcairt" about a health nut in Glasgow who tunes his body to the peak of perfect fitness only to get run over by a bus. But I suppose you were looking for something serious and boring about health. |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Alex Date: 19 Nov 98 - 12:32 AM Even as we write - there is a thread entitled "Some Little Bug" that is in the process of weaving its way around this one. |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Felipa Date: 19 Nov 98 - 03:43 AM Re McNaughtan's Cholesterol, Steve Goodman (City of New Orleans author) had an anti-veg song, Chicken Cordon Bleus and I remember an English ditty:
Boiled beef and cabbage, boiled beef and cabbage
(repeated ad infinitum -- a round?) |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca Date: 21 Nov 98 - 01:26 PM Hitler was a vegetarian teetotaller and a fanatical anti-smoker since you bring up the subject. He didn't actually die outside the Berlin bunker and is presently alive and well and sitting on my local Board of Health. For health songs, I would recommend Junk Food Junkie (in the database) and Spanish Pipe Dream, also in the database. I suppose Valdy's "Simple Life" would qualify too. I don't think you will find too much in the way of health songs from traditional ballads. They seem to have liked their roast beef, pipes, ale, and spirits. I seem to recall reading the words of a Temperance song that promoted the use of water over beer, but for some strange reason it never caught on.:) |
|
Subject: RE: Looking for song lyrics about health From: Bert Date: 23 Nov 98 - 11:27 AM Here's another snippet from my Dad's singing. Sounds like part of a music hall song.
[The Hypochondriac, performed by T.E. Dunville] |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: GUEST,morag Date: 14 Nov 08 - 09:29 AM Cholesterol by Adam MacNaughtan is surely to the tune of Bless 'em All. Does anyone have all the words? I have mislaid mine and I want to send them to a friend in Oz who has just gone on a cholesterol-free diet, poor soul! |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Jack Campin Date: 14 Nov 08 - 10:07 AM Leon Rosselson's "Pills". James Hogg's "Doctor Monro". Shel Silverstein/Adam MacNaughtan "Still Gonna Die". |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: domo Date: 14 Nov 08 - 10:09 AM Cod Liver Oil it cures everything. Or Stick to the Creature, |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Paul Burke Date: 14 Nov 08 - 10:43 AM Pimples, pustules, feel how they sting-a-ling-a-ling-a, Pimples, pustules, and big crimson piles, Smarting, stinging, all round my ring-a-ling-a-ling-a, Those pimples, pustules, and piles. I'll call the surgeon, and I'll be urgin' Him someday to cure my ring, ring-a-ling-a, And bring me out in smiles, Instead of pimples, pustules, and piles. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: CHOLESTEROL (Adam McNaughtan) From: bfdk Date: 14 Nov 08 - 11:06 AM There you go.. CHOLESTEROL Adam McNaughtan I've been takin' advice on right things to eat Since shortly before I was born Like the National dried milk and the cod liver oil And powdered rhinoceros horn Well, in those days they told us tae lay aff the starches The sugars, potatoes and breid Now they've done a U-turn, and they tell us these things Will give us the fibre we need Cholesterol, cholesterol My chance of survival is small But I'll no get a dosa anorexia nervosa For I love my cholesterol Well, I'm not going to take the advice that they make About changin' the way I should eat Like cuttin' oot cheese, and no chips if ye please No chocolates, no ice cream, no English beef Well they tell us to give up these goodies below And they offer us pie in the sky Ah, well semi-skimmed milk may diminish my bulk But I'll take double cream till I die Cholesterol, cholesterol My chance of survival is small For the cream I consume it could lead to my doom For I love my cholesterol Well I don't mind them probin' in my haemoglobin If it's just for a case history But it puts the Health Visitor into a tizz It's her duty tae try and save me She says fresh fruit and yogurt's a lovely dessert Why don't you give it a try Well I don't give a hoot for her yogurt and fruit I'll take Black Forest gateau and die Cholesterol, cholesterol My chance of survival is small For the way that I dine, I'm on course for angina But I love my cholesterol Cholesterol, cholesterol My chance of survival is small But I'll no get a dosa anorexia nervosa For I love my cholesterol |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Dave Hanson Date: 15 Nov 08 - 05:34 AM Dust Pneumonia Blues, Woody Guthrie. eric |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Acorn4 Date: 15 Nov 08 - 05:40 AM In the Gateau (And those stairs creak) On a cold and dark November night I creep down to the kitchen and my eyes Catch sight of the gateau. (And those scales don't lie) Though I'm supposed to be losing weight There staring at me on the plate is the gateau. You gotta understand, How I feel those hunger pangs People don't you see I can't live on lettuce and celery Or I'm going to completely fade away. (As my stomach churns), Though I might get broad around the beam, There's death by chocolate and treble cream in the gateau. (This diet's against the rules). Though I know my waistline's gonna pay the price There are 3 million calories in every slice of the gateau. I know my family doctor is the cause of all my trials I can't live on rice cakes that taste like Polystyrene tiles. (And those scales don't lie.) Though I've destroyed the evidence I know I'm gonna feel the consequences of the gateau, (And those scales don't lie) As I put the empty plate back on that shelf, I think even old Elvis himself was partial to the gateau (And those scales don't lie) |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Kampervan Date: 15 Nov 08 - 06:04 AM How about Hamish Imlach - The Smokers Song |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Dave Hanson Date: 15 Nov 08 - 09:06 AM Or 'Goodbye Booze' eric |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: T B BLUES (Jimmie Rodgers) From: topical tom Date: 15 Nov 08 - 09:37 AM "T. B. Blues" by Jimmie Rodgers (Jimmie Rodgers) « © '31 Peer International, BMI » My good gal's trying to make a fool out of me Lord my gal's trying to make a fool out of me Trying to make me believe I ain't got that old TB I've got the TB blues When it rained down sorrow it rained all over me When it rained down sorrow it rained all over me Cause my body rattles like a train on that old SP I've got the TB blues I've got that old TB I can't eat a bite Got that old TB I can't eat a bite Got me worried so I can't even sleep at night I've got the TB blues I've been fightin' like a lion looks like I'm going to lose I've been fightin' like a lion looks like I'm going to lose Cause there ain't nobody ever whipped the TB blues I've got the TB blues Gee but that graveyard is a lonesome place Lord but that graveyard is a lonesome place They put you on your back throw that mud down in your face I've got the TB blues |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: AS LONG AS YOU’VE GOT YOUR HEALTH From: Jim Dixon Date: 25 Apr 23 - 01:19 PM This song was mentioned by bigJ on 17 Nov 98 and again by Felipa the next day. I couldn’t find these lyrics online anywhere, so I had to transcribe them myself from a recording found at Spotify, so that means there are some gaps and uncertainties, indicated by ellipses. AS LONG AS YOU’VE GOT YOUR HEALTH As recorded by Leon Rosselson on “For the Good of the Nation,” 1981. When I was just a kid, ev’ryone told me That God’s most precious gift was a healthy body. “Eat well to feel well,” my mother would say. “Work hard and play hard” was my teacher’s way. “Be clean,” said the vicar, “in thought, word and deed.” And preacher and teacher and mother agreed That if in life you don’t succeed, What does it matter as long as you’ve got your health? You don’t need wealth. When skies are grey And you’ve lost your way And tomorrow’s the same as yesterday, Doesn’t matter a jot as long as you’ve got your health. When I left school, I went to work in a factory. Loading machines, I was just a mechanical monkey, Bending and lifting all the long day. Me arms are on strike and my back’s giving way. My head runs a-thundering in my brain Over and over and over again. I think I’m probably going insane, But what does it matter as long as you’ve got your health? You don’t need wealth. When your day’s work’s done, You want some fun, But you’re too bloody tired and feeling numb. Doesn’t matter a jot as long as you’ve got your health. Ten years or more I’ve been smoking like a chimney. When I saw those ads, I knew it would make a man of me. I felt … those cold mountain streams, The glamour of girls and the magical dreams, I’ve been … since I was young. It’s time I collected the prize of…. I think I’ll choose the iron lung. But what does it matter as long as you’ve got your health? You don’t need wealth. You’re sick of smoke. Your voice is a croak. You cough so hard you nearly choke. Doesn’t matter a jot as long as you’ve got your health. I live in a two-room flat in a run-down property: Thirteen people sharing a bath with a lavat’ry. Ceiling is peeling; the floors have got mould. The walls have contracted a permanent cold. Even the beetles and bugs have got TB. The rats invite their friends in for tea. I don’t like the way they’re looking at me, But what does it matter as long as you’ve got your health? You don’t need wealth. You wake up with crabs. You feel like a crab. The whole of your body’s got rising damp. Doesn’t matter a jot as long as you’ve got your health. Last month I got a message from the company. I’m on the dole; I’d be better off in the army. Open-air man’s life, that should keep me fit: Travel and action and doing my bit. What if they sent me to fight in the front line? Suppose I got shot up or not by a mine. I can’t stand the sight of blood, especially mine. But what does it matter as long as you’ve got your health? You don’t need wealth. If a warning goes, If a siren blows If the button’s pressed, if the world explodes, Doesn’t matter a jot as long as you’ve got your health. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: LONG AS YOU GOT YOUR HEALTH (Harburg/...) From: Jim Dixon Date: 26 Apr 23 - 03:49 PM I ran across this while searching for the previous song. It’s not so much about health as about the lack of money, but the point is: don’t worry about the lack of money in these depression times, “as long as you’ve got your health.” This is my transcription from the recording at the Internet Archive, and there are a few awkward turns of phrase that might be my mishearing. Where I was doubtful, I marked them with “[?].” LONG AS YOU GOT YOUR HEALTH From the musical revue “The Show Is On.” Words by E. Y. Harburg and Norman Zeno. Music by Will Irwin. ©1936. As recorded by Ramona [Davies] and her Grand Piano on Liberty Music Shop L210, 1937 VERSE: Ever since the last depression, This country has been one long procession Of gloomy faces tucked in collars of overcoats, Counting pennies, watching meters, Forgetting to be breast-beaters. What chance has romance when each heart only ticks to economics? CHORUS 1: So you’re down on your luck, And you haven’t got easy pickin’. Listen, neighbor: there’s no use kickin’ Long as you got your health. So you’re down in the dumps With your bookie and with your broker. No use cryin’; you got the joker Long as you got your health. Though you haven’t got the fare to Paris or to Berlin, Be glad you’ve got a healthy pair of arms to hold your girl in. So you can’t buy the ring Or a honeymoon to Jamaica, But as broke as you are, she’ll take ya, Long as you got your health. CHORUS 2: Father Time marches on. So the movies have movie censors, But your kids’ll know all the answers, Long as they got their health. So you’d dive[?] for a prize. So the best you can do is couplets. So your wife hasn’t got quintuplets, Long as you got your health. Save[?] the old-age pension; you uphold the constitution. You reach the age of sixty-five, then comes the revolution! So you can’t pay the rent With a landlord you got no lookin’[?]. So you ain’t got a pot to cook in, Long as you got your health. [piano interlude] CHORUS 3: So you can’t buy her furs When the blizzard wind starts to breeze up. Listen, mister: she’ll never freeze up Long as you got your health. So you can’t take a trip To the North Sea or to the Black Sea, But there’s lots of fun in a taxi, Long as you got your health. So you cant afford to wine and dine the dukes and princes. Be glad that you …[?] for ham and eggs and blintzes. So you married a guy, And the bed hasn’t got gold panels. It’s just as good in red flannels, Long as you got your health. - - - Also recorded by: Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra, 1937. Ray Noble and his Orchestra, with vocal refrain by The Merry Macs, on Victor 25504-B, 1937. (But these recordings only have the first chorus.) |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: reggie miles Date: 26 Apr 23 - 11:27 PM My song Grossosity might fit this theme |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Stilly River Sage Date: 27 Apr 23 - 12:55 AM Good one! |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs about health From: Monique Date: 27 Apr 23 - 03:02 AM We have one from 1932 called Je ne suis pas bien portant (lyrics and English translation) |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: I’VE STILL GOT MY HEALTH (Cole Porter) From: Jim Dixon Date: 27 Apr 23 - 01:52 PM I’VE STILL GOT MY HEALTH (Cole Porter, ©1940) Originally sung by Ethel Merman in the musical comedy, Panama Hattie" (stage version, 1940), and in the 1942 film by Ann Sothern [YouTube]. I. As recorded by Ethel Merman with Harry Sosnik and his Orchestra on Decca 23200 B, 1940. [Internet Archive] VERSE: I wasn’t born to stately halls Of alabaster. I haven’t given many balls For Mrs Astor, But all the same, I’m in the pink. My constitution’s made of zinc And you never have to give this goil [girl] Oil castor! CHORUS 1: I’m always a flop at a top-notch affair. Well, I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? My best ring, alas, is a glass solitaire. Well, I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? By fashion and fopp’ry, I’m never discussed. Attending the op’ry, my box would be a bust. When I give a tea, Lucius Beebe ain’t there. Well, I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? CHORUS 2: The hip that I shake doesn’t make people stare. Well, I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? The sight of my props never stops a thoroughfare. Well, I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? I knew I was slipping at Minsky’s one dawn. When I started stripping they hollered: “Put it on!” Just once Billy Rose let me pose in the bare. Well, I’ve still got my vitamins A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I— still have my— health! - - - II. Kaye Ballard, on “Cole Porter Revisited,” 1964 [YouTube] sings these 2 additional verses: I haven’t the face of the great Ina Claire. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? I can’t count my ribs like his nibs, Fred Astaire. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? I love racing madly but can’t…. For fear Colonel Bradley might take me for a horse. I once spent a week as a freak at the fair. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? I’ve always been strong for a long bill of fare. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? from .. I do tricks like a bear. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? if you find it pleasant to take me for chow, For you … baby, kill a cow! When I’m in New York, I’m the Stork Club’s despair. I’ve still got my health, so what do I care? III. Bette Midler also sang this song in the film “Beaches” and on the soundtrack album in 1988 [YouTube], and on her album “Jackpot: The Best Bette” 2008. Midler sings the same lyrics as Merman EXCEPT: Chorus 1 line 7: “I never shall have that Park Avenue air.” Chorus 2 lines 5-7: “Your face is your fortune, so some wise men spoke. My face is my fortune, that's why I'm totally broke. My ship ain't come in, but I grin while I bear.” As a coda, on Chorus 2 line 9: “I still have my— Got no diamonds, got no wealth. I got no men, but I got my health.” IV. Susan Winter sings this additional verse on her album “Love Rolls On...Live!” [YouTube] (Otherwise, she follows Bette Midler’s version): When I’m in New York, I’m the Stork Club’s despair, But I still got my health! No radio chain wants my brain on the air, But I’m healthy, so what do I care? At school I was noted for my lack of speed. In fact, I was voted least likely to succeed. My wisecracks, I’m told, are like old Camembert, But I don’t care! |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: HITLER WAS A VEGETARIAN (Joel Mabus) From: Jim Dixon Date: 30 Apr 23 - 12:59 PM Alex mentioned this song on 19 Nov 98, and it may be the same song that northfolk mentioned on 16 Nov 98: HITLER WAS A VEGETARIAN As recorded by Joel Mabus on “The Naked Truth,” 1988. Oh, your soybean burger just don’t hit the spot tonight. Darlin’, somehow those tofu tacos just don’t seem quite right, And I’m thinkin’ as you dish me up your special seaweed stew, Darlin’, Hitler was a vegetarian too. (It’s true!) Hitler was a vegetarian, don’t you know? He also was an anti-smoker, militantly so. Forgive me if I slip downtown for a plate of barbecue, But, darlin’, Hitler was a vegetarian too. Remember when you told me we were what we ate. Well, I thought about that, darlin’; I’d rather be an animal than slowly vegetate. So next time you skin potatoes, then you gouge their little eyes, Remember this before you start to start to sermonize: Hitler was a vegetarian, don’t you know? He also was an anti-smoker, militantly so. Forgive me if I slip downtown for a Coney dog or two, But, darlin’, Hitler was a vegetarian too. |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: THE HYPOCHONDRIAC (Charles Osborne) From: Jim Dixon Date: 02 May 23 - 10:29 AM This is the song that Bert quoted from his father on 23 Nov 98. The University of Oxford library holds sheet music; however, these lyrics were copied from Monologues.co.uk: THE HYPOCHONDRIAC, or, A TRAVELLING DOCTOR'S SHOP Words and music by Charles Osborne; sung by T. E. Dunville, ©1894. 1. I want to tell you about a pal—a beauty minus paint Who always thought he'd some sort of serious complaint. No matter what the remedy, he always bought a dose. To cure his ills he'd buy blue pills and bolt them by the gross. He said he'd had the measles bad, the staggers and the ague, Varicose veins and Chancery Lanes, likewise the cattle plague. Shivers, and shakes and various aches, and also papshelals, And I never saw such a man before for taking chemicals. CHORUS: He wore a belt whenever he felt a pain in his tiddley push, A chemical vest to save his chest from cannoning off the cush. He tried quinine and chloride of lime to cure the pippity pop, Till he became in the What's-a-name a travelling doctor's shop. 2. When the Asiatic cholera came, he swore he'd captured that, So he bought some vaccination tools and practised on the cat. To keep the influenza off that came down here and 'gripped' us, He bathed his feet with turpentine and oil of eucalyptus. He found a wart of a curious sort that hurt his sit-me-down, So he bathed it, sir, with tincture of myrrh and wore a padded gown. I hinted once that I could see his bumps as plain as the Crystal Palace. He told a quack he'd got an attack of aurora borealis. CHORUS 3. He used to wear a nose machine whenever he went to bed. He nailed his will to the window-sill in case they found him dead. He lived on brimstone and treacle just to purify his blood, And never risked a bath in case he perished in the mud. One day with a stroke of flibberty-bobs this poor young man was taken, So off they went and the doctor sent some medicine to be shaken. The servant girl she could not spell (for she'd been on the boozalem). She shook him up instead of the stuff, and now he's in Jeruzalem. CHORUS |
|
Subject: Lyr Add: DOCTOR MONRO (from James Hogg) From: Jim Dixon Date: 04 May 23 - 07:42 PM This song was mentioned by Jack Campin on 14 Nov 08: From The Forest Minstrel: A Selection of Songs, Adapted to the Most Favourite Scottish Airs, by James Hogg (Edinburgh: printed for the editor, 1810), page 111. DOCTOR MONRO. Tune—Humours o’ Glen.
“Dear Doctor, be clever, and fling off your beaver;
“I meant to have married, and tasted the pleasures,
“If Christy had wed you, she would have misled you,
“The boys cost you many a penny and shilling;
“Dear Doctor, I'll thank you to hand me my breeches; |
| Share Thread: |