Lyr Add: 16 Tons of Laundry

Subject: Lyr Add: 16 Tons of Laundry
From: Jacob B
Date: 25 Feb 06 - 05:29 PM

I just saw an exhibit on doing laundry over the years (it was called Blue Monday, at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington Massachusetts.) It included a selection of soap and laundry machine television ads from the 1950s. One of them included an interesting parody of Sixteen Tons:

(Scene: washing machine in a basement)

Well, I washed this morning, but the sun didn't shine
I picked up the basket and I strung up the line
I hung up sixteen tons of knotted-up clothes
I worked all day, but the dirt still shows

You wash sixteen tons, and what do you get
A back that's aching, and the floor gets wet
I'd love to get away from the slop and slosh
But I'm stuck all day with the family wash

(The rest of the commercial went to a different melody, while an elegantly dressed woman sang the virtues of a brand of washing machine.)