PATRIOTIC-TUNES-WITH-TWISTS (Or, POW! ‘THE BAD PENNY’ RETURNS)

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“Atomic batteries to power... turbines to speed."
“Roger, ready to move out.”
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This being the Fourth of July, I figured I ought to post something. Naturally, the first thing I thought about posting was a diatribe about how We The People of the United States of America have allowed the liberty our Founding Fathers won for us from England to be stolen from right under our noses; and how we have permitted the Constitutional Republic our Founders fashioned for us to be transformed into just another socialist dunghill headed for the dust bin of history.

But then on second thought, I thought: 

Oh, give it a rest just for today. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to return to the soapbox rants.

[In the spirit of full disclosure, the truth is that I just didn’t sleep very well last night and so I’m too tired to work my anger up into a good word-rage. So, y’all are off the hook...temporarily.]

Instead, I’ve decided to just post a few patriotic-tunes-with-twists. 

Last night, I received an Email from a friend who suggested I go outside and look up at the Moon. So I did. It was pretty cool – like one of those “grapefruit Moons” that Tom Waits likes to sing about. You know, “a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball Moon rollin’ maverick across an obsidian sky”.

Then as I was heading back into my house, I noticed a dark square shape perched atop my front porch mail box. I brought it inside to the light and discovered that it was The Bad Penny, which had come back to me yet again.

“The Bad Penny” is the name for the cardboard box that my buddy Sheboyganboy Six and I keep using to send each other stuffs. We’ve been using this same box for a couple years now, and it really shows. But it takes a lickin’ and keeps on shippin’. (At this point, I think sometimes Sheboyganboy and I like receiving the box as much as we like receiving whatever’s in it.)

Below is a picture I just took of The Bad Penny, displaying the message I wrote on it about the 4th time it was set to travel the distance between Arizona and Washington state. It’s made that trip a number of times since then:

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[“This box is like a bad penny, huh?”]

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So after looking at the grapefruit Moon, I opened The Bad Penny and discovered a 2-CD set titled ‘The Greatest Country Drinking Songs’, and eight audio cassettes of early Bob & Ray radio shows. I love Bob & Ray, and it was Sheboyganboy Six who introduced me to them.
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Unfortunately, there aren't any ‘Tippy, The Wonder Dog’ skits on these tapes, but they do contain some of my other big Bob & Ray favorites: ‘Matt Neffer, Boy Spotwelder’ and ‘Webley Webster’s Book Reviews’ which are always swashbuckling pirate tales, even when the book under review is ‘Cinderella’.

“But ah can’t control the weather, Captain.”

“Why YOU!...” [*POW!*BIFF!*BAM!*]

Last night, I had a Bourbon & Seven while listening to all 20 songs on the ‘Country Drinking Songs’ set. There’s some good stuffs on there, like Roger Miller’s ‘Chug-A-Lug’, ‘Night Life’ by Willie Nelson, ‘Lord Knows I’m Drinking’ by Cal Smith, ‘Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee’ by Jerry Lee Lewis. And “you know what Merle Haggard sez”: ‘I Think I’ll Just Stay Here And Drink’.

Also included is just the right Country Drinking Song for a day like the 4th of July: 

‘Rednecks, White Socks And Blue Ribbon Beer’ by Johnny Russell.

Too bad the best Country Drinking Song of all time wasn’t included (the compiler should have checked with me first). No, Johnny Horton’s song, 'The Battle Of New Orleans', doesn’t even mention drinking, but play it in a Country-Western bar just once and see if that saloon don’t come immediately to life:

Battle of New Orleans, In 1814

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50_iRIcxsz0

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Alright, here’s a couple more patriotic-tunes-with-twists:

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I loves me some Waylon . . .

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Waylon Jennings - America

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGz_xSSgjY0

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And I loves me some Bocephus, too . . .

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The American Way

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5vfIslJ49M

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OK, tune in tomorrow - same Bat-time, same Bat-channel - for a new rant on the same old topic. (Like a bad penny, I keep returning to this blog to blow off steam. ZOK!)

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~ Stephen T. McCarthy

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YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.

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