Monthly Archives: May 2012

Hearse Song

Nationality: White
Age: 22
Occupation: Screenwriter
Residence: Los Angeles (from Glendale, CA)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

Hearse Song

Did you ever think when a hearse goes by, that some day you are gonna die?

They’ll wrap you up in a big white sheet and throw you down about 500 feet.

The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play peaknuckle on your snout.

And after a while, the snot comes out, and you spread it on bread, cuz that’s what you eat, when you’re dead!

 

My informant remembered this song, which she described as “a classic, grim piece of oral tradition,” and said that it brought back a lot of memories from her childhood. When she was little, the informant’s mother would sing this song whenever they passed a hearse, and the informant said it was always a very visceral for her, and that ‘the part about the snot coming out and eating it really disgusted me’. She learned it from her mom, and she thinks her grandfather used to sing it, because her mother said that it reminded her of her dad whenever a hearse drove by.

 

As my informant stated, this song is a ‘classic, grim piece of oral tradition,’ but also a particularly interesting one. Not only is it a song sung in America that openly addresses mortality and the fact that death is inevitable, but the intended audience is children. America is one of the countries that shuns, fears, and stigmatizes death the most—possibly why horror movies are one of the topmost grossing genres of film in the US—so it’s interesting that this song is a non-romanticized and very explicit recounting of what happens when you die (no heaven or angels here). Further, the lyrics and the major key of the song makes light of death altogether, making jovial and silly what Americans consider one of the most sorrowful and somber occasions ever. What else is interesting about this song, which coincides with the lyrics and the major key, is that the song is targeted for children. The song, which sounds very much like a camp song children would sing to laugh and gross each other out about a particularly macabre subject, could have been used as a fun and entertaining way to let children participate in something seemingly transgressive while also familiarizing them with the concept of death.

‘But you look Marvelous!’

Nationality: White
Age: 22
Occupation: Engineer
Residence: Los Angeles (from WA)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

The informant shares his Uncle’s proverb:

Uncle Jeff’s Proverb

“It’s not about how you feel, it’s about how you look, and you look marvelous”

This is a saying my informant’s uncle uses whenever someone is complaining around him. It’s a funny way to tell the person to stop complaining while also making light of the situation and turning it around to a positive thing at the same time, effectively disseminating tension and providing a laugh.

Pretended Obscene riddle

Nationality: White
Age: 23
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

‘What’s brown and sticky?’

‘A stick!’

My informant is a camp counselor at Troy Camp at USC, and spends a lot of time with children. I asked him to tell me his favorite joke, and this is what he gave me. This is a good example of pretended obscene riddles and the kinds of ‘dirty jokes’ that are allowed to be performed by and around children without being too offensive or inappropriate. For the ‘dirty minded’—myself included—the riddle seems to be talking about poo, and the joke is that the answer is a very innocuous one. The effect here is that the listener feels embarrassed for having a dirty mind, but also can revel in being in on the joke’s dirty second implicit meaning that the performer is also aware of.

Jokes like this are very popular in children’s environments, because they are an acceptable way for the children to be silly and naughty without getting in trouble for what they say. This is also an example of the play-on-words aspect of riddles that is behind why many adults think that riddles are an adult game. In our society, children are very controlled and disempowered by adults and authority, which is why a pretended obscene riddle would be so popular among children, since it’s a clever way for them to push back against the authorities without getting in trouble, and it also is a way to exercise their smarts and show that they are just as witty or sharp as adults are.

St. Patrick’s Day Cheesecake

Nationality: Irish-American
Age: 24
Occupation: Works for a Production Company
Residence: Los Angeles (from CO)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

Suittcheesecake

This folk recipe has become a holiday tradition for my informant in his household on St. Patrick’s Day. His mother makes the green cheesecake for St. Patrick’s Day, and only for St. Patrick’s Day, making it a particularly special food. And, though only his mother performs the act of making the cheesecake herself, his father also plays an active role in the tradition, as do he and his brothers. Before the boys can eat the special green St. Patrick’s Day cheesecake, the father, who plays the role of the ‘connoisseur’/food critic, ‘tests’ the cake and judges how good it is in comparison with the previous years’ cheesecakes. The father’s role is an inaugural one, much like that of the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil who either kicks off Spring or portends a longer winter—the main difference being, however, that the father’s ‘disapproval’ of the cheesecake doesn’t foretell anything bad in particular, it’s more of just a show. The role of the informant and his brothers, besides eating the cheesecake, is also to take part in the show of the food critique by defending their mother’s cooking if their father deems the cake inferior to previous years. I think that this show of testing and judging the cake is an integral part to keeping the family tradition alive, because it has elevated the cheesecake from the status of a folk recipe, in which the mother is the sole performer, to a whole family affair in which each member of the family has a part that is central to the successful performance of the tradition. In defending their mother and considering the cheesecake delicious regardless of what their father says, the boys ensure that the family tradition will be continued the following year.

The cheesecake being dyed green is very important because the unusual coloring for the cheesecake is not only a clear demarcation that it is a special occasion, but green is the traditional color worn on St. Patrick’s Day, stemming from the color of St. Patrick’s shamrock that he used to explain the Holy Trinity. So, this folk recipe is not only a way for the family to come together as a whole, but also is a way to celebrate an international holiday in a unique and special way.

Treif Second Thanksgiving

Age: 23
Occupation: scuba diver and student
Residence: Los Angeles (from FL)
Performance Date: April 24, 2012
Primary Language: English

Thanksgiving in our family is like, my mom’s holiday cuz we divvy up the holidays. So we gather for thanksgiving, and we’ll have the normal stuff, turkey, stuffing, the commonplace stuff for thanksgiving. But a lot of our family keeps decently kosher because they’re more strictly Jewish than I am, so there’s a few of us in the family who aren’t as strict Jews. So the Sunday or Saturday after thanksgiving, or after Passover if I’m in town, then we’ll have two or three people in the family over, and we’ll get this big honey-baked ham, and we eat boxes of cinnamon apples, and really good mac-n-cheese blend that they make, and we put it in the oven with shrimp and Langostinos, doctor up a big meal, and have a second thanksgiving that’s the opposite of Jewish and the big family thing. It’s like the small, intimate thing without any drama. It’s our second little holiday for each little grouping.

This is a way to create a tradition around going against the older tradition. In the way that much folklore is created by oppressed groups to push back against authority, so too does this family tradition have its roots in pushing back against the larger family traditions. Not to say that participants feel oppressed by the traditional meals/jewish festivities, but this is a way to bring together the other outliers in a celebration of what is not permitted at the larger party. It’s a fun way to get together and do something slightly naughty in celebration of the larger tradition without having to adhere to all the strictures dictated by the larger group. Good way to spend time with the smaller subdivision of family that he aligns himself with.  Funny way to celebrate the holidays and family while making light/poking fun of the older strictures and restrictive practices that is part of their family heritage.