Category Archives: Musical

Shave and a Haircut

Age: Second Graders
Occupation: students
Residence: los angeles
Performance Date: 02/29/17
Primary Language: English
Language: spanish

We all know that famous rhythm, door knock, pattern: “dah dah di dah di, dah dah”.  It is used all the time, everywhere.  It used to knock on a door, to get someone’s attention, and in the second grade classroom I taught at, it was used to get them to silence and focus.  

Turns out, this pattern has an interesting back story.  In morse code it punches out as: dash dot dot dash dot, dot dash.  Because morse code does not focus on letters but patterns and combinations, this certain rhythm actually means “attention.”  In war days, soldiers would execute this certain pattern to let a comrade know that they were of friends, not enemies, or that they had a prisoner.  When passing code all day it was considered humorous to tap out this “attention” pattern.

The popularity grew however after it was featured in many popular songs.  Artist’s like Joel Sayre, Dan Shapiro, Lester Lee, and Milton Berle all used this in their music and the catchiness spread.  Many musicians included this in reference to war time.  The height of its fame however came from the old song “Shave and a Haircut”– which is now the common name for the clap.  This song was placed in a commercial for Lucky Tiger Aftershave and it never was forgotten.

Interestingly enough, this pattern is heavily advised not to used because it gets translated in a much more negative form.  The connotation of this seven phrase knock is insulting and vulgar.  It contains the inference of cruel language and aggressive violence.

However, in the classroom, as in many American classrooms, this is used a common tactic to get the students to focus and look up at the teacher.  When the classroom got noisy a child came to me and said “Just do the clap!”  I proceeded to clap the five times in rhythm and the students followed by finishing off the last two and sitting quietly.  

Kolobok: The Little Round Bun

Nationality: American
Age: 26
Occupation: Student
Residence: Tumbridge, Vermont
Performance Date: 04/19/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Russian

Main piece: Once upon a time there was an old man and an old housewife. The man demanded his wife to make him a bun from the flour box. And so, she swept out the bin and made some dough in the shape of a little round bun. She put in the oven for it to bake and then next to the window for it to cool. The bun jumped out the window and rolled along the road until he met with a Rabbit coming towards him. The Rabbit told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and in response the the bun sang him a song:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

So the bun rolled away, until he saw a wolf coming at him. The wolf told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and so he sang again:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

So the bun rolled away, until he met with a fox in front of him. The fox told him “I’m going to eat you little bun”, and so he sang to the fox:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin
And baked in the oven
And cooled on the sill.
I ran away from Grandpa,
I ran away from Grandma,
And I’ll run away from you, this minute I will!”

The fox told him “Sing some more, please don’t stop! Hop onto my mouth so I can hear you better”. And so the bun jumped into the fox’s mouth and sang:

“I was scraped from the flour-box
And swept from the bin-

But before he could go on the fox closed his mouth and he gobbled up the little bun.

Background information about the piece by the informant: William Murawski is an American from Polish and Russian decent. His grandparents from Russia used to tell him tales and nursery rhymes from their hometown as a child. William is an aficionado of Russian folk tales and likes to tell preform them the same way as his grandparents performed them for him when he was a child.

Context on the performance: The tale is usually told to children. The song sang by the bun is told with a melody, which is why it is easy to remember verbatim.

Thoughts on piece: The seems more nonsensical than classic western European tales, as they usually have anthropomorphic animals, but rarely a simple object like a bun acting with human characteristics. The resolution of the story is also anti-climatic and dower, but it does provide children with a lesson, which is that one must not be overconfident on a victory like the bun did in the end, as well as the power of wit, as the fox showed. This shows that Russian folk tales are concerned with providing life lessons rather than having feel-good endings.

The Little Goat

Nationality: Mexcian
Age: 15
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico City
Performance Date: 03/16/2017
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece: Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the wolf, so that he gets the goat out of there.

The wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the stick, so that he beats the wolf.

The stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the fire, so that he burns the stick.

The fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the water, so that he wets the fire.

The water doesn’t want to wet the fire, the fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the cow, so that she drinks the water.

The cow doesn’t want to drink the water, water doesn’t want to wet the fire, the fire doesn’t want to burn the stick, the stick doesn’t want to beat the wolf, the wolf doesn’t want to go for the goat and the goat doesn’t want to get out of there.

Get out of the cave little goat. Get out of that place. Let’s go call the farmer, so that he tames the cow.

The farmer wants to tame the cow, the cow wants to drink the water, water wants to wet the fire, the fire wants to burn the stick, the stick wants to beat the wolf, the wolf wants to go for the goat and the goat wants to get out of there.

And that’s how the little goat got out!

Background information about the piece by the informant: Daniela is a resident of Mexico City and this is a song that she remembers from her early childhood. She claims that her kindergarten used to make her and his classmates sing it.

Context on the piece: Although there are many variations to the song, it is popular for children in Mexico City. This type of song is popular in other countries and cultures. For example, Russia has “The Giant Turnip” about a turnip that doesn’t want to get out of the ground and the singers call on different characters to help it get out.

Thoughts on the piece: Despite it being used as a distraction for children, the song can show how individuals and cultures think of the idea of power. In this case, it is the human who is in power, as he is the one that makes a decision and gets every character to do their job in a chain reaction. This shows a high regard for humans in the culture, but there are versions of the song in where the chin gets to God and he makes everyone do his job. This would imply a more deist sensibility than this version of the song.

Irish Protest Folk Song

Nationality: Irish
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Dublin, Ireland
Performance Date: 03/12/2017
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

When I was young I used to be as fine a man as ever you’d see;
The Prince of Wales, he said to me, “Come and join the British army.”

When I was young I had a twist of punching babies with me fist
And I thought I would enlist and join the British army.

Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, they’re looking for monkeys up in the zoo
If I had a face like you, I would join the British army.

Sarah Camdon baked a cake; it was all for poor old Slattery’s sake.
I threw me-self into the lake, pretending I was balmy.

Corporal Duff’s got such a drought, just give him a couple of jars of stout;
He’ll kill the enemy with his mouth and save the British Army.
Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, Me curse is on the Labour crew;
They took your darling boy from you to join the British army.

Captain Heeley went away and his wife got in the family way,
And all the words that she would say was “Blame the British Army.”
Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, I’ve made me mind up what to do
I’ll work my ticket home to you and leave the British army

Sarah Comden baked a cake, it was all for poor ‘oul Slattery’s sake
I threw herself into the lake, pretending I was barmy
toora loora loora loo, it was the only thing I could do
to work my ticket home to you and fuck the British army”
Background information about the piece by the informant: Carolina was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland to a strongly anti-British family. They see the British forces as an oppressor for the Irish people, and they have taught Carolina anti-British army protest folk songs since she was a child. She doesn’t necessarily share the sentiment of hating every single British person, but she does think that the country has not treated Ireland well, for which she enjoys singing these songs.

Context of the piece: The song is supposed to be sang in a community whenever there is a manifested anti-British feeling. This could be in more organized events like a street march, to more casual occurrences like an entire pub collectively singing the song while drunk. This is due to the British establishing colonies in the Irish island and still keeping the North as part of the UK. The people who sing these kinds of songs see this as an invasion from an oppressive empire, and their songs serve to represent them as the underdogs against the big authority.

Thoughts on the piece: Singing these kinds of songs with other people creates a strong sense of community, and it this case, it would be of nationalism. They are singing specifically about the British army rather than the British as a people, which already paints the nation in a military dictatorial fashion. Although there is anger shown in the song, it is mostly a ridicule of the idea of joining the British army, which further places the British outside of the trust circle of the Irish.

“Sana que sana” song

Nationality: Colombian
Age: 82
Occupation: Real estate Broker
Residence: Sherman Oaks
Performance Date: 3/25/2017
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

The folk song/chant: “Sana que sana, colita de rana. Si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana.” (Magic healing song repeated at least three time or more if child is hysterical) The literal translation means “Heal, heal with the tail of a toad, if it does not heal today, it will heal tomorrow.” Obviously they are talking about a tadpoles tail or are being funny because a toad/frog does not have a tail, intonating something magical is about to occur. It works as a great distraction when your child gets injured and to stop him from crying because they are being imbued with the belief that the chant will actually make it hurt less especially if they say it in unison. Although my Grandfather tells me that the Chibcha Indians of Colombia, which he is a ¼, use dried out frog/toads all the time for healing and good luck and would even wear them around their neck (whole died out toad) for protection. He tells me that my mom went to Colombia at age 16 and she was given a necklace made out of small stones, which had a small, carved frog in the middle and was told to wear it for good luck and protection.

Analysis: Many frogs in Colombia have a variety of toxins, some medicinal, some deadly so there is more than simple folk belief there might be some factual basis for the song. Growing up my mother would always do the magical healing song “Sana que Sana” that her dad taught her whenever my brother or I got hurt and sprayed the area with Neosporin. She told me that when she was young, her grandmother (my great grandmother) who was a “botanica healer” would always sing the song while rubbing the injured area with some kind of balm. I do find the song soothing and silly at the same time, which is why it was probably so effective as a distraction. In terms of healing, the balm or Neosporin was probably what made it stop hurting and heal faster but rubbing an injury does stimulate endorphins to alleviate pain but the distraction is extremely helpful in stopping the blubbering and crying.