Song of the South: How Do You Do? and tar baby scene
How do you do? Fine! A friendly greetin’.
How do you do? Say it when you’re meetin’.
How do you do? With everyone repeatin’:
Pretty good, sure as you’re born.
What goes up is sure to come down,
Penny lost is a penny found,
I’ll “howdy” you, you’ll “howdy” back,
This for that an’ tit for tat.
Chorus: How do you do?
Fine, how are you?
How you come on?
Pretty good, sure as you’re born.
Uncle Remus:
Stop jumpin’, Br’er Rabbit,
you’ll run out of breath.
Why don’t you sit down an’ calm yourself?
Brer Rabbit:
Well the grasshopper jump,
and so do the flea.
I do what I like, and I suits me!
[Repeat Chorus]
Uncle Remus:
The weather’s good, the fishin’s fine.
Now what do you do with all your time?
Brer Rabbit:
Oh, I zigs and I zags, I to’s and I fro’s.
That’s what you’re askin’
and that’s what you knows.
[Repeat Chorus]
Brer Frog:
Mind now, Br’er Rabbit, better mend your ways.
You’s headin’ for trouble one of these days.
Uncle Remus:
Warnin’ that rabbit is wastin’ your breath!
Brer Rabbit:
Don’t worry about me;
I can take care of myself!
The Old Man
I heard this song only once in the mid 90’s on the Rosie O’Donnell show, but it stuck with me.
I’m not a fan of this rendition by George Donaldson, but it was all I could find. The one I heard was very Irishy, which I think was mostly why I liked it – accentuating the words “Aye, neeeehhver whhil farghet him” – “an he showed mi thengs. khnot known ta kings. an seehcret batween him an ayyyye” in particular still play in my head.
The tears have all been shed now
We’ve said our last goodbyes
His souls been blessed
He’s laid to rest
Andit’s now I feel alone
He was moer than just a father
A teacher my best friend
He can still be heard
In the tunes we shared
When we play them on our own
(chorus)
I never will forget him
For he made me “what I am”
Though he may be gone
Memories linger on
And I miss him, the old man
As a boy he’d take me walking
By mountain field and stream
And he showed me things
Not known to kings
And secret between him and me
Like the colours of the pheasant
As he rises in the dawn
And how to fish and make a wish
Beside the holly tree
I thought he’d live forever
He seemed so big and strong
But the minutes fly
And the years roll by
For a father and a son
And suddenly when it happened
There was so much left unsaid
No second chance
To tell him thanks
For everything he’s done
SuperTed!
I used to watch this on occasion and even then thought it was a little odd.
Every episode starts with the tale of how SuperTed came to life: He was a teddy bear found to be defective in the toy factory where he was made, and then disposed of into a storeroom in the basement. A Spotty man found him there and brought him to life with his “cosmic dust”. He was later taken to Mother Nature and given magical powers that enabled him to fight evil. This evil invariably takes the form of Texas Pete (An evil cowboy) and his gang; Bulk (an overweight, bumbling fool) and Skeleton (an undead cowardly skeleton with pink slippers). Texas Pete’s plots are generally aimed at advancing his own wealth, ruling the world and the power or the destruction of SuperTed, his nemesis.
SuperTed’s powers are activated by his “secret magic word”, which (as the name suggests) remains a secret. SuperTed whispers it every time he or someone else is in peril and he transforms into a Superman-like red suit with rockets built in to the boots. These allow him to fly. In one episode, Bulk overhears the secret magic word and also whispers it, briefly acquiring identical powers to SuperTed. However, he subsequently forgets the word.
The episodes take place all over the world (but quite often in Wales) and even in space (SuperTed is the owner of his own space station). He also has a tree house in an unspecified jungle.
SuperTed has many similarities to Captain Marvel. Like Captain Marvel, SuperTed gets his powers from saying a word. SuperTed’s costume is very similar to that of Captain Marvel. SuperTed was given his powers by a being known as Mother Nature, much like how Captain Marvel’s powers were given by the wizard Shazam.
Waynehead
Waynehead was a Saturday morning cartoon produced by American actor Damon Wayans and ran on Kids’ WB for the 1996-97 season. It is about a young child from a poor background with a clubfoot and was based on Wayans’ childhood in urban New York City. Actors cast in the show include Gary Coleman, Orlando Brown and Marlon Wayans. Waynehead lasted for only one season due to poor ratings. From 1997-2000, reruns aired on the Cartoon Network.
Hammerman
Hammerman is a Saturday morning cartoon produced by DiC Entertainment, which aired for one season (1991 – 1992) on ABC.
The program featured pop rapper MC Hammer as a youth center worker named Stanley Burrell (Hammer’s real name). Burell owns a pair of magical dancing shoes (which were alive and could speak), which when worn cause Burell to transform into the superhero Hammerman. He frequently gets advice from his “Gramps”, who was a former owner of the shoes and was known as Soulman. While in the guise of Hammerman, Burrell was dressed in MC Hammer’s signature purple parachute pants and myriad golden chains. The show was hosted by the real MC Hammer who also sang the show’s theme song, telling about the origin of Hammerman. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, Gramps (real name unrevealed) was the superhero Soulman, but as he grew older, he grew weaker and was forced to retire. Gramps and his granddaughter Jodie traveled to find the next new superhero. Their search was over when they met Stanley and when he put on the shoes. Thirteen episodes of the program were produced.