Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Day 35: What Did Batman Say To Robin

Holy Throw Up Batman... They Changed The Lyrics!

Yankee doodle went to town
riding on a pony
stuck a feather in his cap
and called it macaroni

This is a popular childhood song. It's catchy, innocent and easy to remember. It reminds me of another song with all the same qualities.

Ring around the rosies
pocket full of posies
ashes, ashes
we all fall down.

We all know, or at least I know that the legend following this song revolves around the Black Plague that took place during the middle ages. The original lyrics were "Achoo, Achoo we all fall down." A victim of the plague would enter a sneezing fit before collapsing to the ground and dying.

Though Yankee Doodle did not die not is the song about death, it too has it's own message. The original verse goes "stuck a feather down his throat and threw up macaroni." You see dear reader, Yankee Doodle suffered from what is now labeled as "Mannorexia." He was very image conscious and would make himself vomit after a meal, which was usually macaroni salad.

Simply, the song describes the tale of a young Yankee Doodle and his struggle with body image. He would binge eat on his favorite foods, stick a feather down his throat and throw up macaroni salad. It is indeed a sad, sad story. However, since the diddy was so catchy, future song writers decided to change the lyrics. Days turned to weeks. Weeks turned to months. 300 some odd years later, we have a song whose origins very few people now remember. A song which recorded the very first case of Mannorexia.

No comments:

Post a Comment