Quote/Counterquote: Guy Lombardo

Showing posts with label Guy Lombardo. Show all posts

December 31, 2017

Should auld acquaintance — and 2017 — be forgot?

THE AULD FAMILIAR LINES:

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.”
       Robert Burns (1759-1796)
       Scottish poet
       The best known lines from his poem “Auld Lang Syne” (1788), which actually mean that old acquaintances should not be forgotten, they should be remembered and thought of fondly.
       These lines were popularized by Guy Lombardo's musical version, but most people can’t remember the rest of the lyrics. In case you want to have them on hand on New Year’s Eve or read the backstory on the poem and the song, see this post on my This Day in Quotes site.

THE GOOD RIDDANCE TO 2017 VERSION:

“Should 2017 be forgot and never brought to mind?...To start it off right we hired a buffalo chicken drummy that fell into a pile of cat hair to be the captain of the ship. Ok, yes! We let the people around us feel like second-class citizens and inhuman. We let families and children and POC and women wonder if anyone gives a shit about them or if all along we’ve been pretending at some semblance of openness and equality. Great, sounds good! And that was only in January alone! There isn’t enough time in well hey, a year, to write about how it only continued to get more wonderful from there. It was like a scene from a movie after a bomb goes off and everyone wanders around the charred landscape while pieces of burnt wood fall from on high and embers rain from the sky. Just when you thought one more bad thing couldn’t happen, somebody finds a hidden landmine and the whole thing just goes up in smoke again.”
       Quinn Angelique
       American blogger
       Expressing what many people feel about 2017 in a post on the Medium website, December 26, 2017

MICKEY ROONEY’S FAIR WEATHER FRIENDS VERSION:

“What bothers me are friends, or perhaps acquaintances, who in rough times turn out to be non-acquaintances. I'm going to write a song about their approach. You probably know the melody:
   Should non-acquaintance be forgot
   And never brought to mind
   Should non-acquaintance be forgot
   Or kicked in their behind?”
       Mickey Rooney (1920-2014)
       American actor
       In his book I.E. An Autobiography (1965)

THE TOTAL ABSTINENCE COUNTERQUOTE:

“Let drinking customs be forgot
And never brought to mind.
Come, moderate drinkers, topers, sots,
And leave your cups behind.”
       Henry Lee (1911-1993)
       American journalist and author
       Quoting an old Temperance Movement song in his book How Dry We Were: Prohibition Revisited (1963)

THE ODDLY ANTI-ABSTINENCE TEMPERANCE SONG:

“Can abstinence be now forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Can abstinence be now forgot,
And mercy to mankind.”
Lyrics from the song “Poured Out By Hands Divine,” in The Standard Book of Song for Temperance Meetings (1883)

THE JANUARY 1st, MORNING AFTER MEME:

“Your new, bed-related acquaintances should probably be forgot, and never brought to mind. Not that you remember them anyway.”
New Year's meme created by WildRumpus on the SomeCards.com site

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Comments? Corrections? Email me or Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook page.

Related reading, listening and watching…

December 31, 2011

Should “Auld Lang Syne” lyrics be forgot, sing a parody version…

You can read about the origin of the lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne” on my ThisDayinQuotes.com blog. In tonight’s post on QuoteCounterquote.com, I offer some of my favorite alternative lyrics. Happy New Year!

THE GAY LOMBARDO VARIATION:

“When Socrates in Ancient Greece
Sat in his Turkish bath
He rubbed himself, and scrubbed himself
And steamed both fore and aft.
He sang the songs the sirens sang
With Oscar and Shakespeare
We’re here because we’re queer
Because we’re queer because we’re here.

The highest people in the land
Are for or they’re against
It’s all the same thing in the end
A piece of sentiment.
From Swedes so tall to Arabs small
They answer with a leer
We’re here because we’re queer
Because we’re queer because we’re here.”
       Brendan Behan (1923-1964)
       Irish playwright, poet and novelist
       The best-known song from his play The Hostage (1958)

THE SARDONIC WORLD WAR I SONG:

“We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here because we’re here
We’re here because we’re here because
We’re here because we’re here.”
World War I song of unknown origin, sung by British soldiers to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”

THE DWUNK VERSHUN:

“If all the lyrics are forgot
Right after the first line
Don’t worry ‘cause alone, you’re not
That’s how you sing “Lang Syne”!

Now all the lyrics are for naught
We butcher “Auld Lang Syne”!
We drink a couple Jaeger bombs
(Now drunk out of our minds!)

Now awl the lyrics are forga
Wha-eva comes 2 mind (hic!)
Shoo awful lyr-er uh uh what?
Blah blah blah blah lang syne! (blaaarrgh!)”
The parody song “Old Lame Song”
Posted on the AmIRight.com website by “Red Ant”

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT VARIATION:

“Let drinking rum now be forgot,
And never brought to mind;
Let drinking rum now be forgot,
And cider, beer, and wine.

For rum and beer we pay full dear,
With rosy nose and eyes;
We'll take a glass of water now,
For sure we're growing wise.”
Anti-drinking song published in the Signal of Liberty newspaper (Ann Arbor, MI) in 1842

YOUR DAY-AFTER RECOVERY REMINDER:

“We’re Here Because We’re Not All There!”
Slogan on a button sold by the Wooden U Recover website, which sells “recovery” merchandise to people on the wagon.

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Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook page.

Related listening and reading…

December 28, 2009

Which should never be brought to mind? Drinking, abstinence or Sarah Palin?

FAMOUS NEW YEAR’S QUOTE:

“Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.”
       Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796)
       His poem “Auld Lang Syne” (1788)
       Popularized by Guy Lombardo's musical version

ABSTINENCE COUNTERQUOTE:

“Let drinking customs be forgot
And never brought to mind.
Come, moderate drinkers, topers, sots,
And leave your cups behind.”
Quoted by Henry Lee
In his book How Dry We Were: Prohibition Revisited (1963)

ODDLY ANTI-ABSTINENCE QUOTE:

“Can abstinence be now forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Can abstinence be now forgot,
And mercy to mankind.”
The Standard Book of Song for Temperance Meetings (1883)
Edited by Thomas Bowick