Ramblin' with Roger

1. Washington- 2 terms, they love references to his first Lady, the widow Martha Custiss
2. J. Adams- 1 term, first in the White House (1800)
3. Jefferson-2 terms, Washington’s Secretary of State, Louisiana Purchase
4. Madison-2 terms, Jefferson’s Secretary of State
5. Monroe-2 terms, Madison’s Secretary of State
6. J.Q. Adams-1 term, race settled by the House of Representatives, Monroe’s Secretary of State, returned to serve in the House and died there
7. Jackson-2 terms, his mansion was the Hermitage, near Nashville
8. Van Buren-1 term, Jackson’s Secretary of State
9. W.H. Harrison-1 month, “Old Tippecanoe”, longest inaugural address, 1st to die in office.
Well, you get the idea.

So, it’s WH Harrison (one month), Tyler (completed term), Polk (one term), Taylor (about two years), Fillmore (completed term), Pierce (one term), and Buchanan (one term) between 1841 and 1861 – and this from…memory! When I learned the presidents, this was the hardest stretch. Did you know there were four Whig Presidents, and they served a total of 8 years? (Harrison/Tyler/Taylor/Fillmore).

As I heard ad nauseum after the JFK assassination, Lincoln and JFK were elected in ’60, died in office, had VPs named Johnson who succeeded them.

There was a Final JEOPARDY! question once about the three Presidents in 1881: Hayes, Garfield, Arthur. 1841 and 1881 were the only two years with three Presidents.

I wrote this segment of a movie/play in my head once where a person was captured by the bad guys and was interrogated. He was asked who was the President, and his predecessor, etc. This guy was able to list them all the way back to Washington. The bad guys then shot him: “Must be a spy. NOBODY knows that stuff.” Turns out our victim was a teacher of American history. Oops.

I’m guessing there will be a question soon about that expensive painting by Peale, GW at Princeton.

Note: in the comic strip tradition all the words in the strip are in capitals, but for readability, I’ve deigned to write in standard English. Also the words that are in bold in the strip are in red in this text.

“Blackman and Crow”, a 4-page rendition of “Batman and Robin”

Page 1:

Page 2, Panel 1:
Minstrel: ‘Member? [Sings]Wayy down ‘pon the Swa-nee Ri-buh-
Crow: Let’s take him, Blackman!
Blackman: [hums] Hm-mm
Page 2, Panel 2:
Minstrel: ‘Member – [Sings] -in mah ol’ Kin-tucky hooome
Blackman (smiling, singing): La-de
Robin scowls.

Page 3, Panel 1:
Blackman and Minstrel [singing]: Oool’ Black Joooe-
Page 3, Panel 2:
Crow’s hand firing a gun
Gun noise: Crack! Ack! Tack! Lack

Page 4:
Blackman, Minstrel dead on the floor, four bullet holes in the back wall, which has a framed photo, signed Love, Stepin.
Crow: This damn generation gap is something else!!
A diminutive Pogo (looking at deceased): My!

This story seemed to be addressing the struggle in the civil rights movement at the time, between the NAACP/Urban League old-line organizations, and the Black Panthers and other more militant groups. The old-timers were still following the model of the late Martin Luther King, while the younger folks believed, “By any means necessary.”

For me, this was one of the most fully realized takes, possibly because of my deep awareness of the Batman mythos.

The reference of Stepin was to Stepin Fetchit, a controversial black actor known for his stereotypical portrayals of a black minstrel.

***

“Boll Weevil Barley”, a 4-page take on “Beetle Bailey”:

Page 1:
Boll Weevil (to no one in particular, though black versions of Zero and Killer are around): This is a mighty weird comic strip.

Page 2:

Page 3:
Killer-type (turns head): Oop! You had to open your big fat mouth!
Boll Weevil (thinking): ?

Page 4:
Boll Weevil and Killer-type are saluting white Sarge, while black cook looks on.

This again addresses the large percentage of blacks in the armed forces in Vietnam, usually at the lowest levels, as “grunts” rather than officers.

***

“Darkie”, a 4-page variation on “Archie”.

Page 1:
Jughead: Gee, it’s groovy having a new kid in town, Darkie-
Darkie: thanks- it’s groovy being here!

Page 2

Page 3, Panel 1:
Guys in silhouette.
Jughead: Where do you live, Darkie?
Page 3, Panel 2:
Darky: Just down the block, too.

Page 4:
Darky: -Mine’s the one with the white pickets!
Jughead (jaw dropping): !
Pickets holding signs that say:
Out! Out! Out!
Keep Out!
Live with your own kind
Leave white to white
Don’t let them besmirch our town

The use of the name “Darkie” must have been rather controversial at the time, for it was a term used as an insult to black people.

That said, I laughed out loud at this one, perhaps because of the linguistic parallel construction “White picket fence”/”White pickets”. I also love the word “besmirch” in this context, since it was the pickets who were doing the besmirching. Also, Darkie is quite matter-of-fact about the protest, unlike his new friend.

So my question: what shall I see, and why? I’ll admit that I was leaning toward Emmylou, until her performance was postponed from March 12 until October. (I’m a more immediate gratification kind of guy.) I’d REALLY appreciate your feedback.

I will allow the conceit that the American repackagers of Beatle tunes on albums were permitted to do what they did. But did they have to leave so many songs off?

First off, I’m specifically talking the Capitol albums, because they were the primary purveyor of their music in the U.S.

So, I’ll OK the choices on Meet The Beatles! (’64), (although why the only non-Lennon/McCartney or Harrison song was Till There Was You, when there were five great R&B songs on the source album With The Beatles (’63) always troubled me.)

The Beatles Second Album (’64) with the remaining With The Beatles cuts, features she Loves You. For contractual reasons, there may not yet have been additional product, but since they put out “Long Tall Sally” and “I Call Your Name” from the LTS EP, why not “Slow Down” or “Matchbox”, putting 12 cuts on the album? Oh, yeah, right, money.

Speaking of contractual agreements, look at the deal that allowed for A Hard Day’s Night (’64) and Something New (’64) to come out pretty much at the same time with several common songs. Capitol COULD have chosen to put fewer of the HDN songs. In any case, since they picked Kom, Gib Der Meine Hand, why not its German-language mate, Sie Liebt Dich?

The Beatles’ Story (’64) is an odd conversation-laden piece, off the topic.

Would it have killed them to put a 12th song, probably from Beatles For Sale (’64) to put on Beatles ’65 (’64)?

The Early Beatles (’65): Obviously, by this point, the Vee-Jay licensing expired and Capitol reasonably put out their own version of Introducing. But with 11 songs, it leaves off “Misery” and “There’s a Place”.
Never owned either Misery or There’s a Place until I FINALLY bought Introducing the Beatles shortly before the group broke up. They always sounded out of tune when I’d hear them on the Beatles cartoon.

Beatles VI (’65) was a mix of the Beatles For Sale and the second side of the British Help! album. Two songs, Yesterday and Act Naturally, were held back, but could have shown up here, especially the latter, since most albums have a Ringo song. (Holding it back meant that “Yesterday”… and Today had TWO Ringo songs.

I’ll concede the nature of Help! (’65) as a soundtrack album.

Rubber Soul (’65) actually had 12 songs, and showed that Capitol may be thinking about trying to keep semblance of the album the Beatles intended.

Which brings me to “Yesterday”… And Today (’66), a peculiar package derived from the British Help! (2 songs), Rubber Soul (4 songs), and the required single (Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out). But why did they have to pillage the not-yet released Revolver for three Lennon songs, when they had three other perfectly good choices: I’m Down (b-side of the Help single), Paperback Writer and Rain? Revolver (’66), as released in the US, had only two Lennon songs, and always seemed unbalanced.

Finally, Capitol leaves an album alone with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (’67). Except for the two seconds on the inner groove.

Magical Mystery Tour (’67) actually became the standard for the Beatles in Britain. The six songs on the double EP, plus the singles. A peculiar good choice by Capitol.

The Beatles [White Album] (’68) is unchanged, as is Yellow Submarine (’69) and Abbey Road (’69).

Hey Jude (’70) is a peculiar album that FINALLY put out two of the three songs from a Hard Day’s Night (but not the title track). The other songs mentioned but not on albums would have been welcomed here. Of course, Get Back was held for Let It Be (’70).

Assuming the albums from Meet to Revolver came out as they did, my preference would have been, in that period between Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, for Capitol to have put out an album like A Collection Of Beatles’ Oldies (’66), where they collected the singles and disparate other cuts.

It could have contained
1. Love Me Do (single version)
2. There’s a Place
3. Misery
4. From Me To You
5. Sie Liebt Dich
6. Can’t Buy Me Love
7. Hard Day’s Night
8. I Should Have Known Better
9. I’m Down
10. Paperback Writer
11. Rain
Or, instead of the last two songs, they could have added a song or two to the oldies with the variations, such as the extra verse on “I’ll Cry Insead” that appears on the UA Hard Day’s Night soundtrack.
Song 4 showed up on the Red album (1973), as did 7, though the latter had been on the UA album.
Song 9 appeared first on the Rock ‘N’ Roll album (1976)
Songs 1, 2, 3, and 5 above ended up in the curious Rarities album in 1980.

Of course, the album described above would have wrecked what would become the Hey Jude album, which should have had The Inner Light, and perhaps one of those songs kicking around but not released, such as “What’s the New Mary Jane”. Also a possibility, “Penny Lane” with the trumpet ending, available in Canada at the time. (They had Yellow Submarine and All You Need Is Love on two albums, after all.)