Have You Ever Heard Of The Song "Dead Skunk"

[arwalden]

or maybe it's called "Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road".

Until tonight I had NEVER heard it. Because of that, my partner thinks I must be from another planet or that I've been living under a rock.

So, I'm wondering if I'm the ONLY person who has has the good fortune of NOT ever hearing that song. I hope that this poll will help me to prove to Mike that I'm not a complete idiot.

-- Allen

[Archae]

1. Loudon Wainwright III sang it.

I have it on tape.

[Floogeldy]

2. You're young

Don't worry about it. But learn.

:)

[arwalden]

5. Not Really... I'm 45.

And I'm pretty familiar with most popular songs of the 70's. I guess that's why Mike thinks it so strange that I've never heard that song before.

However... until he met me, he had never heard the song "Telephone Man" by Meri Wilson. So I guess it evens out.

[kevsand]

9. Everybody knows Dead Skunk

But I've never heard of Telephone Man, either. When was it?

[arwalden]

10. Telephone Man was released in 1977

Telephone Man
Meri Wilson
(Wilson)

-Peaked at #18 in 1977 and was her only hit
-Sold over a million copies
-A "novelty" song
-Produced by Boomer Castleman and Jim Rutledge of "Bloodrock"

I went to my apartment on a Monday at one
A-singin' do lolly, lolly shicky bum, shicky bum
Started movin' in it on a Tuesday at two
A-singin' do lolly, lolly shicky do, shicky do
Wednesday at three I called the phone company, singin':
"Hey baby, put a phone in for me"
Thursday at four he came a-knockin' at my door, singin':

"Hey, baby, I'm your telephone man
You just show me where you want it and I'll put it where I can
I can put it in the bedroom, I can put it in the hall
I can put it in the bathroom, I can hang it on the wall
You can have it with a buzz, you can have it with a ring
And if you really want it you can have a ding-a-ling
Because-a hey baby, I'm your telephone man"

Can you believe that? And then he says:

"Now when other fellas call ya tell 'em how it all began"

Well...can you imagine?

My heart began a-thumpin' and my mind began to fly
And I knew I wasn't dealin' with no ordinary guy
So while he was a-talking I was thinkin' up my plan
Then my fingers did the walkin' on the telephone man

Singin' hey lolly, lolly
Hey lolly, lolly
Hey lolly, lolly
Get it any way you can
Right? Ha ha ha, so...

I got it in the bedroom, and I got it in the hall
And I got it in the bathroom, and he hung it on the wall
I got it with a buzz, and I got it with a ring
And when he told me what my number was I got a ding-a-ling

A-singin' hey lolly, lolly
Hey lolly, lolly
Hey lolly, lolly
Just-a doin' my thing

Ha, ha...I've never done anything like this before!

[kevsand]

11. Hmmm.

I'm drawing a complete and total blank on that one. Must not have made it to WPGU at the U of Ill., which is what I was mostly listening to at the time. If I remember correctly, I was in my anti-disco phase by that point, wearing ruts in my Yes and Dead and Band albums, and just a year or so away from discovering Elvis Costello or the Talking Heads.

[u4ic]

3. Ah, yes, all those goofy 70's songs...

my favourite was Wildwood Weed...

The name of this song is 'The Wildwood Flower'
Now 'The Wildwood Flower' is an old country classic
It gained a whole new popularity
The song isn't any more popular
But the flower is doin' real good

The wildwood flower grew wild on the farm
And we never knowed what it was called
Some said it was a flower and some said it was weed
I didn't gave it much thought...
One day I was out there talking to my brother
Reached down for a weed to chew on
Things got fuzzy and things got blurry
And then everything was gone
I Didn't know what happened
But I knew it beat the hell out of sniffin' burlap

I come to and my brother was there
And he said, 'What's wrong with your eyes?'
I said, 'I don't know, I was chewing on a weed'
He said, 'Let me give it a try'
We spent the rest of that day and most of that night
Trying to find my brother, Bill
Caught up with him 'bout six o'clock the next mornin'
Naked, swinging on the windmill
He said he flew up there
I had to fly up and get him down
He was about half crazy

The very next day we picked a bunch of them weeds
And put 'em in the sun to dry
Then we mashed 'em up and we cleaned 'em all
And put 'em in the corncob pipe
Smokin' them wildwood flowers got to be a habit
We didn't see no harm
We thought it was kind of handy
Take a trip and never leave the farm

A big ol' puff on the wildwood weed
Next thing you know
We's just wandering behind the little animals
All good things gotta come to an end
And it's the same with the wildwood weed

One day this feller from Washington come by
And he spied us and he turned white as a sheet
And he dug and he burned
And he burned and he dug
And he killed all our cute little weeds
Then he drove away
We just smiled and waved
Sittin' there on that sack of seeds

Y'all come back now, ya hear

[napi21]

4. Heck yes! That was pretty popular a long time ago.

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/taylor/songs/dead_skunk.htm

Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road
by Loudon Wainwright III

G D
Crossing the highway late last night,
C G
He shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right.
D
He didn't see the station wagon car.
C G
The skunk got squashed and there you are.

CHORUS:
D
You got your dead skunk in the middle of the road
C G
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
D
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
C G
(And it's) Stinking to high heaven

Take a whiff on me. That ain't no rose.
Roll up your window and hold your nose.
You don't have to look and you don't have to see
'Cause you can feel it in your olfactory.

(chorus)

Yeah, you got your dead cat and you got your dead dog.
On a moonlit night you got your dead toad frog.
You got your dead rabbit and your dead raccoon.
The blood and the guts, they gonna make you swoon.

You got your dead skunk In the middle
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinking to high heaven

C'mon, stink. You got it. It's dead. It's in the middle.
Dead skunk in the middle
Dead skunk in the middle of the road
Stinking to high heaven

All over the road. Technicolor

Oh, you got pollution.
It's dead.
It's in the middle,
And it's stinkin' to high heaven.

[u4ic]

6. Rufus Wainwright is Loudon's son

[nhdb]

7. LW3

He was also on a few of the MASH episodes ....

[u4ic]

8. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[RevCheesehead]

12. I'm a tad embarrassed to admit...

that I actually own the 45 of that recording. :blush: