[GreenKeys] Fwd: Re: The Gooney Bird

[Bruce Gentry]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [GreenKeys] The Gooney Bird
Date: 	Sun, 17 Jan 2016 19:31:29 -0500
From: 	Bruce Gentry <ka2ivy at verizon.net>
To: 	Dave Horsfall <dave at horsfall.org>



The most common source of this song and others is a series of recordings
from the early 1960s by Oscar Brand on Elektra records. "The Gooney
Bird" and civil aviation songs are on the album "UP In The Air",  Air
Force songs are on  "The Wild Blue Yonder" and "Out of the Blue". You
can hear poor recordings of them on YouTube. I was introduced to them
when I was learning to fly as a teen in 1967, and embraced and played
them constantly, to the chagrin of my family and others. In school,
those of us at the Nerd Table would belt them out, and many friends and
I would in gym class and the locker room as well.  Strangely, once I
actually joined the Air Force, very few had ever known of the songs and
recordings, and even fewer wanted to hear them. They were  enjoyed at
the amatuer radio club K5TYP at Keesler AFB, and I made several TTY
tapes that would print out the lyrics as you have here.

      Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY


On 1/17/16 6:06 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> I think some here will appreciate this; I found it years ago:
>
>                   THE GOONEY BIRD
>
> In 51 they tried to ground the noble DC-3
> And so some lawyers brought the case before the C.A.B
> So the board examined all the facts behind their great oak portal
> And then pronounced these simple words "The Gooney Bird's Immortal"
>
> The army toast their sky-train in lousy scotch and soda
> The Pommies raise their glasses high and toast their olde Dakota
> Some claim the C-47 is best - or the gallant R4-D
> Forget that claim - they're all the same - the noble DC-3
>
> Douglas built this ship to last but nobody expected
> This crazy heap would fly and fly no matter how they wrecked it
> While nations fall and men retire and jets go obsolete
> The Gooney Bird flies on and on at a mere few thousand feet
>
> No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
> One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
> She hunched her shoulders then took off - I know this makes you laugh
> One wing askew and yet she flew - the DC Two and a Half
>
> She has her faults but after all who's perfect in this sphere
> Her heating system is a gem and we love her for her gear
> Of course the windows leak a bit when the rain comes pouring down
> She'll keep you warm but in a storm it's possible you'll drown
>
> Well now she flies the feeder routes and carries all the freight
> She's just an airborne office - a flying twelve ton crate
> They patch her up with masking tape with paper clips and string
> And still she flies - she never dies - Methuselah with wings
>
> (Anon.)
>



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