[Vintage-Audio] Song Title Puzzle

[Robert Nickels]

Gerry Steffens wrote:
> We here in the US have a case of lyric cleansing in the 1960s.  Rolf Harris,
> a British performer, performed the song Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport which
> many thought to be an Australian song.  It was not.  There are three
> versions of it.  The original single or shorter version (45) and the more
> lengthy and I presume album version have lyrics that go as follows:  "I
> waved the thing all over the place, practiced 'till I was black in the
> face...".  It was deemed necessary by someone that a separate US version was
> necessary which goes as follows:  "I waved the thing all over the place,
> practiced 'till I was blue in the face...".
>
>
>   
Huh?  You sure you've got the  right song, Gerry?  Those lyrics don't 
appear in the tune in question.   And Rolf Harris, who was born in Perth 
in 1930, wrote it in 1957, so it seems to me that makes it an Australian 
song.

There was objection to the lyrics which contained a reference to "abos" 
which was deemed an offensive term for the Australian aborigines, but 
few listerners knew what it meant anyhow.   He later wrote an alternate 
set of lyrics to highlight some very special backup singers for a 1963 
BBC performance...a new group called "The Beatles".

Rolf Harris is a fascinating fellow - championship swimmer, and would-be 
painter - but you'll have to read this story to understand what that led to:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,897637,00.html

73 Bob W9RAN