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Forum
-> Interesting Discussions
malki2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:06 pm
I was listening to Country Yossi with the kids the other day, and the song “And Then He Potched Me” came on. We used to love that song as kids, but then I realized that if you listen to the lyrics in contemporary context, they are actually horrifying! I thought it would be a great kick-off topic for a discussion here. Maybe someone has a similar example.
Anyway, here are the lyrics:
I was sitting in my Rebbi’s chair when suddenly he asked me the place
I said I didn’t know and then he got a nervous twitch in his face
He quickly walked behind my chair
Then he grabbed me by the ear
And then he held me by the hair- and then he potched me.
I tried to guard my face but he poked me in the ribs with his thumb
He told me to get out and then he yelled I was a Toitse gornisht bum
Then he threw me to the floor
Then he pushed me out the door
Then he turned me around once more- and then he potched me.
He potched me in a way that I’ve never been potched before
He potched me in a way I don’t wanna be potched forever more.
That night when I got home I told my dad what had taken place
I was sure he’d understand but he got a nervous twitch in his face
He quickly walked behind my chair
Then he grabbed me by the ear
And then he held me by the hair- and then he potched me.
And then he potched me.
Oy, how he potched me!
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little neshamala
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:18 pm
I think that was his point. That the lyrics should be horrifying. Great song
ETA as far as crazy lyrics...my mother used to go crazy about the line "and im telling you this it will happen real soon, cholent powered rockets will take men to the moon oyyyyy..."
Was that also country yossi? Cant remember
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cbsp
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:23 pm
little neshamala wrote: | I think that was his point. That the lyrics should be horrifying. Great song
ETA as far as crazy lyrics...my mother used to go crazy about the line "and im telling you this it will happen real soon, cholent powered rockets will take men to the moon oyyyyy..."
Was that also country yossi? Cant remember |
Yup
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amother
Brown
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:27 pm
Most of his songs are terrifying.
I think it was a different time and it was ok to abuse kids and your wife.
It was probably funny then.
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malki2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:28 pm
little neshamala wrote: | I think that was his point. That the lyrics should be horrifying. Great song
ETA as far as crazy lyrics...my mother used to go crazy about the line "and im telling you this it will happen real soon, cholent powered rockets will take men to the moon oyyyyy..."
Was that also country yossi? Cant remember |
I don’t know about that. Way back it was common for a boy to get a smack from a Rebbi and then get home and get smacked again by his father. These days people would go crazy.
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Success10
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:32 pm
amother [ Brown ] wrote: | Most of his songs are terrifying.
I think it was a different time and it was ok to abuse kids and your wife.
It was probably funny then. |
Sarcasm, right?
Right?
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little neshamala
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:34 pm
malki2 wrote: | I don’t know about that. Way back it was common for a boy to get a smack from a Rebbi and then get home and get smacked again by his father. These days people would go crazy. |
Interesting.
I always viewed it as his way of bringing awareness to the awful potching situation in schools. The song is far from positive or even neutral
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PinkFridge
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:39 pm
Google The Beatles' Little Girl, and Getting Better for some lyrics.
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zaq
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:44 pm
Oh, I don't know.
Reading classic fairy tales as an adult I'm horrified that anyone would consider these stories fit for children. Yet as a rather timid child afraid of my own shadow I practically inhaled these stories and asked for more. I didn't find them scary in the least, and I didn't turn into a child-abducting cannibal, either.
And you know, there are many awfully grim episodes in Chumash. Cain murders his brother...Yoseph's brothers throw him into a pit, plot to kill him, sell him instead into slavery, then dip his coat into blood and show it to their father as "proof" of his death by wild animal ... Dina is 'defiled' and her brothers kill off all the men in Shechem in revenge...Yehuda orders that Tamar be burned to death...Pinchas skewers Kozbi and Zimri with a spear...
Let's not even talk about Nach, which gets even grittier. And all this is straight unvarnished mikra accessible to anyone who can read, taught in grade school, not abstruse midrash or commentary.
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Rappel
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:45 pm
malki2 wrote: | I don’t know about that. Way back it was common for a boy to get a smack from a Rebbi and then get home and get smacked again by his father. These days people would go crazy. |
The original song was "and then he kissed me." I think the contrast was supposed to be funny.
Just like the aforementioned "Donna the Primadonna" (Cholent song)
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Rappel
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:46 pm
But I recently listened to The Longest Pesach again, and the song "The City of Prague" had me crying from laughter. That would NEVER pass today!
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youngishbear
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 4:55 pm
My father claims that the post-holocaust generation knew better than to tell their parents that the rebbe had turned them black and blue, because they'd get a double portion.
Lipa schmeltzer has lyrics that make a similar point.
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amother
Brown
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:03 pm
Success10 wrote: | Sarcasm, right?
Right? |
No.
I think it was unfortunate considered OK.
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malki2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:09 pm
Rappel wrote: | The original song was "and then he kissed me." I think the contrast was supposed to be funny.
Just like the aforementioned "Donna the Primadonna" (Cholent song) |
I was going to do another one about stuff like that, where the original secular song is on the racy side. Country Yossi has a bunch of them. Save Maftir (The Last Dance) for me, for example.
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kenz
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:23 pm
amother [ Brown ] wrote: | Most of his songs are terrifying.
I think it was a different time and it was ok to abuse kids and your wife.
It was probably funny then. |
I think most of Country Yossi is utter nonsense, but clearly he fills (or filled) some sort of niche in the frum community. I listened to him as a kid and can still remember many of his earlier songs, but I don’t play them for my own kids. There’s a lot more to choose from now though.
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naomi2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:27 pm
kenz wrote: | I think most of Country Yossi is utter nonsense, but clearly he fills (or filled) some sort of niche in the frum community. I listened to him as a kid and can still remember many of his earlier songs, but I don’t play them for my own kids. There’s a lot more to choose from now though. |
you should listen to them as an adult , I recently did and am surprised how inspiring alot of his songs are.
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malki2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:28 pm
I recall a Shlock Rock song about a guy who learned a bunch of different Masechtos. Then one day I heard the non jewish song about a guy who had a little bit of this girlfriend, a little bit of this one, the other one all night long etc. I thought it was disgusting to use such a song to talk about learning Gemara.
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malki2
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:30 pm
naomi2 wrote: | you should listen to them as an adult , I recently did and am surprised how inspiring alot of his songs are. |
Yes, I actually find many of them inspiring. I especially love “the Rabbi” (based on “the Gambler” which is also a deep song). You can’t argue that the man is not talented.
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renny
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Tue, Oct 20 2020, 5:30 pm
Country Yossi’s Rebbi song makes me cry every time.
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