Each year a local radio station switches to an all-Christmas music format. Used to be it make the switch over the Thanksgiving weekend; this year it was first weekend of November, when a lot of folks were still sorting their Halloween haul…
Upon hearing the seasonal songs had arrived ever earlier this year, my daughter observed that, “It’s a shame there are no Thanksgiving songs, too…” I corrected her, and said yes, there are. She assumed I meant the 18-minute classic Alice’s Restaurant (with full orchestration and five -part harmony) by Arlo Guthrie – which, she admitted, is a Thanksgiving Song.
“No,” I said, “there are Thanksgiving songs out there besides Alice’s Restaurant.”
“Like what?” she demanded.
“Take an Indian To Lunch,” I replied.
“There’s no such song!”
And so I reminded her of the song she’s heard many, many times growing up, tucked as it is in the classic history lesson brought to us by Stan Freberg one-fifth score years before Arlo drove trash around in a red VW microbus with shovels and rakes an implements of destruction.
Freberg’s take on this nation’s history, from it’s “discovery” by Christopher Columbus up through the Battle of Yorktown, is a masterful twist on reality, offering an arguably woke perspective on the United States hidden behind brilliant satirical sketches. It took him 35 years to create Volume 2, which essentially covers the 19th century, and, sadly, there is no Volume 3 to skewer the Depression through more modern times.
It was Volume 1 – the early years – that I listened to time and time again until I wore out the grooves. Sparkling wit, great puns, clever songs – to this day it ranks in my personal top three comedy albums of all time. Of course, that’s just my opinion – but it’s shared by plenty of folks out there.
And it’s got the best Thanksgiving song – at least in the “short length” category…
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