Fun_People Archive
7 Apr
WhiteBoard News 4/7/95

Date: Fri,  7 Apr 95 23:43:06 PDT
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: WhiteBoard News 4/7/95

Excerpted-from: WhiteBoard News for April 07, 1995

Sydney, Australia:

A hungry hobo steals a sheep, gets cornered by the cops and drowns in a
swampy pond rather than face arrest.

No, it's not a police report from the Outback, but the story told in
Australia's most famous ballad, "Waltzing Matilda," which turns 100 this
week.

Set to an old Scottish marching tune and chock-full of such colorful slang
as jolly swagman (a tramp) and billabong (a waterhole), the song "always
brings the hair up on the back of my neck," Prime Minister Paul Keating said
recently.  "It is part and parcel of whatever we are as Australians."

The biggest celebration for poet Banjo Patterson's unlikely hit will be held
in Winton, a town of 1,200, where it was first performed at a bar.  An
estimated 10,000 people are expected.

[Among the bits of colorful slang is the title.  The blanket that a tramp
carries over his (her?) shoulder is "Matilda" and doing what would be called
"going on the bum" in the U.S. is "watzing Matilda," a far more visual
metaphor than "going walkabout."  This is a favorite song for folk singers
who like to explain things... (sorry)  -psl]

==========

Hollywood, California:

Charlton Heston, who asked the public to title his autobiography, has picked
"In the Arena" from among almost 100,000 submissions.

The winner, who gets $1,000 from the actor, is a West Virginia man.

Heston's favorite rejectee: "Loved Him, Hated Hur."

© 1995 Peter Langston