The humorous song titles were the product of the imaginations of Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, who wrote most of the Darlings episodes. Mitch Jayne (the bass player) later wrote lyrics to go with many of the titles, but to my knowledge The Dillards never actually performed or recorded these songs. These lyrics can be found in the book "Everybody on the Truck" by Lee Grant. For them that don't know, Mitch Jayne is a very talented writer. One of his novels, Old Fish Hawk, was made into a movie (the titled was shortened to "Fish Hawk") in 1979. It is available on DVD from Netflix, though I've never gotten around to renting it. About ten years ago, Denver Pyle told me he wanted to do a remake of this film (starring Willie Nelson as Fish Hawk) but the project never materialized. BTW, the title "Never Hit Your Grandma with a Great Big Stick" was obviously inspired by an old Spike Jones tune, which went like this: Never hit your grandma with a shovel, It makes a bad impression on her mind. In a better way, impart all the love things in your heart For it's possible she may retort in kind. Remember, Granny's known you since a baby, And even though in fun, 'twould prove a shock, So, respect her aged head, stay the shovel and, instead, Paste your dear old sweetheart grandma with a rock! --Paul Mulik >>>I was just wondering if the names of songs that the Darling Boys played >>>(such as "Never Hit Your Grandma With a Great Big Stick", "Slimy River >>>Bottom", "Tearin' Up Your Old Clothes For Rags" etc.) were actually names >>>of songs or were they just made up. I'm pretty sure that "Slimy River >>>Bottom" is also called "Doug's Tune".
"Ya got time to breathe, ya got time for music!!" _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/