Pop
Cidu Bill on Sep 2nd 2010
Okay, let me get this straight… Batiuk has Crankshaft pull screwed-up lyrics out of his butt, and then the punchline is Crankshaft making a comment about them??
Filed in Bill Bickel, CIDU, Crankshaft, Tom Batiuk, comic strips, comics | 27 responses so far
Pete Sep 2nd 2010 at 05:10 am 1
No, he didn’t make up the lyrics. Googling shows several web pages with the same lyrics.
http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/pop-goes-the-weasel–version-2-old-english-.aspx
http://incurable-insomniac.blogspot.com/2009/03/pop-goes-weasel.html
The Bad Seed Sep 2nd 2010 at 05:25 am 2
Um, yeah. Haven’t you seen this strip before? Haven’t you seen other Batiuk strips before? He’s blazing whole new trails in humor!
yellojkt Sep 2nd 2010 at 06:24 am 3
I bet some kid somewhere sings those lyrics.
Frank the curmudgeon Sep 2nd 2010 at 06:45 am 4
“… No More Purple Dinosaur!”
Mason Sep 2nd 2010 at 07:16 am 5
The only error I see is that the first panel should read “the warthog chased the weasel”.
The song has many variants. I do recall seeing the warthog verse in a old songbook many years ago.
It’s not real common, but Batiuk didn’t make it up.
Kamino Neko Sep 2nd 2010 at 07:18 am 6
Frankly, it makes as much sense as the real lyrics.
But, honestly, I’ve had my train of thought go like that sometimes. I’ll deliberately nonsenseize something, then my brain will start playing with the nonsense I came up with, end result - more or less this strip.
On the other hand, there’s, like, 90 billion and 3 different variations on Pop Goes the Weasel, even before you get into the parodies, which probably triples that number, so he could be recalling a goofy version he remembers from when he was a kid, then his brain goes down the trail of analysing the nonsense.
Blinky the Wonder Wombat Sep 2nd 2010 at 07:54 am 7
I never heard any variations of “Pop Goes the Weasel” before but it seems like the third line is the one that varies. I’ve always knew that line s “The Monkey thought ’twas all if fun”.
When my kids were infants, I used to sing to them from a nursery rhyme book every night as part of our bedtime routine. To my surprise, I learned that there are at least three other verses to the song.
Detcord Sep 2nd 2010 at 07:59 am 8
As with many English Language nursery rhymes, this one appears to have originated in London. According to this site, the lyrics do have a meaning, or rather several meanings, depending on the source. None, I may thankfully add, are of the Urban Legend sort.
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/a116a-pop-goes-the-weasel.htm
Given this, I’d say the Cidu Bill has the correct interpretation with regard to Crankshaft.
Mark M Sep 2nd 2010 at 08:20 am 9
Whenever I want to embarrass my now-adult daughter, I break out the old home video of her singing “All around the mother-y bush”.
Can’t say I’ve ever heard of Crankshaft’s version.
Judge Mental Sep 2nd 2010 at 10:47 am 10
While Crankshaft is known for his malapropisms, Bautik believes those are definitive lyrics (I have heard the warthog line before). In yesterday’s strip (where we were not presented with the lyrics in question), the punchline was “Why was the monkey wearing a sock, and only one” and I had no idea what this meant. A Google search showed that one “Pop!” version (that I had never heard) contains the lyric “The monkey stopped to pull up his sock”. Obviously Bautik was counting on everyone having heard that version.
And the joke is that Crankshaft is merely opining “where would a warthog carry a concealed weapon?” (not saying that is a knee-slapper)
Judge Mental Sep 2nd 2010 at 10:59 am 11
As a side note, while it seems that while we (myself included) are bashing the Crankshaft strip, I would like take the opportunity to give Bautik some credit in regards to Crankshaft. Compared to “Funky Winkerbean”, the Crankshaft strip is more often able to pull off the flashback with some success. This past week’s Beanball Bushka storyline was touching without being maudlin, and many of his past Veteran’s Day (or is it Memorial Day?) strips have been very good.
Daniel J. Drazen Sep 2nd 2010 at 11:14 am 12
Once you hear a song too many times, goofing with the lyrics becomes natural to keep from going mad with boredom. Hence such classics as “Jingle bells, Batman smells….” The third panel was needless editorializing.
mitch4 Sep 2nd 2010 at 11:23 am 13
The most unfortunate part is that he’s been doing this all week. And repeating that “raises the troubling issue” stuff.
lord-z Sep 2nd 2010 at 01:31 pm 14
He is Tom Batuik! He needs no punchline!
John Small Berries Sep 2nd 2010 at 02:38 pm 15
To my surprise, Google turns up a few references to the version with the elephant gun… but it’s the “warthog chased the weasel” (as well as drawing the weapon) in those versions, not a monkey.
Kamino Neko Sep 2nd 2010 at 06:01 pm 16
Like I said, 90 billion and 3 versions.
The Bad Seed Sep 2nd 2010 at 07:41 pm 17
PUNCHLINES. NEED. TO. BE. EARRRRRRRNED!!!!!
Jenn Sep 2nd 2010 at 09:46 pm 18
Okay, so he found some crazy version of that song. My question is, when have you ever heard an ice cream truck playing music with lyrics? Or are the hundreds of trucks that wind through the streets of Los Angeles with their calliope-style music anomalies?
Cidu Bill Sep 3rd 2010 at 12:17 am 19
Let me get this straight then… Batiuk spent the whole week having Crankshaft quote already-existing nonsense lyrics and commenting that they didn’t make any sense to him?
Nice work if you can get it, I guess…
mitch4 Sep 3rd 2010 at 02:05 am 20
Friday’s entry tries an odd variant tie-in. But it doesn’t sell me that the week was anything but a waste.
Kamino Neko Sep 3rd 2010 at 11:18 am 21
To nitpick a bit - he’s not saying it doesn’t make sense, he’s pondering the consequences, as though it weren’t a nonsense verse.
Anyway… I’m kind of confused here, actually. I readily admit I and my circle are unusual in that it’s a common line of thought and conversation, but are y’all saying you never go down the path of (over)analysing (apparent) nonsense?
Elyrest Sep 3rd 2010 at 12:28 pm 22
“are y’all saying you never go down the path of (over)analysing (apparent) nonsense?”
Kamino Neko - I think it’s pretty apparent that all of us here ALWAYS go down that path.
Araxie Sep 5th 2010 at 12:04 am 23
For the record, most icecream trucks don’t have the lyrics sung WITH the tune, just the tune. Considering that most trucks don’t even play the entire version (ours stops at “Pop! goes the weasel!” and repeats. And repeats. And repeats), I have to wonder how old this truck is that actually plays the nursery rhyme w/ lyrics most children would never have heard before, let alone many of their parents.
Kamino Neko Sep 5th 2010 at 04:25 am 24
And again, I am confused.
Seems to me that Crank’s singing along with the jingle, not that the truck’s playing the lyrics.
Meryl A Sep 7th 2010 at 02:56 am 25
Actually all the definitions on that site are wrong. It involves using a yarn/thread winder. As it spins around and counts off the skein, a piece pops to let one know it was done. I am an American rev war reenactor and know that is it;’s meaning in period. I have seen the device in question.
Todd Sep 12th 2010 at 06:20 pm 26
Considering how often this blog is used to attack Batiuk’s work, maybe this is some kind of acknowledgment. Talking about nonsense lyrics is a lot like 16 posts about a wolf in suit saying he’s not wearing sheep’s clothing anymore. And I’m sure we’ve gotten to 50 posts about comics that are just as nonsense.
Cidu Bill Sep 12th 2010 at 07:28 pm 27
Todd, the difference is, there was a point to the the wolf comic. We might not get it, it might not be funny once we do get it, but the writer of the strip did put a joke in there. Maybe he was just having an off day. It happens.
But Batiuk has been phoning it in for years. There’s really no nice way to say that, but I think it’s obvious if you read Funky Winkerbean (and Crankshaft, though Crankshaft does show the occasional sign of life). I couldn’t say whether Batiuk is burned out, or if he just doesn’t care, but the results are the same: I can’t respect Batiuk’s work if he won’t respect his readers.