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The above question about national anthems that have been parodied led me to mention "Why was s/he born so beautiful, why was s/he born at all". I put it into an Australian context, because I have always assumed it's an Australian song. I've only ever heard it at Australian birthday parties – if only because I've never attended a birthday party while overseas. It even borrows the tune of what later became our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. But I was surprised to see no mention of it in that article or even the talk page, so I thought I'd do a bit of digging and find when and where it originated.
A quick look at Google tells me it's strongly associated with rugby or other forms of football – but with no special link to Australia. The first mention of anything Australian was this link, which says: "The renewed debate about the worthiness of Advance Australia Fair has prompted this musing from Anita Ryan, of Margaret River, WA: 'Is it just my imagination, or is our national anthem set to the tune of Why Was She Born So Beautiful?'"
So, rather than the ditty borrowing the tune of the anthem, the suggestion (perhaps not entirely serious) is that the borrowing was in the reverse direction.
All this is telling me that my own experience of the song is not a reliable guide to its provenance. I'm not a football lover, so I wouldn't have known it had any association with that family of sports.
My searches so far just confirm it sometimes uses bawdy lyrics (that are repeated ad infinitum), that it's a "football song" or a "rugby song" and so on, but I have yet to see any info about who first wrote the words and when, and what tune they used. Has the tune changed, or is it sung to different tunes in different places? Was it really set to the tune of Advance Australia Fair, or did that just sort of evolve antipodistically? Most importantly, did it predate Advance Australia Fair (1878), and is it even remotely possible the tune of our hallowed national anthem is based on a pre-existing bawdy rugby song from God-knows-where? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 00:33, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to (insert first name here), Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, You look like a monkey, And you smell like one, too.
Thanks all. The earliest mention seems to be 1929 at this stage (Churchill, per Melburnian). But there's no suggestion it was written for that occasion, so presumably it was already well known by then. I'll keep looking. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 12:28, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
Can someone familiar with "why was he born so beautiful?" listen to " miss lucy had a steamboat" and advise me if the melodies are the same? μηδείς ( talk) 02:29, 9 July 2012 (UTC)
FWIW I've found a slightly earlier reference in 1928. Herbert Williams, MP for Reading, in the House of Commons 24 May 1928:
"...I was hoping that he [ David Lloyd George ] would have continued the very interesting disquisition which he gave in my constituency last Saturday, when the proceedings were enlivened by community singing. On the arrival of the right hon. Gentleman they sang: "Why was he born so beautiful?" Judging from the condition of his hon. Friends who have addressed the House, I think the song ought to have been: "Why was he born so pessimistic?" -- Melburnian ( talk) 11:38, 9 July 2012 (UTC)
What is The march-like music composition played before every association football match, while the players are walking from inside the interior of the stadium to the play field? I think it was composed by Mozart — Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.231.152.8 ( talk) 12:40, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
There is no standard music played before every association football match. Each club chooses its own, although some tournaments may have a stipulated theme, like the Champions League. We are the champions is a common choice, but more idiosyncratic choices include Hi Ho Silver Lining ( Wolves) and the theme tune from Z-cars ( Everton). I think we used to have an article about this... I'll dig. -- Dweller ( talk) 23:36, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
I've never understood one thing – if there is a negative review for, let's say a movie, and the review says right away to the reader not to see the movie, then why would the reviwer still either not spoil the movie's ending, or if he does so, place a spoiler warning? A review saying that a work is so bad that you should never, ever see it and yet explicitly declining to elaborate on the plot or ending, or having a spoiler warning seems strange to me. It would be understandable if it was a positive review and the reviewer was recommending the reader to see the work, but since it's a negative review, wouldn't it be logical to spoil the film's plot right away so that we would never need to see the film? As it is sometime said, "I watch it so you don't have to". Narutolovehinata5 t c csd new 15:00, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
Does anyone have a hard copy of " Since I Don't Have You"? Our image of its cover has some background colors that have prompted a discussion at WP:MCQ regarding its copyright status; it would help to know if the spotty circular area of the black background is part of the original design or the result of a bad scan of what is actually pure black. Nyttend ( talk) 20:19, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
Entertainment desk | ||
---|---|---|
< July 6 | << Jun | July | Aug >> | July 8 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
The above question about national anthems that have been parodied led me to mention "Why was s/he born so beautiful, why was s/he born at all". I put it into an Australian context, because I have always assumed it's an Australian song. I've only ever heard it at Australian birthday parties – if only because I've never attended a birthday party while overseas. It even borrows the tune of what later became our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. But I was surprised to see no mention of it in that article or even the talk page, so I thought I'd do a bit of digging and find when and where it originated.
A quick look at Google tells me it's strongly associated with rugby or other forms of football – but with no special link to Australia. The first mention of anything Australian was this link, which says: "The renewed debate about the worthiness of Advance Australia Fair has prompted this musing from Anita Ryan, of Margaret River, WA: 'Is it just my imagination, or is our national anthem set to the tune of Why Was She Born So Beautiful?'"
So, rather than the ditty borrowing the tune of the anthem, the suggestion (perhaps not entirely serious) is that the borrowing was in the reverse direction.
All this is telling me that my own experience of the song is not a reliable guide to its provenance. I'm not a football lover, so I wouldn't have known it had any association with that family of sports.
My searches so far just confirm it sometimes uses bawdy lyrics (that are repeated ad infinitum), that it's a "football song" or a "rugby song" and so on, but I have yet to see any info about who first wrote the words and when, and what tune they used. Has the tune changed, or is it sung to different tunes in different places? Was it really set to the tune of Advance Australia Fair, or did that just sort of evolve antipodistically? Most importantly, did it predate Advance Australia Fair (1878), and is it even remotely possible the tune of our hallowed national anthem is based on a pre-existing bawdy rugby song from God-knows-where? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 00:33, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to (insert first name here), Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, You look like a monkey, And you smell like one, too.
Thanks all. The earliest mention seems to be 1929 at this stage (Churchill, per Melburnian). But there's no suggestion it was written for that occasion, so presumably it was already well known by then. I'll keep looking. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 12:28, 8 July 2012 (UTC)
Can someone familiar with "why was he born so beautiful?" listen to " miss lucy had a steamboat" and advise me if the melodies are the same? μηδείς ( talk) 02:29, 9 July 2012 (UTC)
FWIW I've found a slightly earlier reference in 1928. Herbert Williams, MP for Reading, in the House of Commons 24 May 1928:
"...I was hoping that he [ David Lloyd George ] would have continued the very interesting disquisition which he gave in my constituency last Saturday, when the proceedings were enlivened by community singing. On the arrival of the right hon. Gentleman they sang: "Why was he born so beautiful?" Judging from the condition of his hon. Friends who have addressed the House, I think the song ought to have been: "Why was he born so pessimistic?" -- Melburnian ( talk) 11:38, 9 July 2012 (UTC)
What is The march-like music composition played before every association football match, while the players are walking from inside the interior of the stadium to the play field? I think it was composed by Mozart — Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.231.152.8 ( talk) 12:40, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
There is no standard music played before every association football match. Each club chooses its own, although some tournaments may have a stipulated theme, like the Champions League. We are the champions is a common choice, but more idiosyncratic choices include Hi Ho Silver Lining ( Wolves) and the theme tune from Z-cars ( Everton). I think we used to have an article about this... I'll dig. -- Dweller ( talk) 23:36, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
I've never understood one thing – if there is a negative review for, let's say a movie, and the review says right away to the reader not to see the movie, then why would the reviwer still either not spoil the movie's ending, or if he does so, place a spoiler warning? A review saying that a work is so bad that you should never, ever see it and yet explicitly declining to elaborate on the plot or ending, or having a spoiler warning seems strange to me. It would be understandable if it was a positive review and the reviewer was recommending the reader to see the work, but since it's a negative review, wouldn't it be logical to spoil the film's plot right away so that we would never need to see the film? As it is sometime said, "I watch it so you don't have to". Narutolovehinata5 t c csd new 15:00, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
Does anyone have a hard copy of " Since I Don't Have You"? Our image of its cover has some background colors that have prompted a discussion at WP:MCQ regarding its copyright status; it would help to know if the spotty circular area of the black background is part of the original design or the result of a bad scan of what is actually pure black. Nyttend ( talk) 20:19, 7 July 2012 (UTC)