There's a place in our lives for being silly.

[Belegon]

I was just surfing around in a form of ritual procrastination. Doing very little of anything.

I came across the video for Shiny, Happy People by R.E.M. While listening to a song I haven't heard for awhile, I read the commentary on the page about how Michael Stipe has come to regret the song and refused to allow it's inclusion on a greatest hits album.

Please. We don't have to be serious for every moment of every day. There is a place for simple childlike joy in our lives. Simple chord progressions. Vanilla ice cream instead of Ben & Jerry specialization.

I'm in favor of making a political statement when it is appropriate. But I don't think there is anything wrong with bouncing around in your living room to a piece of bubble gum pop on occasion.

As Sir Paul said...

Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs.
And whats wrong with that?

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

A little nonsense now and then
Is relished by the wisest men.

--Roald Dahl


But I'm a banana so what do I know

 

[tolyk]

I completely and 100% agree.... what we talkin' about now?

 

[carsonshepherd]

Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs.
And whats wrong with that?
Silly is fine.
But "crap" is another matter entirely.

 

[starrkers]

Neither of those songs reach "crap" level, though.

 

[jomar]

I'm with you Bel, it's good to be silly at times. Smiling and laughing is healthy.

 

[rgraham666]

When I think of silly I think of this.

Dodyododododyodododo.

 

[starrkers]

When I think of silly I think of this.

Dodyododododyodododo.

Now you've got me thinking of that silly Police song DooDooDooDeeDaaDaaDaa

 

[rgraham666]

Now you've got me thinking of that silly Police song DooDooDooDeeDaaDaaDaa

You're welcome.

 

[SeaCat]

Silly certainly has a place in our lives. It's what makes our lives worth living.

Yes you can be serious, but being so all of the time is only going to kill you. "Silliness" allows you to blow off steam.

Another great song is an old Styx song. "Plexiglass Toilet Seat".

Cat

 

[Arafura]

I'm so fond of people I can be silly with!

 

[SeaCat]

Here's the words. It was a "hidden" track on their "The Serpeant is Rising" album.

Plexiglass Toilet
Written by John Curulewski
Lead vocals by John Curulewski

Don't sit on the Plexiglass toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglass toilet yeah

A boy of 5 stands close to the toilet
Holds the lid up with one hand
Won't let go the lid for fear that
On his banana it will land
Don't sit down on the Plexiglass toilet yeah

Boy goes up he eats the enchilada
With the sauce that burns the heart
Family comes to visit family
Momma says don't belch and fart

Don't sit on the Plexiglass toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglass toilet yeah

Everybody Sing!
Don't sit on the Plexiglass toilet
Said the momma to her son
Wipe the butt clean with the paper
Make it nice for everyone
But don't sit down on the Plexiglass toilet yeah


Cat

 

[Weird Harold]

I came across the video for Shiny, Happy People by R.E.M. ...

I'm not familiar with that video, but this whole thread has gotten Don't Worry, Be Happy. (Bobby McFarin) stuck in my head.

 

[Veelo]

Do not read any of this, or reply to it, I am an idiot.


Silly (adj) - weak-minded or lacking good sense; stupid or foolish: a silly writer.

Synonyms - witless, senseless, dull-witted, dim-witted, foolish, inane, asinine, nonsensical, preposterous.

Colloquialism dictates that "silly" means good-natured, inconsequential fun, but it's quite to the contrary. It's not a good thing to be called. I don't like the idea of being witless. I'd rather be an asshole if it means I have my wits about me. Of course, it's the ones with wits that we tend to ignite and shoot at.

But that's not your point. Your point deals more with the notion of simplicity. Easing into life, rather than trying to ingest it all in one fell swoop and sit around like a snake and wait to regurgitate what we couldn't digest so we can do it all again. I don't suppose most people do that, really. I'm of the believe that the world is made of men like Harvey Pekar; people of general simplicity who just want to be. I find purpose, as a buzzing worshiper of chaos, to try and curb the flow of oblivion away from people who just want to float down the river and look at the pretty stones caught in the undertow.

On the other hand, I like cartoons.

Fuck it.

 

[Guest]

BWAH!

Big kitty teeth!

 

[knitedreams]

I'm silly most of the time, even in my classes. It's cool that I'm going to have a profession where silly is a way of life.

 

[TE999]

I'm silly most of the time, even in my classes. It's cool that I'm going to have a profession where silly is a way of life.

You attending Clown College?

Or becoming an Economist?

 

[knitedreams]

You attending Clown College?

Or becoming an Economist?

Neither. Masters in English specializing in British and American Literature. For some reason all the professors and a good deal of the students are silly and eccentric, making the learning experience fun. It was great finding people with silly natures equivalent to mine.

 

[TE999]

Neither. Masters in English specializing in British and American Literature. For some reason all the professors and a good deal of the students are silly and eccentric, making the learning experience fun. It was great finding people with silly natures equivalent to mine.

I know what you mean. I was an English major for a while as an undergrad.

Talk about eccentric. My one Literature Prof. wrote romance novels under different pseudonyms. And he'd test the chapters on us--reading them aloud.

That class was a breeze--if you could stomach purple prose.

 

[Noor]

You attending Clown College?

Or becoming an Economist?

Hey clowning is serious business.

I miss the old Moscow Circus Clowns

Noor, former manager of a professional clown


ps I used to love the question on the clown college application:

"have you been in the military? If not, why not?"

 

[knitedreams]

I know what you mean. I was an English major for a while as an undergrad.

Talk about eccentric. My one Literature Prof. wrote romance novels under different pseudonyms. And he'd test the chapters on us--reading them aloud.

That class was a breeze--if you could stomach purple prose.

I haven't encountered that just yet, but I'm hoping. Right now, in one of my classes, we're discussing "Venus and Adonis" by Shakespeare. Gotta love a giant woman that can lift a man under her arm and carry him away.

 

[TE999]

Hey clowning is serious business.

I miss the old Moscow Circus Clowns

Noor, former manager of a professional clown


ps I used to love the question on the clown college application:

"have you been in the military? If not, why not?"

So funny isn't really funny?

Well, another bubble busted!

What did the military have to do with clowning?

Unless they were looking for OCS candidates.

 

[Noor]

So funny isn't really funny?

Well, another bubble busted!

What did the military have to do with clowning?

Unless they were looking for OCS candidates.

I have no idea what the military had to do with it, but it turned me off to finishing the application every time I got one.
I imagine the Feld's were perhaps trying to support the Vietnam vets or very patroitic. This was back in the late 70's and early 80's.
At one point in my life I knew about 20% of the graduates of Clown College and a few instructors. I would say about half of the ones I knew were fairly unhappy at the time, I was quite fond of tried to commit suicide and ended up with some serious injuries.
They were also fairly, if not extremely, bright. Several were grad students at MIT, and of course Penn of Penn & Teller attended Clown College though I am not sure he ever finished.

It is not unusual for clowns to be sad, I have friends who said clown alley could be one of the saddest places on earth. W.C .Fields described Bert Williams, a famous vaudeville clown, as "the funniest man I ever saw and the saddest man I ever knew."

My favorite clowns were from the Moscow Circus that I used to see when I was a child. It was a different kind of clowning than the Emmet Kelly types of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Unfortunately, the really good ones tended to defect and then I would never get to see them perform again.

There is a great Russian comic/tragedic play about a novice clown called He who gets slapped.

But back to being silly.

I really think the ability to be silly esp. during times of adversity is essential to long term happiness.
As the saying goes, "In this world, its survival of the silliest."

 

[Noor]

need some serious silliness now.

 

[stephen55]

What were these guys smoking?????

I'm old enough to remember when songs had seriously silly lyrics. The Beatles had more than their share which was and is alright by me.

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the eiffel tower.
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna.
Man you should have seen them kicking edgar allen poe.

I am the eggman, They are the eggmen
I am the walrus
Goo goo g'joob and so on...

Don't even get me started on Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds...

But then, when my oldest boy was only seven, I took him on a fishing trip that included a four hour ride in the truck. We spent a good deal of it singing Wooly Bully......

Uno, dos, one, two, tres, quatro

Matty told Hatty about a thing she saw.
Had two big horns and a wooly jaw.

Wooly bully, wooly bully.
Wooly bully, wooly bully, wooly bully.

The fun part was getting in all the Na Na, One mo' time, Watch it now, screaming stuff.

Check it out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qNVm8yl-Sc&feature=fvw