Dear Diary: Rillerah
As I was wrapping up the Daily Office this afternoon, I came across an entry at MetaFilter about the Hut-Sut Song. This was vaguely familiar, but only vaguely. By the time that I had listened to the Hut-Sut song forty or fifty times, however, I was thinking “Mormons.” Who else would support a ministry devoted to “Hut Sut rawlson on the rillerah, and a brawla, brawla sooit”? Well, maybe not even the Mormons.
I did buy four recordings of the songs from iTunes, however. Including one by Spike Jones. I have resisted Spike Jones unto my sixty-second year. Now I wish that I had kept on resisting. The only thing worse than Kathleen’s rolling her eyes is her not rolling her eyes.
In the middle of downloading all those versions of the Hut-Sut song, I took a moment to find the one tune from 1980 that Kathleen hated the most — hated the most because I liked it so much. It was “Just So Lonely” by Get Wet. They say that you can hear all your favorite songs from high school. Fine — all of my favorite songs from high schools are total classics, even the Beach Boys’ “Be True to Your School,” which I adored at a time that was mostly devoted to learning Bach cantatas. I’m in dire need of Get Wet, and always have been.
Hearing Get Wet’s song for the first time in nearly thirty years, I wasn’t taken back in time, but rather I was reminded of what I liked about the song the first time. It’s too late to go into that now, but it has something to do with church music. Chercherz l’église would be a not unrealistic motto for understanding my taste.
We watched Pirate Radio after dinner. Kathleen gave it her hightest accolade — she fairly knighted it. Meanwhile, I thought about teaching my grandson the Hut Sut song. What a great big-band introduction! And, besides, I know that I can make “rillerah” a totally favorite code word for having fun.