And while we're on the subject of music...

[nuranar]

... I'm also listening to a Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar five-part episode from 1956 ("The Caylin Matter," a pretty good shoow), and in part 3, Johnny visits the so-called Brass Monkey Inn.  "At the Brass Monkey, they let down their hair and really lived."  Throughout the section when Johnny is yakking with the bartender, the chorus line is performing to jaunty orchestra music.  At first it's something I don't recognize; slightly 20s ragtime or early jazz.  And then it switches to "Marching Through Georgia," of all random things.

...wah?

I mean, it's a pretty catchy, upbeat tune, and all; but talk about baggage! It's certainly not unrecognizable to a good part of the population, at least not then.  At least this is in Los Angeles. There would be a RIOT in a Southern state, no kidding. You just don't do that.  It's not even so much that it's a YANKEE song. It's that it's a gleeful Yankee song about deliberately destroying Georgia.  It wasn't very nice at the time, and it still isn't.

And then the orchestra ends with "Dixie." Um.

Comments

[suededsilk.livejournal.com]

Good catch! Was it intentional, do you think? Did it have anything to do with the plot?

FWIW, the song means absolutely nothing to this Californian; I had to look it up to see what all the fuss was about. I did recognize a few bars, but didn't associate them with anything other than a sprightly song.

[nuranar.livejournal.com]

I really, really don't know why it was on there. It has ZERO to do with the plot. I think they just found a record with chorus line/borderline burlesque-appropriate music and played it. It was a more or less continuous play thing, with different songs at the beginning and between; but weren't records all single songs then? I really don't know. It didn't even fit the place's name; the "Brass Monkey" saying surely had to originate in British India.

Maybe the New York makers of the series were really truly clueless about it as well. But for not being a part of the plot, it really grabs attention away from the story for those who do know the song. I'll bet there were a lot of distracted Southern listeners! :p