Ergo, the Ogre

Author: Ergo, the Ogre

  • Cows & Flowers

    Cows & Flowers

    It’s time once again for Song Lyric Sunday! This week, Jim has given us weather-related prompts, breeze/cloud/wind/sky, to work with. So, I am going with The Rain, The Park, and Other Things by The Cowsills.

    Lyrics

    I saw her sitting in the rain
    Raindrops falling on her
    She didn’t seem to care
    She sat there and smiled at me

    Then I knew
    She could make me happy
    Flowers in her hair
    Flowers everywhere

    (I love the flower girl)
    Oh I don’t know just why, she simply caught my eye
    (I love the flower girl)
    She seemed so sweet and kind, she crept into my mind
    (To my mind)

    I knew I had to say hello
    She smiled up at me
    And she took my hand
    And we walked through the park alone

    And I knew
    She had made me happy
    Flowers in her hair
    Flowers everywhere

    (I love the flower girl)
    Oh I don’t know just why, she simply caught my eye
    (I love the flower girl)
    She seemed so sweet and kind, she crept into my mind
    (To my mind)

    Suddenly, the sun broke through
    I turned around she was gone
    And all I had left was one little flower in my hand

    But I knew
    She had made me happy
    Flowers in her hair
    Flowers everywhere

    (I love the flower girl)
    Was she reality or just a dream to me
    (I love the flower girl)
    Her love showed me the way to find a sunny day
    (Sunny day)

    (I love the flower girl)
    Was she reality or just a dream to me…Songwriters: Steve Duboff, Arthur Kornfeld

    The Story

    According to SongFacts,

    • This was written and produced by the team of Artie Kornfeld and Steve Duboff; Kornfeld went on to be one of the concert promoters of Woodstock.
    • This was the breakthrough hit for the family group, The Cowsills, who was the forerunner of The Osmonds, a group that would appear on the same record label a few years later. Unlike the Osmonds, the boys’ mother Barbara also features on the recordings. The Cowsills also made many television appearances during the late 1960s and the early 1970s and they were an inspiration for the Partridge Family.
    • This song is known to many as “The Flower Girl.” Studio musicians were brought in for the recording, a practice that continued until 1969 when the Cowsill family were allowed to play their own musical instruments.
    • This reached #1 in Canada in the week of November 13, 1967.
    • A British rock group, Vanity Fare, poked fun at the Cowsills by naming their 1968 album The Sun, the Wind, and Other Things.
    • After the success of this single, two more Cowsill siblings – Paul and Susan – joined the group. In 1968 they had an American #10 hit with “Indian Lake.”
    • Susan Cowsill had just had her ninth birthday when this reached the Top 10, making her the youngest rock performer to have a Top 10 hit in America.
    • Olivia Newton-John recorded an upbeat version of this song for the 2011 movie soundtrack A Few Best Men. The soundtrack album is all cover songs recorded by Newton-John and mixed by various producers.
  • The Posey Posse

    The Posey Posse

    It’s First Line Friday over at the MindloveMisery’s Menagerie blog. This week our first line is The rose bushes lay a siege with velveteen petals and curved thorns.

    The rose bushes lay a siege with velveteen petals and curved thorns.

    These multi-faceted flowers were not your average narcissistic, depthless blooms. No, there was much more to them than that. Although they appeared harmless enough with their fuzzy velveteen petals, their curved thorns were deadly when leveled against an enemy.

    It all started when Svetlana Mazurski rescued the then-raggedy rose bushes from a nursery that had gone out of business. She brought them home and planted them in her barren garden. Over several weeks, Svetlana nursed them back to health and beyond, with the help of her babcia’s Polish Power Plant Potion (aka P4) from the Old Country. With the help of P4, the roses grew bigger, stronger, and even smarter than plants raised in the traditional manner.

    The rose bushes were so grateful to Svetlana for their rescue that they vowed to always keep her safe from people who did not have her best interest at heart.

    Like whom, you ask?

    The protective posies stood guard against unwanted solicitors, crappy boyfriends, and even process servers disguised as normal human beings. You see, Babcia’s P4 also enhanced the psychic ability of all types of flora. There was no getting over on these bad-ass blossoms.

    One day, a man started up the path to Svetlana’s home. The rose bushes instantly went on the alert and assessed the situation. What appeared to be an unassuming magazine salesman, was in fact a burglar casing the area. The rose bushes stifled their respective maniacal giggles and sprung (like Springtime) into action.

    First, their sweet aroma mutated into a smothering stench; a combination of a pig farm and wildcat sanctuary. This rendered the intruder’s eyes to water like Niagara Falls and brought on violent waves of nausea. Next, the velveteen on the rose petals imbued themselves with poison ivy pollen, while the curved horns grew temporary spikes — spikes as sharp as stiletto switchblades.

    It didn’t take the posey posse long to work over the intruder, whose remains made for a fabulous fertilizer.

    Best of all there were no leftovers, i.e. evidence.

  • Fibbing Friday | 2/26/2021

    Fibbing Friday | 2/26/2021

    It’s Fibbing Friday again so get ready to lie like a rug! This week’s questions are below.

    • 1. What is a tie-dye

    It was when Jerry Garcia created homemade ties while tripping on mushrooms.

    • 2. What is a raglan sleeve

    It is a sleeve made of mechanic’s shop towels and Handi-Wipes. They were popular during the Depression before people discovered Zoloft and Jerry Garcia ties.

    • 3. What is a seersucker

    Aside from being the definition of one who sucks seers, seersucker is kind of like succotash, but you can wear it. Edible sleeves.

    • 4. What is meant by a dropped waist

    A dropped waist is what happens to women of a certain age who don’t do enough sit-ups.

    • 5. What is a yoke collar

    A yoke collar is what people who are into S&M use for a good time.

    • 6. What is meant by pigeon-toed

    It means having toes similar to that of a pigeon; three instead of five.

    • 7. How many pleats are in a kilt

    It depends on how wide the kilt is.

    • 8. What is bias binding

    It’s when people hold a gun to your head and tell you what your opinion is.

    • 9. What is velcro

    It’s kind of like kevlar but it sticks to things.

    • 10. What is twill webbing

    Twill webbing is an elite type of web crafted by the elusive twill spider.

  • Without Me

    Without Me

    You had me from lunch.

    That very day, you acquired

    a permanent address in my heart,

    complete with its own Zip code.

    I’ve given myself no choice —

    but to hang on to a dream that can’t come true.

    It’s worth it; you’re worth it.

    But, If things were different…

    O, if things were different!

    But they are not —they are as they should be

    and as they will always be.

    So, I pretend

    That we share Magic Moments,

    the kind that last forever —

    I pretend just enough to keep

    what’s left of my heart, beating

    instead of shattering.

    It won’t accept another break

    from anyone but you.

    There will never be a Summer Place for us.

    Two Summer Places cannot coexist.

    I will find my own Summer Place,

    with a Moon River running through it.

    Finally, I accept

    That you are in love with

    out me.

    What never started

    will never be finished,

    not for me, not in my heart.

    And no one will ever know

    what didn’t happen.

    When all is said & done,

    I wouldn’t have missed you —

    the most exquisite moment

    of my life — for anything.

  • Pretty Red Flags: A Villanelle

    Pretty Red Flags: A Villanelle

    Because you said you loved me more,

    O, how could those big brown eyes lie?

    The pretty red flags I ignored.

    Our cottage perched along Maine’s shore—

    Some called it a pie in the sky,

    Because you said you loved me more.

    Then one day I found on the floor,

    A love note meant just for your eyes.

    The pretty red flags I ignored.

    That night I waited by the door

    For surely you could clarify

    Because you said you loved me more

    One look at you told me the score

    The whole town knew better than I.

    The pretty red flags I ignored.

    I will not share you with some whore.

    Dear, this is our final goodbye.

    Because you said you loved me more,

    The pretty red flags I ignored.