Down in The Boondocks
This should be worth staying up late for — unless you're a night owl like myself and generally up late anyway, in which case, all you'll have to do is flip the dial.
Cartoon Network is bringing Aaron McGruder's comic strip The Boondocks to animated TV life, via its late-night Adult Swim program. The Boondocks is one of the few strips these days that can generally provoke at least a smile from me, so I hope the animated version retains the best qualities of McGruder's work.
Speaking of The Boondocks, that phrase always makes me think of the classic Sixties rock 'n' roll tune, Down in the Boondocks. The song was written by Joe South, a country/folkie singer-songwriter who also penned such hits as Games People Play, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Walk a Mile in My Shoes. The best-remembered version of Down in the Boondocks was recorded in 1965 by Billy Joe Royal, who later parlayed his Billboard Top Tem hit into a moderately successful career as a country singer — if indeed singing country music can be accurately called either "successful" or "a career" — but it's been covered by numerous other artists, including Kenny Loggins and Billy Joel.
The lyrics, in case you want to croon this one nostalgically in the shower tomorrow morning, went something like this:
Neither the song nor the cuisine have anything to do with Aaron McGruder's comic strip. I just free associate this way sometimes.
Cartoon Network is bringing Aaron McGruder's comic strip The Boondocks to animated TV life, via its late-night Adult Swim program. The Boondocks is one of the few strips these days that can generally provoke at least a smile from me, so I hope the animated version retains the best qualities of McGruder's work.
Speaking of The Boondocks, that phrase always makes me think of the classic Sixties rock 'n' roll tune, Down in the Boondocks. The song was written by Joe South, a country/folkie singer-songwriter who also penned such hits as Games People Play, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and Walk a Mile in My Shoes. The best-remembered version of Down in the Boondocks was recorded in 1965 by Billy Joe Royal, who later parlayed his Billboard Top Tem hit into a moderately successful career as a country singer — if indeed singing country music can be accurately called either "successful" or "a career" — but it's been covered by numerous other artists, including Kenny Loggins and Billy Joel.
The lyrics, in case you want to croon this one nostalgically in the shower tomorrow morning, went something like this:
Every night I watch the lights from the house upon the hillThe word "boondocks," incidentally, comes from the Tagalog word for mountain, bundok. Thanks to my having spent two years in the Philippines, I know a few other Tagalog words and phrases...most of which aren't suitable for publication in a PG-13 blog. My handiest Tagalog, as is true of most of the languages of which I've picked up snippets in my travels, consists of words for the local cuisine, such as lumpia (a sort of Philippine take on the wonton or spring roll) and pancit (a thin rice noodle, often served mixed with vegetables and seafood). Mmmm...good stuff.
I love a little girl who lives up there and I guess I always will
But I don't dare knock upon her door, 'cause her daddy is my boss man
So I got to try to be content, to see her whenever I can
Down in the boondocks, down in the boondocks
People put me down, 'cause that's the side of town I was born in
I love her, she loves me, but I don't fit her society
Lord have mercy on a boy from down in the boondocks
One fine day I'll find a way to move from this old shack
I'll hold my head up like a king and I never will look back
Until that day I'll work and slave, and I'll save every dime
But tonight she'll have to steal away to see me one more time...
Down in the boondocks.
Neither the song nor the cuisine have anything to do with Aaron McGruder's comic strip. I just free associate this way sometimes.
SwanShadow was randomly pounding the keyboard at 10:55 PM
1 insisted on sticking two cents in:
Re: boondock.
Now that's interesting. I'll have to tell my family and friends (who actually understand and speak the language unlike yours truly.) Thanks!
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