The Owl & the Pussycat from 2003

A Prairie Home Companion returns to Tanglewood

New Music from Richard Dworsky

Just released, a new track from Richard Dworsky. He says, “I was inspired by Emily Dickinson’s beautiful and heartbreaking poem about how our grief can be triggered by even the sweet and innocent chirping sound of the birds. My huge thanks to the wonderful Gaby Moreno for her lovely vocal. And great thanks to Madeleine Hart for the beautiful video. Sending my love and prayers to all who are suffering loss.”

Listen to the classic show

This week, we revisit a show from March 8, 2003, which was performed at the Moran Theater in Jacksonville, Florida, with Celtic band Boys of the Lough, singer Velma Frye, and Peter Ostroushko.

Highlights include talk about Florida plus a new version of “The Owl and the Pussycat,” “Mr. Jacksonville from Jacksonville” and “Diddie Wa Diddie” from Pat Donohue and the band; “Florida Song” from Velma Frye; “I Drew My Ship into a Harbor” and “Polkas” from The Boys of the Lough. Plus a sketch about Married Couples, Michael Jackson, Guy Noir, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Get your toes a-tappin’ and give the show a listen!

The Boys of the Lough were the first of the full-time professional Celtic bands to make a name on the international scene. After their first tour in 1967, the Boys went on to do countless tours of the U.S., plus Australia, Europe, and Asia. They also released more than two dozen albums, establishing a reputation for first-rate musicianship and technical brilliance. At the same time, they helped to keep the centuries-old music of Ireland and Scotland close to its roots. They play, someone aptly wrote, “music that tastes of itself.” An early review from a 1972 Rolling Stone put it about as well as it has been said since: “… and a quartet of young British instrumentalists and singers set the Saturday night crowd howling and dancing in the full fury of an August thunderstorm with Gaelic tunes played on fiddle, guitar, flute and bodhran.”

Mandolinist, composer, arranger Peter Ostroushko, who made his first Prairie Home Companion appearance in 1974, grew up listening to tunes played at family get-togethers in the Ukrainian community of northeast Minneapolis. It’s the music that provided the basis for many of his compositions — works that have been performed by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and others. Peter won an Emmy for the score of Minnesota: A History of the Land. Below is a tribute compilation of Peter’s many musical contributions to the show.

Here are the lyrics for APHC’s version of “The Owl and the Pussycat” from this week’s classic show:

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea,
In a beautiful catamaran
They took a stash of negotiable cash
Which they hid in a tunafish can
The Owl looked up to the stars above
And sang to a blues guitar,
“O lovely Kathy, O Kathy my love
What a very cool cat you are.
You are.
You are.
What a fabulous cat you are.”

Pussy said to the Owl, “Your tender avowal
Of love is a wonderful thrill.
Let us be married before we are buried
Let’s head for Jacksonville.”

Said the Owl, “Key West would make a nice nest,
And Naples is full of flowers.”
Said the elegant kitty, “A larger city
Is better for a marriage like ours.
Like ours.
Like ours.
Is better for a marriage like ours.”

They sailed at once for a couple of months
To the land where the Jaguars play
And there on the beach stood a Pig who was preaching
To tourists who’d gone astray.
The Pig was dressed in a Methodist vest
And a Presbyterian shawl
And in Baptist shoes he preached the news
That love is over all.
Over all.
Over all.
That love is over all.

“Dear Pig, is it possible to put down the gospel
And marry a Cat and a Bird?”
Said the pig, “For a dollar I’ll put on a collar
And read you from God’s Holy Word.”

They dined on grits and eggs at the Ritz,
Which they ate with a silver spoon.
And hand in hand they walked on the sand
Of the beach they call Neptune.
Neptune.
Neptune.
Of the beach they call Neptune.

They promised of course to share household chores
And their names they would hyphenate.
They reside in a tree and if children there be
They’ll be raised in the Baptist faith.

They live on the shore by the breakers’ roar,
An odd couple if you will,
But no more so than others I know
Who live in Jacksonville.
Sonville.
Sonville.
Who live in Jacksonville.

© Garrison Keillor 2003

Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80
Why you should keep on getting older

Created just for fans as a keepsake from Garrison and available only in our store, this wonderful gem on aging will have you laughing and contemplating your way into the next phase of life. Shipping begins at the end of November. Here is a short preview:

“My life is so good at 79 I wonder why I waited this long
to get here,” writes Mr. Keillor. “I look at the front page
of the paper and think, ‘Not My Problem.’ The world
belongs to the young, I am only a tourist, and I love being
a foreigner in America. I enjoy it as I would enjoy Paris or
Copenhagen, except I mostly know the language. I don’t
know who famous people are anymore and I’m okay with
that. You learn that Less Is More, the great lesson of
Jesus and also Buddha. Each day becomes important after
you pass the point of life expectancy. Big problems vanish,
small things make you happy. And the worst is behind you
because you lack the energy to be as foolish as you might
otherwise be.

“We arrive at old age by luck; virtue is not crucial. Luck
is crucial. If you took time to plan your life carefully,
you’d be 90 by the time you turn 25. So aim for adequacy.
Be good enough.”

Don’t miss the chapter of 23 rules for aging, including
“Enumerate your benefits,” “Enjoy inertia,” “Get out of
the way,” “Tell your likely survivors absolutely not to use
the words ‘A Celebration of Life’ (you already did that
yourself),” “Don’t fight with younger people; they will be
writing your obituary,” and finally, “Ignore rules you read
in a book. Do what you were going to do anyway.”

Also the Five Stages of Aging, for those who like
lists, and Mr. Keillor’s account of 24 hours in a New York
ER, in which he saw clearly his own good fortune and
also got an EEG and a lesson in contentment from Bob
the Buddhist. And a few poems for no extra charge:

Every day is a beautiful gift,
Tender and precious and swift.
The light and the sound,
The sky and the ground,
Every hour cries out to be lived.
Though I may be over the hill,
Still I think I can and I will.
I’ve forgotten just what
I can and will, but
They remain a goal of mine still.
Every year I pass the date
When my balloon shall deflate.
My mom entered heaven
At age ninety-seven,
And I aim to reach ninety-eight.
Get the Book>>>

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