eric boggle
gene...@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Boggle(sp?) called, I think, Nobody's muggy now, a song about a dead
cat.
Does anyone have any information about a recording which has this
song?
Thanks
Gene Herzberg
gene...@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Jonathan Berger
>jA couple of saturday afternoons ago I heard a song on CBC by Eric
>Boggle(sp?) called, I think, Nobody's muggy now, a song about a dead
>cat.
>
>Does anyone have any information about a recording which has this
>song?
Well, I guess I'd better take this one. The composer is Eric Bogle,
and the song is called Nobody's Moggie, or perhaps Moggy. "Moggy"
is British, and, we presume, Australian slang for "pussycat".
To the best of my knowledge, the very first ever recording of this
song was made by me, on a Walkman at the Vancouver Folk Festival.
I am fairly sure I was the first because he mentioned having written
it a few weeks previously. The very next recording was made by an
extremely small-time pseudo-British folk-rock band called Cyderman's
Fancy, of which I was a founding member. We put it on a cassette
that we made and sold about 50 copies of. It features a wonderful
solo by my cat Clark. If we ever make any money from the damn thing
we'll consider paying Mr. Bogle some royalties.
Lyrics:
Somebody's moggie, by the side of the road
Somebody's pussy, who forgot his highway code.
Someone's favorite feline, who ran clean out of luck
When he ran into the road and tried to argue with a truck.
Yesterday he purred and played in his pussy paradise
Decapitating tweety birds and masticating mice
Now he's just six pounds of raw mincemeat, that don't smell very nice
He's nobody's moggie now.
All you who love your pussy, be sure and keep him in.
Don't let him argue with a truck; the truck is bound to win.
And upon the busy road don't let him play or frolic
If you do, I'm telling you, it could be cat...astrophic (loud groan)
If he should play on the roadway, I'm afraid that will be that
There will be one last despairing "meow"
and a sort of squelchy "splat"
And your pussy will be slightly dead, and very, very flat.
He's nobody's moggie...
just red and squashed and soggy...
he's nobody's moggie now.
Oh yeah... Eric Bogle also recorded it. I don't remember the name of
the album but the label was undoubtedly Larrikin. Down Home Records
in El Cerrito, California, would have it; they have everything.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jon Berger jo...@ingres.com {mtxinu,sun,amdahl,pyramid}!ingres!jonb
"Wanda was secretly thrilled when Herman sucked her toaster." -- B. Kliban
Jeff Hildebrand
>gene...@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes:
Just for the record, I think the name is spelled Bogle. And it is a
great song.
>The song is recorded on the following albums:
>
>(1) Scraps of Paper (Plant Life PLR-046) and (Larrikin LRF-104)
A really good album with many wild shifts of mood. I still can't
figure out how he got away with putting "Somebody's Moggie" and "No Man's Land"
on the same album. I still want to get the words of the parody someone did
which tells to story of "Somebody's Moggie" to the tune of "No Man's Land."
(Yes it is as twisted as it sounds.)
>(2) Eric Bogle in Concert (Larrikin LRF-160); this is a live album
> on which he gets one of the words wrong and cracks up laughing.
> (The original line is "Yesterday he purred and played in his
> pussy paradise, decapitating tweety birds and masticating mice").
Wait a second. I may just have a very crude mind, but the one word that
I saw that could be misspoken is the next to last one. If that's it, no wonder
he cracked up.
-Jeff
=-=-=-=-=-=-="Unprepared! That's the student's marching song."-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jeff Hildebrand Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA 19081
JD...@campus.swarthmore.edu or JD...@SWARTHMR.BITNET
"I plan to live forever or die trying" - Vila, Blake's 7
"I want to see the universe, not rule it!" - The Doctor, Doctor Who
Mike Godfrey
The late great Stan Rogers was also very fond of Eric Bogle's "Nobody's
Moggy" (or whatever the damn thing is called) -- it was part of Stan's
show during his last tour.
He did, however, have to explain what a moggy was to his North American
audiences.
--
Mike Godfrey DISCLAIMER: Not only are these my opinions,
Dept of Comp Sci, UofT but they're yours also. At least they
mi...@csri.toronto.edu would be, if you had any sense.
Steve Muldoon - Correspondent-at-large
>
>He did, however, have to explain what a moggy was to his North American
>audiences.
>
Speaking of colloquialisms...
I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
uses in some of his songs. I can guess roughly what they mean
by the context but perhaps someone can give me a more complete
definition. The two in question are:
Wogs (foreigners?) - "I hate wogs, they live like dogs,
some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
been a cocky..."
Thanks,
Steve
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Muldoon (DEC Educational Services)| It's a journey with my soul
| that I am taking,
mul...@books.dec.com | One that only goes
!decwrl!books.dec.com!muldoon | from the cradle to the grave...
muldoon%book...@decwrl.dec.com | - Kate Wolf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miriam H. Nadel
> I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
> uses in some of his songs.
> some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
>
though it also used to be said that "wogs begin at Calais."
I don't recognize the lyric, though. What Bogle song is it from? (I admit
I only have two of his albums, though, so there's much I've missed.)
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
> been a cocky..."
It means farmer, but has implications of a farmer who is just barely
getting along. According to Judy Small (at a concert some years ago) the
expression comes from the idea that he picks out a living the way a
cockatoo picks out seed from the ground. She uses the same reference in
her song, "From the Lambing to the Wool."
Of course, it's more ironic from Bogle who grew up in Scotland. Judy Small
really did grow up in a country town in Australia. As those who've seen her
in concert know by the song she promised her mother not to record. (It
starts out "I was born in a country town/ the kind where people put you down/
for being left-handed/ let along gay" and then chronicles how many people
in the town *were* gay.)
Miriam Nadel
--
One of the 100% of Americans who are, if nothing else, American.
na...@aerospace.aero.org
PhinisheD 4/26/90
Robert Stockton
>In article <1990Jun20.1...@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>, mi...@csri.toronto.edu (Mike Godfrey) writes...
> I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
> uses in some of his songs.
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
> been a cocky..."
My understanding is that this is indeed an Australian farmer. The name comes
from the swarms of Cockatoos which seem to be the only ones to benefit from
his crops. As the song indicates, it is not an easy life.
-rgs
James Scott
...
> Speaking of colloquialisms...
> I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
> uses in some of his songs. I can guess roughly what they mean
> by the context but perhaps someone can give me a more complete
> definition. The two in question are:
> Wogs (foreigners?) - "I hate wogs, they live like dogs,
> some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
Assuming that the Eric Bogle in question is the Australian one, then
"wogs" is a term for southern Europeans (ie Spanish, Italian, Greek).
Originally it stood for Workers Of Government, which referred to Middle
Eastern migrants brought out here in the early '50's (?) as labourers.
It used to be a fairly abusive term, but now the relevant ethnic groups use
the term themselves. In fact, in Melbourne last year there was a very
successful comedy show playing in one of the local theatres called
"Wogs out of work". The actors and most of the audience were as the name
suggests, W..., and the show was an extremely funny send-up of both
Australian and migrant attitudes to one another.
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
> been a cocky..."
Cocky means arrogant and showy. A "cocky young lad" would be very similar
to the old English term, a "rake". Probably fairly brash, bit of a show off,
you know the type.
Hope this helps,
James Scott,
Department of Communication and Electrical Engineering,
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
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Michael Newbery
> Wogs (foreigners?) - "I hate wogs, they live like dogs,
> some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
>
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
WOG (Westernised Oriental Gentleman, or so I've been told) is a racist
epithet usually applied to Asians but also to anyone "non-european" or
foreign as you surmise.
Cockey is indeed a farmer.
A cow cockey is a dairy farmer (if you're interested).
--
Michael Newbery<new...@rata.vuw.ac.nz>
There is no national science just as there is no national multiplication table;
What is national is no longer science---Anton Chekov
David Kassover
...
>
>Assuming that the Eric Bogle in question is the Australian one, then
>"wogs" is a term for southern Europeans (ie Spanish, Italian, Greek).
>Originally it stood for Workers Of Government, which referred to Middle
>Eastern migrants brought out here in the early '50's (?) as labourers.
I have seen the lyrics to a song that is attributed to the
British Army personnel stationed in Egypt around the time of the
Suez affair. 1956 (?). anyway, since the lyrics refer to the
king and queen of Egypt, by name, I presume that the use of "wog"
in the same stanzas also refers to Egyptians. Northern Africans,
as well as southern Europeans.
Perhaps it is more generally applied to Mediterranean peoples?
I assumed, from the song, that Bogle was using it to refer to
non-Anglo, non-aboriginal non-Australians
--
David Kassover "Proper technique helps protect you against
kass...@ra.crd.ge.com sharp weapons and dull judges."
kass...@crd.ge.com F. Collins
Geoff Miller
> Speaking of colloquialisms...
> I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
> uses in some of his songs. I can guess roughly what they mean
> by the context but perhaps someone can give me a more complete
> definition. The two in question are:
> Wogs (foreigners?) - "I hate wogs, they live like dogs,
> some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
Right...
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
> been a cocky..."
...and right again. "Cocky" = "Cockatoo Farmer", because sometimes all
the cockatoos are the only things that seem to thrive on a farm!
Geoff Miller (an ex-cocky)
g...@cc.adfa.oz.au
amci...@umiami.miami.edu
>> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
>> been a cocky..."
>
> It means farmer, but has implications of a farmer who is just barely
> getting along. According to Judy Small (at a concert some years ago) the
> expression comes from the idea that he picks out a living the way a
> cockatoo picks out seed from the ground. She uses the same reference in
> her song, "From the Lambing to the Wool."
> PhinisheD 4/26/90
^^^^^^^^^Hooray for the home team!
OED has a date of 1874 on the following [slight paraphrasing]:
The small farmers are called cockatoos in Australia by the squatters, who say
that, like a cockatoo, the small freeholder alights on good land,
extracts all he can from it, then flies away.
"We could look it up."
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U.of Miami-Box 8123 | | smoke-making |
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James Moore
I have two recordings by Eric Bogle:
The Eric Bogle Songbook
Published by Greentrax Records, id CDTRAX 028 (on CD)
1. A Reason For It All
2. Nobody's Moggy Now
3. Hard Hard Times
4. Scraps Of Paper
5. If Wishes Were Fishes
6. Front Row Cowboy
7. And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
8. Little Gomez [The canine counterpart to 'Nobody's Moggy']
9. Aussie Bar-B-Q
10. When The Wind Blows
Something of Value
Published by Philo/Rounder
Something of Value
Katie and the Dreamtime Land
Harry's Wife
A Change in the Weather
Poor Bugger Charlie
Rosie
Going Back to Dublin
Them Old Songwriting Blues
Two Strong Arms
Across the Hills of Home (Jimmy's Song)
There's also a songbook:
The Eric Bogle Songbook
Exclusive Distributors:
Music Sales Australia Pty. Limited
27 Clarendon Street, Artarmon, NSW 2064 Australia
Music Sales Limited
78 Newman Street, London, W1P 3LA, England
Music Sales Corporation
24 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010 USA
Contains:
The Aussie Bar-B-Que Song
The Ballad of Henry Holloway
And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Birds of a Feather
Bushfire
Goodbye Lucky Country
The Great Aussie Takeaway
Hard Hard Times
He's Nobody's Moggy Now
If Wishes Were Fishes
Just Not Coping
Little Gomez
No Man's Land - The Green Fields of France
Now I'm Easy
Old Friends
A Reason for it All
Safe In The Harbour
Scraps of Paper
Shining River
Soldier Soldier
When the Wind Blows
Notes On the Songs
Are there any other recordings available?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Moore | Wind River Systems
ja...@wrs.com | Emeryville, California
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Maltby
> Wogs (foreigners?) - "I hate wogs, they live like dogs,
> some eat bananas and some eat frogs..."
Bogle got into all sorts of trouble about this song, which was meant to
send up racist attitudes. This is why the recorded version ends with a
laugh. This was _still_ too subtle for some. Bogle is, of course, not a
racist. In fact, his only claim is that he is a "wee fat scotsman, and a
humanist at that" (quoted without permission from a conversation I was
involved in after one of his performances).
> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
> been a cocky..."
Australian farmers are in two forms, squatters and selectors. The land
selection system was intended to make it possible for the poor to get onto
the land. They mostly ended up with insufficient to subsist on, and the
squatters who surrounded them took every opportunity they could get to
make the selector's life hard - impounding stock and suchlike. He also had
to make "improvements" to his farm to keep it. A cockatoo farmer (cocky)
was definitely a selector...
Someone else mentioned Judy Small in relation to this subject, so it's
worth pointing out that she and Eric have a friendly competition going
over sexism in folksongs. Her song "From the Lambing to the Wool" is in
direct response to "Now I'm Easy", the song referred to above.
By the way, the authoritative work on this subject is Sid Baker's
"Australian Language" (not 100% sure about the title) though it's getting
a little dated these days.
--
Chris Maltby - Softway Pty Ltd (ch...@softway.sw.oz)
PHONE: +61-2-698-2322 UUCP: uunet!softway.sw.oz.au!chris
FAX: +61-2-699-9174 INTERNET: ch...@softway.sw.oz.au
p m
>> I've been wondering about a couple of other terms that Bogle
>> uses in some of his songs. I can guess roughly what they mean
>> by the context but perhaps someone can give me a more complete
>> definition. The two in question are:
>> Cocky (homesteader, farmer?) - "For nearly sixty years I've
>> been a cocky..."
>
> Cocky means arrogant and showy. A "cocky young lad" would be very similar
> to the old English term, a "rake". Probably fairly brash, bit of a show off,
> you know the type.
While James has it right as to a definition of "cocky", the correct one
(in the context of Bogles song "Now I'm Easy") is what someone else suggested,
a professional farmer. "Cocky" is most prevalent in use in New South Wales
and might have arisen from the prevalence of cockatoos in that region.
p m
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Scraps of Paper.
Paul Magnussen