Can You Dig It?

RDP Tuesday: SWEET POTATO 

When I was a kid I had this thing

about vegetables.

I would not eat carrots or potatoes

I wouldn’t  eat them if you candied them or baked them in a pie

and I was notorious in my family for my sweet tooth.

I was known to toss back chocolates and I hated chocolate as much as I hated carrots

and potatoes, but chocolates are sweet- even if it tastes a little bitter.

So why did I hate these two and only these two vegetables?

I hated them because you dug them up out of the ground

and you put them in bags and took them to the kitchen covered in dirt and bugs.

It was creepy.

So. You may be wondering, how did I arrive at this odd point of view?

With a leap and bound propelled by an overactive imagination, that is how.

 

 Boris Karloff’s ” The Body Snatcher ” was one of my favorite movies.

I saw it  for the first time when I was 6 years old.

After seeing that movie, there was no way heckin’ way I was going to eat

something  that you  dug up out of the ground and then, diced, mashed, baked or

stewed with the aid of big knives

and  pots of boiling water.

Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

 

This is true. Every word. And to this day when I eat potatoes or carrots I don’t get

weirded out anymore- though it took awhile.

I’ve grown up, my sensibilities have changed. I’ve embraced the things that scared me

when I was little.

Now when I eat something that has been dug up from underground.

I smile a creepy  little smile.

It’s STILL my favorite Song

“Stop The Cavalry” is a song written and originally performed by the musician Jona Lewie.  The song was never intended as a Christmas hit, but the line ‘Wish I was at home for Christmas’ as well as the brass band arrangements made it an appropriately styled song to play around Christmas time.

I’ve included a  video of Jona Lewie performing his song in 2017 at the end of this post because it’s festive and fun- and of course because its his song. However the version by The Cory Band with The Gwalia Singers really is equally  awesome.

Hey, Mr. Churchill comes over here
To say we’re doing splendidly
But it’s very cold out here in the snow
Marching to and from the enemy
Oh I say it’s tough, I have had enough
Can you stop the cavalry?

I have had to fight almost every night
Down throughout these centuries
That is when I say, oh yes yet again
Can you stop the cavalry?

Mary Bradley waits at home
In the nuclear fallout zone
Wish I could be dancing now
In the arms of the girl I love

Dub-a-dub-a-dum-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dum-dum-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dum-dum-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Wish I was at home for Christmas

Bang! That’s another bomb on another town
While the Tsar and Jim have tea
If I get home, live to tell the tale
I’ll run for all presidencies
If I get elected I’ll stop
I will stop the cavalry

Dub-a-dub-a-dum-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dum-dum-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dum-dum-dub-a-dum
Dub-a-dub-a-dum
Wish I was at home for Christmas

Wish I could be dancing now
In the arms of the girl I love
Mary Bradley waits at home
She’s been waiting two years long

Wish I was at home for Christmas

Songwriters: Lewis John Gordon, Nijs (de) Robert Rob