[78-L] it all started with Leonard Bernstein......

[Julian Vein]

I was listening to a radio programme about Bernstein, where they were 
discussing the film "On The Town", where the famous song "New York, New 
York, it's a helluva town" had its lyric amended to "New York, New York, 
it's a wonderful town" at the behest of the Hays Office. Seems there 
were different rules for records. Example, "Rambling Wreck from Georgia 
Tech":

"I'm a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech
A helluva of an engineer
A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, engineer..."

I suppose colleges (and their songs) were associated with middle class 
decadence, and weren't subject to such strict censure.

I dug out Dick Powell's version on UK Brunswick to play. Oddly enough it 
was next to another college song 78, Tex Beneke's "Eyes of Texas" and 
"Alma Mater". The coincidence didn't end there. For years I had in my 
10" LP collection Kay Kyser's Columbia "Campus Favorites" next to the 
Lawson-Haggart "College Fight Songs" on Decca. They have since been 
separated by a Sam Lanin on Ristic.

I then realised that the "Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech" tune, 
modified, was used for a Cadbury's Fudge TV advert from about 20 years 
ago. This contained a line which sounded to me like: "It's full of 
peppery goodness...". Sometimes I heard it as "feathery goodness". Turns 
out it was "Cadbury goodness"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9W4rhhEq_U

Another TV ad which puzzled me was the "Neighbours" (original) theme, 
which contained the phrase "...you can find the perfect phlegm..."

(at 2.16):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIdFzP0TJxc

     Julian Vein