"Let's get happy!"

Question from spookyfruit last night: What is the most cheerful song in the world?

My immediate response was "Walking on Sunshine". But, later in the conversation, he clarified that it had to be the most cheerful song in every context. Any song about the joys of being in love is not at all cheerful when your love life is in tatters. That wipes out about 99% of all carefree pop right there, doesn't it? I still made a good case for one-hit wonders, though. How can you be 100% cheerful listening to the Cocteau Twins' "Carolyn's Fingers" is you're inevitably reminded of "Blue Bell Knoll" or "Blood Bitch"? (When I say "you", I mean "me" of course.) You'd be better off with Aqua, which knows no nuance or variety.

After discarding dozens of possibilities, I finally settled on "Skokian"--not necessarily the Brave Combo version, though you can make a case for it being the best. As someone on the Web sez:

""Skokian" is a truly perfect song that has been done and redone by any number of bands. Although everyone has heard the song, not everyone remembers it. (It's popular in movie soundtracks and at weddings, but not on radio stations.)

According to another blurb, it's actually based on a Zulu song, which explains all the guff about "happy happy Africa".

Of course, if even mention of Africa makes you think of Rwanda, Congo, and Idi Amin, then this song isn't going to work either. So can I have some further nominees, please?

What a difference an hour makes

When I came into work this morning, it was every bit as grey and overcast as yesterday, when it rained most of the day. Exactly an hour later, I went for my morning break and there was literally not a single cloud in the sky. I know--I scanned it for several minutes. There was some mist off the Lake in the eastern sky, but the sun is well above it, so it shines white with an almost blinding brightness. Wow.

Today's mystery lilac branch: Stuck into the middle of a privet hedge a block from where I work. It looks rather withered, though; may have been there for a day or two.

Schnitzermacher!

This week's Reader has a capsule review of the Fassbinder film Katzelmacher which includes the bizarre parenthetical remark: "The title is Bavarian slang for 'stud'." I hope the reviewer doesn't try to pick up any Bavarian studs, because the actual meaning is more like "wop". The original Katzelmacher were itinerent Italian tinkers in Austria and southeastern Germany. (Katzel is a corruption of an Italian word for "frying pan".) It soon became a pejorative term for foreign workers from Italy and was later extended to cover those from other nations as well. (Fassbinder's character in the film is actually from Greece.)

Another epithet with a colourful history is Kümmeltürke. Kümmeltürkei is obsolete student slang for the region around the city of Halle in Sachsen-Anhalt, which was once the capital of German caraway (i.e. Kümmel) production. So, naturally, students from there came to be called Kümmeltürken. Eventually, however, real Turks began to arrive in Germany and the word was applied to them. I'm not sure what makes it sound more insulting than just Türke. Because it's longer? Because it carries the suggestion that Turks smell funny? (But caraway smells good!)