Just a strange thought that came to me, the other day:

[capri0mni]

I first saw this video last year (?) sometime, and it struck me as vaguely (or, rather, not so vaguely) sinister.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS AND SMILE

Though plans may often go wrong, let ‘em hear your voice,
You’ll find that rhythm and song, make the world rejoice
Make life go with a swing, laugh at trouble and sing,
Tra-la-la-la-lala-lala, Count your blessings and smile.

While you’re playing your part, keep a song in your heart,
Tra-la-la-la-lala-lala, Count your blessing and smile.
Sing low, sing high, isn’t it grand, beating the band.
Who wants to die, oh what a happy land hi!
Show them what you can do, make a hullabaloo
Tra-la-la-la-lala-lala, Count your blessings and smile.

You got to get together, swing it around
Now get together, swing it around
Make life go with a swing and a smile,
Laugh at trouble and sing all the while
Now count your blessings and smile

While you’re playing your own little part
You’ve gotta keep a song in your heart,
Count your blessings and smile.
Sing low, sing high, isn’t it grand beating the band,
Who-oo-oo who wants to die, oh what a happy happy land.
Show them what you can do, make a hullabaloo
Oo oo oo – ha ha – ha – ha
Count your blessings. One – two – three
Count your blessings! Four – five – six
Count your blessings and smile

Show then what you can do, make a hullabaloo
Oo oo oo oo, ha ha, ha, ha
Count your blessings and smile.

First, the intonation makes the question: "Who wants to die?" sound like (to my ear) the same mood as: "Hey, I got some really lovely death, here! Who wants some death?" And then, there's the threatening tone in which he demands that you count your blessings...

I mean, I know there was a war on, but ...really?

Anyway, I think this would be great for a fanvid for some horror movie or other...

Comments

[spiralsheep]

I assume it's intended to be sinister cos it's a code transmission sequence in a wartime film about espionage.

Do you know about Lord Haw Haw? Check out those song lyrics again with reference, amongst other things, to radio broadcasts, Haw Haw, treason, and propaganda. That song routine contains several layers of coded messages both in-story and to a British audience under fire from successful German bombing and professional Goebbels propaganda.

Fornby also became well-known for entertaining Allied troops in France and being the last performer to leave with the retreating British in 1940, which was the same year the film featuring Count Your Blessings and Smile was released.

[capri0mni]

I knew there were such characters as Lord Haw-Haw, but I didn't know the specifics. Thanks for the link.

...In the context of my own life, Count Your Blessings and Smile most brings to mind the thinly veiled aggression within the cult of positive thinking.

[spiralsheep]

Knowing the history changes the meaning of Formby singing "Haw Haw ha ha!" with mixed emotions in 1940.

For me it'll never be divorced from its historical context and older music hall and war songs such as:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_Up_Your_Troubles_in_Your_Old_Kit-Bag

And the related Wilfred Owen poem:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Poems_by_Wilfred_Owen/Smile,_Smile,_Smile

[capri0mni]

Knowing the history changes the meaning of Formby singing "Haw Haw ha ha!" with mixed emotions in 1940.

Indeed it does.

As for historical context, culturally speaking, I think WW1 and WW2 pale in importance in American high school education compared to the American Civil War* -- even for those of us who proudly consider ourselves more "cosmopolitan" in our education than those whose history came only through centrally published, mass-produced history books...

*or, as I perhaps should say, now that I am living south of the Mason-Dixon Line: "The War Between the States" (I let my damned Yankee side show, there).

[spiralsheep]

I thought it was the "War of Northern Aggression", lololol. Wars fought on one's home soil tend to have more lasting historical impact so I understand why your Civil War is so culturally prominent over there. I'm also guessing that Vietnam made a vast difference to USians' perception of Foreign Wars of the 20th Century in ways that our post-World War Two colonial wars didn't effect us because [*very mixed* reasons].

[capri0mni]

I thought it was the "War of Northern Aggression"

It was -- and is. It's just that "War between the States" is the code used by those who pretend believe that they're being apolitical when speaking of history, and "War of Northern Aggression" is used by people who don't care if they appear neutral.

Also, btw, this Monday is Memorial Day, making this a three-day weekend, and the "official" (i.e. commercially recognized and capitalism-endorsed) start of Summer. The story goes that Memorial Day was begun by two mothers of soldiers who died in the Civil War/Between the States: one, the mother of a Union soldier, and one the mother of a Confederate soldier, and was originally intended as a recognition of the universality of the grief war inflicts on a nation. To be honest, I'm not sure how much of that is historically documented, and how much is Yankee folklore propaganda. In any case, it's now (officially) a day to honor all those American soldiers who've died in war since the founding of our nation. The rhetoric is basically a riff on: "Those who've died in defense of our freedom." ...As if the only way to defend freedom is from behind a gun.

One day, I'd like public librarians, teachers, and artists to be recognized for the work they do "in defense of freedom." Then, Memorial Day speechifying wouldn't rankle so much. (The saddest thing about Owen's "Smile, Smile, Smile," is that nothing has changed in the near-century since he wrote it).