Sunday, March 28, 2021

I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts (Sing It Forthwith!)

 


Just learned something new to me!  Believe it or not, I read a book of fiction recently. What was it, something hot and new at the top of the Bestseller list?  No, it was "The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells. One of the things that was mentioned was a "coconut shy". Now, I wrote it down on a slip of paper and looked it up later... 


"A coconut shy (or shie, which means to "throw") is a traditional game frequently seen at funfairs and fetes. The game consists of throwing wooden balls at a row of coconuts balanced on posts. A player buys three balls and wins when each coconut is knocked off the post."


Now, the song "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" should come to mind! (And I warn you, it is such a catchy little tune, you will be humming it and singing it for days!) Anybody remember the scene from " The Lion King" when the character Zazu, in a most funny way, sang a snippet of "I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts"?  If you don't remember, I have it for you here...


The song holds another memory for me from my visits to England...but funnily enough, I can't remember who used to sing it. Was it Richard's Mum, in a moment of comedic frolic? Was it his cousin who was also a very jolly soul? Memory is like that sometimes, it might be something so very familiar and yet...you might not be able to place all the details. Is it like that for anyone else or is that just me?   Anyway, the song is very well known in Britain, I think but maybe not so much in America, although it was a big hit in the USA in the 1950's with Danny Kaye and Merv Griffin both having big hits with the song.  (By the way, Merv Griffin...you must know developed many of the game shows on TV...Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, besides having his own talk show.  Good trivia to know- Merv Griffin actually wrote the music that you hear during the "Final Jeopardy Question"!) 

Something else that I wrote down from my reading the book "The Invisible Man" was the word, "forthwith".  He used it quite a lot.  Of course, it means "immediately" or "without delay".  Isn't it funny how it is really not used anymore? I like it and I think I shall begin using it forthwith.  (While we're at it, I miss the word "shall", shouldn't that word be used more often too?)  I shall use it!


Two names that I also wrote down from the book I must share with you... "Miss Cuss" and "Miss Sackbutt".  Sorry, that made me giggle.


Now this post is not actually about coconuts but I urge you to read more about coconuts!  The word itself..."coco" meaning head or skull, with the three indentations at the top resembling a face.  One can eat coconut, drink the coconut milk and make rope from the fibers and lots more!   The Indonesians claimed that coconuts had more uses than there were days of the year. (They should know!)

Should you ever find yourself in Great Britain and wonder what kind of chocolate you should buy yourself, I would highly recommend a "Bounty" bar!  In America, it is very similar to an "Almond Joy" but without the almond! Just pure joy! 

(Speaking of "Bounty"...another fascinating subject: "Mutiny On The Bounty"...you all know how much I love non-fiction. Look it up!)

Now, if you should find yourself humming this song... you're very welcome.




When we visit England, we bring back teabags and chocolate.  Some for ourselves and some to give to family and friends  Looks like I had already eaten all the Bounty bars! HA!






Really do miss walking beside the seaside in Eastbourne, England....


Hope you are all doing well in your part of the world, wherever that might be.





24 comments:

  1. The thing that I learned from your post today is that "coco" means skull! Live and learn! Have you seen the animated film "Coco" with the Mexican Day of the Dead theme? It's a marvelous movie with a wonderful message. And now the title makes even more sense! When we were in French Polynesia, we drank a lot of fresh coconut milk through straws placed in coconuts hacked open with 3 whacks of machetes wielded by very skilled street vendors -- mmmm, so good and refreshing on a hot day!

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    1. Richard said they did the same in Sri Lanka, expertly whacking open the coconuts with machetes! And thanks so much for telling me about the film, "Coco"! As you say, the title really does make perfect sense. Love to learn new things, I know you do too!

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  2. Dear Kay, I love Bounty bars! Whenever there is a combination of chocolate and coconut, you know I'll have it :-D

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    1. Me too! Do you have the coconut game in Germany? I had seen the game in background of English TV shows but didn't know they were coconuts on the poles!

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  3. Oh Kay, now I fancy a Bounty. It's one of my favourite chocolate bards. Had to smile at the things you take home from Britain. Pre pandemic my friend Margaret visited her American friend twice a year. Each time taking a suitcase packed with Yorkshire Teabags, chocolate bars, biscuits and other goodies that are either unavailable or very expensive to buy in America.

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    1. Your friend sounds just like us! And the Bounty bar is so good, they should get me to do a TV ad for them, I would do it!

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  4. You are right Kay - I now have Lovely Bunch of Coconuts running in my head, and no doubt for the next day or two, lol. It was a very popular song in Australia when I was a girl, and one we sang for fun ourselves. Bounty bars are popular here too.

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    1. Haha, yes I knew it would! And of course, you know this in Australia too. You will have to forgive me, I am either in Georgia or southeast England, it's all I know. 😊

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  5. How we loved that song when we were kids!!

    However...I have a bone to pick with you, Kay! (I hope you understand I am smiling as I type this....) And it's all to do with your last post. Here I am trying to go to sleep, but my mind and memory won't let me...all because of you! :)

    To add to my list of live concerts I've attended...until I get this off my chest...I won't be getting to sleep tonight...so here I go....

    Neil Diamond, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Cleo Laine, Shirley Bassey, Brian Ferry (walked out after only a couple of songs, Neil Young, The Seekers (Judith Durham was also a customer one day in my shop in Noosa Heads back in the early 80s),...

    So you see...all those people mentioned above have been rattling around in my brain, stopping me from going to sleep...and it's all your fault, my dear!! lol

    Coincidentally, only the other day I was singing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts"...to myself...and now it probably will be swinging around in my head stopping me further from going to sleep!!! lol

    Take good care...eat lots of chocolate...I intend to! :)

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    1. So many concerts!! Sorry I have kept you awake thinking of them all! And you even met Judith Durham,'you lucky thing!! Happy Easter to you. xx

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  6. It is a great song. It was Merv Griffin's big song. It was on Your Hit Parade in the early 1950's.

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    1. Yes, I remember Merv Griffin from all his 1960s game shows and his talk show but his hits from the 1950s were ahead of my time, so I only learned he had a hit with this song when ideas doing research for this post. Did you know he composed the music for the final Jeopardy answer? I didn't until I was writing this post!

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  7. My general feeling is coconuts are good for throwing balls at - not for eating or drinking. We have them occasionally wash up on the beaches here. I always bring them home and put them around the yard.

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    1. Oh to be so dismissive of coconuts that you just put them around your yard!😊 I know lots of folks who hate coconut too. Good, saves more for me!

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  8. As the libraries have been closed here for a full year I've been re-reading my old book collection of classics. One great thing about older books (and films) is that they focus more on good story ideas, are very well written, and short ( under 280 pages usually) whereas a lot of modern novels are padded out to 600 pages or more which is a big investment of time if you find that halfway through it you get bored or lose interest. Older books are punchy as they have to tell the story fast with the least amount of words. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde being an obvious example- almost a short story, yet so well known.

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    1. I am such a film editor. Very often, my husband and I will happen upon a film...we might have missed the first 20 or 30 minutes...He always wants to see if he can record the full film, I just want to watch it, missing the first part of it. Most of beginning movies has a lot of info that is not needed or something you can pick up later! I do like to get to the point. Robert Louis Stevenson is one of my favorites!

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    2. And modern books of fiction are just not anything I ever want to read, they are like torture to me.

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  9. That made me want to go home so bad...........I love it here in Michigan but it's just so different. Walking by the seaside is something I will always remember. I wonder though, could I deal with the crowds now after getting used to the solitude here. I very much dislike it when the summer visitors arrive and take away my freedom to roam so not so sure I could take crowds now.

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    1. Oh, I know you miss England but you do live in a most beautiful spot! I would live to see it. Those colored polished stones you find! What a treasure! The older I get the more I dislike crowds. I've always been a small town kind of person but all moving to Georgia, the small towns are almost gone. Just the little roads left with giant trucks and CRV's on them! Traffic is a nightmare now, still can't get over it. If only I could walk on a beach without loud music blaring and people screaming! And on that happy note, wishing you a Happy Easter. 😊

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    2. Would love to see your spot in the world,not LIVE!!

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  10. I like Bounty bars too. Once I found one several years after hiding it in the back of my refrigerator - I guess I thought that would prolong the pleasure of the trip. I clearly do not do as thorough a cleaning of my fridge as is desirable. I ate it anyway but it was not quite as delicious. I do like Mounds Bars too but they are harder to find these days.

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    1. I'll have to remember to hide my chocolate in my fridge but I'm old now so I will probably forget it! Happy Easter! Hope you didn't eat too much chocolate! And thanks very much for your comment here!

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  11. I've never read the Invisible Man. I'm now on the last of the Outlander series. It keeps making me go online to look up historical facts like General Robert Howe during the Revolutionary War in Savannah. Ahhh... chocolates... I could use one now.

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    1. Hey Kay! Guess what, when I was doing some family research I discovered that a family ancestor was at the Battle of the Guildford Courthouse. (Good thing he survived, guess I wouldn't be typing this, right?) Anyway, the Patriots lost the battle but for some reason, it was felt to be a turning point in the war. I am fascinated by history! I am always looking stuff up when I read books or watch films!

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