Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Fourth Day, the Feast of Fools! Whether you sing "four calling birds (meaning singing birds)" or "four colly birds (meaning black birds), " it’s the most foolish day of the Christmas Season--and if, for you, it isn't, then you’re not taking your foolishness seriously enough. This day is marked by role reversals, riotous revels, and ridiculousness to the Fth degree. Or it should be.
Does it trouble you to play the fool? For today is a day of vice-versas: for parents to be children, and children to be parents (within reason—but not too much reason); for bosses to be employees and cashiers to be managers, pets to be owners, up to be down. Or, it’s a day for as much plain silliness as you can stand...Well? How much can you stand?
Of course, it’s best to have a party on the Feast of Fools, in which everyone is encouraged to be outrageous via pie throwing contests, food fights, or a game wherein people write down “forfeits”—rigorously silly behaviors such as “shaving with real cream, singing the words of one song to the tune of another, juggling with oranges,” etc. All the forfeits are placed in a hat, and your guests must perform the forfeit they pick from it. Here in our house, making silly faces or acting like Wendy, our cat, or Boots, our dog, are definitely “forfeits”. And/Or, everyone in the house could adopt the name of a Shakespearean or other “fool,” such as Hodja, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Fool, Trinculo, Costard, Launcelot Gobbo, Feste, Lavache, Nick Bottom, Thersites, Clown, Dromio, Grumio or Falstaff.
READING LIST: Parcifal/Parceval (the “wise fool” of some Holy Grail stories, in one form an opera by Wagner); any Winnie-the-Pooh story; any of the Middle-Eastern “Goha” stories (he is also knows as Joha, Hodja, Mollah, or Mulla Nasreddin); any of Shakespeare’s plays in which a character plays the wise fool (most of them); any Trickster tales, from Native American Coyote to Brer Rabbit to African Anansi tales.
MUSICAL CHOICES [on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdartdqjh56C0yPQh3WGzS4noKJ4DGoMf ]:
FOOLS/FOOLISHNESS
“Fool on the Hill” by the Beatles; “If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody,” and “Fool’s Game” by Bonnie Raitt; “Fool Yourself” by Little Feat; “Certain Kind of Fool” by The Eagles (not available on YouTube) or the different song by the same name with a beautiful groove by Dysfunctional Caravan (available); “Foolish Games” by Jewel; “Now and Then (There’s a Fool Such As I)” by Hank Snow; “My Foolish Heart” by Krishna Das; “River of Fools” by Los Lobos; “The Waltzing Fool” by Lyle Lovett; “Fooling Around” and “You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling in Love)” by Patsy Cline; “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who; “Fools Must Die” by The Pretenders; “What a Fool I’ve Been” - Carla Thomas; “I’m a Fool” by Dino, Desi, and Billy; “What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am” by The Tams; “Fool in Love” by the Veltones; “Silly Love” by 10CC; “Ridiculous Thoughts” by The Cranberries
SILLINESS SONGS/HUMOROUS TUNES
Silly Love Songs - Paul McCartney & Wings; Siouxsie And
The Banshees - Silly Thing; The B-52's - "Rock Lobster"; Cat Power -
Love To Be Silly; Silly Game-Mathew Bradshaw; Tenacious D - Low Hangin' Fruit; Presidents
Of The United States - Peaches; Flight of the Conchords- Business Time; "Weird"
Al Yankovic - Amish Paradise; Dear
Pennis; "Weird Al" Yankovic - Eat It; Going the Distance Cake; THE J
GEILS BAND - Flamethrower; POWERS - Beat
Of My Drum; Harry Nilsson - Coconut; Hey
Big Brain – (50's Classic Novelty Song); Rick Dees - Disco Duck; King Tut – Streve
Martin (SNL); They're Coming to Take me Away; Ray Stevens - The Streak; "Weird
Al" Yankovic - White & Nerdy; Twelve
Days of Christmas performed by Bob and Doug McKenzie; Weekend Update: Adam
Sandler on Hanukkah - SNL; The Blues Brothers - Rubber Biscuit; "Weird
Al" Yankovic - Fat; Basketball Jones; Chuck Berry Live 1972 ~ My
Ding-a-Ling; Jump 'N The Saddle - The Curly Shuffle; Homecoming Queen's got a
gun; Monty Python- Lumberjack Song; Santa Claus and his Old LadyCheech &
Chong - Earache My Eye; Monty Python - Spam; White Trash Christmas TheBobRiversShow;
Bryan Bowers - The Scotsman; "Weird Al" Yankovic - Yoda; "Weird
Al" Yankovic - Christmas At Ground Zero; Tom Lehrer - The Hunting Song; Jim's Big Ego - Stress; Arrogant Worms -
Carrot Juice is Murder; Barry Martin--Butt Scootin' Doggie
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