Every once in awhile, a story on PRI's This American Life just sticks in my head. It may even weave itself into the very fabric of our family language. Every Labor Day, such a story reemerges in our goofy humor. We find ourselves walking around the house singing, in our loudest "children's" voices, "Labor Day! Labor Day!" It all started when two artists, Alex Melamid and Vitaly Komar, decided to
create art by polling people in different countries about what they like most and least in paintings. They seem to have a good sense of humor about people and pop culture even as they critique it.
The most memorable part of the story is when they talk about writing two songs. The first incorporates all the favorite elements from their polling data - love, low female voice, ballad, etc. Your basic pop song... The second incorporates all the least favorite elements - bagpipes, an opera singer rapping, children voices, tuba, singing about holidays, etc. I love the second song. It is so goofy, and it always cracks me up when the children's choir shouts out, "Labor Day! Labor Day!" and then, later in the song, "Yom Kippur! Yom Kippur!" (Well, it is fast approaching!)
Hilarious and silly! So, on this Labor Day weekend, may you find many ways to observe your celebration of work in your leisure and sing a jovial (if silly) song in your heart. "Labor Day!"
"88: Numbers - Paint by Numbers" on This American Life, Chicago Public Media: PRI, January 2, 1998:
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