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SONG CHALLENGE WINNER!
The Song Challenge:
The 'song subject' for the great Easter Bonnet(?) Special Challenge was this news story --
DATELINE: GRETNA, Louisiana -- The debate was serious.
The vote unanimous. The Gretna City Council says it's now legal in Louisiana to throw women's
underwear from Carnival floats. "So we're pro-panties -- it's on the record," joked one city
councilman. However, it is still illegal to throw anything that is ". . . lewd or lascivious and
includes, but is not limited to, condoms and inflatable paraphernalia." The panty-throwing
issue was pushed by protesting parade organizers. "If panties are . . . vulgar, why are they
exposed in every department store in the nation?" asked one of the captains of the Elks Krewe
of Gretna. Another Mardi Gras group captain firmly agreed. "Panties have been a
legitimate throw for Mardi Gras for years," he said.
Cast Off Your Undies on Carnival Day by derrymacash
(To the tune of "Sweet Betsy From Pike", "The Oul Orange Flute", etc.)
In the town they call Gretna, the matter was dire
The annual carnival failed to inspire
Instead of debauchery, drunkenness, lust
The festive proceedings were drier than dust
"Oh what can be done", the town council cried
"To engender once more in our town civic pride?"
An answer emerged, and was put to the vote
The chucking of knickers from carnival floats!
Tooraloo, tooralay
Cast off your undies on carnival day
The news spread like wildfire all through Gretna town
And in every township for miles all around
Come next Mardi Gras the streets will be thronged
With crowds to take part in the first knickerthon
Oh the streets will be rammed and mighty the crack
From all over the county every man-jack
Will descend upon Gretna to see at first hand
The revitalised march past of costumes and bands
Tooraloo, tooralay
Cast off your undies on carnival day
The day it arrived and the crowds quickly grew
There was every prospect of a right how-d'you-do
There were barbecue roastings and six packs of beer
Sellers of gew-gaws and cheap souvenirs
Three-card trick hustlers and lemonade stalls
Consumers of fire and jugglers of balls
Gunsmoke and whiskey, music and song
Growing more and more frantic as the day it wore on
Tooraloo, tooralay
Cast off your undies on carnival day
The parade set off to a volley of cheers
And whistles and stomping until it appeared
That our eardrums would burst with the weight of the sound
If commotion was water we'd surely have drowned
And down from each float, like a stream in full flow
Came a flurry of underwear, whiter than snow
Redder than crimson and blacker than night
Spotted and dotted and chevronned and striped
Tooraloo, tooralay
Cast off your undies on carnival day
Lacy, enticing and silky and sheer
Large ones to cover the bounteous rear
Gussetless flimsies and matronly bloomers
Small and tight fitting, plenty-of-roomers
Gretna's proud mayor was asked for his views
By a press corps from all of the national news
He beamed and he smiled and the media took note
As he peeled off his shorts on a carnival float
Tooraloo, tooralay
Cast off your undies on carnival day