The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-07-28
Everybody Works but Father" :"

some wise man has said that IL no
could write a nations BALLADS ne "oula
not care who wrote It's laws anG n,,o,, "1on
several years after the civil war hearu
an immense chorus sing Tramp tramp
Tramp, tho Boys are Marching and asV-
eral other Union war songs. he said; i
now understand how 1t was that you
licked us" "The Marseillaise" had
great deal to do with the French reVo-
luton.
II is not often that single song pro
duces this effect one song Offsets an
other and the evil effect of one sohf
may be ovcrbalanced and counteracted
by the good effect of dozen others,
Every community is afflicted with some
songs Of mischeviou5 tendency ana
they DO some harm. but they are held
In check by others OF different char-
acter
II this we're not so the American peo-
pie would be ruined for there is not
social nor a political heresy that they
have not expressed In song. Less than
q year ago Lew Dockstader, the Ethl-
opian comedian. introduced one OF these
mischeyious dtties. the refrain OF which
is Everybody Works but Father" and
II proved what is called "a hit That
Is, 1t hit the people just right and
they have been singing and whistling 1t
and laughing over II ever since.
IT is a psychological mystery what.
makes song hit" II may be because
II expresses the prevailing sentiment
and II may be because 1t is so contrary
TO public sentiment as 10 be amusing. In
some cases the music floats the words,
in some cases the words float the music
and in still other cases both the words
and the music strike popular chord
There is no doubt that In Everybody
Works but Father both the words and
the music are popular end both of them
possibly for the reason that they are RI
diculous. The words are not quite up 10
the level of doggerel. the idea expressed
being absurd. and the music Is as far be-
low real music as the composition is be-
low poetry.
Yet this does not fully explain why II
is so highly amusing. Humor often con-
sists in u contrast ana here is seen the
contrast between the natural dignity.
authority and solicitude of parenthood
and perfectly selfish and shameless de-
pendence on wife and child. Yet all of
these elements combined do not fully
explain the delicious humor of this song.
for the simple reason that humor never
has been and never will be analyzed.
Possibly II is all a Joke, and yet IL Is a
libelous and corruptlng joke. There are.
OF course, some lazy ana selfish fathers
den OF the household expenses TO the
backs of their wives and children, and
who sit around all day" smoking their
ter Ann take In washing" II the satire
began and ended with such fathers, II
would be benefit perhaps. but II does
not.
The idea attached 70 the song and fos-
tered by singing It. is that we have
reached a state Of society In which the
family has been Inverted. the father be-
Ing Oslertzed and demoralized and con-
tent TO live on the wages OF wife and
child, and this is pernicious and dis
graceful Misrepresentation.
In spite of all OF DIR. Osler's foolishness
and IN spite of the DEGREES which some
business establishments have issued for
the slaughter Of all employees over 40
the "old man Is s;ill on deck His ex-
perience and his steady habits are still
indispensable and in every department OF
life and activity he Is stlll In evidence
Not only so, but wife and children are
still looking up TO him and dependent on
him. He Is still furnishing the sense
and the cash for the whole family
The lazlness. the shiftlessness, the will
Ing dependence and the selflsh ease are
frequently found among the other mem
bers or the family. By a spell which ma
ture has thrown over him the father loves
the child with renfold the love that the
child feels for the father. and even when
his head Is sfvered and his footsteps fall
ter the Instinct of providing fingers in
him and the instinct of dependence In the /
wife and child.
There Is something not only sad but alb
Soiutely immoral in anything which en- |
children TO ridcule the cold |
man" 10 charge him falsely with fndo- |
ence and dependence and to Withhold /
rom him the gratitude and reverence
which are his only solace in his declining
lays. For If he were given to sonp and ;
,atlre. he might In many cases win ner-
'ect justice parody the popular gag ana
sing; Nobody Works but Father "eChI-
.ago Chronicle