Today is a wonderful, wonderful day in my town: It's the day of the public library's spring book sale! What could be better than a collection of books loved and warmly-worn by people who appreciate good books...unless it's a collection of books loved and warmly-worn by people who appreciate good books, donated to benefit a worthy cause and available for sale really, really cheap! Yay!

Different locales have these sales on different dates, so as a practical matter, it would be difficult to make such an event the national holiday it deserves to be. But we could still come up with some suitable carols to help celebrate the occasion, whenever and wherever it occurs.

I'd suggest a sample or two, but the last time I did something like that I was accused of posting the idea for the sake of the song.
-- beauxeault, May 29 2003

Halfbakaraoke http://www.halfbake.../idea/Halfbakaraoke
for bristolz [beauxeault, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

America has a tradition of barber shop quartets and other a capella groups who are often roped into village celebrations of various types.
-- DrCurry, May 29 2003


<straight-man>I'm not sure what you mean, beaux. Could you give an example ? ...</straight-man>
-- pjd, May 29 2003


Oh, the library's quite delightful,
But its stock control's pretty frightful,
From the telly we must be freed,
Let us read! Let us read! Let us read!
-- friendlyfire, May 29 2003


For [beauxeault], because he asked:

CAROL OF THE BOOKS
Hark how the books,
cloth-covered books,
all seem to say,
"read Hemingway!"
Book-Sale is here,
bringing good cheer,
to young and old,
meek and the bold.
"Read on, Read on!"
that is their song
With joyful ring all caroling.
One seems to hear
words of deVere
from everywhere
filling the air.
'Oh Ezra Pound!
It's leatherbound.
Look what's for sale:
William Tindale.'
Registers ring
while people bring
favorites each year.
Book-Sale is here,
Merry, merry, merry, merry Book-Sale,
Merry, merry, merry, merry Book-Sale.
On, on they send,
on without end,
their joyful tome to every home.
'Read on, read on. DONNE!'
-- k_sra, May 29 2003


[beauxeault] this smacks of a
      ;-)
contrivance merely to get others to post songs.
-- bristolz, May 29 2003


Save Vonegut from roasting on an open fire,
Bob Frost's wrinkling up his nose:
"A Christmas Carol" is being read by a choir
And folks are quoting Al Gore's prose.
(Everbody knows that turkey didn't invent the Internet,
But helped to start the thing up right.)
'82 Brittanica, Volumes 'M', 'N' and 'O'!
I'll find it hard to sleep tonight!
I know that Santa's next to 'SARS'
But someone else put 'S' into their car
For every mother's child "It takes a Village"
To know if Sunshine Laws really know how to shine

And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To worms from 1 to 92
Although it's been said
Many times, many ways,
Happy Book Sale To You!
-- dijontoothpaste, May 29 2003


bris (and later DrC): I guess I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't (see ato_de's comment in the linked idea). But I think I read a grin between your (bz's)lines.

pjd, thanks for the set-up, but the four posted examples are better than the one I had cooked up.

I'm considering sending a copy of this to the "Friends of the Library" folks who conduct the sale. I imagine they'd be amused.

And just for the record: I came away with 107 books for $98, including a complete hardback set of Dickens and one of George Eliot. Sorry, bliss, no Ezra Pound.
-- beauxeault, May 30 2003


Yep, definitely a contrivance. Want to relocate this to the Half-Baked song section?
-- DrCurry, May 30 2003



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