This is the only attempt ever made to make the banjo a sex symbol or to link it with dainty allure.
It was evidently a very long time ago, to judge by the prices.
These have risen considerably, though neither then nor now have they reflected the true value of the goods.
This is still being determined, with the aid of the world's latest and most powerful microscopes and infinitesimal fragments of the commoner metals. A result is expected this century.
American music is full of royalty and aristocracy. Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Nat "King Cole". Also Elvis was the King, apparently. Not sure about Steve Earl though, I think that's just his surname.
Perhaps the American Princess was Pocahontas - though I don't know anything about her.
Or maybe the Americans made a copy of a 70s British car called the Princess. But somehow I doubt it. It is more probable that the last Princesses were given away by scrapyards and made into banjos.
S.S. Stewart made some great banjos, and many of them were popular with Victorian ladies. He also came up with one the best quotes of all time:
'He who can hear, and hear aright; he who possesses what is called a musical ear -- he who is by nature capable of perceiving the true grandness and beauties of nature; he who lives to listen to the joyous songs of merry birds, he who sees music and celestial harmony in everything created, is indeed a harmonious and happy individual. He knows there is music in the banjo.'
Banjos were also played by Irish ladies, as the Gaelic tongue-twister attests: "Ta banjo ag Joe, agus ta bean ag Joe, agus ta banjo ag bean Joe. Ach bhfearr go deo Joe ar an banjo na bean Joe an mbanjo go dteo".
I'm fairly sure I've spelled some of that incorrectly, but no doubt this site's grammar police will soon set us right.
For a little while there we did have princesses. Two of 'em. When they dropped out of the news there was speculation that Dick Cheney had had them secretly done away with in The Tower.
Sorry airport, don't quite catch your drift...I was guessing a watertower on any of the military bases around D.C. Could even have been one of the towers of the old Smithsonian; they're suitably mediaeval looking. That help any?
They were marketed as accessories for princesses, whose daddies would have felt money was no object, if it meant their little girl's happiness. I went to highschool with a few gals like that.
One inch smaller in the rim?
One inch smaller in the rim?
It can only be the Ladies' Banjo!
http://www.mugwumps.com/stewart/sss_lady.jpg
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by McDermott
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Thought you were going on about something TOTALLY different for a second there
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by D.J.F.
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
This is the only attempt ever made to make the banjo a sex symbol or to link it with dainty allure.
It was evidently a very long time ago, to judge by the prices.
These have risen considerably, though neither then nor now have they reflected the true value of the goods.
This is still being determined, with the aid of the world's latest and most powerful microscopes and infinitesimal fragments of the commoner metals. A result is expected this century.
I wonder if any got sold.
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by nicholas
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
I'd pay the extra money and have the "American Princess" myself ...
.. but wait a minute - the USA is a republic. How could there be an "American Princess"?
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by Mix O'Lydian
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
My mind's reeling at the possibilities for truly bad jokes...I'd best get my coat...
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by tomw
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
It shows their profound and abiding longing to return to the security of their ancestral role as a footstool of royalty.
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by nicholas
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
American music is full of royalty and aristocracy. Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Nat "King Cole". Also Elvis was the King, apparently. Not sure about Steve Earl though, I think that's just his surname.
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by Hammurabi Breathnach
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Also Prince, of course.
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by Hammurabi Breathnach
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
you forgot Queen Latifah
# Posted on March 26th 2009 by airport
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Perhaps the American Princess was Pocahontas - though I don't know anything about her.
Or maybe the Americans made a copy of a 70s British car called the Princess. But somehow I doubt it. It is more probable that the last Princesses were given away by scrapyards and made into banjos.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by nicholas
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
We have a new American princess every week - where have you been?
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by airport
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
S.S. Stewart made some great banjos, and many of them were popular with Victorian ladies. He also came up with one the best quotes of all time:
'He who can hear, and hear aright; he who possesses what is called a musical ear -- he who is by nature capable of perceiving the true grandness and beauties of nature; he who lives to listen to the joyous songs of merry birds, he who sees music and celestial harmony in everything created, is indeed a harmonious and happy individual. He knows there is music in the banjo.'
S.S. Stewart in 'The Banjo' 1888
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by McDermott
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Banjos were also played by Irish ladies, as the Gaelic tongue-twister attests: "Ta banjo ag Joe, agus ta bean ag Joe, agus ta banjo ag bean Joe. Ach bhfearr go deo Joe ar an banjo na bean Joe an mbanjo go dteo".
I'm fairly sure I've spelled some of that incorrectly, but no doubt this site's grammar police will soon set us right.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by Hammurabi Breathnach
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
when i was a stripper, my nickname was "banjo"
due to my constantly snapping g-string.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by DubChieftain
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
in Japan, a banjo is an unplumbed toilet
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by airport
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
I heard that's how you could tell a real blond musician -- the hair on the g-string.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by McDermott
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
For a little while there we did have princesses. Two of 'em. When they dropped out of the news there was speculation that Dick Cheney had had them secretly done away with in The Tower.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
it's not every footstool that can support a tower - that's the creepiest American folk story in the book of American-Kells - isn't it?
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by airport
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
@Joel MacDermott:
"...He knows there is music in the banjo..."
Perhaps Stewart goes on to say:
"So he leaves it there..."
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by nicholas
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Sorry airport, don't quite catch your drift...I was guessing a watertower on any of the military bases around D.C. Could even have been one of the towers of the old Smithsonian; they're suitably mediaeval looking. That help any?
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
Basic banjo; $16
Covered in gold and silver and chased work; was it $300 ?
As always, some people had more money than sense.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by Guernsey Pete
Re: One inch smaller in the rim?
They were marketed as accessories for princesses, whose daddies would have felt money was no object, if it meant their little girl's happiness. I went to highschool with a few gals like that.
# Posted on March 27th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley