In praise of Grumpiness

[mdlbear]

Apparently research has shown that grumpy people do better in places like nursing homes than those with sweeter dispositions. So I can expect to live a long and grumpy life.

Here's one of my favorite patter songs from Gilbert and Sullivan: "Whene'er I spoke" from Princess Ida.

Let me set the scene a little... Princess Ida is holed up in a well-defended womens' college called Castle Adamant, rather than appear to renew her wedding vows to the prince she was married to twenty years ago. He was two years old at the time; she was one. She wasn't particularly happy about it at the time, either.

Her father-in-law has imprisoned her (admittedly somewhat unpleasant) father, King Gama, until his daughter presents herself, and in Act III we find that he is being subjected to the horrible torture of being given nothing to grumble at.

Gama.
  Whene'er I spoke
  Sarcastic joke
  Replete with malice spiteful,
  This people mild
  Politely smil'd,
  And voted me delightful!
  Now, when a wight
  Sits up all night
  Ill-natur'd jokes devising,
  And all his wiles
  Are met with smiles
  It's hard, there's no disguising!
  Ah! Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
  When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
  And isn't your life extremely flat
  With nothing whatever to grumble at!
Chorus.
  Oh, isn't your life extremely flat
  With nothing whatever to grumble at!
	
Gama.
  When German bands From music stands
  Play'd Wagner imperfectly
  I bade them go
  They didn't say no,
  But off they went directly!
  The organ boys
  They stopp'd their noise,
  With readiness surprising
  And grinning herds
  Of hurdy-gurds
  Retired apologising!
  Ah! Oh, don't the days seem lank and long
  When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
  And isn't your life extremely flat
  With nothing whatever to grumble at!
  Chorus.
  Oh, isn't your life extremely flat
  With nothing whatever to grumble at!

Gama.
  I offer'd gold
  In sums untold
  To all who'd contradict me --
  I said I'd pay
  A pound a day
  To anyone who kick'd me --
  I brib'd with toys
  Great vulgar boys
  To utter something spiteful,
  But, bless you, no!
  They would be so
  Confoundedly politeful!
  Ah! In short, these aggravating lads,
  They tickle my tastes, they feed my fads,
  They give me this and they give me that,
  And I've nothing whatever to grumble at!
Chorus.
  Oh, isn't your life extremely flat
  With nothing whatever to grumble at!

King Gama has always been one of my favorite G&S characters. My family all agrees that we have a lot in common.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

One wonders if the grumpy people in nursing homes aren't the ones who insist upon their care being done right and such... and thus get more and better care than those who suffer in silence.

Frankly? I don't want to *ever* be in a nursing home; I want to live to a hale and hearty 102, and be found face down in an empty breakfast plate in the Luna City Hilton the morning after WorldCon 2069. Yeah.

[kayshapero]

Probably. In any case, if you do insist on being treated properly you'll get called grumpy, I've no doubt.

When reviewer, sf/furry/anime expert and Big Name Fan Fred Patten had a stroke a few years back, he wound up partially paralyzed and is still living in a nursing home about a mile from the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society clubhouse. It's one of the better ones (blessings upon Lee Gold who researched it), and the LASFS in general and a few of us in particular are making a point of keeping informed and keeping the home informed that they WILL take proper care of him - and even so at one point things reached the "get a lawyer to write them a letter" stage to get them to inform HIM of his medical status. His sister also lives nearby. He comes to occasional LASFS meetings and even has made it to a few conventions. He has a computer and is still doing reviews. I don't even want to THINK of what happens to people with less backup.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

That's one of my favorite G&S songs, too. I was recently singing it at cflute and jenkitty. (Also 'If You're Anxious for to Shine in the High Aesthetic Line' and 'A Private Buffoon'.)

[mdlbear]

Those are also among my favorites, as is "I have a song to sing, O". I think Yeomen is my all-time favorite; I'm not sure whether that's because Point is a tragic figure. Did I mention that I'm a baritone?

That reminds me -- I have to work on "I have a song to sing, O" in case I run across somebody to sing it with at ConChord.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

*blinks innocently* Why, I wouldn't possibly have "I Have a Song to Sing, O" memorized. *polishes halo* (Though I had better go look at the lyrics again, because it has been a while. Also, I have a bad habit of just singing the whole thing and while it trades off fairly reliably, I should still double check /where/.)

I was, technically, in a production of Yeomen. But I was playing the executioner. (Well, and doing running crew/stage manager stuff). Last I knew, I'm still the only 8th grader to be in an upper-school production at my highschool. (I was hanging around being useful since it was that or sit in the library. And the director went 'Oooh, we need an executioner'.) In other news, it turns out black velvet, a black hood, and a black mask under a red special about twenty feet from you is /HOT/.

[mdlbear]

The thought had crossed my mind... I, too, once had it memorized -- some 30-odd years ago. I need to check the sheet music -- Sullivan does tricky things with the melody, and no two verses are exactly alike. And I have certainly not been singing it in the key it was written in.

Rummage, rummage. Eb. No, I hardly ever sing in Eb.