Walter Brennan; Life gets tedious.

It's that time of year again. Christmas, the season where one tries very hard to do what everyone else wants and finished up doing NOTHING that they wanted to do. There's a great old Walter Brennan song, lyrics below...you have to imagine his voice just reciting it.

For those too young to remember him Walter starred in the TV series "The Real McCoys". He was in many movies including "Bad Day at Black Rock" with Spencer Tracey where he had another really great speech which may have inspired this song. It's a truly great movie. Walter plays the town Vet, Realtor and Undertaker. It's a depressing place and he gives Spencer (who the locals plan on killing) a little soliloquy right after telling him "I'd like to help you but I'm consumed by apathy" Here it is;

"First, I sell 'em a piece of land. Do you think they farm it? They do not. They dig for gold. They rip off the topsoil of ten winding hills, then sprint in here all fog-heaved with excitement, lugging nuggets --- big, bright, and shiny. Is it gold? It is not. Do they quit? They do not. Then they decide to farm, farm in a country so dry that you have to prime a man before he can spit. Before you can say 'Fat Sam,' they're stalled, stranded, andstarving. They become weevil-brained and butt-sprung. So...I bury 'em. But why bore you with my triumphs?"

And here's the song.

Life Gets Tedious , Don't It?
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
The hands on the clock keep going round,
I just get up and it's time to lay down,
Life gets tedious, don't it?
My shoes untied but I don't care,
I wasn’t figuring on going nowhere,
I'd have to wash and comb my hair,
Life gets tedious, don't it?
Water in the well gettin' lower end lower,
Can't take a bath for a month or more,
But I've heard it told and it's true I'm sure,
That too much bathing weakens yer.
Life gets tedious, don't it?
Open the door and the flies come in,
Shut the door and yer sweating again,
And in the process, I cracked my shin,
Life gets tedious, don't it?
Ole brown mule, he must be sick,
I jabbed him in the rump with a pin on a stick,
He humped his back but he didn’t kick,
There's something cockeyed somewhere.

Ole mouse chawing on the pantry door,
Been chawing there for a month or more,
When he gets through he's gonna be sore,
Cos’ there aint a darnn thing in there.
Life gets tedious, don't it?
Hound dog howling so forlorn,
Laziest dog that ever was born,
He's howling cause he's sittin' on a thorn,
And he's just too tired to move.
Life gets tedious, don't it?

Tin roof leaks and the chimney leans,
There's a hole in the seat of my old blue jeans,
I 'ate the last of my pork and beans,
Life gets tedious, don't it?

Cows gone dry and the hens won't iay,
Fish stopped biting last Saturday,
Troubles piling up day by day,
Life gets tedious, don't it?

Grief and misery pain and woes,
Bills and taxes and so it goes,
And now I'm gettin' a cold in the nose,
Life gets tedious, don't it?