Now, having once joked about creating a Santa Fe Public Library Fight Song, complete with marching band accompaniment, discovering another Library Song out there captured our imagination. There are sound clips on the site, so we could hear the melody, but alas! No singing in either English or Finnish! Fortunately, one of our number is a singer of local renown, and was gracious—and shameless—enough to sing it to us.
As far as songs go, it has the type of melody that sticks in your head like the frosting remnants from a stale cinnamon bun. (What's the equivalent in Finland?) Its lyrics are somewhat, um, simple, and a couple of us took issue with the line: "...And for mothers, books of recipes..." The vocalist in our midst opines that it is most likely a song for children, and even he couldn't get past a single verse/chorus recital. His vocal interpretation includes a fermata, or hold, on the last note of the next-to-last line, feeling that this lends the tune an air of sophistication.
While this was a great find that provided oodles of hilarity, the Library Song falls far short of being a model for a Santa Fe Public Library Song. While we've decided that a Fight Song might give our patrons the wrong idea (and make us all wear the same-color jersey), we're certain that a song that fails to mention guacamole and chocolate and chile just won't adequately convey the spirit of the Santa Fe Public Library.
Special thanks to RG & AA @ Main
2 comments:
I think SFPL should establish a book cart drill team. Maybe you could NMLA to start this as a competition at the annual conference.
This way you could use the "fight song" among a lot of understanding library staff members.
The Library Song was written in 1967 for an ad produced to promote the New York Public Library. And while it was quite amusing, it also did a very effective job of getting people's attention. I think it might do the same for Santa Fe's system.
Think about this-40 years later that tune is still poking out its silly lyrics from my brain occasionally. That, I believe, is effective advertising.
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