THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT

[spatch]

WE NEED TO CLEAR THIS UP FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL

[Poll #601616]

You must choose wisely as this divisive question of folk song lyrics completely polarized Mr. Dihlman's 4th grade class back in 1984.

You will also notice that "Hurrah for the pumpkin pie" is not a valid poll option because that's a given.

Comments

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I've always known is as "Is the pudding done?"

Thinking in linear terms, it is the only possible correct lyric of the two. The song is being sung from a sleigh, on the way to Grandmother's house. But they have not yet arrived, since the horse is, at present, carrying the sleigh through the white and drifting snow-oh. Ergo, how would the singers know whether said pudding was done or not? It isn't as if they could whip out their Blackberry and see if Grandmother had messaged them with a pudding statue.

Thus, they're speculating. Is the pudding done? Is it? For the love of God, is it done???? Sadly, that question is never answered in the song. But the question is asked.

[spatch]

Ah, but they could be singing the lyric once they've arrived at Grandmother's and they get a whiff of freshly-done pudding as the front door opens. Then it's an exultation.

For what it's worth, Google only hits "over the river" +"the pudding is done" once. ONCE! And yet it produces bitter arguments among Thanksgiving song aficionados.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Here's the full lyrics, and it's on a .gov site, and you know perfectly well that Da Gubmint does not lie:


Over the River (or Thanksgiving Day)
Written By: Lydia Maria Child; Music By: Unknown

Over the river and thru the wood,
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh,
Thru the white and drifted snow, oh!

Over the river and thru the wood,
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and thru the wood,
To have a first-rate play;
Oh, hear the bell ring, "Ting-a-ling-ling!"
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day-ay!

Over the river and thru the wood,
Trot fast my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground,
Like a hunting hound!
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go extremely slow
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood --
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!


This adds a Grandfather to the mix who I didn't know about. All this time I thought Garndmother was a widow on her own, baking for her family's once-a-year visit. BUT, the pudding still has not been seen in this version. They've made it to the barnyard gate, close enough to see G-ma's cap, but are they within smelling distance to the pudding? And even if so, are any of the rider/singers experienced enough pastry chefs that they could judge from a distant waft, with freezing noses, whether or not the pudding had achieved optimal doneness?

Hey man, you entirely asked for this. :-)

[spatch]

Grandfather? Grandfather?! What does Grandfather have to do with it? I smell a government cover-up.

For what it's worth, I googled "the pudding's done" as well and found a lot of matches. Googlefight may have to solve it.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

The only mistake I noted on the government site was the clear error in the very final line, which when sung in the correct traditional lyrics is:

"Woohoo for teh pumpkin pie"

*objection*

[sarcasma.livejournal.com]

No option for "WHAT"

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

it's "is the pudding done?" condon shell -- which has been dedicated to the woman who wrote the song -- has the lyrics on the side. i've had to stare at them long enough, so...

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

Well, I for one would never say, "Is the pudding done?" Everyone knows that the proper way to inquire into the doneness of the pudding is to say, "Is it pudding yet?"

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

"Yet" does not rhyme with "fun," unless perhaps you're fiddycet.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

Well then Ms. Child should have written:

Hurrah for the fête! Is it pudding yet?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

[spatch]

A most brilliant and elegant solution to an otherwise sticky problem. If it had been written like that, we would now all be arguing over whether or not "it" meant the fête itself or the indeterminate mass of dessert slowly becoming pudding.

[psymonetta.livejournal.com]

But isn't a fête yet another indeterminite memetic mass congealing into into a series of icons, which then form a set of holidays, which then form a holiday season? The pudding is a metaphor for the universe. When looked at as a whole, can you really tell where one bite of pudding begins and another ends? Is is not full of strange vortices and strange attractors? Is it not true that some of the mass of pudding remains unaccounted for? It's only the mysteries of physics that hold the pudding together. Is the pudding ever really done? Does it not recycle itself into another pudding by next year? It's a cosmic dance of creation and destruction, with moments of pudding.

[eeka13.livejournal.com]

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[violacat.livejournal.com]

I. sprayed.

[jodied.livejournal.com]

"Is the pudding done?" gives the song a nice little syncopated feel. I like it.

[coconuthead.livejournal.com]

I cannot choose either of your options, because we only had the first two . . .crap, what do you call 'em. . .stanzas? Anyway, we only had the first two of them in South Dakota.

[spatch]

It's always tough when they slash the music budget like that. I shudder to think of the generations of South Dakota schoolchildren who missed out on the sweet denouement of pumpkin pie and queries on pudding doneness!

[rfreebern.livejournal.com]

I think my little town in upstate NY must have suffered from the same budget restraints. Or else it was a conspiracy to keep innocent youngsters from, say, trotting their dapple greys fast.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

¿Qué? I know not of what you speak!