Thank You Mr. Burpee

Subject: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Susan A-R
Date: 11 Feb 00 - 09:55 PM

A few years ago (10 or so) I learned a wonderful song by this title, off the radio, as is my style, and I have no idea who wrote it. Any ideas. It goes something like this.

Thank you, thank you Mr. Burpee for your catalog The mailman brought it to me today through the ice and the snow and the fog It had flowers on the cover and a cantelope too It was the perfect cure for the wintertime blues Thank you, thank you Mr. Burpee for your catalog

Now there's Burpee's burpless cucumbers and giant forduck chard Japanese beetle traps and praying mantis eggs and worms for your back yard Well Mr. Burpee there's one thing that you ought to know My back yard is under three feet of snow Thank you

He's got dahlias, begonias and zinnias, pansey's poppies and pflox Chrysanthamums, geraniums and philadendrums, he's got foxbloves and hollyhocks Now I've got some strange habits and I probably shouldn't ask, but is it possible to smoke your ornamental grass Thank you. . .

(Spoken) Wall, there's a lot of great things in this here catalog and that sucker's for free Why I didn't even have to ask for it, they just sent it along to me Why this one fine catalog will met all your needs and if you live in the city you can just eat the seeds Thank you . . .

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 11 Feb 00 - 10:34 PM

I heard this even longer ago, about 1982, sung by Meryle Korn in Portland. I don't know who wrote it. Allowing for folk process, those are pretty much the words I have, except I have one more verse:

He's got planters, he's got pruners, he's got loppers and sprayers
He's got heaters and fluorescent bulbs
He's even got this outrageous chemical to keep the dogs away from your shrubs
You get a color photograph of Mr. Burpee to boot
In a field of bloomin' blossoms in his Brooks Brothers suit
So thank you, thank you Mr. Burpee, for your catalog.

Also, since we were in Portland, Meryle sang "Oh, but one thing, Mr. Burpee, and the thought'll chill your blood/But my backyard is just a big sea of mud" -- I think yours may be the original.
If you send me a message I can give you Meryle's email address and you can find out more about the song. But given the way the Mudcat works, I imagine in a very short time you'll have a link to the original with chords, tune, and a bio of the writer.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Susan A-R
Date: 11 Feb 00 - 10:48 PM

Thanks Mark

I KNEW there was a verse about dogs peeing on shrubs. Couldn't think of it as I was putting together the spanakopita today (people would shudder if they knew what I thought of while I made their dinners)

I'll see what else shows up here, but you may hear from me. I want to give credit where credit is due. It's the time of year for this song.

Susan

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 11 Feb 00 - 10:55 PM

Oh, and it's "Fordhook chard." The Burpless cucumbers are the real item, though. Oughta put some in your spanakopita. Yum!

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Susan A-R
Date: 11 Feb 00 - 10:59 PM

Oh no! they went into the Korean cucumber and sesame salad yesterday (while I was thinking about the lyrics to The Handsome Cabin boy) The chard (I'm not sure if it was Fordhook or something else it was red) went into the miso soup.

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Stewie
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 02:22 AM

Susan,

The song was written by Don Lange and its title is 'W.Atlee Burpee Song'. I have it on Don Lange 'Live' Flying Fish FF 222 (1980) - a great album which climaxes with a gloriously salacious version of Roosevelt Sykes' 'Ice-Cream Freezer'. Whatever happened to Lange? The last recording I have of him is a duet with the late, great Kate Wolf on a lovely rendition of Utah Phillips' 'Rock, Salt and Nails'.

Stewie.

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: GUEST,Rockaday Johnny
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 09:38 AM

Don is alive and well living in Dundee Oregon and He and his wife Wendy are wine makers these days. He's coming out of retirement a bit these days and playing a little bit again. Don's a wonderful songwriter, best known for "Here's to You Rounders" (Art Thieme did a great job of that one) but has tons of unrecorded gems - "Feather on the Highway" "Why Didn't someone shoot G Goirdon Liddy" and a lot more. I still treasure (and play) his old 1935 00-42 Martin that was on the cover of "Natural Born Heathen" --Some record Company should find him again --And Flying Fish should re-issue his 2 solo albums!

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 12 Feb 00 - 06:50 PM

Sonofagun! I lived in Dundee in 1993, when I had a pediatric practice in Newberg. As Mary Engelbreit says, No matter where you go, there you are.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Susan A-R
Date: 13 Feb 00 - 10:18 AM

Thank you! Now, what about that G Gordon Liddy song???

Subject: RE: Thank You Mr. Burpee
From: Art Thieme
Date: 14 Feb 00 - 11:22 PM

Hey, Johnny,

Thanks for the nice comments. Actually, when I recorded "Here's To You Rounders" it was the first time the song was ever issued. I did it on my first LP for Kicking Mule with the gracious permisssion of Don Lange who was living in Solon, Iowa then. You beat me to mentioning that Don is in Oregon now. I'm glad he's picking some. He's too damn good not to. But I hear his wine has won some prestigious prizes in recent days. He would be a fine one for Frank in Toledo's concert series there in Toledo, Oregon -- a few miles east of Newport. Don ought to give Mr. Jones a buzz.

Art Thieme