Sherry Chandler

I’ve just learned that the University of Kentucky’s public radio station, WUKY, has cancelled Garrison Keillor’s daily broadcast of The Writer’s Almanac because the content is too “raw.” Because Mr. Keillor is adamant about not bowdlerizing his content, WUKY is not willing to risk an enormous FCC fine by continuing to carry this five minute poetry reading and almanac. I was referred to Mr. Keillor’s volume Good Poems for examples of how raw his material is. And I was referred to the poem scheduled for broadcast last Tuesday as being completely inappropriate for a radio audience.

I’m not sure whether last Tuesday is day before yesterday, when the poet was Philip Larkin and the subject was killing a hedgehog with a lawnmower, or August 2, when the poet was Amber Coverdale Sumrall, and the subject was a pair of ex-spouses picking blackberries and getting high together and thinking about a “Reunion.” Just thinking about, mind you, no action taken.

Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Thrills, I’m telling ya. Gratuitous violence. No redeeming social value.

I am just utterly completely bumfuzzled. If they had cancelled him for setting the bar too low, I’d have understood. Good poems, not great poems. Or for using a sonorous baritone without a license. But “raw” language?

I guess Poppysmatus had better not ever start a radio show. He’s already been banned in Knott County.

Contact information for WUKY at the link.

[Update: Charlie Hughes over at the Kentucky Literary Newsletter, who is always a few giant steps ahead of me, points out that "The Arizona Yodeler" and several other DeZurik Sisters songs can be heard at Weekend Edition on NPR here. I think my favorite is "He Left her Standing There [with a doodad in her hair].” There is, of course, an NPR feature at the site with an interview with John Biguenet, and they have posted a wonderful photo of the sisters from the Oxford American magazine. I guess if I hadn’t stopped listening to NPR, I’d have known that and could have saved myself the work of sampling. But it was fun to do the sample and I learned something.]

The Oxford American Southern Music CD usually has at least one song that is outrageous, quirky, and utterly delightful. In the past, these numbers have included Jerry Lee Lewis singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” (1999), Earl Scruggs and Billy Bob Thornton doing “Ring of Fire” to a hip hop beat (2001), and Bob Dylan singing harmony with Ralph Stanley. These things work! It’s just amazing.

This year’s CD is a bit more even. Some really great stuff, but nothing that makes me just grin from ear to ear thinking about it. But the quirkiness award has to go to “The Arizona Yodeler” by the DeZurik Sisters. Everybody needs to hear this song at least once in their lives. You just cannot believe the sounds these two Minnesota farm girls could make with their mouths – and in harmony!

I know yodelling went out with Tom Mix (who was actually before my time you understand) but you really have to hear this to believe it. And the life stories of the DeZuriks is just fascinating stuff. In the 40s they commuted from Chicago to Nashville by train every Friday so they could sing on the Grand Ol’ Opry. Here is Carolyn DeZurik:

That was pretty hectic, because that was during the war and the trains were very crowded with soldiers and sailors. The engineers were very good to us because they knew who we were. And they put us on the train before anybody else. Put us in the ladies room and locked the door so nobody else could get in. Then he put a sign on the door: OUT OF ORDER! So we were pretty safe. People got pretty rowdy on those long trips.

This quotation is from John Biguenet’s brief history of yodelling and profile of the DeZuriks in the magazine. Even without the CD, this issue of the Oxford American magazine would be well worth the $10.00 newsstand price. If you can’t find it on a newsstand, you can buy direct from OA by calling (501) 450-5820.

A man named Bart Plantenga has actually written a book about yodelling: Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World. Biguenet quotes his definition of yodelling thus:

The yodel…is most distinguishable…by its characteristic emphasis on the noise, that jolt of air, that occurs as the voice passes from bass or low chest voice to high head voice or falsetto–and vice versa…Other vocals may tinker with falsetto, trill, and vibrato, but it’s that abrupt, almost rude, leap across the cavern of pitch that makes the yodel yodel.

Don’t try that at home. The DeZuriks imitated birds and barnyard animals and were able to do triple-tongue yodelling, which sounds really impressive though I have no idea what it is. Here is a small sample of “The Arizona Yodeler”: