Saturday, September 26, 2009

The E-town Rotary Chicken Dance

Just in case you missed the meeting, or left your paper on the table, and you want to sing the song to your spouse, family, loved one or family pet, here, for the first time on any internet page, are the lyrics!

But first, here's a YouTube video to get that tune freshly implanted in your mind:



THESE LYRICS MATCH THE MUSIC IN THE VIDEO (sort of) SO YOU CAN START THE MUSIC AND SCROLL DOWN TO SING ALONG (if you dare!)

VERSE 1

I don’t wanna be a Moose.
I don’t wanna be an Elk.
I’m so happy to be in ROTARY.

I am not an Optomist.
I am not a Ki-wan-is.
I’m a member of E-town ROTARY.

When I hear the Four Way Test
I will try to do my best
While I’m serving our community.

I forget about myself
Working hard like Santa’s elf
As I work to sell each Christmas Tree.

CHORUS

Oh yes I love to go to Rotary.
I love to talk, and laugh and dine.
Because when I go to my meetings
I learn how we make… make E-town shine!

VERSE 2

Oh I’m glad I’m not a Lion
Singing Roar, Lions, Roar
Every month ‘cause that would be a bore.

Or a member of Sertoma
That would put me in a coma!
Or in a straight-jacket for sure!

Every week we hear a joke
Read what’s printed in the SPOKE
Pay the Sheriff’s “happy dollar” fee.

Listen to the President
Tell us where our money went
And sing our birthday song off key!

CHORUS

Oh yes I love to go to Rotary.
I love to talk, and laugh and dine.
Because when I go to my meetings
I learn how we make… make E-town shine!

VERSE 3

No, the Grange is not for me
And the Woodmen are too old.
You won’t find me in the B P W.

Jaycees are an active bunch
But they never meet for lunch
And they're way too young for me and you.

Etown Rotary’s just right
Selling raffles day and night
Hearing students talk about High School.

District Governors will tell
How they think we do so well
So we’re sure that OUR CLUB IS COOL!

CHORUS

Oh yes I love to go to Rotary.
I love to talk, and laugh and dine.
Because when I go to my meetings
I learn how we make… make Etown shine!

VERSE 4 (Starts slow and gets VERY fast!)

I’m not a Veteran of War
Nor a Northwest E M T
And I hear the Odd Fellows are dead.

We know the Masons are too secret
And they will not take in women
But Rotary is quite Co-ed.

We make money to fight cancer
and help students down in Haiti
Give to help our own Librarian!

There has never been a moment
I regretted my decision
To become an E-town Rotarian!

NO CHORUS

VERSE 5 (STARTS SLOW AND ENDS VERY FAST!)

This was written as a lark
Not to sing for Connie Spark
Just a little joke between two friends.

Someone thought it would be funny
But it's really very painful
And we should NEVER sing it again!

So let's cheer for Charlie's solo
Sing "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow"
And "cluck" to "Old MacDonald's Farm."

Shout out "Vive l'Rotary"
And our special "Happy Birthday"
Showing off our voices and our charm!



Lyrics Copyright (c) 2007 & 2009 Elizabethtown Rotary Club, Elizabethtown, PA
September 26 Hi-Lites

Bill Mummert set the stage with a story about a $1600 pizza delivery, and then offered an invocation-- the moral of which was that if you spend that much on pizza, you need all the prayers you can get! Or something like that!

Charlie Cobaugh lead the club in the first two rousing verses of our newest "original" Rotary song! (A long story made short-- sometime prior to June 1st 2007, Joe made the casual remark that he thought it was possible to put Rotary words to ANY song, and one thing led to another so that he chose an absurd song, and I took up the challenge-- I found myself ignoring the speaker that day, turning over the placemat and writing Rotary words to... the Chicken Dance!) Otis Kitchen, who has just recently been seen conducting Handel's Water Music, went from the sublime to the ridiculous as he accompanied us in this effort. He found a slightly different melody than what we traditionally suffer at weddings, but the refrain was exactly the same and it worked. The "good" news is that we still have two more verses to go and President Joe warned us that we'll have another chance at it in the near future!

Will Kirkpatrick, District Governor Elect, and our speaker for the day, won the opportunity to select a card from the deck and we all cheered when he left the Joker among the 35 remaining cards. The pot thickens!

Dane Whitmoyer jumped into the Sheriff's saddle and quickly levied a birthday fine against.... himself! We sung for him, and rendered a "normal" birthday song for our lovely Gathering Place Mary who treats us all too well throughout the year!

Hooray for Ralph Detrick, PP, who brought a visitor and a completed membership application-- More about that next week, or, as they say on TV, "Film at 11." (which is funny, because they never show film on news broadcasts anymore-- it is digital video!)

Finally, Will Kirkpatrick presented his visual review of the Group Study Exchange Team's trip to Germany, where he served as Team Leader. We should all be so lucky! It looked to be an amazing chance to learn all about the German culture and community, and one thing we learned is that running a business there is a lot more expensive than here-- taxes, taxes, taxes and MORE taxes! I suppose that is the price of a worry-free government-subsidized life. Is that what we are in for here in the US? "Film at 11."

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Highlights from the September 18th Meeting

Harold Engle invoked, Charlie sang (some of us helped,) the 50/50 survived another ticket draw and now has only 37 cards left, Ken Kreider coughed up some Happy Dollars in honor of his 50th Wedding Anniversary, the jars for the Gates Polio Challenge were NOT on the table so we kept our pocket change for another week, Jeff Kline spoke of progress on the Christmas Tree Sale, and the next committee meeting at Hennigans, Sept 23 at 7 PM.


Kudos to Dan Brill for looking inside the club membership and coming up with another great program. The speaker for the day was our own David Schmidt who came dressed in a brown shirt. Not sure if that was a fashion statement, or marketing for a competitor, but he gave us a really good inside look on the trials and tribulations of the US Postal Service. Partnering with FedEx and UPS and other competitors is an important part of their service now, and is good business for everyone. Although the post offices are losing money left, center and right, the on-line business is booming. It was nice to get the straight scoop from someone who sort of works for a quasi-government agency. Thanks Dave for an interesting and informative presentation!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Highlights from the September 11th meeting...

Charlie Cobaugh Invocated. God Bless America was sung. We recited the 4 Way Test.

We welcomed our first Students of the Month for this school year - Dorothy and Brad.

Bart's ticket was pulled for the second week in a row. Bart pulled the 10 of diamonds this time for the 50/50. There was great rejoicing. Bart is working on a flush.

Announcements were made about our Interact Club, America's Promise Mentoring program, the Christmas Tree sale and the Foundation.

Our program was Greg Grogan who provided an overview of the local real estate market over the past 2 years.

Highlights from the September 4th meeting...

Tom Labagh Invocated.

Ken Brandt provided us with the Joke of the Month ("My dad works for PennDot...")

Bart pulled the 4 of diamonds for the 50/50. There was great rejoicing.

Announcements were made about the Purple Pinky Project at the fair, our Shelterbox deployment, Christmas trees and the Foundation.

Our program was Dutch Dobish who kept our business heads level with a review of methods of coping with the constant changes in the economy by tracking economic models and trends. He also answered questions about his career as a business coach, as VP of regulatory law with Rite Aid, and as an actor in the 1970's-- and of course, he dropped some famous and some forgotten names-- Uta Hagen (Tony Award winner for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?")... Paul Newman... you know... the salad dressing guy! (this paragraph courtesy of Tom Labagh!)