Starry Night & Swanee River
July 23, 2007 - 3:11pm — Corys_Stories
When I was in art school, Art History was one of the credits we had to take. It was one of my biggest weaknesses, not to mention, the most boring of subjects in the art world. I loved Art and I loved History, but not Art History. I just didn’t understand why Computer Graphic Designers needed to know about Venus de Milo’s bust (or should I say ‘busted arms’ )
We would get together to study in small groups and come up with creative ways to memorize useless facts about the Renaissance and the Flying Buttresses. Thank heavens for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or I would have failed the Don Atello, Raphael, Michangelo and Leonardo quiz. Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire was still quite popular back then. We’d hum the tune but replace his Cold War lyrical facts with stuff about Picasso’s Blue Era, Rose Era, Cubism and Abstract art. It worked! I was passing with flying colors! I was scoring a 100% on just about every test.
Then, a comedy of errors happened. One of my family members bet me a dinner at my favorite Italian Restaurant. The bet was that I needed to ace my final art exam, and then they would take me out to this ristorante, as much as I wanted that summer. This was as good as gold to me. So, here’s what went wrong. My wise guy study buddy and I were preparing for this final exam, which focused on the works of Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh. Between each question my pal would whistle or hum Don McLean’s beautiful song Vincent, which was about the hauntingly infamous painting Van Gogh did in 1889 called A Starry Night.
Then I started humming it, cause it was quite catchy. It got to the point that he would just sing part of the first line which went, “Starry, starry night…paint your palette blue and gray…” and he would never finish it because we would pound each other with more questions for the test. It became a running joke that night. Around 2am we were Van Gone! We knew everything from Theo Van Gogh to Paul Gauguin, from daffodils to cutting off his own ear. I remember we were so tired we just turned on his music and crashed. As I was falling asleep, my buddy played the Best of Don McLean and that song’s lullabye sound put me out.
Next day, I flew threw the test. Then I got to the final answer which would go for double if I could ‘finish this line of the popular Don McLean’s song Vincent…Starry, starry night…paint your palette blue and gray…”
To my surprise, the answer was not 'hmmmmm....hmmmmmm....hmmmmmm'. Funny thing, my study buddy didn't know the answer either.
The best way to describe my reaction would be Ralph Cramden wigging out. One of my favorite episodes of the classic TV sitcom, The Honeymooners was the time Ralph went on the musical quiz show. Ralph and Norton studied together with Ed playing the piano. Cramden new every song by heart, but before Norton would play the tune, he always warmed up with a little classical prelude. And, well, you’ve gotta watch this clip.
Trivia? Does anyone know the next line to that McClean song? Don't cheat!!
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Starry Night goes on
Look out on a summer's day, with eyes that know the darkness of my soul . . .
Great song -- thanks for reminding me about it! I just had to go play it.
I have a little story about "art history" and Van Gogh. In the summer of 1978 I was working in Connecticut looking for archeological sites along the Housatonic and Shepaug rivers in the western part of the state. I was working for the American Indian Archeological Institute, or simply, the 'tute as we lovingly referred to it (now known as the Institute for American Indian Studies). We had this great van that I think had been donated. It still had a lot of miles left in it, and we gave it a workout that summer. The crew had been assembled from throughout New England and the Middle Atlantic, and every couple of weeks we'd get an influx of new people via an Earthwatch program or a field school. We all stayed together in the dorm of a boys' prep school (they were closed for the summer) in Washington Depot. It was a great mix of people, we did an enormous amount of work, and we had way too much fun.
At the end of our second week, we were all still getting to know each other. One afternoon, we got chased from the field by a terrific thunderstorm. We were working in a valley, so we never saw it coming. With a bright flash and a loud crack, the sky opened up and dumped an ocean of water on us. We gathered gear and artifacts together as best we could and scrambled for the van. Once inside, we made sure we had everybody, and all the tools. We had been working that day in a tree farm, and in the morning had crossed a little swale. Well, the cloudburst had transformed that swale into a raging torrent. It wasn't very wide or deep, so we figured we could get across it. We were almost right.
About halfway across, the van became stuck. Really stuck. Down to the axle stuck. No problem. There were about 10 of us, with shovels, so we knew we'd be able to get out. When the rain subsided, we hopped out of the van, lined up around the rear bumper and started pushing until the van began to rock back and forth, climbing a little farther out of the mire each time. As we got into the rhythm of it, we started cheering, "Go, van. Go, van." As the tires spun, flinging mud over each and every one of us until we were identifiable only by our dental records, we started laughing uncontrollably, which of course made us pretty useless as pushers. I'd like to say that we eventually regained our composure, but we didn't. Somehow though, after what seemed like days, we managed to push the van out, chanting "Go, van. Go, van. Go, van, go. Van, go."
Strangers became friends that day. And the blue van was christened "Van go."
Van Go!
Oh, that's a great story! You should right a parody from the Vincent song about your van and the storm. Talk about thunder in the valley. Sounds like a scene from a movie. I love laughing uncontrollably when your muscles stop working. I can see all of you covered in mud, slipping and sliding. Would make a great cartoon. Thanks for the idea, Paula.
"I hope I'm in the FUNNIES before I'm in the Obits." Corben Geis