Friends at the Table
patreon
Bluff City 39: America's Playground Pt. 03
🕑 Added 2022-03-02 20:57:55 +0000 UTCWhat A Big Building, I Can’t See The Top
By 1898, construction had begun on several boardwalk-side buildings that so exceeded the previous maximum building height that they caused a city-wide stir. Of course, early skyscrapers had been constructed before, closer to the city centre, but these new buildings’ proximity to the ocean was a cause for excitement and, in some cases, concern. Would the ocean winds knock them over? Was it an act of hubris to situate such a tall building so close to the waves?
These questions, however, were the purview of city folk. Those on the boardwalk were mostly disinterested by the whole situation, or irritated by the construction noise, or confused as to why the skyscrapers were called for at all.
Elliott Callahan, writing in the summer of 1898, and seized with the “skyscraper spirit”, asked a local organ grinder to “let loose a tune commemorating the new buildings that [he] might put it to paper.” The resulting tune did not reflect the spirit in which it was requested.
Some kinds of buildings are houses.
Some kinds of buildings are shops.
Sometimes they even take the shops that I mentioned,
And they put a little house right on the top. (Combination!)
Everybody loves buildings.
Everybody loves ‘em tall.
Everybody needs buildings,
And the highest ones up are best of all.
Today I will sing about the skyscraper.
Today, I will sing and never stop.
I’m looking over there at the great big building.
And I cannot - no, I cannot - see the top.
Featuring: Austin Walker, Art Martinez-Tebbel, Jack de Quidt, Janine Hawkins and Keith J Carberry
Music & Description by Jack de Quidt
Mall Kids is available at https://mr-matthew.itch.io/mall-kids
A transcription is available for this episode here.
A full list of completed transcriptions is available here. Our transcriptions are provided by a fan-organized paid transcription project.
Comments
Blastoise_M
"I think this is maybe the stupidest thing I've ever said on Friends at the Table." - Keith
Kurt S.
When it said "(Combination!)" I knew it had to have been written by Jack.
TwinArcher
This arc has been one of my favorite things you guys have done so far.
TrueLily
Every time a new episode of America's Playground comes out, I end up saying to myself "Friends at the Table can never be funnier than this" and then the next episode is even funnier. I haven't laughed so hard in a long long time.
Tom Howard
Hi, the album art for the Patreon RSS feed seems to be broken. Not sure if it was updated recently? Thanks
Paige Turner
man bluff city is the WRONG place for someone to be deathly afraid of birds
Dylan
Love singing every new little ditty in the summary. Really enjoying these episodes, been so much fun and filled with laughter
Clementine Angquico
Oh, what a pleasant pick-me-up on a silly little Wednesday!
