musitorial n a mashup of music, musings and editorials, music and song that evokes thought and commentary.
As familiar as that phrase (“wait for the sign”) seems, and as often as I’ve used it in jest, I was surprised that Google provided very few referent uses of it. For me, it recalls a terrific (1997-2000) comedy series on CBC Radio One called The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour. The link below will have information on that, so suffice to say that one of the writers was Thomas King, whose writing I greatly admire and respect. At the end of each episode of the Cafe, the two key characters would invoke the following: “Stay calm, be brave, wait for the sign.” It was a kind of a “keep your stick on the ice” thing, which was used by Red Green, the fictional host of that hilarious and inventive Canadian comedy, The Red Green Show. <Link below>
“Wait for the sign” is also associated with the 1984 film Ghostbusters (Columbia-Delphi Ivan Reitman, producer). <Link below>
Remember Carol Burnett (1933-)?[1] You do if you are a TV Child of a certain vintage. At the very end of every episode of The Carol Burnett Show (CBS Television, 1967-1978, Bob Banner & Joe Hamilton, producers), Carol gave a little tug to her left ear after singing her trademark closing song (“I’m so glad we had this time together…”). That little tug, a secret sign for her grandmother, became her trademark, one used her entire stage career. If you are indeed of that vintage, that song is probably playing in your head right now. <See footnote for an explanation of her ear tug.>
“Wait for the sign” sounds/reads like it might be biblical, but that exact phrasing is not found therein.
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So, where am I going with this? How about a little road trip?
We are big on signs in Nova Scotia, especially when it comes to elections and erections (of highway signs, that is). Both the two- and three-dimensional variety of highway signs are omnipresent in our motoring lives.
Conical fluorescent warnings sprout willy-nilly across the province’s ‘roadscapes’ as signs of our government’s concern for keeping on the straight and narrow, to keep us from falling into any number of road hazards. It’s been my observation that the sprinkling of those warning cones grows like a well-watered garden (or is that ‘guardin’?), or even a forest, when an election is nigh.
But I especially want everyone to take note of a new hazard warning sign that appeared just this year (new to my eyes, at least): water hazards. Not just for golfers anymore, water hazards in our paths have become as frequent as rain in many areas; so frequent that they require signage. Signage, not solutions.
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Sign, sign, everywhere, a sign
Blockin' out the scenery
Breakin' my mind
“Do this,” “Don't do that”
Can't you read the sign?
Stay calm, be brave, look for the signs. Maybe keep swim trunks in your trunk.
=30=
Link to Wikipedia entry on The Dead DSog Café Comedy Hour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Dog_Caf%C3%A9_Comedy_Hour
Link to Wikipedia entry on The Red Green Show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Green_Show
Link to Wikipedia entry on Ghostbusters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters
Link to Wikipedia entry on The Carol Burnett Show: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carol_Burnett_Show
Link to Good Housekeeping magazine article with Carol Burnett. https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a25748420/carol-burnett-ear-pull/
Link to Genius.com listing and play link for “Signs” by Five Man Electrical Band: https://genius.com/Five-man-electrical-band-signs-lyrics
Signs image taken from Making Trails, NS: https://makingtracksinnovascotia.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/traffic-signs/
[1] During its 11-year run, comedic legend Carol Burnett ended her show, The Carol Burnett Show, with a lyrical farewell and a tug of her left ear. While her closing song became recognized as one of the best in television history and later inspired her 2010 bestseller This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection, her ear tug became a trademark move.
n fact, this small gesture started way before the 85-year-old had her own show: She first tugged at her ear in her television debut on The Paul Winchell Show in 1955 as a nod to her grandmother Mabel.
"My grandmother (Nanny) raised me out here in Hollywood. When I got my first job back in New York, I called her and I said 'Nanny, I'm going to be on television Saturday morning.' She said, 'Well, you gotta say hello to me.' We figured this out — to pull my ear — and that was my signal to her," she revealed while accepting The Colleagues Champion of Children Award. "It always meant 'Hi Nanny. I'm fine. I love you.' Later it meant, 'Hi Nanny. I'm fine. I love you. Your check's on the way.'"
The young actress knew of a dance troupe that would "say hello" to their children by tugging on their ears, so she decided to do the same for her grandmother. Even though her grandmother passed away while the show was still on air, Burnett continued the ear-tugging tradition.
In fact, even decades after her show went off the air in 1978, the actress continued to send a message to her grandmother in interviews, award show appearances, and red carpet events. It even sparked a viral moment at at the 2018 Golden Globes when she let Jennifer Aniston (awkwardly) pull at her ear, prompting her to joke that Aniston has "kinky" tendencies. That's why she's a legend, folks.
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