On Top Of Spaghetti, All Covered With Cheese

An excerpt from, of all places, the Jewish World Review:

Q: Where does the song "On Top of Spaghetti" come from? — Sister Therese Poli, Waukesha, Wis.

A: Sister, thanks to you, a whole buncha people are now humming a song they haven't thought of in years. As you might recall, it's sung to the tune of one of the great American folk songs, "On Top Of Old Smokey." Folk singer Tom Glazer wrote the lyrics to the spaghetti ditty. They begin like this:

On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese

I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table, and onto the floor

And then my poor meatball rolled out of the door.

Now, a lot of Q&A columns (beware imitations!) would end right there, with all you good people wondering what in the world happened to the poor meatball. But not us at Glad You Asked, no sirree! For one thing, I love meatballs. And for another, following this one leads us down a saucy path, fragrant and juicy with trivia.

"On Top of Spaghetti" peaked at No. 14 on Billboard magazine's pop music chart in 1963. And the song's staying power was demonstrated by its inclusion in Mike Meyer's 2002 movie "Austin Powers: Goldmember."

But Tom Glazer was no flash in the pan, no one-meatball wonder. He was an important figure in helping popularize folk music - along with greats like Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives. He worked at the Library of Congress and befriended Alan Lomax, who established the library's archive of American folk songs. Glazer died in 2003 at 88.

But there's something else you should know about him ... (HERE COMES THE TRIVIA!) He composed songs for "A Face In the Crowd," the movie that made Andy Griffith famous.

So there you have it. A Roman Catholic nun writes in to the Jewish World Review to find out in-depth information on a song called On Top Of Spaghetti. Only in America.

Comments

[Wendy]

Doesn't it continue:

"It rolled through the garden, and under a bush
And then my poor meatball was nothing but mush?"

That's how I remember it, anyway.

[Juliana]

my mother continued
a car came and smashed it
it died the next day
I onour my meetball on memorial day

[Virginia]

*My* mother did it differently. "And then my poor meatball roll right out the door," and, "It rolled through the garden, and under a bush... and then it got stepped on... by somebody's foot." And then, I think, maybe Juliana's version. :P

[Cox27Margaret]

It is known that cash can make us autonomous. But what to do if somebody doesn't have cash? The only one way is to get the credit loans and car loan.