Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 05, 2015

Uncle Shelby?

Whats with the rash of sixties pop culture references?

I always like it when they’re BOTH Right!(Each in his own way – Of course!)

Shel Silverstein wrote the song, Johnny Cash played it. Frazz’s point is awesome, Shel was in the same spot as Frazz.

I have to say, that between the three, I strongly prefer “Sugar, Sugar”.

I got to know of Shel because of Bobby Bare. This was my favorite as a kid:

“On Susan’s Floor” , as done by Gordon Lightfoot.

It may seem messed up, but the relative positions of “Sugar Sugar”, “Honkey Tonk Woman” and “A Boy Named Sue” are perfectly understandable. The Archie’s song was light hearted fun that made no demands on anybody. The Rolling Stones were a great band but their music was too edgy for some. “A Boy Named Sue” was a great song but also demanding. It just goes to show the different between greatness and popularity of the moment.

Sugar Sugar was #1 for four weeks, Honkey Tonk Woman was #1 for five weeks, and A Boy Named Sue reached #2 for three weeks behind Honkey Tonk Woman. The relative order is a function of the point in time when Sugar Sugar made the top stop. The radio version of A Boy Named Sue was also censored.

Shel Silverstein – poet, song writer, cartoonist, contributor to Playboy and the New Yorker (among others), author of children’s books and adult books, and it was hard to tell which was which. A philosopher. A smiling scraggly curmudgeon for the ages.

I’m not sure I can explain, but in my collection of favorite people in my lifetime, I see him as a sort of Edward Abbey of the indoors.

Thanks, Bandit, I was about to post the same thing. Get your facts right, Mallet! All three songs had about the same popularity. You can’t just look at one week’s chart as an example.

I had no idea that Shel Silverstein was a big song writer. I’ve always associated him with his amazing books. Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Uncle Shelby’s ABZ book just to name a few.

And “Frazz” is no “Prince Valiant.” Does that make it bad? No, it just makes it different.

While celebrating Shel, let’s don’t leave out “On The Cover of the Rolling Stone.”

This comic strip was written by somebody who clearly has no idea how the charts work.

OK, I was fairly aware Silverstein, but seriously, Unicorn, too? Man…The dude got around….

“Honky Tonk Women?” I always thought it was Woman. :O

She’ll Silverstein? I LOVE SHEL SILVERSTEiN!!!!! AAA aAAAAAAaAAAA!!!

Introduced my grandchildren to poetry by reading to them from “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”

Actually having Shel as my real “Uncle Shelby”, I’m very gratified to see the number of fans here. Very cool.

Shel was probably the coolest, most eclectic artist I’ve ever known. He ran the gamut from children’s author, to song writer (in many different genres), to cartoonist, to adult author. If you can find it, check out his book of “adult themed” illustrations, “Different Dances”.

@emjayceeWell, he had to be related to some one.

My connection to him is as strange as the rest of his life, as he was the un-wed, but personally acknowledged father of my cousin, thus my “uncle”. He came around often when I was a teenager (very transformative).