friday feast: sing a song of soup!

“M’m, m’m good. M’m, m’m good. Campbell’s chicken soup is m’m, m’m good!”

Happy first Poetry Friday of 2011!

Since January is National Soup Month, I think it only fitting that we welcome in the new year with a savory soup serenade. While others may have their black eyed peas and collard greens, we believe in soup soup soup for good luck, good health, and good sense.

dmhergert/flickr

You probably recognize the pudgy, rosy-cheeked pair perched on the moon as the Campbell’s Kids. Created in 1904 by Philadelphia illustrator Grace Wiederseim Drayton, these American icons have never lost their appeal as the most successful soup pushers in advertising history. As a child, I loved them just as much as all the yummy soups that came out of those famous red and white cans.

In most of the Campbell’s Kids ads through the late 1940’s, they appeared with a favorite soup and a four-line poem, a nice example of accessible poetry for the masses:

Wow, 10 cents a can! And I wouldn’t mind wearing a perky red dress with the letter C on it while eating my soup (this would be more politically correct than Hester Prynne’s Letter A). Skippety skip!

Christian Montone/flickr

Though I’d be among the first to extol the virtues of homemade soup, I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for the Campbell’s condensed soups of my childhood. Chicken Noodle always made me feel better when I was sick, Cream of Mushroom was a special treat, and Chicken with Rice, oh so nice. I also went through a Chicken Vegetable phase, coveting those wide noodles and big chunks of carrot, and remember hating those beans in the Minestrone. Now, some 40 30 20 years later, I have a blog called alphabet soup, with Campbell’s Tomato starring in every Soup of the Day post I create. ☺

Gatochy/flickr

Now, are you ready to sing a happy soup song? This should be sung to the tune of “Polly Wolly Doodle.” I want you to sing as loudly as you can, with feeling. Don’t worry if you’re a little off-key; the sound of our slurping will drown you out. Sing sing sing for your deep abiding love of SOUP!

THE SOUP SONG
by Raffy Conti

Oh I had some tea and soup called pea.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I found a big bone and was eating minestrone.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I felt good, I felt good, I felt real good today.
I had a big banana and I went to Soup Havana
I was eating chicken noodle all day.

I had tomato soup and baked potato soup.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I had a soup tornado and then a soup Alfredo.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I felt good, I felt good, I felt real good today.
I had a big banana and I went to soup Havana.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.

I don’t want a card but some soup with Swiss Chard.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I want a Lamborgini and a soup with tortellini.
I was eating chicken noodle all day.
I felt good, I felt good, I felt real good today.
I had a big banana and I went to soup Havana.
I was eating chicken noodle all day!!
I was eating chicken noodle all the day! Hey!

(Source)

Okay, that was terrible. Sip a little more coffee. If you sing louder and faster this time, you may have some of this:

Caribbean Pot/flickr

To top off our celebration, a vintage commercial from our souper sponsor: