A COLLEGIATE DRINKING SONG SIXTY YEARS LATER!

 During my college years in the 1950's there was a popular drinking song called "The Pope."  

See an article about the history and lyrics in the Yale University Songbook:

https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2013/01/the-pope-he-leads-a-jolly-life

And an older manuscript in the Library of Congress.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/ihas.100007307.0?st=gallery

This song humorously -- and, admittedly, irreverently -- addressed the advantages and disadvantages of the lives of various leaders.   

 “The Pope” 

The Pope he leads a jolly life, 
He’s free from every care and strife; 
He drinks the best of Rhenish wine, 
I would the Pope’s gay life were mine. 

He drinks the best of Rhenish wine, 
I would the Pope’s gay life were mine. 

But he don’t lead a jolly life, 
He has no maid or blooming wife, 
He has no son to raise his hope, 
Oh! I would not be the Pope. 

He has no son to raise his hope, 
Oh! I would not be the Pope. 

The Sultan better pleases me, 
His life is full of jolity, 
He’s wives as many as he will, 
I fain the Sultan’s throne would fill. 

He’s wives as many as he will, 
I fain the Sultan’s throne would fill. 

But still he is a wretched man, 
He must obey the Al-Koran, 
He dare not drink one drop of wine, 
I would not change his lot for mine. 

He dare not drink one drop of wine, 
I would not change his lot for mine. 

So when the maiden kisses me, 
I’ll think that I the Sultan be, 
And when my Rhenish wine I tope, 
Oh then I’ll think that I’m the Pope

 Not to be bested by our friends from Yale, during the late 1950's when I was at the University of Chicago and Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, we joked about our president's golfing proclivities with these lines to the same tune:

"The present President of us, 

Over poverty he makes no fuss!

At golf he daily doth excel, 

And lets the country go to Hell!"

Soon after he was elected in 1960, President Eisenhower's immediate successor, President John F. Kennedy, launched the War on Poverty.  Could this ditty have been part of the impetus for this? 

Today as I watch our sitting president belittle the seriousness of COVID19 and head for the golf course with increasing frequency, I cannot help but change just one word in our 1950's parody of "The Pope:" 

The present President of us,

Over COVID deaths he makes no fuss!

At golf he daily doth excel,

and lets the country go to Hell!

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NEEDED: A COVID-19 KETUBAH!

Back in the day, Jewish wives treasured a document called a ketubah that was signed at their marriage by the bride and groom, the rabbi or other officiant and two or more witnesses to the wedding.  

The word ketubah derives from the Hebrew word for a writing, and this document served many functions.  

Married women, for example, carried their ketubah especially when they traveled with their husbands, so that it would be known by inns along the way that this was a married couple.  

Read more about this document at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketubah

(Press < to return to this page.) 

Since my university based health care provider posts vaccine information on MyChart, I can quickly download my COVID-19 vaccination record.  I printed a copy of this document and carry it with other documents (like my ID card, etc.) to show that I was vaccinated for COVID-19. 

But not all people use MyChart, or have any other convenient way to store and copy information about their COVID-19 vaccine status.    

Now that many establishments are opening up for people who are vaccinated, it becomes more necessary than ever to have a reliable way of demonstrating this.  

I would like to see the establishment of a standardized COVID-19 ketubah, a writing, for those vaccinated against COVID-19.  This would be a standardized document that could be carried as full sized certificate and/or as a wallet card showing that the person named therein had been vaccinated for COVID-19, when and where this was done, and which vaccine had been administered. 

This could save a lot of confusion!

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