<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body>Why that verse in particular? It seems to make as much sense as any other, and more than some.<div><br></div><div>Gwenneth</div><br><br><br>Tim McDaniel <tmcd@panix.com> wrote:<br><br><br>On Mon, 30 Apr 2012, Thomas <gemartt@earthlink.net> wrote:<br>> Strangely enough these lyrics remind me<br>> of a song that was first published in 1643:<br>> THE WORLD TURN'D UPSIDE DOWN. There are<br>> variations; yet both songs seem to question<br>> the current order of the world:<br><br>Thank you for adducing another song, and a comparison at that.<br><br>I see a difference. Interrogativa Cantilena / "If all the world were<br>paper" just seems like silliness, so far as I can tell. For example,<br>I can't think of a meaning for<br><br>> If all the world were sand-o,<br>> Oh, then what should we lack-o?<br>> If, as they say, there were no clay,<br>> How should we take tobacco?<br><br>In contrast, 1643 is near the start of the English civil war.<br>"The world turn'd upside down" looks to me like a<br>Cavalier-sympathizing conservative satire/protest song:<br><br>> They count it a sin, when poor people come in.<br>> Hospitality it selfe is drown'd.<br>...<br>> The serving men doe sit and whine,<br>> and thinke it long ere dinner time:<br>> The Butler's still out of the way,<br>> or else my Lady keeps the key,<br>> The poor old cook, in the larder doth look,<br>> Where is no goodnesse to be found,<br><br>That's decrying the loss of old generosity and charity, but also<br>decrying the lower classes (serving men) getting above themselves,<br>which was classic old-style conservatism. It's also condemning<br>economic disorders.<br><br>Dannet de Lincoln<br>-- <br>Tim McDaniel, tmcd@panix.com<br>_______________________________________________<br>Bg-dance mailing list<br>Bg-dance@lists.ansteorra.org<br>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bg-dance-ansteorra.org<br> </body>