Talk:Vegetables (song)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 August 2020 and 23 November 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): MGduffy24. Peer reviewers: Lilian2742, Chak24.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 12:17, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

February 2013

A tumblr posting today shows a newspaper clipping that claims the instrument McCartney plays on this recording is a carrot, not celery as reported here. Which is not to say journalists are any authority, but it may provide a lead since McCartney did call into the radio show and there is no report of him correcting their mention of the carrot.

References

Zappa claim

The article currently claims that "Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention recorded a parody of the song entitled "Call Any Vegetable" on Absolutely Free (1968)." which is very, very doubtful. Zappa said in an interview (http://www.afka.net/Articles/1967-09_Jazz_Pop.htm) that "Call Any Vegetable, for example, was written two weeks after we finished Freak Out!", which would be in April 1966 (cf http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/chronology/1965-1969.html). The Beach Boys did not start recording THIS song until October 1966 (noted in the article). The Zappa song was recorded in November 1966, a good year before the fragment of the song on Smiley Smile came out (which, in any case, isn't about vegetables). Further, there are no direct references in "Call Any Vegetable" to "Vegetables", whether musical or lyrical; "Vegetables" is about literal vegetables, and eating them, whereas the "vegetables" in "Call Any Vegetable" are metaphorical- they're "squares" who haven't been "turned on" yet, and the song implores the listener to try to connect to them. (There actually IS a Beach Boys reference on Absolutely Free, but it's a quote of "Little Deuce Coup" in "Brown Shoes Don't Make It".) Also, Absolutely Free was released in 1967, not 1968 as the page claims.

In light of this, I've removed the claim from the page. I'm sure the book cited is otherwise reliable as a source, but in this case it's simply demonstrably wrong by reference to other sources. 2604:2D80:C00A:C072:6559:CE3A:C762:632B (talk) 08:18, 14 August 2016 (UTC)

Prospective Changes to "Vegetables" Article

Sure there are plenty of songs about food, however this one is different as it reminds me of a children's song that persuades youngins' to eat their veggies. The Beach Boys had the same intent, rather urging fans (mostly teens or adults) to smile and eat their veggies! I want to do some further research on the influence of vegetables and how they make them so appealing in the form of song. The song itself is playful, and this is not rare for the Beach Boys to procure this tone. I look forward to diving into the figure of speech and investigating the lyrics of this song. MGduffy24 (talk) 21:58, 27 September 2020 (UTC)