On Facebook, Jeff Bowles links to a Pearls Before Swine I don’t seem to have posted about:
(#1)
Another one of Stephan Pastis’s elaborate puns, set up through a wandering tale — and complete with a rebuke from Rat to the cartoonist.
The components of the pun. First, the Chevrolet car Pig was driving all over town. During a heavy rainstorm causing flooding. Then Pig’s neighbor Steve Levy — a real person:
(#2)
Steve Levy [/lɛvi/] (born March 12, 1965) is an American journalist and sportscaster for ESPN. He is known for his work broadcasting NHL hockey. (Wikipedia link)
And Pig was checking on his various neighbors’ houses.
All that brings us to Pig’s:
I drove my Chevy to the Levys, but the Levys was dry.
and Rat’s rebuke:
Bye, bye Mr. Cartooning Guy.
Cue the music, which you can listen to here (with lyrics on-screen). It’s all in the chorus:
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
And them good ole boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die
This’ll be the day that I die
Don McLean’s “American Pie”:
(#3) The album cover
“American Pie” is a song by American singer and songwriter Don McLean. Recorded and released on the American Pie album in 1971…
The repeatedly mentioned phrase “the day the music died” refers to the plane crash in 1959 which killed early rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. (The crash was not known by that name until after McLean’s song became a hit.) The meaning of the other lyrics has long been debated, and for decades, McLean declined to explain the symbolism behind the many characters and events mentioned. However, the overall theme of the song is the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation as symbolized by the plane crash which claimed the lives of three of its heroes. (Wikipedia link)
And then an extra from Pastis, using the crucial line “This’ll be the day that I die”:
(#4)
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