The United States and the United Kingdom have been ineluctably linked since the first English colonists arrived, notwithstanding our having to fight two wars against them to shake ourselves loose. But I think we all have a sense of what we inherited from our former mother country, not least our language.
I, however, don't often think about what, besides Coca-Cola and McDonald's, we might have shipped back for them to absorb; and yet I've recently been bemused by some musical references in a couple British movies.
One was "The King's Speech" in which George VI's speech therapist suggests he sing what he has to say, as a way to check his stammer, and asks him what his favorite song is. The King replies, "Swanee River." Eventually they both begin bantering back and forth to the tune of "Camptown Races."
All right, a little weirdness on the part of a British monarch is nothing new. Then today I saw a British film in which a mother and kids beguile the boredom of a long car trip by singing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes," and in another scene about a village fair, the town brass band comes tramping down the street playing "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The Brits must pay more attention to us than I ever noticed.
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