Richard
"()PEN the Door, Richard." is likely to prove fatal to the peace of mind of any musician who ‘hears it-and it seems that none of us can escape exposure to its deadly virus. To change the metaphor, it is one of those things (I cannot find it in myself to dignify it by the title of "tune") which stick in the mind like burrs and return to torment the sleepless in the early hours. This short eight-bar phrase is expanded to make one whole side of a record, and before it has been played through, the tale of a disobliging friend has developed into a saga of ever-increasing anger and furious frustration. Mark Twain récognised the genius of all such jingles when he wrote his essay on the doggerel suggested to him by the printed directions to tram-conductors, thereby keeping not only himself, but his unfortunate readers awake at nights. Recent examples of this exasperating type of thing are "Chickery Chick" and "Mairzy Doats"but at least these nonsensical rhymes do admit of logical explanation, whereas we are never likely to penetrate to the real reason (jokes apart) as to Why Richard Didn’t Open the Door. One consolation remains: most of the immediately popular tunes have an extremely brief lifespan, and I predict the early demise of Richard, even if his ghost returns for a while to haunt us..
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19480319.2.48.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 456, 19 March 1948, Page 29
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229Richard New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 456, 19 March 1948, Page 29
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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