A brief history of Trout Music: Grimwood's professional musical experience began when, as the precocious teenage bass player, he began sitting in with jazz musicians who had socks older than him. Always the good student, he earned a degree in music from the University of Houston and then quickly landed a position with the Houston Symphony. By that time Idlet had given up his spot on the bench of a local junior college basketball team to pursue a life of rock & roll. It was shortly thereafter that Idlet and Grimwood met as members of the Houston based eclectic folk/rock band St. Elmo's Fire which became the perfect percolator for Trout Fishing in America. As St. Elmo's dissolved in 1979, Trout Fishing in America was officially born. Idlet and Grimwood had become best of friends and musical partners.
Success happens when opportunity meets preparation. After years of accumulating original songs and polishing their performance TFIA was ready when the CD revolution took place. TFIA was in the first wave of artist owned labels (Trout Records) to successfully record and market their own music. Their infectious mix of folk/pop and family music is tempered by the diverse influences of reggae, latin, blues, jazz and classical music. TFIA recordings have garnered three National Indie Awards and multiple Parents Choice Gold and American Library Awards as well as 4 Grammy nominations. TFIA has also expanded their touring territory to over forty states and several Canadian provinces.
Sharing knowledge and encouraging art has become another musical mission of TFIA. In the past few years they have developed a variety of song writing workshops for teachers and students which illustrate how art and music come from the fabric of everyday life. Their willingness to make fun of our most annoying and sometimes disgusting habits in one song then touch our hearts with tender and passionate images of family life in the next is what makes the connection between Trout Fishing in America and their audience so real.
The Window
Trout Fishing in America Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
and there're lots of bands these days
giving requests for a nursery rhyme polka,
but we're the only band that i know who does one.
This is a song called The Window, and the
way this works is this: Venus is gonna sing a
nursery rhyme, then im gonna sing a nursery
rhyme, and then we'll take requests from the audience."
"So pretend."
Geogie Porgie, pudding and pie,
kissed the girls and made 'em cry.
When the boys came out to play, they
threw him out the window, the window,
they threw him out the window! When the
boys came out to play, they threw them out
the window!
"Your turn."
Humpty-Dumty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall,
all the kings horses, and all the kings men,
they threw him out the window, the window,
they threw him out the window! All the king's
horses and all the kings men, they threw him out
the window!
Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet,
eating her curds and whey,
along came a spider who sat down beside her,
she threw it out the window, the window,
she threw it out the window, Along came a spider,
it sat down beside her, and she threw it out the window!
"Peter, Peter!"
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
had a wife and couldnt feed her,
Put her in a pumpkin shell
and threw her out the window, the window
he threw her out the window, Put her in a
pumpkin shell, and threw her out the window!
"Let's try mary had a little lamb."
mary had a little lamb, little lamb
little lamb, Mary had a little lamb,
she threw it out the window, the window,
she threw it out the window, mary had
a little lamb, she threw it out the window!
"Wanna do your favorite?"
Old Mother Hubbard, she went to her cupboard,
to get her poor doggy a bone,
but, when she bent over, the doggy took over,
and threw her out the window, the window,
he threw her out the window, When she bent over,
the doggy took over, and threw her out the window.
"It's storytime!"
Hey there, Little Red Ridiing Hood,
you sure are lookin good,
You've done evrything a big bad woof could,
throw him out the window, the window,
throw him out the window, You've done evrything
a big bad woof could throw him out the window!
"And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
we're gonna attempt something extremly difficult.
We are going to sing 2 nursery rhymes at the same
time-- ocopello, forcing you to use both halves of your
brain at the same time-- ocopello. Im going to be singing
rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub, and Venus is gonna
be sing--"
"There was an old woman who lived in the shoe."
"Venus, can you count it off?"
"one, two, three.."
"Venus can you count it off with enthusiasum,please?"
"ONE, TWO, THREE!!"
it is hard to type ocopello
The lines at the start of the song introduce the idea of a nursery rhyme polka, a concept that may sound familiar in today's music landscape, but at the time of the song's release, was not as common. The song then proceeds to showcase a series of nursery rhymes in a humorous and upbeat manner. However, there is a twist - all the rhymes end with the characters being thrown out of the window. The lyrics address each character's story uniquely and the chorus follows the same pattern with "the window, the window, they threw him/her/it out the window." The song closes by challenging the musicians to harmonize two nursery rhymes simultaneously.
Line by Line Meaning
This is the nursery rhyme polka, and there're lots of bands these days giving requests for a nursery rhyme polka, but we're the only band that i know who does one.
We're introducing our unique performance of a polka style jam that incorporates multiple nursery rhymes. We believe that we're one of the only groups to perform in this particular style.
This is a song called The Window, and the way this works is this: Venus is gonna sing a nursery rhyme, then im gonna sing a nursery rhyme, and then we'll take requests from the audience.
Our song is called The Window and it is a mashup of different nursery rhymes. Venus and I will sing one after the other, then we'll take requests from the audience if we had one.
Aserist, there is no audience-
Someone named Aserist is pointing out that we don't have an audience.
So pretend.
Despite not having an actual audience, we will imagine and pretend we have one for the sake of the performance.
Geogie Porgie, pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made 'em cry. When the boys came out to play, they threw him out the window, the window, they threw him out the window! When the boys came out to play, they threw them out the window!
We start with a line from Georgie Porgie nursery rhyme where he kisses girls and makes them cry, and when other boys see him, they throw him out of the window. We repeat the last two lines each time by changing 'him' to 'them' to show that the same fate happened to the boys as well.
Your turn.
It's Venus's turn to sing the next nursery rhyme.
Humpty-Dumty sat on a wall, Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings horses, and all the kings men, they threw him out the window, the window, they threw him out the window! All the king's horses and all the kings men, they threw him out the window!
Venus sings the second line of Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme, and we continue the same pattern as the previous nursery rhyme, except this time the ending changes to show that all the king's men and all the king's horses tried but couldn't fix him.
Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey, along came a spider who sat down beside her, she threw it out the window, the window, she threw it out the window, Along came a spider, it sat down beside her, and she threw it out the window!
We move on to another nursery rhyme where Little Miss Muffet is scared of a spider, and when it sits next to her, she throws it out of the window. We repeat the last two lines by changing the subject from 'she' to 'it' to show that the spider repeats the same action of being thrown out of the window.
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, had a wife and couldn't feed her, Put her in a pumpkin shell and threw her out the window, the window he threw her out the window, Put her in a pumpkin shell and threw her out the window!
We continue with the next nursery rhyme, where Peter puts his wife in a pumpkin shell and throws her out of the window out of frustration for not being able to feed her.
Let's try mary had a little lamb.
We change to a new nursery rhyme, and I suggest performing Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb little lamb, Mary had a little lamb, she threw it out the window, the window, she threw it out the window, mary had a little lamb, she threw it out the window!
We sing the first part of Mary had a Little Lamb nursery rhyme and follow up with throwing the lamb out of the window instead of continuing with the original story.
Wanna do your favorite?
Venus is given the opportunity to choose her preferred nursery rhyme for the next performance.
Old Mother Hubbard, she went to her cupboard, to get her poor doggy a bone, but, when she bent over, the doggy took over, and threw her out the window, the window, he threw her out the window, When she bent over, the doggy took over, and threw her out the window.
Venus suggests Old Mother Hubbard nursery rhyme, where she tries to get her dog a bone from the cupboard, but the dog ends up throwing her out of the window instead of eating the bone.
It's storytime!
We prepare to share a story in our unique style of mashup and a polka beat.
Hey there, Little Red Ridiing Hood, you sure are lookin good, You've done evrything a big bad woof could, throw him out the window, the window, throw him out the window, You've done evrything a big bad woof could throw him out the window!
We change to Little Red Riding Hood, and use a line from a song about her looks. We then sing that she has done everything the big bad wolf could do before throwing him out of the window.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we're gonna attempt something extremly difficult. We are going to sing 2 nursery rhymes at the same time-- ocopello, forcing you to use both halves of your brain at the same time-- ocopello. Im going to be singing rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub, and Venus is gonna be sing--
We announce that we will attempt to sing two nursery rhymes together with a polka beat in a cappella style to challenge our audience's brain functions. I sing the first line and say that Venus will sing the second half of the mashup.
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
Venus starts her part of the mashup by inserting a line from another nursery rhyme; 'There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.'
Venus, can you count it off?
I ask Venus to start the polka beat.
one, two, three..
Venus counts the beat for us.
Venus can you count it off with enthusiasum,please?
I ask Venus to count-off with enthusiasm to keep the energy level high.
ONE, TWO, THREE!!
Venus counts-off loudly and enthusiastically to cue our performance.
Contributed by Alexander O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Cathy Gould
on Pico De Gallo
Written ny Emily Kaitz and Marilyn Cain