 Each year, after several fake "breaks", Color War would finally begin. The camp was divided in half (not blue and gray which were the camp's colors, but gold against red, etc.)and you would play like your life depended on it. My team lost 6 years in a row. The one year that I won, I was trying to lose because my brother was the captain of the opposing team. Go figure...After a week of sports, the war would end with human anagrams and then the sing. It was like a Broadway production for me. I still can remember all those trees that we cut down for the waterfalls, castles, etc. (we still need the women's generals) *=winners 1947 - Texas University won with Rusty Fireman as general. 1955- The North vs. The South (Note: that year the colors were blue and gray) 1956-Army (Jake?) vs.Navy (Harvey Schneider) 1957-Cowboys vs.Indians* and the General of the Indians was Bob "Bubby" Horowitz 1958-Spacemen (Mike (Zoink) Altman) vs. Aquamen 1959-Policeman vs.Fireman(Charlie Rubin was the general for the Fireman) 1960-Vikings(Perry Kozlow) vs.Romans(Ira Povill) 1960-?-General 1961-Scottish Highlander (Steve Rubin)* vs. English Caviliers (Mike Dean) 1962-Turks vs. Tartars* 1963-Cossacks vs. Samurai (Stan Wilk) 1964-Gold Pharoahs* Vs. Red Buccaneers 1965-Gold Angels vs. Red Devils* 1966- Gold Mexican Bandits (Nardi Levine) vs. Red Texas Rangers (Irwin Halperin) 1967- Gold Keystone Kops* (Ken Epstein)(Susan Wenger) vs. Red Robber Barons (Bobby Landman) 1968- Gold City Slickers (Richard Sarkin) vs. Red Hillbillies (Neil Karman) 1969- Gold Swashbucklers vs. Re Aztec Sun Kings The generals (2 on each team) were Rich Sarkin, Neil Karman, Brenda Liebowitz vs. Jeff "Cocoa" Baker and Larry Kleger and Robin Miller. 1970- Gold Sea Titans-- Generals:Scott Abramson, Jane King, Lt. Generals:Ron Hirsch, Lisa Kramer Cosmic Red--* Generals:Larry Friedman, Liz Elman Lt. Generals:Alan Aronson, Roberta Zitman 1971- Atomic Gold--* Generals: Steve Gruber,Felice Friedman Lt. Generals:Rich Montanaro, Linda Finkel Red Flying Tigers-- Generals:Scott Abramson, Marla Jonas, Lt. Generals:Jan Greensberg,Patti Josephs 1972- Gold Roman Gladiators-generals: Phil Schwartz, Debbie Percher, Lts: Bobby Bernstein, Barry Frey, Faith Goldshore. Red Tar Vikings: generals: Richie Montanero, Jackie Schenkman; Lts: Carl Kaplan, Rich Goldsmith, Margie Welch.Rich Montenaro was one of the generals 1973- Crusadin' Gold Koppers-- (Steve Walerstein) vs. Red Southside Racketeers (Carl Kaplan) 1974- Golden Outlaws-- Generals:Stu Allen, Jane Halper, Richie Stern, Lori Ivers 1975- 1976-: Ronnie Pomerantz, Steve Eisenstadt, Lloyd Ambinder Submitted by Mitch Silver--- January 10, 2014. 1969 Color war, Sing intro of the gold team; "Viking Ships with blood red sales, have landed on the shore. Golden brothers arm in arm, stand ready for the war. Strike swiftly, no mercy, end all doubts and fears, for the men who who fight...prepare to die. Let the gods of battle hear our cry, for the men who fight (two, three, four)...prepare to die." I was 7 yrs old when that song was drummed into my head by some senior girl color war zealot. And it's been there since. From Mike Dean ENGLISH CAVALIERS To the tune of Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons" He weighs 16 tons, and what have you got? A Scottish General who is going to pot, He says he's a golfer of great renown, But when he tees up the ball, he's too fat to get down. Rubin's got a team that's going pell-mell, All of his troops are shot to - well... He thinks he's gonna win, but he's all wrong, 'Cause the Cavaliers are much too strong. I don't know the name of the tune of this next song. (Note from Don Fine... (the melody was SANTA BABY, by Eartha Kitt). It's from the parody in the song fest in one of the color wars. "Uncle Bubby,we know you know you're really a hunk, Oh yeah, Old apachee bunk loves Uncle Bubby, The cuddlesome,loveable lug. Since you've been at Tarigo, You've seen many people kind of come and go. We know why,why you are sore, Come back next year and be a soph-o-more. Uncle Bubby,you're looks and person-al-ity should be, Quite enough we'll agree, But gee, What we like is your mo-des-ty, You cuddlesome, love-a-ble lug. I just rememberd a couple of parody songs from back when. 1957 color war general of the Cowboys was Don Corson and his lieutenant , Don Clarick(?) To the tune of an irish jig: "Corson is dying and Clarick doesn't know it and Clarick is dying and Corson doesn't know it, Both of them dead in the very same bed, And neither one knows that the other one's dead." This one is to the tune of "La Plume de ma Tante": "The hair on Weinstein's head,is on the bristles of his hair brush. The bristles of his hair brush,is in his cubby by his bed. Which means that Al you are bald , and getting balder every moment, Two minutes from now Al, You'll look like good old Uncle Mike( good old Uncle Mike)." It's amazing how many memories come rushing back when I contemplate Ta-Ri-Go color war songs. My memory isn't great with names, but songs I remember forever. I notice some problems with the Red Racketeer's song. Try this version, it scans better, and it fits my memory. On Chicago's south side there is no place to hide from the Red Racketeers and their force. We own half of the town, there are no cops around. A showdowns their only cause. (chorus) Racketeers have the power and this is the hour the Coppers will bite the dust With our guns sounding loudly, our hearts beating proudly here's one more the Coppers can't bust. There's a hush on the city both gangs are in place and the town folk are running to hide. They have seen this before and they are almost sure that Racketeer power will rise. (chorus) -- Paul Fischer (from Gary Povill) FIREMEN...to the tune of Anchors Away (from Gary Povill) Fight Firemen down the field To vic-to-ry We'll push those flat feet back And in this col-or war you'll see those Red engines crashing through Till Blue's no more Then shout tri-um-phant-ly We'll smoke 'em out And Red roll up the score! Fight! TURKS (from Rick Landman) "We're the Turks from Constantinople and we've come to tell you things that we hope will make you realize that we have to win because our spirit will not give in... We are civilized, not like your Mongolian Tribe... We will stop you through and through..." We'll make Tarter Sauce out of you! TARTARS (from Gary Kreisberg) "Tartars go forth with pride forever unified highly as one rise to the sun out of the darkness we come to thee tartar men we pledge ourselves to you rising to the highest ideals to conquer the turkish blue one team united are we pledging ourselves to vic-tor-y " ENGLISH LORDS (from Michael Yoss) "Down from the hills of glory ????? onto the English forry???? Scotsmen now defeat the English Lords. deh deh dehdehdeh deh our land will now be free." That's all I can remember from the song. RED RACKETEERS (from Glenn Pomerantz) On Chicago's south side there is no place to hide from the Red Racketeers and their force. We own half of the town, there are no cops around A showdowns their only cause. Racketeers have the power and this is the hour the Coppers will bite the dust With our guns sounding loudly, our hearts beating proudly there's nowhere the Coppers can hide. Here are some Color War Song tidbits (remembered by Harry Raker: To Taps: dave stone, where will you be camping tonight, after taps, in the woods, your future doesn't look bright, dave stone, lonely man, dave stone. To a military march, maybe the marines: Tarreeee-go, we are the mighty spacemen flying high, into the sky. With our heads, held high, we�ll fight, to win, nothing can stop the mighty space-men. To a song that isn�t even close to being PC: Mama done told me. When I was in knee pants. Mama done told me, hon, Tarigo is the best place, for my little pie face, and when the sweet talk, was done, I packed my undies in a duffle bag and waved good bye. Kissed Uncle Moisha, Tanta Saidi too, Ma began to cry, boo hoo hoo. Darling take your vitamins, like you�ve been told. Write me a letter every single day� After making those fancy color war scoreboards for all those years, the least the new condo owners could have done was to mount them in their living rooms along with all of our pictures. They tore down the Rec Hall? Are they crazy? I guess there�s no Historical Landmark Society in Fleischmanns. Hiking on the highway. Hail TA-RI-GO Hail! You can't get the best of us, even if you try for 20 million years, So, give a rousing cheer BOYS! As we go marching on. Three cheers for TA-RI-GO, the pride of all! And then there was this one... We are the boys of TA-RI-GO you hear so much about. The people stop and stare at us whenever we g out. We're noted for our victory in everything we do, most everybody likes us, we hope you like us too. We'll sing you in, we'll sing you out. For you we'll raise a mighty shout. As we go marching, and the band begins to P-L-A-Y. You can hear us shouting, The boys of TA-RI-GO are on their way. Alternate version... We are the boys... Then, We'll sing you in and sing you out. We'll stuff your mouth with sauerkraut. As we go marching and the band begins to P-L-A-Y. You can hear us shouting, TOILET PAPER. TOILET PAPER. 5 cents a roll! There was also another one that went something like this: The blue and the Grey march onto the fray. Forging ahead TA-RI-GO is the way. Da-da-da-something. Shake down the thunder from the sky. Da-da-da. We're marching to victory. Fight! Fight! Skies over Scotland now Proclaim our unity /as clans from the Highlands will unite for war. Down from the hills of --ory On to the English --ory Bagpipes tell the story of victory. Fight on for Liberty Our land will ere be free Scotsmen now defeat the English Lords. Now we return to Scotland with our victory We have shown the English WE'LL 'ERE BE FREE. Also, I was the girls general in 1969, Neil Karmen and Jeff Cocoa Baker were co-generals, and Lisa Kramer was lieutenant on the Aztec Sun Kings. In 1968, I was lieutenant along with, I think, LIz Elman, our team was the City Slickers (?) Here's a part of the Aztec march,sung to the tune of Who will Buy? from Oliver! Red team now will sing you a story/Listen closely and you will hear/Tales of strength and Mexican glory/ The Aztec victory is near Swashbucklers are retreating/Their hearts are filled with fear/ The Sun Kings are defeating With rafters ringing clear.* Sparkling temples shine in the sunlight/Lift your eyes and you will see Aztec men bring war to and ending The Aztec victory is here! *["rafters ringing clear" or some similar reference to rafters was apparently an essential part of every color war march] Submitted by Steven Budadin |
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