April 23, 2007

Carol Burnett and John Foster Dulles

When I was an adolescent, a young comedienne named Carol Burnett burst into public awareness by singing a song on the Jack Paar show entitled "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles." Dulles was Dwight Eisenhower's peripatetic and somewhat stodgy Secretary of State, for whom the international airport near Washington DC is appropriately named.

I googled the lyrics and found them here.
I made a fool of myself over John Foster Dulles
Oh I made a chump of myself over John Foster Dulles
The first time I saw him t'was at the UN
Oh I never have been one to swoon over men
But I swooned and the drums started poundin and then

I made a fool of myself over John Foster Dulles

I knew it was futile to dream
for we never could marry
still my heart ripped apart at the seams
for our state secretary
The next time I saw him he was flying to Spain
He waved to someone as he boarded the plane
Was it me cried my heart
and then I went insane
I made a fool of myself over John Foster Dulles

Get a hold of yourself, I told myself
To my heart I said "oh behave"
"Who are you to John Foster Dulles?", I asked my heart
and it replied "his slave"

Then in somebody's newspaper column, I think, Robert Rewark
I read that John Foster was due at the airport in Newark
To Jersey by taxi I made a mad race
I pushed through the crowd till we stood face to face
I grabbed for his sleeve ... but I got his briefcase
at least it was something belonging John Foster Dulles

It's so nice of you all to come visit me here in prison
with good behaviour I should be out oh in about seven years
but I'm not unamerican and I'm not a spy
but how can I convince the FBI
that I'm simply on fire with desire for John Foster Dulles.

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