A Poem for June

A Lyric for June*

Nettie:

June is bustin' out all over

All over the meadow and the hill!

Buds're bustin' outa bushes

And the rompin' river pushes

Ev'ry little wheel that wheels beside the mill!

June is bustin' out all over

The feelin' is gettin' so intense,

That the young Virginia creepers

Hev been huggin' the bejeepers

Outa all the mornin' glories on the fence!

Because it's June...

All

June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

Nettie

Fresh and alive and gay and young

June is a love song, sweetly song

All

June is bustin' out all over!

The saplin's are bustin' out with sap!

Love hes found my brother, Junior,

And my sister's even loonier!

And my Ma is gettin' kittenish with Pap!

June in bustin' out all over

Nettie

To ladies and men are payin' court.

Lotsa ships are kept at anchor

Jest because the captains hanker

Fer the comfort they ken only get in port!

All

Because it's June... June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

Nettie

June makes the bay look bright and blue,

Sails gleaming white on sunlit booms.

All

June is bustin' out all over

The ocean is full of Jacks and Jills,

With her little tail a-swishin

Ev'ry lady fish is wishin'

That a male would come

And grab 'er by the gills!

Nettie

June is bustin' out all over!

The sheep aren't sheepish anymore!

All the rams that chase the ewe sheep are determined there'll be new sheep

And the ewe-sheep aren't even keepin' score!

All

On acounta it's June! June, June, June

Just because it's June, June, June!

* "June is Busting Out All Over" was one of the most popular choruses in the musical Carousel, the second stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics). The work premiered in 1945 and was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom, transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline.

Carousel


…Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Though your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone.
You'll never walk alone.


Ferenc Molnár (12 January 1878, in Budapest — 1 April 1952, in New York City) was a Hungarian dramatist and novelist. His Americanized name was Franz Molnar. He emigrated to the United States to escape the Nazi persecution of Hungarian Jews during World War II. As a novelist, Molnár is remembered principally for The Paul Street Boys, the story of two rival gangs of youths in Budapest. The novel is a classic of youth literature, beloved in Hungary and abroad for its treatment of the themes of solidarity and self-sacrifice. It was ranked second in a poll of favorite books as part of the Hungarian version of Big Read in 2005 and has also been made into a film on several occasions. The most notable production was a Hungarian-U.S. collaboration released in 1969.

Molnár's most popular plays are Liliom (1909, tr. 1921), later adapted into the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play Carousel (1945); The Guardsman (1910, tr. 1924), which served as the basis of the film of the same name (1931); and The Swan (1920, tr. 1922). The 1956 film version of The Swan (which had been filmed twice before) is famous for being Grace Kelly's last movie, and for being released the same year that she herself became a princess, as the wife of Prince Rainier.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel opened on this day in 1945, for a two-year run. The Americanization of Liliom gave it a Maine setting, and a happy ending: instead of going to Hell for his errors and abuses, the carousel barker goes to Heaven, reformed and rewarded. In 1956 a film adaptation was made starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, and was directed by Henry King. Like the original stage production, the film contains what many critics consider some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beautiful songs, as well as what may be, along with the plots of Allegro and South Pacific, the most serious storyline found in their musicals. Carousel is among my favorites along with Oklahoma and The Sound of Music. The original source, Liliom, has been made into a film a number of times, most notably in 1934 by Fritz Lang.