I LOVE this song from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, "A Book Report on Peter Rabbit." The Peanuts kids all have to write a school book report on the story of Peter Rabbit, and each one goes about it in a different maladaptive way, completely in character - Charlie Brown has existential angst, Lucy tries to beat the system by just counting all the vegetables in the garden to meet her minimum word count, Linus tries to be deep, and Schroeder goes off on a tangent about Robin Hood. I have done ALL of these things every time I have to write something for school. OH GOD! What was I thinking!!! I hate this. Next time I tell somebody I want to go back to school, could you do me a favor and, maybe not shoot me, but just lock me in a room somewhere until the urge passes?



This little video makes me feel like I have company. I have concluded that it's the loneliness that I can't stand. I want to do anything but sit with my book and try to squeeze out some idea that is going to suck, anyway. And then I will have spent hours and hours that I'll never get back, working on something that is half-assed and lame, and will be embarrassing and humiliating to turn in. I love Charlie Brown's cri de coeur at the end. It's like something out of a Rossini opera, climaxing with his aria of agony, "How do they expect us to write a book report...of any quality....in just two days...?" as the other characters are finishing the ends of their own reports, also in song. I love this particular cartoon version, which has Charlie Brown singing woefully, all the while standing in the kitchen making himself a peanut butter sandwich, which he eats in front of the TV as he sings his big aria at the end. Charlie Brown, I feel your pain.
posted by Lisa  # 1:40 PM | Perma Link
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