Saturday, August 18, 2007

1950 AL MVP and Paradise by the Dashboard Light, great. But don't forget Paul's Boutique

Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer Phil Rizzuto passed away earlier this week. RIP, Scooter.

In many of the obit pieces I have seen, they feel compelled to mention that Rizzuto provided the baseball commentary in Meat Loaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." But they do not mention the other contributions Rizzuto made to pop culture.

Like being the word Billy Madison could not spell in his cursive test.

Or, more importantly to me anyway, drawing a mention on the Beastie Boys' classic album Paul's Boutique.

In honor of Rizzuto, here are the 5 best sporting references on Paul's Boutique:

5. "Shea Stadium, the radium, EMC Squared...," from Sounds of Science.
Nice National League reference from folks I whom I thought to be Yankee fans.

4. "I'm the King Ad-Whammy, you're Dick Butkus," from Get on the Mic
Although, judging from the pronunciation, they did not have #51's fearsome on-field persona in mind. Or his work on "My Two Dads," either, for that matter.

3. "I got more Louie than Phillip Rizzuto," from What Goes Around.
Cryptic, because I am not entirely certain what "Louie" refers to.

2. "Like Mario Andretti, 'cause he always drives a car well," from Shadrach.
I particularly enjoy this one because it is a crystal clear and literal similie.

1. "Got more hits than Saduharu Oh," from Hey Ladies.
I hope this line gets mention in the press when America's least favorite chemically enhanced slugger, DH'ing for the Angels, approaches Oh's records in about two years.


Post-script: do check out this site if you enjoy the minutae of Paul's Boutique. http://paulsboutique.info/

1 comment:

DJ Toluene said...

I think "Louie" here means money. Rizzuto was the spokesman for The Money Store for years.