Stan Freberg’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ is wrong, offensive, and hilarious
This is the first of 5 Days of Thanksgiving, which will run Monday through Friday, Nov. 21-25. Look for other blog posts with a Thanksgiving theme this week.
One thing you can take away from Stan Freberg‘s parody on the first Thanksgiving: Never trust a man who doesn’t have buckles on his shoes.
‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ the third track on Freberg’s comedy album Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America: Volume One The Early Years, is anything but sensitive. It is, however, an American classic. In 2019, the Library of Congress selected the album to be “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant,” and therefore worthy of preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Check out the lyrics to ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’
Stan Freberg’s Opus
Freberg was a man more likely known by people my parents’ age. It goes to reason that I became infatuated with him at age 10 after I discovered a pile of 33 vinyl records that, according to the handwriting on the front, had once belonged to my uncle.
People who have known me long enough have endured forced listening ever since. Among my accomplishments in this regard was sequestering an entire sixth-grade class who couldn’t leave the room without getting detention. I’ve also been known to put it on during long trips.
The album is considered to be Freberg’s opus. He did make a Volume 2, called The Middle Years. It ran from where Volume 1 leaves off (end of the Revolutionary War) through the end of World War I. It’s not as funny, and he had to ditch a third volume when his wife became ill. Freberg himself, who spent most of his career in radio and advertising, died in 2015. People my age, Gen X and possibly Millennials, might remember him from an episode of the hit show, Roseanne.
So this antiquated recording has somehow been kept alive by people such as me, and apparently the good people at ABC. And ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ is Freberg’s satirical take on Thanksgiving.
Pilgrims Giving Thanks for Progress
Imagine it’s 1621 and you’re strolling down Main Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It’s a little cloudy and crisp, as it is November. You’ve been here for a year, and so far, none of the natives have stabbed you. But you remind Mayor Pennypacker that he had better make a gesture soon to capture the “Indian vote.”
Well how about if you make a concession and pick an Indian as a running mate?
What, anything happened to me, you have a mayor that wasn’t a Puritan. Probably take orders direct from chief Powhatan.
Ehhhh.
Say I got it. The big luncheon tomorrow, the one under the trees?
What about it?
We’ll ask an Indian. That will impress the rest of them.
We can even announce you’re going to put one in your cabinet.
Pilgrim’s Progress
Then, the men break into song about the event coming up. No doubt, the entire album is socially offensive. The genius is, you know it’s wrong, but you still can’t help but laugh. Perhaps because it’s clearly so exaggerated.
Perhaps it’s the line, “2-4-6-8 who do we tolerate? Indians, Indians, rock, rock, rock!”
But for me, the pure, white lily, idealistic Thanksgiving that filled our elementary school classrooms with carboard cutouts of ships and cornucopias sometimes is nice to think about. Even though it’s a time that never was, Stan Freberg gives it a rightful home in the American collection. Grab some turkey, turn to Spotify (you can get it here for free), and enjoy a little tongue-in-cheek humor.
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