# Who watches Lawrence Welk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752 "2018-07-28T23:40:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/81 "2018-07-31T02:20:19Z")
When I see LW reruns on PBS, it strikes me how alien fellow humans can be from each other. It is hard to grasp people not being bored to tears with it. (Hee Haw is a different story–I’ve been seeing some reruns from the 1970s and while the humor is horrible, the music–to me, at least–is still gold.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/82 "2018-07-31T02:27:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I saw The American Songbook in the 1970s and 80s when I worked at a library. Songs they were making me sing in grade school in the 1960s. We must not forget Woody Guthrie and the like. _This Land is You Land_ featured in a TV series recently. [Welk was way ahead of you!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zD9mfLe-wQ) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/83 "2018-07-31T03:25:08Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Welk turned everything into a Polka. So does Weird Al. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/84 "2018-07-31T13:06:06Z")
[Tuba player] What’s wrong with turning everything into a polka? [/Tuba player] ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/85 "2018-07-31T14:18:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Tuba player] > What’s wrong with turning everything into a polka? > [/Tuba player] Ah, da polka music! It’s-a wunnerful, wunnerful! 🆒 Start da bubble machine! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/86 "2018-07-31T15:51:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ah, da polka music! It’s-a wunnerful, wunnerful! 🆒 > > Start da bubble machine! “And here’s a little tune from double u, double u eye.” ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/87 "2018-07-31T18:42:06Z")
When I got married in the early 1980s, my new husband’s grandmother lived in in Southern California and always wanted us to include a trip with her to Lawrence Welk Village when we visited. Somehow, we escaped that. On a side note, Wilderness Road includes a LW mention on their ‘Sold for the Prevention of Disease Only’ LP, The Gospel: “Ah one, anna two, anna three, anna four… Friends, we got only a few more left of those beautiful…(Genuine, simulated leather hand-tooled, biblematic biblebelt)…Just like the one that was worn by Myron Floren in his 40 day fast in the wilderness.” ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/88 "2018-08-01T01:14:16Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Ever play bass along with them? 😛 Of course I have! I’m not even close to being good enough on pedal steel. > [@Chronos](#): > > [Tuba player] > What’s wrong with turning everything into a polka? > [/Tuba player] Root-fifth-root-fifth-root-fifth-root-fifth-sixth-seventh? Nuttin, that’s what! ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/89 "2018-08-01T11:43:37Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Now, were all those bubbles (and bubbly performers) a comfort, or did they accelerate the loss of hope? We need to fund that research. Maybe I’m not a nice person because “accelerate the loss of hope” is a little cruel and I still laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/90 "2018-08-01T15:22:43Z")
I’d have to sit through Mom watching it as a child. When I got older, I’d catch it as I was changing stations. Some thoughts on it: 1. Bobby the Former Mouseketeer managed to get an adult job he had experience in. B. Too much treble. It irritated me. iii. It was an interesting gauge of the slow acceptance of long hair for men. Look at the sideburns. 4th. Dick Nixon and Archie Bunker loved the show, I bet. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/91 "2018-08-01T15:37:35Z")
The show was on the local (rural) PBS station last weekend, and we showed it to our seven-year old granddaughter. She was quite fascinated with it. “Why are they dressed like that?” “What song is that?” “Why are they using that weird instrument?” (not the accordion, she was confused about the clarinet and saxophone). I think to her it was as strange as watching H R Puff’N’Stuff in its day. Of course my elderly parents (now gone) watched it every week. They were proud of their South Dakota heritage, and if we were travelling through a town, they’d point out the fact that Lawrence Welk played their, or got his big break there, or they saw Myron Floren perform there. For the last couple decades, we made plans to be elsewhere Saturday at 6:00 PM so we didn’t have to listen to it on PBS; it didn’t help that they were hard-of-hearing and had the volume jacked up. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/92 "2018-08-01T23:47:13Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Dick Nixon and Archie Bunker loved the show, I bet. Hey, that’s striking pretty low! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/93 "2018-08-02T01:15:46Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > 4th. Dick Nixon and Archie Bunker loved the show, I bet. Hey, my parents watched that show! That’s a low blow. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/94 "2018-08-02T01:31:47Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Maybe I’m not a nice person because “accelerate the loss of hope” is a little cruel and I still laughed. Glad I could help you \*snicker, snicker against the dying of the light… \* ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/95 "2018-08-02T03:13:42Z")
No bad mouthing Lawrence Welk! He gave us the greatest video ever! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MOg2wL9W_Vs/hqdefault.jpg "The Merry Go Round Broke Down") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOg2wL9W_Vs) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/96 "2018-08-02T03:27:59Z")
[quote=“Cumberdale, post:95, topic:818752”] No bad mouthing Lawrence Welk! He gave us the greatest video ever! [/QUOTE] Th-th-th-th-that’s all, folks! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/97 "2018-08-02T05:00:58Z")
[quote=“Cumberdale, post:95, topic:818752”] No bad mouthing Lawrence Welk! He gave us the greatest video ever! [/QUOTE] Gail Farrell is also one of the singers from the One Toke Over the Line performance. Was she one of the show’s main performers? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752/98 "2018-08-02T07:40:58Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I saw The American Songbook in the 1970s and 80s when I worked at a library. Songs they were making me sing in grade school in the 1960s. We must not forget Woody Guthrie and the like. _This Land is You Land_ featured in a TV series recently. There’s a distinction to be drawn between the Great American Songbook and the Reader’s Digest American Songbook. I suspect that the one you saw was the latter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-watches-lawrence-welk/818752.md?page=4)