Poetry Friday: A Firefly folk ballad, and a special hat.
January 18th, 2008 by eisha
There’s this wonderful episode of Firefly called “Jaynestown,” where the gang sets out to do business on Canton, a little backwater planet that uses slave labor to harvest clay. While there, they discover that a botched robbery a few years before has led the “mudders” to revere Jayne – crass, mercenary, borderline-despicable Jayne – as a folk hero. Since I saw it again the other night, I can’t get the mudder’s tribute song out of my head. So once again I’m stretching the concept of Poetry Friday to indulge my own obsessions. Here’s the chorus to “Hero of Canton,” or “Jayne’s Theme,” depending who you ask:
Oh, He robbed from the rich
and he gave to the poor.
Stood up to the man
and he gave him what for.
Our love for him now
ain’t hard to explain.
The hero of Canton
the man they call Jayne.
Click here to read the rest of the lyrics; or better yet, watch the clip from the show:
And… here’s a website, where you can buy your own version of the cunning hat that Jayne’s mom sends him in the mail in the episode “The Message.” It totally gets shipped to you in a box with funky Firefly-esque postmarks all over it, and a handwritten copy of the letter from Jayne’s mom. Serious! And it’s even for a good cause: the knitter is funding her autistic daughter’s occupational and speech therapy with the proceeds. My sister-in-law and her husband got ’em – but then, they had to, ’cause they’re Firefly fans AND THEY TOTALLY LIVE IN CANTON!!! Okay… Canton, North Carolina… but still. Awesome.
Thanks, as usual, for indulging me. Next week we’ll have some proper poetry, I’m sure.
Most of the Firefly men are extremely tall – at least, when compared to me. Remind me sometime to tell you a story.
I love Firefly! What a great start to my day. Thanks for posting! đ
I didn’t know you were a Firefly fan, too! We should so be DVD buddies more than we are! I think the song that plays over the titles (though often disparaged by my Firefly-loving friends) is excellently written, also.
Hee! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. That was a great series, and a particularly wonderful episode.
OK, so somehow I missed Firefly. That must have come out during the huge portion of my life during which I was TOTALLY OUT OF IT, pop culturally speaking. (That would be from when I was about 1 ’til about now…) But I love this little ditty, and I think may have to start using the phrase “gave him what for”…
Those hats are made of awesome, and so is that picture!
I think the ballad totally qualifies as poetry.
And, Liz in Ink: You can buy/rent a boxed set with the entire series in it. I got it for my hubby for Chanukah.
I love that episode.
A friend of mine made me a Jayne hat, and it’s one of my favoritest possessions. Right after my Queen Bee bag. Obviously.
Little Willow, you’ve got my email – tell me the story!
Glad to know there’s so many Firefly fans among us.
And HELLO, Justin! I got B. Firefly on DVD for xmas – wanna borrow it? We totally owe you for hooking us on the new Doctor Who.
Thanks for all of the FIREFLY posts. My son and I have watched the entire DVD series twice. I LOVE Nathan Fillion and think he should have been Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie. And I’m with Justin–I love the theme song, too.