First recorded in 1972, became famous in 1976: Bill, I think that means “yes“.
P.S. Deering did his homework. When I checked the dates, I learned that the named used in this comic are taken directly from the song.
Horribly enough, Kilby, I remembered that.
The song can be an earworm for those of a certain vintage (kind of like Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street – love it or hate it, it burrows in from time to time)
The songwriter (Muskrat Love) is Willis Alan Ramsey, with one big cult album, and a “new one coming soon”. But not before (as Orson Welles would say) its time.
OK, got rid of those awful remnants all at once. Now on with the day :^)
Yeah, I’d have to give this one a geezer. I was barely in high school when it was a hit for the Captain & Tennielle. I always hated it. I looked it up to see if there was a more recent cover or something. Best I could find is that it gets used in the second Anchorman movie in 2013.
Don’t even know it, and I don’t think I want to look it up. I have enough earworms in my head as it is.
I like how the colorist didn’t bother to color the desk inside the phone cord. It looks like the handset has a tail.
So the brave non-geezer can get the full “Muskrat” experience:
It is…. uh… uniquely unforgettable. Particularly the keyboard solo…
Willis Alan Ramsey called it “Muskrat Candlelight” on his 1972 album. The band America re-titled it “Muskrat Love” and had a minor hit with their cover in 1973. I remember wondering why they named the muskrats but not the horse…
Thanks for reminding me of THAT.
Plus, muskrats beavers. Whatever happened to the days when people who drew silly animal cartoons actually KNEW something about animals? Why hasn’t Gary Larson opened a Nature Science for Cartoonists Academy?
There was a “not equals” sign up there between “muskrats” and “beavers”, the blog ate it.
And speaking of size, it certainly appears that Sam has put on some weight over the years… too much bacon and cheese, I guess..,
I’m not sure how there are all these cultural references to things I recognize as cultural references and have for decades but somehow have never ever heard or experienced. Muskrat Love is one of them. There was another one a few months ago here. The one about the zombie exotic dancer and some song from the eighties I didn’t know the words to.
… Listened to the video…. Yep, heard of but never heard. Not sure how that can be an earworm. It’s just lilting voices and almost no melody or tune… certainly not a memorable one.
@ padraig – If you just type “<>” as normal characters, WordPress assumes it is an unidentified HTML token, and deletes it. You have to encode the characters as HTML to get them past the filter: “<>“.
When I first saw the drawing I thought, ‘naked mole rat’. Then the wording made them sound like beavers. Then the caption implied something else.
I hate having *two* oopses in a single comic.
Not sure @lt;@rt; would be the first thought for “not equal”. I’d think != would be more common. ≠ would be best though.
How the hell did I mistake an at sign for an ampersand??????
Those of us who worked in the “C family” of languages frequently prefer “!=” for that.
I wouldn’t expect the current generation of high school and college kids to know “Muskrat Love.” I was in high school when America’s version came out, and I wish I didn’t know it. The song inspired a column by Dave Barry that he eventually turned into “Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs.”
Like woozy, I recognized the cultural reference, but had never heard the song. Also like woozy, not an earworm. I’ve forgotten it already.
Bad is relative. The song did relatively well at the time, but hasn’t held up over time. I was a bit of a fan and watched The Captain & Tennille TV show. “Muskrat Love” wasn’t my favorite but I still know Sammy was so skinny.
Until people who were in the audience when “Muskrat Love” was released are old enough to stop submitting songs to “the worst songs ever” shows (Bachman did one, that’s where I heard it), it’s not a geezer reference.
Comics I Don't Understand 
First recorded in 1972, became famous in 1976: Bill, I think that means “yes“.
P.S. Deering did his homework. When I checked the dates, I learned that the named used in this comic are taken directly from the song.
Horribly enough, Kilby, I remembered that.
The song can be an earworm for those of a certain vintage (kind of like Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street – love it or hate it, it burrows in from time to time)
The songwriter (Muskrat Love) is Willis Alan Ramsey, with one big cult album, and a “new one coming soon”. But not before (as Orson Welles would say) its time.
OK, got rid of those awful remnants all at once. Now on with the day :^)
Yeah, I’d have to give this one a geezer. I was barely in high school when it was a hit for the Captain & Tennielle. I always hated it. I looked it up to see if there was a more recent cover or something. Best I could find is that it gets used in the second Anchorman movie in 2013.
Don’t even know it, and I don’t think I want to look it up. I have enough earworms in my head as it is.
I like how the colorist didn’t bother to color the desk inside the phone cord. It looks like the handset has a tail.
So the brave non-geezer can get the full “Muskrat” experience:
It is…. uh… uniquely unforgettable. Particularly the keyboard solo…
Willis Alan Ramsey called it “Muskrat Candlelight” on his 1972 album. The band America re-titled it “Muskrat Love” and had a minor hit with their cover in 1973. I remember wondering why they named the muskrats but not the horse…
Thanks for reminding me of THAT.
Plus, muskrats beavers. Whatever happened to the days when people who drew silly animal cartoons actually KNEW something about animals? Why hasn’t Gary Larson opened a Nature Science for Cartoonists Academy?
There was a “not equals” sign up there between “muskrats” and “beavers”, the blog ate it.
Clearly, they are too large to be beaver, but other than size, and without a visible tail, I’m not sure a cartoon muskrat should look much different than a cartoon beaver…
https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/761C4BB8-7818-4E47-8FA1AC2124E98592_source.jpg?w=590&h=800&C76CF262-7ACB-4E9A-BC8607095F276388
And speaking of size, it certainly appears that Sam has put on some weight over the years… too much bacon and cheese, I guess..,
I’m not sure how there are all these cultural references to things I recognize as cultural references and have for decades but somehow have never ever heard or experienced. Muskrat Love is one of them. There was another one a few months ago here. The one about the zombie exotic dancer and some song from the eighties I didn’t know the words to.
… Listened to the video…. Yep, heard of but never heard. Not sure how that can be an earworm. It’s just lilting voices and almost no melody or tune… certainly not a memorable one.
@ padraig – If you just type “<>” as normal characters, WordPress assumes it is an unidentified HTML token, and deletes it. You have to encode the characters as HTML to get them past the filter: “<>“.
When I first saw the drawing I thought, ‘naked mole rat’. Then the wording made them sound like beavers. Then the caption implied something else.
I hate having *two* oopses in a single comic.
Not sure @lt;@rt; would be the first thought for “not equal”. I’d think != would be more common. ≠ would be best though.
How the hell did I mistake an at sign for an ampersand??????
Those of us who worked in the “C family” of languages frequently prefer “!=” for that.
I wouldn’t expect the current generation of high school and college kids to know “Muskrat Love.” I was in high school when America’s version came out, and I wish I didn’t know it. The song inspired a column by Dave Barry that he eventually turned into “Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs.”
Like woozy, I recognized the cultural reference, but had never heard the song. Also like woozy, not an earworm. I’ve forgotten it already.
Bad is relative. The song did relatively well at the time, but hasn’t held up over time. I was a bit of a fan and watched The Captain & Tennille TV show. “Muskrat Love” wasn’t my favorite but I still know Sammy was so skinny.
A particularly scathing review:
https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/the-worst-songs-ever-1-muskrat-love/
Until people who were in the audience when “Muskrat Love” was released are old enough to stop submitting songs to “the worst songs ever” shows (Bachman did one, that’s where I heard it), it’s not a geezer reference.