OMG What an angel! She makes my heart melt into my shoes. BTW It's not about her character not being able to do math; it's about her character being broke.
This is one of my favorite movies of all time....we watch it every Christmas and it is still great after all these years and much better than the other versions that came out after this. This used to come on the Disney Channel when I was a little girl and I still remember it like it was yesterday.....playing with my Jem dolls and watching this on tv.....classic
I remember when I was a child they would show this on Disney Channel, it's a shame that children today don't watch this, the costumes were beautiful, the performances were amazing and the music was fun, plus you have the original Disney girl!
This isn't really about being dumb. It's about being desperate. I've been in the exact same place and had the same thoughts. You can't make one and two add up to four no matter how much you'd like to.
I love this movie and sing along with all of the songs. I wish they brought this stuff back to Disney now instead of all these teeny bopper stuff with short clothes and not so funny jokes. I love and miss the costumes and colors and concept of what real Disney was like fir me growing up. Thanks Annette for your great mouseketear work and I hope you are living the good times in heaven.
Finally I can do the sum! It took years but just start believing that you can and you will! We were able to move to the city we wanted to live in and getting our own house instead of renting! Do the Sum and do not listen to negatives!
I still love this movie, i was raised on disney and musicals. Me and my sister used to pick out which dresses were our favorites, I even prefer the old practical special effects.
Erin marie rather than looking at the bad sides of this movie, this movie is pretty amazing considering it was in the 60's and the special effects for a live action movie at gghe time are really spectacular.considering technology did not exist the way it does now.i still love this movie and songs
Also, keep in mind, this song was actually written at the turn of the century @ 1900. So, obviously, things were extremely different for women then. It's a plot device specific to this movie. I've always liked it, and I know how to do my math! I agree with some other posters; it's more about how she can't make the sum come out the way it needs to, and is tired of thinking about it. So, she's left with the only crappy option that fits. It's a movie. Sometimes you just gotta let it slide!
She says 'we' because there are five of her. Five of her and still she can't find a way to make ends meet without her sheep. That is what is meant there not that women can't do maths.
The girl has not only lost the love of her life, but has a different type of problem as well... If she doesn't marry, she cannot get her inheiretence and she has run out of money. She cannot afford to grieve right now, she must act. Saying she can't or 'we' can't do the sum is to mean that she can't make the little she does have spread as much as it needs to; and neither the kids, nor the voices in her head, can change that... Why must everything be turned into some political or equality crap?
plus its not about sexism.the plot of the story is that mary is in debt,and has no one she can ask for help with her financial situation.thats the whole point of the story.she is so poor she has to consider marrying barnaby.we are all blessed this movie existed and is even released on dvd now.i consider mary a honorary disney princess after snow white and cinderella.just look at the dances and costumes instead.its a treat of a movie.
Thank you! You are great! You see past the problems that hadn't been fixed yet in this movie and actually enjoy the song dances and costumes! That is great!
This is why Charlotte married Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice. These sons and stories are the beginning of the conversation about how desperate a situation could be for a poor woman in the past.
The original lyrics ran differently- "I Can't Do the Sum" Music by Victor Herbert Lyrics by Glen MacDonough This parody of classroom math problems was introduced in Babes in Toyland (1903). The refrain was punctuated by the ensemble clicking on small blackboards with pieces of chalk. It is performed in 4/4 time. Verse 1 If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons And sailed five thousand miles With a cargo large of overshoes And carving knives and files, If the mates were almost six feet high And the bos'n near the same, Would you subtract or multiply To find the captain's name? Refrain Oh! Oh! Oh! Put down six and carry two, Gee, but this is hard to do. You can think and think and think, 'Til your brains are numb, I don't care what Teacher says, I can't do the sum. Verse 2 If Clarence took fair Gwendolin Out for an auto ride, And if at sixty miles an hour One kiss to capture tried, And quite forgot the steering gear On her honeyed lips to sup, How soon could twenty men with brooms Sweep Clare and Gwennie up? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 3 If Harold took sweet Imogene With him one eve to dine, And ordered half the bill of fare With cataracts of wine, If the bill of fare were thirteen ninety-five And poor Harold had but four, How many things would Harold strike Before he struck the floor? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 4 If a woman had an English pug, Ten children, and a cat, And she tried in seven hours to find A forty-dollar flat, With naught but sunny outside rooms In a neighborhood of tone, How old would those ten children be Before they found a home? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 5 If a pound of prunes cost thirteen cents At half-past one today, And the grocer is so bald he wears A dollar-five toupee, And if with every pound of tea He will give two cut-glass plates, How soon would Willie break his face On his new roller skates? (Repeat Refrain)
Mary is not using "US" in reference to all women. She means "US" like the movie Inside out Joy,Fear,Disgust and sadness! I am broke! what are "we" going to do? She is thinking internally but she fully realizes that the problem is all on herself.
I remember this tune with different lyrics from an elementary school program in the late forties. " If a steamboat weighed three thousand tons, went sixty-three thousand miles. If all the cargo overloaded, nails and combs and files. If the mate was almost six feet tall and the captain was the same- Would you subtract or multiply to find the captains name? etc. etc. ANYONE KNOW?
"I Can't Do the Sum" Music by Victor Herbert Lyrics by Glen MacDonough This parody of classroom math problems was introduced in Babes in Toyland (1903). The refrain was punctuated by the ensemble clicking on small blackboards with pieces of chalk. It is performed in 4/4 time. Verse 1 If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons And sailed five thousand miles With a cargo large of overshoes And carving knives and files, If the mates were almost six feet high And the bos'n near the same, Would you subtract or multiply To find the captain's name? Refrain Oh! Oh! Oh! Put down six and carry two, Gee, but this is hard to do. You can think and think and think Till your brains are numb, I don't care what teacher says, I can't do the sum. Verse 2 If Clarence took fair Gwendolin Out for an auto ride, And if at sixty miles an hour One kiss to capture tried, And quite forgot the steering gear On her honeyed lips to sup, How soon could twenty men with brooms Sweep Clare and Gwennie up? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 3 If Harold took sweet Imogene With him one eve to dine, And ordered half the hill of fare With cataracts of wine, If the bill of fare were thirteen ninety-five And poor Harold had but four, How many things would Harold strike Before he struck the floor? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 4 If a woman had an English pug, Ten children, and a cat, And she tried in seven hours to find A forty-dollar flat, With naught but sunny outside rooms In a neighborhood of tone, How old would those ten children be Before they found a home? (Repeat Refrain) Verse 5 If a pound of prunes cost thirteen cents At half-past one today, And the grocer is so bald he wears A dollar-five toupee, And if with every pound of tea He will give two cut-glass plates, How soon would Willie break his face On his new roller skates? (Repeat Refrain)
Look at the difference between this show and "March of the Wooden Soldiers"...the "vocal" numbers in this are the "musical" numbers and that one, and Vice Versa...
BREAKING NEWS -- The President and The Speaker of the House requested Annette Funicello's aid in resolving the Debt Crisis. There's only one slight dilemma... she's just as stumped as THEY are 8-P
The irony of this song is that it actually is made not sexist in one single verse. "Numbers always stick our brains. Why are we so dumb?" She's self-aware that she's not as smart as she should be, but knows that's it's likely her own fault. It's not because she she's a woman, she herself is just young and not very bright. I know that "we" can be attributed to women in general, but it's likely Disney would have been a lot more clear if that was their intention. "We" is probably just the imaginary girls referring to themselves as the one single person.
No, you want a song that is definitely sexist look at "just a toy" from the same movie. Times were very different back in 1961. The PC police would be all over this movie these days.
Erin Marie As a woman, I have to ask... How the frick is this sexist?! She's not having trouble because she's a woman, she's having trouble due to financial difficulties in a family of five and rising prices. It has nothing to due with the math.
Pyro, other then the fact that the song was written in an era where girls where literally told they weren’t as good at math as boys, the lyrics truly speak for themselves. “Put down beans’, and cross out “cake”. “Let me see, oh dear, me!” “What a job to undertake.” It’s almost too hard for her to figure out the grocery list. Not a great representation of women wouldn’t you say? “Milk plus bread, oh my head!” Adding milk plus bread hurts her head? Yikes! If this was about the cost of the milk plus bread the line would have read: “Milk plus bread, how expensive!” “This is too hard for us, we can’t do the sum.” She doesn’t say “this is too hard for us, we can’t pay the bills.” - it’s clearly the math she and the other Marys can’t do.There is a difference between singing about the hardship of paying bills and the hardship about doing math. “We must save the 6 percent - 6 “times” X, how complex!” Numbers always stick our brains, why are we so dumb? This is much too hard for us, we can’t do the sum. I’m not a great financial whiz of that, of that there is no doubt.” Several times she refers to math as being too hard for and the other Marys in the song. She refers to herself as dumb, says she and the other Marys can’t do the sum and makes another put-down-comment about herself being no “great financial whiz”. Did you know they’ve done studies where when adults tell girls they can’t do math, girls perform worse on math tests and when adults tell girls they can do math they perform better? Infact, there was a study down when teachers where asked to grade the tests of girls and boys in the first round. The boys were graded better than the girls. Then in the second round the same teachers where asked to grade the same papers yet this time they didn’t know the genders of the students. This time, when they didn’t know the gender, the girls tests were scored higher than the boys.
Erin Marie Seriously, you're making it out like everything has to be literal in order for it to mean what someone says it means!!! You want to dissect lyrics? Fine, I'll play that game with your comment. "She can't even figure out the grocery list" It's freaking harder than you're making it out to be!!! You have to figure out what you can do without and what you absolutely need, while also figuring out if you can make it all fit in the budget. I've seen COLLEGE AGE BOYS stand in the middle of the aisle trying to figure out what to put back on the shelf just so they can add something to the cart, and it's not an easy decision. "Do I leave these on the shelf and try another time? Oh, but they might only be on the shelf for so long. I need the milk, so I can't put that back. Maybe I could...no wait, I need those for dinner this Friday, and we're having company over which means we need plenty of them." And here you are, acting like everyone magically knows everything they can sacrifice vs everything they need right off the top of their heads. It's a huge pain in the neck, and it's why people horde coupons in there houses these days. "Oh my head" A FREAKING HEADACHE FROM THE EXPENSE OF THE BREAD AND MILK PRICES, BOTH OF WHICH THEY CANNOT DO WITHOUT!!! Seriously, that one should be obvious. And it's a song, meaning they need to make it rhyme. Sorry but "How expensive" will NEVER rhyme with "bread" or fit within the tune. Saying "Oh my head" to highlight the pains of the prices, does rhyme. "Can't do the sum" can also easily mean "can't figure out how to make all these things we need fit into our budget" "I'm no financial whiz" neither am I, that doesn't make me a sexist stereotype. You're taking EVERYTHING LITERALLY IN THE SONG!!! It's not meant to be literal, it's meant to fill up space while trying to explain her frustration in a musical manner. The only part of your argument I can agree with is her constantly calling herself "dumb." Probably inserted to rhyme with "sum" and to highlight how she feels while doing all of it, the song could still do without it.
This was a movie for children. The song isn't meant to be literal? Because children understand the nuances of hidden meanings in songs vs the literal meaning of them? Come on Pyro. Look, I was a fan of the movie as a kid. But the lyrics are pretty disempowering for the young girls watching that movie. They would never had a song in a movie with a boy calling himself dumb and saying he couldn't do math. This song would never pass the muster for Disney movies today either.
Erin Marie Are you kidding me? There are PLENTY of movies with boys having trouble doing math and saying they hate it!!! Not to mention the dozens of kids shows with boys constantly failing their grades (Fairly Odd Parents, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, etc)
This crap taught me all the wrong things about what it is to be a woman and how society will and will not let a desperate person triumph. X'D Such an endearing mess.
I'm fucking awefull at doing my sums to does that make me a women ??? Cmon everyone its just a classic film stop reading into it and enjoy the fucking thing
Yes, sexist, because all of my friends, male or female can figure an intelligent way out of debt. I only know because I'm in business and financing. Are YOU out of debt Ms. commenter? Would you know how to do your finances and settle your mortgage without any help? What about with a full house of kids to look after? What about 50 or 60 years ago?
Not about being politically correct saying the word "Asian" rather than "Oriental" is being politically correct. Saying women are bad at math because they aren't smart enough to get it is degrading. If she said "This is much to hard for me, I can't do the sum" it wouldn't matter. But she groups females together saying "We can't." It's a matter of equality, not political correctness.
I was nine years old, loved this movie so and my piano teacher gave me the book of sheet music to the whole film. I truly dug this song and it was the first one that I learned to play. Thanx so for posting, though it only took me seven years to happen upon it!
... It's so depressing that this song makes sense to me now ...
Yes, this song is hearing about bills are hard to paying.
This song hits differently as an adult trying to pay these grocery prices
For the last few years, this song has come to my mind twice a month, every month when I sit to pay bills and see what’s left over.🤣🤣🤣…😞
2023 hitting hard right now
The color doppelgänger visuals are super cool. I’ve always been amazed at how they did that since i was a kid.
OMG What an angel! She makes my heart melt into my shoes.
BTW It's not about her character not being able to do math; it's about her character being broke.
EIDOSeidos Exactly, but people long to be angry about something.
“Numbers always stick our brains, why are we so dumb? This is much to hard for us, we can’t do that sum” 😂
Thank you so much for Katie my older sister’s sharing memories, Annette.
This is one of my favorite movies of all time....we watch it every Christmas and it is still great after all these years and much better than the other versions that came out after this. This used to come on the Disney Channel when I was a little girl and I still remember it like it was yesterday.....playing with my Jem dolls and watching this on tv.....classic
I remember when I was a child they would show this on Disney Channel, it's a shame that children today don't watch this, the costumes were beautiful, the performances were amazing and the music was fun, plus you have the original Disney girl!
This isn't really about being dumb. It's about being desperate. I've been in the exact same place and had the same thoughts. You can't make one and two add up to four no matter how much you'd like to.
I know how many times have all of us struggled with some sort of bill. This was my favorite movie as a kid.
It's amazing that more people can't understand that....
One. Hundred. Percent.
Like why isn't there a solution??
This is adorable ❤ Disney with the special effects was ahead of its time, no doubt
Mary has been into the talent to write by right-hand.
Her life after movies is completely tragic. She died from complications of MS
I love this movie and sing along with all of the songs. I wish they brought this stuff back to Disney now instead of all these teeny bopper stuff with short clothes and not so funny jokes. I love and miss the costumes and colors and concept of what real Disney was like fir me growing up. Thanks Annette for your great mouseketear work and I hope you are living the good times in heaven.
I adore this song. I sing it every time I do bills :)
Thanks for the memories Annette!
This was Annette Funicello's favorite of all her films.
Basically my problems with math! The struggle is so real...
It's kinda funny, you're bad at math--or so you claim--and your profile is Pidge; The math genius. And same T^T
AMEN 🙄
I love you Annette. I watched this over and over.
Taped this in November 1989, it's still not Christmas unless I watch it. :)
Annette was very beautiful.
God I could watch this clip And this movie a million times over and never ever get tired of it
When I saw this as a child I perceived this as a song about someone who was bad at math. Takes in a new meaning at retirement age!
I've never related more to a disney character...
i love her in this. so talented
Song of our times! Still love this movie though.
This video is in tribute to Annette. We love you Annette.
Finally I can do the sum! It took years but just start believing that you can and you will! We were able to move to the city we wanted to live in and getting our own house instead of renting! Do the Sum and do not listen to negatives!
This is good advice even two years later! I forgot I commented on here.🎸🎸🎸 Annette Funicello I miss You!
I still love this movie, i was raised on disney and musicals. Me and my sister used to pick out which dresses were our favorites, I even prefer the old practical special effects.
I could play a hundred cellos
And listen to a great big moose's bellows
But technicolor Funicellos
Are really too much for me!
Dumbo
Erin marie rather than looking at the bad sides of this movie, this movie is pretty amazing considering it was in the 60's and the special effects for a live action movie at gghe time are really spectacular.considering technology did not exist the way it does now.i still love this movie and songs
This is epic. LOVE it. I feel this way so often- I rock at math, but "the outcome of our income is our incomes all gone out." LOVE LOVE LOVE :D
Annette Funicello has extraordinary CUTENESS.
🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Also, keep in mind, this song was actually written at the turn of the century @ 1900. So, obviously, things were extremely different for women then. It's a plot device specific to this movie. I've always liked it, and I know how to do my math! I agree with some other posters; it's more about how she can't make the sum come out the way it needs to, and is tired of thinking about it. So, she's left with the only crappy option that fits. It's a movie. Sometimes you just gotta let it slide!
Had a crush on her since I saw this movie as a kid. Super cute!
R.I.P. Annette Funicello.
Just totally adorable
She says 'we' because there are five of her. Five of her and still she can't find a way to make ends meet without her sheep. That is what is meant there not that women can't do maths.
The girl has not only lost the love of her life, but has a different type of problem as well... If she doesn't marry, she cannot get her inheiretence and she has run out of money. She cannot afford to grieve right now, she must act. Saying she can't or 'we' can't do the sum is to mean that she can't make the little she does have spread as much as it needs to; and neither the kids, nor the voices in her head, can change that... Why must everything be turned into some political or equality crap?
I was caught by the first time she sang it "This is much to hard for US, WE can't do the sums." Ouch.
Babes in Toyland would be perfect World for Kingdom Hearts 3
plus its not about sexism.the plot of the story is that mary is in debt,and has no one she can ask for help with her financial situation.thats the whole point of the story.she is so poor she has to consider marrying barnaby.we are all blessed this movie existed and is even released on dvd now.i consider mary a honorary disney princess after snow white and cinderella.just look at the dances and costumes instead.its a treat of a movie.
Thank you! You are great! You see past the problems that hadn't been fixed yet in this movie and actually enjoy the song dances and costumes! That is great!
I remember this!!!
When I get my own place, I'm going to sing this while I make out my bills.
This is why Charlotte married Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice. These sons and stories are the beginning of the conversation about how desperate a situation could be for a poor woman in the past.
Women have come so far...THANK GOD.
I know how she feels
The original lyrics ran differently-
"I Can't Do the Sum" Music by Victor Herbert Lyrics by Glen MacDonough
This parody of classroom math problems was introduced in Babes in Toyland (1903). The refrain was punctuated by the ensemble clicking on small blackboards with pieces of chalk. It is performed in 4/4 time.
Verse 1
If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons
And sailed five thousand miles
With a cargo large of overshoes
And carving knives and files,
If the mates were almost six feet high
And the bos'n near the same,
Would you subtract or multiply
To find the captain's name?
Refrain
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Put down six and carry two,
Gee, but this is hard to do.
You can think and think and think,
'Til your brains are numb,
I don't care what Teacher says,
I can't do the sum.
Verse 2
If Clarence took fair Gwendolin
Out for an auto ride,
And if at sixty miles an hour
One kiss to capture tried,
And quite forgot the steering gear
On her honeyed lips to sup,
How soon could twenty men with brooms
Sweep Clare and Gwennie up?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 3
If Harold took sweet Imogene
With him one eve to dine,
And ordered half the bill of fare
With cataracts of wine,
If the bill of fare were thirteen ninety-five
And poor Harold had but four,
How many things would Harold strike
Before he struck the floor?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 4
If a woman had an English pug,
Ten children, and a cat,
And she tried in seven hours to find
A forty-dollar flat,
With naught but sunny outside rooms
In a neighborhood of tone,
How old would those ten children be
Before they found a home?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 5
If a pound of prunes cost thirteen cents
At half-past one today,
And the grocer is so bald he wears
A dollar-five toupee,
And if with every pound of tea
He will give two cut-glass plates,
How soon would Willie break his face
On his new roller skates?
(Repeat Refrain)
Me in adulthood life be like
Supply chain problems. Valid for today.
Love movie
Rest in peace Annette.
No chocolate cake? AAAAAUGH!
I wish the versions of me came in fun colors!
Mary is not using "US" in reference to all women. She means "US" like the movie Inside out Joy,Fear,Disgust and sadness! I am broke! what are "we" going to do? She is thinking internally but she fully realizes that the problem is all on herself.
@jazzandmint my sentiments exactly!
This puts me back in 4th grade unable to figure out how 9+6=15. It always came out as 16 to me.
it's a movie for god sake NOT a political statement. Get a grip folks.
Have you listened to the song "Just a Toy" from this movie yet?
@missstarstealer I know, but at this point in the movie, she *thinks* he's dead. That's why her first impulse is to sing about math.
I agree Bills Bills Bills we will always will have bills until we die.
I remember this tune with different lyrics from an elementary school program in the late forties. " If a steamboat weighed three thousand tons, went sixty-three thousand miles. If all the cargo overloaded, nails and combs and files. If the mate was almost six feet tall and the captain was the same- Would you subtract or multiply to find the captains name? etc. etc. ANYONE KNOW?
"I Can't Do the Sum"
Music by Victor Herbert
Lyrics by Glen MacDonough
This parody of classroom math problems was introduced in Babes in Toyland (1903). The refrain was punctuated by the ensemble clicking on small blackboards with pieces of chalk. It is performed in 4/4 time.
Verse 1
If a steamship weighed ten thousand tons
And sailed five thousand miles
With a cargo large of overshoes
And carving knives and files,
If the mates were almost six feet high
And the bos'n near the same,
Would you subtract or multiply
To find the captain's name?
Refrain
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Put down six and carry two,
Gee, but this is hard to do.
You can think and think and think
Till your brains are numb,
I don't care what teacher says,
I can't do the sum.
Verse 2
If Clarence took fair Gwendolin
Out for an auto ride,
And if at sixty miles an hour
One kiss to capture tried,
And quite forgot the steering gear
On her honeyed lips to sup,
How soon could twenty men with brooms
Sweep Clare and Gwennie up?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 3
If Harold took sweet Imogene
With him one eve to dine,
And ordered half the hill of fare
With cataracts of wine,
If the bill of fare were thirteen ninety-five
And poor Harold had but four,
How many things would Harold strike
Before he struck the floor?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 4
If a woman had an English pug,
Ten children, and a cat,
And she tried in seven hours to find
A forty-dollar flat,
With naught but sunny outside rooms
In a neighborhood of tone,
How old would those ten children be
Before they found a home?
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 5
If a pound of prunes cost thirteen cents
At half-past one today,
And the grocer is so bald he wears
A dollar-five toupee,
And if with every pound of tea
He will give two cut-glass plates,
How soon would Willie break his face
On his new roller skates?
(Repeat Refrain)
The worst part about having your beloved fiance die is that there's no one around to do math for you! Am I right, ladies??
It's not sexist. It's about trying to save money. 😑😑😑
Look at the difference between this show and "March of the Wooden Soldiers"...the "vocal" numbers in this are the "musical" numbers and that one, and Vice Versa...
I had took the "we" as her and the kids.. o.O I could be wrong.
BREAKING NEWS -- The President and The Speaker of the House requested Annette Funicello's aid in resolving the Debt Crisis. There's only one slight dilemma... she's just as stumped as THEY are 8-P
I dont know about all the recession stuff but I know this... She's hot.
Riparadise my friend!
I'm just a silly girl! How can I ever figure out addition??
Might as well just make poor life choices. Better than having to do math!
That song turns pretty creepy when her fiance starts singing it. :/
Math is hard!
Wanst she in the mickey mouse club when she was younger??
Allie Lee yep!
The irony of this song is that it actually is made not sexist in one single verse.
"Numbers always stick our brains. Why are we so dumb?"
She's self-aware that she's not as smart as she should be, but knows that's it's likely her own fault. It's not because she she's a woman, she herself is just young and not very bright.
I know that "we" can be attributed to women in general, but it's likely Disney would have been a lot more clear if that was their intention. "We" is probably just the imaginary girls referring to themselves as the one single person.
This is different from the soundtrack version.
She died? :o
Can someone explain how this is sexist, please? I can't seem to understand.
***** Ok, now I get it. It implies that females are too dumb to do sums and that men are more clever... Wow, that's mean!
***** It's not. She's not saying "girls are dumb at math", just that she is. I totally relate--I am too!
No, you want a song that is definitely sexist look at "just a toy" from the same movie. Times were very different back in 1961. The PC police would be all over this movie these days.
Mantis1882 I noticed that one. This movie is so good, though.
I use to love this movie as a kid, but this song....just "wow" at the sexism. And it's done in such an inconspicuous way!
Erin Marie As a woman, I have to ask... How the frick is this sexist?! She's not having trouble because she's a woman, she's having trouble due to financial difficulties in a family of five and rising prices. It has nothing to due with the math.
Pyro, other then the fact that the song was written in an era where girls where literally told they weren’t as good at math as boys, the lyrics truly speak for themselves.
“Put down beans’, and cross out “cake”.
“Let me see, oh dear, me!”
“What a job to undertake.”
It’s almost too hard for her to figure out the grocery list. Not a great representation of women wouldn’t you say?
“Milk plus bread, oh my head!”
Adding milk plus bread hurts her head? Yikes!
If this was about the cost of the milk plus bread the line would have read: “Milk plus bread, how expensive!”
“This is too hard for us, we can’t do the sum.”
She doesn’t say “this is too hard for us, we can’t pay the bills.” - it’s clearly the math she and the other Marys can’t do.There is a difference between singing about the hardship of paying bills and the hardship about doing math.
“We must save the 6 percent - 6 “times” X, how complex!”
Numbers always stick our brains, why are we so dumb? This is much too hard for us, we can’t do the sum.
I’m not a great financial whiz of that, of that there is no doubt.”
Several times she refers to math as being too hard for and the other Marys in the song. She refers to herself as dumb, says she and the other Marys can’t do the sum and makes another put-down-comment about herself being no “great financial whiz”.
Did you know they’ve done studies where when adults tell girls they can’t do math, girls perform worse on math tests and when adults tell girls they can do math they perform better? Infact, there was a study down when teachers where asked to grade the tests of girls and boys in the first round. The boys were graded better than the girls. Then in the second round the same teachers where asked to grade the same papers yet this time they didn’t know the genders of the students. This time, when they didn’t know the gender, the girls tests were scored higher than the boys.
Erin Marie
Seriously, you're making it out like everything has to be literal in order for it to mean what someone says it means!!! You want to dissect lyrics? Fine, I'll play that game with your comment.
"She can't even figure out the grocery list"
It's freaking harder than you're making it out to be!!! You have to figure out what you can do without and what you absolutely need, while also figuring out if you can make it all fit in the budget.
I've seen COLLEGE AGE BOYS stand in the middle of the aisle trying to figure out what to put back on the shelf just so they can add something to the cart, and it's not an easy decision.
"Do I leave these on the shelf and try another time? Oh, but they might only be on the shelf for so long. I need the milk, so I can't put that back. Maybe I could...no wait, I need those for dinner this Friday, and we're having company over which means we need plenty of them."
And here you are, acting like everyone magically knows everything they can sacrifice vs everything they need right off the top of their heads.
It's a huge pain in the neck, and it's why people horde coupons in there houses these days.
"Oh my head" A FREAKING HEADACHE FROM THE EXPENSE OF THE BREAD AND MILK PRICES, BOTH OF WHICH THEY CANNOT DO WITHOUT!!! Seriously, that one should be obvious.
And it's a song, meaning they need to make it rhyme. Sorry but "How expensive" will NEVER rhyme with "bread" or fit within the tune. Saying "Oh my head" to highlight the pains of the prices, does rhyme.
"Can't do the sum" can also easily mean "can't figure out how to make all these things we need fit into our budget"
"I'm no financial whiz" neither am I, that doesn't make me a sexist stereotype.
You're taking EVERYTHING LITERALLY IN THE SONG!!! It's not meant to be literal, it's meant to fill up space while trying to explain her frustration in a musical manner.
The only part of your argument I can agree with is her constantly calling herself "dumb." Probably inserted to rhyme with "sum" and to highlight how she feels while doing all of it, the song could still do without it.
This was a movie for children. The song isn't meant to be literal? Because children understand the nuances of hidden meanings in songs vs the literal meaning of them? Come on Pyro. Look, I was a fan of the movie as a kid. But the lyrics are pretty disempowering for the young girls watching that movie. They would never had a song in a movie with a boy calling himself dumb and saying he couldn't do math. This song would never pass the muster for Disney movies today either.
Erin Marie Are you kidding me? There are PLENTY of movies with boys having trouble doing math and saying they hate it!!! Not to mention the dozens of kids shows with boys constantly failing their grades (Fairly Odd Parents, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, etc)
So just marry Barnaby duh!
Has she never heard of an accountant?
Also how is she so clueless about her own inheritance?
2+2=......argargagagrag call 911!!!!
Haha 50 years ago, the naive little woman who can't do anything without the man and only thinks about shoes and doing the shopping :D
This crap taught me all the wrong things about what it is to be a woman and how society will and will not let a desperate person triumph. X'D Such an endearing mess.
I'm fucking awefull at doing my sums to does that make me a women ???
Cmon everyone its just a classic film stop reading into it and enjoy the fucking thing
Yes, sexist, because all of my friends, male or female can figure an intelligent way out of debt. I only know because I'm in business and financing. Are YOU out of debt Ms. commenter? Would you know how to do your finances and settle your mortgage without any help? What about with a full house of kids to look after? What about 50 or 60 years ago?
Not about being politically correct saying the word "Asian" rather than "Oriental" is being politically correct. Saying women are bad at math because they aren't smart enough to get it is degrading. If she said "This is much to hard for me, I can't do the sum" it wouldn't matter. But she groups females together saying "We can't." It's a matter of equality, not political correctness.
I'm just a girl. I can't do, like , stupid number stuff
The old sexism is one thing, but the bouncy tune combined with essentially being about financial ruin and emotional turmoil kind of disturbs me.
poor mary she had obamacare and barnaby plese top hitting the dislike button
This song feels a little sexist ngl
Its kinda funny how sexist this song is
Women.
Film was complete crap and an insult to the 1934 film!
I was nine years old, loved this movie so and my piano teacher gave me the book of sheet music to the whole film. I truly dug this song and it was the first one that I learned to play.
Thanx so for posting, though it only took me seven years to happen upon it!