Meaning of "there's trouble in River City"

Discussion:

(too old to reply)

nutsmuggler

2007-05-05 14:21:32 UTC

Hello folks,
I cannot understand clarly the meaning of the expression "there's
trouble in river city" (sometimes it's capitalised, sometimes it
isn't). I guess it is a quote, but I can't find the source, nor the
meaning....
Thanks in advance,
Davide

tinwhistler

2007-05-05 14:24:25 UTC

Permalink

Post by nutsmuggler
Hello folks,
I cannot understand clarly the meaning of the expression "there's
trouble in river city" (sometimes it's capitalised, sometimes it
isn't). I guess it is a quote, but I can't find the source, nor the
meaning....
Thanks in advance,
Davide

_Music Man_.

--

Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

nutsmuggler

2007-05-05 14:30:13 UTC

Permalink

Post by tinwhistler

_Music Man_.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

Thanks :-)
I gather the meaning is smothing like "We have big troubles here"; it
reminds me a bit of the Apollo 13 line "Houston, we have a problem",
right?
Davide

nutsmuggler

2007-05-05 14:30:38 UTC

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Post by tinwhistler

_Music Man_.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

Thanks :-)
I gather the meaning is smothing like "We have big troubles here"; it
reminds me a bit of the Apollo 13 line "Houston, we have a problem",
right?
Davide

Jeffrey Turner

2007-05-05 17:10:53 UTC

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Post by nutsmuggler

Post by tinwhistler

_Music Man_.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

Thanks :-)
I gather the meaning is smothing like "We have big troubles here"; it
reminds me a bit of the Apollo 13 line "Houston, we have a problem",
right?

More like the "trouble" is an exaggeration. I believe the "trouble" in
River City in _The Music Man_ was a place to play pool (billiards).

--Jeff

--
We know now that Government by
organized money is just as dangerous
as Government by organized mob.
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

tinwhistler

2007-05-05 14:32:06 UTC

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Post by tinwhistler

_Music Man_.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

Meredith Willson's _Music Man_ had the song, "Ya Got Trouble," which
would appear to be the source of the expression, online at
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/themusicman/yagottrouble.htm
The meaning of the phrase is apparent from the first stanza:

Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.

--

Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

CDB

2007-05-05 15:14:05 UTC

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Post by tinwhistler

_Music Man_.
--
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego

Meredith Willson's _Music Man_ had the song, "Ya Got Trouble," which
would appear to be the source of the expression, online at
http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/themusicman/yagottrouble.htm
Well, either you're closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.

I agree with Tinwhistler. Maybe it would also help you to understand
some uses of the expression to know that _The Music Man_ is a musical
comedy about a salesman who comes to a small town (River City) and
tries to frighten the people there into spending a lot of money to
start a brass band, as a cure for a problem that he invents for them
(Trouble): the idleness of the local youth. The phrase, in many
contexts, may be being used ironically.

Here is a link to the movie version of the song:

Todd H.

2007-05-05 15:01:02 UTC

Permalink

It's a pop culture reference and a quote as yu surmised. Youtube is
great for this. :-)

Ya Got Trouble from the Music Man

It's just a quote that can be referenced any time there's a problem.
See also "Danger Will Robinson" from the TV show Lost in Space.

--
Todd H.
http://toddh.net/

nutsmuggler

2007-05-05 15:10:33 UTC

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Post by Todd H.

It's a pop culture reference and a quote as yu surmised. Youtube is
great for this. :-)
Ya Got Trouble from the Music Man
http://youtu.be/LI_Oe-jtgdI
It's just a quote that can be referenced any time there's a problem.
See also "Danger Will Robinson" from the TV show Lost in Space.
--
Todd H. http://toddh.net/

Thanks folks,
Davide

u***@gmail.com

2007-05-06 01:11:02 UTC

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Post by Todd H.

You do know that whenever you say "Danger Will Robinson!",
you must clench your elbows tightly against your ribcage and
wave your forearms up and down with your hands flopping
loosely.

[8~{} Uncle Monster

Martin Ambuhl

2007-05-05 16:37:06 UTC

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"The Music Man" by Meredith Willson.
The protagonist, "Professor" Harold Hill, is a traveling salesman. In
order to create a climate to sell his musical instruments he first
raises the alarm of moral degeneration of the young (the epigones of
another thread). That is the trouble afflicting River City. Its cure is
to create a marching band, equipped with his products.

This is a scheme very like creating an atmosphere of hysteria over WMDs,
the result of which is to move huge piles of money to Haliburton and
give control of Iraq's natural resources to the US (and to the oilmen
that populated GWB's closed-meeting and secret-membership energy
task-force).

tinwhistler

2007-05-05 18:49:00 UTC

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On May 5, 9:37 am, Martin Ambuhl <***@earthlink.net> wrote:
[snip]

Post by Martin Ambuhl
This is a scheme very like creating an atmosphere of hysteria over WMDs,

[snip]

Add in (via Leo Strauss, Irving Kristol, and Karl Rove) the atmosphere
of terror created by the "war on terror" response to 9/11. The media
and the beltwayers played along with the Halliburtons to the point of
a take-over of our government, which now is a government of the
Halliburtons, by the Halliburtons, and for the Halliburtons (all
dissenters are traitors, Islamofascists, etc). The "reign of terror"
was a term applied to the most violent part of the French Revolution,
paving the way for the French absolutist emperor, Napoleon. Our
Constitution has been destroyed and the vestiges of so-called
"democracy" are fast-disappearing.

--

Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego