more Cache Cache

[dana hartwell deer <deerdana@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu>]

> The song is about Pete being drunk and ending up at a zoo in Germany
> that was known for their bears and bear pits. Of course being Pete, he
> didn't find a single bear in there....cache, cache.

Plus, here's a historical note Pete may or may not have been aware of:

Back in early America "in the days when men were men" and the frontier
was being settled by Pete's friends with the slanty eyes (and even
before then), pioneers would hunt for their meals while trail blazing,
because weeks and weeks of food were hard to fit into a backpack
while tearing through the rugged wilderness. Now for those of us who
have been alive since before the agricultural revolution, we know that
trying to make one's living by hunting is very feast or famine, so to
speak. When the hunters managed to kill a big enough critter, they 
would eat what they could and carry what they could, but most of the
animal would be leftover. Therefor, the pioneer would dig a big hole
in the ground and bury the leftover food along with perhaps some 
excess supplies and equipment that were encumbering him. This hole
would be covered and treated in such a way as to prevent it from being
broken into by hunger varmits, such as the bear. Such a hole was called
a "CACHE". Often, another settler would find himself making his way
along a trail to the frontier and would find that his luck in hunting
and gathering was less than adequate. Alone (or accompanied by a few
others in his same predicament) on the trail, the settler would be
starving, scared, tired, and in drastic need of relief. If he was
lucky, he would stumble upon a CACHE! (How the food was kept from
spoiling I do not know.) If the CACHE was constructed properly, the
food and equipment would be there in good condition, bear free.
However, some CACHEs were poorly built and became the home of such
nasty beasts as bears, in which case a depleted settler would be in
for a nasty surprise. Another advantage of a well made CACHE was that
it would be warmer and less windy than above ground in the cold season.
If a CACHE was big enough, a tent could easily fit there and be a much
warmer and safer lodging than the ground above.
I wonder if that is somehow the basis of the childrens' game. 
Whether or not Pete knew this, it adds a lot of texture to the song.
Of course, it's kind of cooler to think that he did know. 

> Some of his best songs came about when he was drunk off his ass.

As Al Bundy once said, "The brain doesn't need blood, you just have to
keep it wet!" Even if Pete merely intended the song as a bad joke,
it works as a real song, and he sings it like he means it on Scoop
(even if just for comic exhaggeration).

Why wouldn't the Who do Cache Cache live just because it was a joke song?
They did Squeeze Box live, after all. Not to mention Happy Jack (and who
knows what the hell that one is about). Was it somehow a particularly
degrading joke?

Well, I guess any case, it just wouldn't be the same
without the spine tingling drums of Kenny Jones. Just kidding!

- -Hart Deer
(deerdana@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu)