Comments on: Sold!

Sold!

LeeJay — Mon, 30 May 2005 14:31:10 -0800

Audio recordings of World Livestock Auctioneer Championship winners. mp3s of every champion from 1963 through 2004, with the exception of 1970. Strangely hypnotic. [Via the J-Walk Blog]

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Mon, 30 May 2005 14:43:08 -0800

I'm partial to 1997 champion Joe Frazier, myself.

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Mon, 30 May 2005 14:54:03 -0800

Brings my childhood right out to the top of my consciousness: the smells of mud, barns, the refreshments table (usually a home-made collection of potato salads and hot dogs), dusty junk brought up from a cellar, cow manure, and hay; the sounds of bellowing cattle, squealing pigs, tractors and trucks firing up as bidders give the goods a going-over; the matter-of-fact conversation of farmers and good ole boys, each with one leg inevitably perched on the bumper of a truck, on a stump, or on anything just high enough that they could comfortably lean forward into the standing crouch for as long as it took to talk business; and the walk through overgrown grass and weeds, over marshy ditches, from where we parked on some field or gravel road, in the middle of a line or row of pickup trucks. I liked looking over someone else's things laid out on doors and plywood on sawhorses.

By: goatdog

goatdog — Mon, 30 May 2005 15:43:16 -0800

Werner Herzog's How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck is a brilliant little documentary about world championship cattle auctioneers. It's pretty amazing.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Mon, 30 May 2005 17:48:03 -0800

Whoa...it's incredible somebody actually understands what they're saying ? All I get are some number here and there.

By: argybarg

argybarg — Mon, 30 May 2005 17:52:17 -0800

This is a nice reminder that although we think folkways are disappearing in America, they're often there where we didn't think to look.

By: freebird

freebird — Mon, 30 May 2005 17:57:20 -0800

That is a great link, thanks so much. My fiance was convinced it was that chopped-up techno style (like Amon Tobin's done some of lately) and was waiting for the goofy break beats to come in over the processed vocals :)

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Mon, 30 May 2005 18:09:06 -0800

freebird: I found myself bouncing along to each auctioneer and thinking how similar some of the rhythms were to techno songs I have heard. Mo Nickels: That is lovely. I'd like to visit such a place.

By: homodigitalis

homodigitalis — Mon, 30 May 2005 18:16:34 -0800

EXCELLENT!

By: Hanover Phist

Hanover Phist — Mon, 30 May 2005 18:28:03 -0800

This rocks. Lee Jay, Joe Frazier indeed. Great post.

By: thedevildancedlightly

thedevildancedlightly — Mon, 30 May 2005 18:29:13 -0800

Is there an English translation somwhere?

By: anthill

anthill — Mon, 30 May 2005 18:32:28 -0800

I think it goes like: 1 dollar, one dollar, we got one dollar here, we got one dollar and two dollars, thank you sir. and a quarter, two dollar, and fifty, two... :P

By: dead_

dead_ — Mon, 30 May 2005 19:06:58 -0800

Wow. Brought back a lot of memories. Great link.

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Mon, 30 May 2005 19:18:26 -0800

That is dizzying just listening to it. I want to hear one of them tackle Reunion's "Life is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)."

By: First Post

First Post — Mon, 30 May 2005 19:28:40 -0800

Good post, thanks for this. d00d from Sufferin' Springs won in 88! wooo, locals represent :) Right on freebird...I see a lot of similarities between stuff like this and, say, dancehall toasters and junglist MCs...

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Mon, 30 May 2005 20:01:26 -0800

This is a really cool site. Thanks!

By: sbutler

sbutler — Mon, 30 May 2005 21:23:46 -0800

That is great. Central Illinois boy here, born and raised, and this certainly brings back fond memories. My parents used to take me to all the country estate auctions. Laid out on large hay trailers would be a person's entire life. I'd stand motionless (didn't want to accidently bid on anything) while these bits of a life were sold one by one. The auctioneer was always accompanied by some helpers that would carefully walk among the items on the trailer, holding aloft whatever people were currently bidding on. Thanks a lot LeeJay.

By: RecordBrother

RecordBrother — Mon, 30 May 2005 21:54:47 -0800

OhYeaLeeJaythisROCKSinawayIcan'tevenexpressatthismoment ThankYou

By: thedailygrowl

thedailygrowl — Mon, 30 May 2005 22:50:56 -0800

Thanks this is great stuff. I tried firing about 3 or 4 of these up at the same time which was quite interesting.

By: tomplus2

tomplus2 — Tue, 31 May 2005 08:32:19 -0800

love it! I was just going to look this up!

By: kenaman

kenaman — Tue, 31 May 2005 08:42:22 -0800

Brilliant. Brilliant. Thanks LeeJay.

By: Ogre Lawless

Ogre Lawless — Tue, 31 May 2005 11:22:29 -0800

To order an audio CD of all past champions... Stocking stuffer SOLD! to the Californian.