At the risk of destroying the alluring mystique of "Hey Paul," I will here attempt to explain its origins (at least of its name). My two best friends (Steve and Toby) and I wrote ourselves a little song based on our perceptions of Paul Bunyon. My memory here is a little fuzzy; this may have been composed while at camp as a way to pass KP duty or while returning from Taco Bell as a way to annoy our Sunday School teacher (Shirley). I seem to recall another KP song (Hi hi, hi ho. It's off to work we go. Where the plates are clean and cups are dry. Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho.), so I'm leaning more towards the later timeframe. Anyway, the full song goes:

First singer: Hey Paul

Second Singer: Hey Paul

Third Singer: Hey Paul

All together now: Paul Bunyon. He's six foot three and real real strong. And he knows how to get the women, women women (echoing).


This song would have died a quick and painless death had it not been for the fact that my friends and I were incredibly immature. We made a deal with each other; that anytime any one of us started the song, the others had to follow suit--no matter where we were or what other activities we might be engaged in. So you might find yourself walking down the hall talking with some of your more mature friends, when you'd hear the call--Hey Paul--and lest you risk excommunication, you'd better respond in kind. Thankfully, we only had to proceed with the echoing of "Hey Paul" and not the full verse. To this day, I think we still do this every once in a while when we get together. Ah, the memories.

So anyway, when I started messing around with flickr and needed a "name," Hey Paul seemed as good as any. And then when I started blogging, I naturally stuck with it.

So there you have it. Paul is not my middle name (Calvin is). If I ever decide to start another blog, I may call it "Bill Day." But that's another story.

On a related note, fourdeadfish has a we bit about the origins of the new artwork by Amie Barnett. To which I say, thank you. I am a mean libertarian. If mean means not wanting to give a crap about all the worlds problems and wishing everyone would just take care of themselves for a change. If that makes me an asshole to boot, then so be it. But I'm right.

Dang, and I said I wasn't gonna go personal. I better go scour the web for something to piss me off. Happy blogging.

Posted by Hey Paul   |   Tuesday, March 29, 2005