Black Friday 2024

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It is rare for me to post on consecutive days, but one of the occasions on which I have done this is for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday: they go together as companion pieces, I think.  I have posted several times for Black Friday, but had a bit of a break until I started again last year. This is another US tradition which has made its way to these shores, and being the day after Thanksgiving it is a public holiday in about half of US states: many private employers give their staff the day off too. It marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season, and has been part of US tradition for more than 60 years: the name was first given to it by the police in Philadelphia (aka Philly PD) some time around 1960, to describe the pedestrian and traffic chaos that it caused. It used to have the same effect here, with scenes of people fighting over ‘bargains’ in stores like Asda, but thankfully our shopping habits have returned to something more civilised in recent years.

Initially I posted factual pieces for the day, but then began ‘celebrating’ it in music, as you might expect from me. The first time I included a song in these posts was in 2019 – this one:

As I said back then I don’t think Rusty Cage is likely to make it as a world class singer, but he has rather nailed today! I expanded my posts in 2020 with a few more tunes loosely related to the concept of shopping and the art of the deal. I shared them again last year and am playing an edited set today, as many of you have joined me in recent years and won’t have seen them here before.

Despite its adoption as the name for today’s shopping bonanza, I first came across the phrase – as I suspect many others did – as the opening track on Steely Dan’s album Katy Lied:

As you will have seen from that helpful lyric video, the song is nothing to do with shopping. The excellent Songfacts site says this about it:

“Long before the term came to denote the shopping frenzy on the day after Thanksgiving, Steely Dan released this song about the original “Black Friday,” when on Friday, September 24, 1869 a failed ploy left many wealthy investors broke. The investors tried to corner the market on gold, buying as much of it as they could and driving up the price, but when the government found out, it released $4 million worth of gold into the market, driving down the price and clobbering the investors.”

And for good measure they also clear up the Australian reference:

“While the song is about events in the US, it mentions a town in Australia: “Fly down to Muswellbrook.” Muswellbrook is a rural town two hours North of Sydney that is full of kangaroos (thus the line, “Nothing to do but feed all the kangaroos”). It’s possible that Walter Becker and Donald Fagen selected the name of Muswellbrook from an atlas, mainly because it worked well with the next line, “I’m going to strike out all the big red words from my little black book.” They also wanted a place far away from Los Angeles.”

So now you know!

Nowadays we all know the name as being synonymous with sales and the search for bargains, and it seems to begin earlier every year: I’ve been receiving emails announcing Black Friday sales since the start of this month, although they have intruded a little on the annual Christmas promotion (which begins in September, of course). But at least it will all be over by the official start of the Easter shopping season on 26 December, and the return of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs and their poor spelling. There are several songs about the dangers of bargain hunting, and today is as good a day as any for them. Here’s one you may know:

I leave it to you to decide what ‘bargains’ Dolly may have been offering, but as the song was banned in some of the more prudish parts of the US it isn’t difficult to work out! It’s a pity that her bargains were all used, though: finding anything amongst all that hair would have been fun…

Some bargains come with unforeseen costs, however, so beware – not all deals can be taken at face value:

Sadly, Charlie Daniels passed away a few years back, but that is still a great song to be remembered by. His fiddle playing is incredible, though I don’t think he’d done a deal…

I’m going to leave you with another cautionary tale about the dangers of becoming addicted to shopping:

I guess many of us will be taking to the interweb to seek out our bargains, as we have been doing particularly since the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and beyond meant that we had the choice between going to stores and dying in the stampede of bargain hunters or from their germs, or staying at home and shopping in comfort. I just hope you don’t do it like Weird Al! Watching that puts me in mind of those antique shows that are often on tv, when people spend silly money on rusty old rubbish – and then someone else pays even sillier money for it at auction. If I were looking for used bargains I know which of these videos I’d want to follow up – I’m pretty sure the return on my investment would be better, and it would be fun.

In case you think Black Friday is inescapable there are some places where there aren’t any bargains to be had, as not everyone takes part…


I hope you have fun hunting your bargains, and don’t then find that you could have bought the same thing for less when the ‘sales’ are over – check the small print as it can happen! I’ve decided that I already have more than enough stuff and don’t plan on making any purchases, so I think I should be safe from the advertisers’ blandishments. As long as I don’t open my emails, that is…

 

48 thoughts on “Black Friday 2024”

  3. Just like the UK, Canada has also adopted the idea of Black Friday sales. Loved your videos! 😆 The Shopping frenzy is insane and I mostly go online, where it’s safe from the hordes of crazed shoppers. But only if I actually need something. You’re spot on about the price manipulations that vendors pull off! Excellent Steely Dan tune and background info about the song. Thanks! Weird Al was the perfect finale. 😀

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  6. My one and only foray into the madness was (many) moons ago my dear daughter persuaded me to queue with her for the Next sale it was my worst nightmare combined all those people so NO to Black Friday unless its online from the comfort of my armchair where I can also check prices elsewhere and maybe get a real bargain…loved weird Al…xx

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  8. Clive, thanks for the context on the Steely Dan song. As for the shopping day, exporting Black Friday to other countries is not something the US should be proud of. I choose not to shop on Black Friday because of the madness. Keith

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  9. You couldn’t pay me enough to go shopping on Black Friday. I’m not a fan of shopping to begin with but especially being surrounded by people who lose all sense of perspective. The irony is this is the day following Thanksgiving.

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  10. These are terrific, Clive; I especially enjoyed Dolly and, of course, Weird Al! I get such a kick out of Dolly Parton; she’s so down to earth, unpretentious and extremely generous. I think you’ll enjoy this clip from Conan O’Brien’s show; it gave me a good laugh!

    I do not like shopping; I just never had the patience for it. Needless to say, I’ve never gone shopping on Black Friday. Like most people these days, I’d rather stay home and shop online while racking up my bonus points on Amazon.

    Thanks for another great post, Clive. 😊

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    • I’m glad you liked them: that Weird Al one is typically clever. I hated shopping at any time unless it was a record or book shop. Now that I can’t get out I’m spared it anyway – doing things online is so much easier 😊

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  12. Pingback: A Bit Of Black Friday Humour (& Tunes, Too!) | Filosofa's Word

  14. Rusty Cages song really gets down to the chase, in a bad way. And what is it with large parts of the US and their patented blend of showy patriotism blended with small minded prudishness? I’m not a huge Parton fan but she does a fine job on this song, and yet the village/Church elders want to save our ears from her scandalous words? Sh- seesh! Ah well. ‘Enjoy the Black Friday splurges, pay for the hangover on Bankrupt Monday.’

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    • He’s very clever – even if he can’t sing!

      That’s a pretty good description of a large percentage of US citizens, the ones who think it is ‘Christian’ to react badly to tales like the one Dolly is telling.

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  16. Love this post, Clive!!! So much so that I’m reblogging it this afternoon for my p.m. post! You couldn’t pay me enough money to make me go out of my house on Black Friday!!! Daughter Chris does it every year, but not me! I hate crowds and these days don’t much like people. Even when I was younger and could get around better, I refused to leave the house on Black Friday! These days, with my limited physical abilities, I do all my shopping online (though NEVER on Ebay!)

    I actually knew one of these songs … Charlie Daniels … and have played that one once or twice on my blog. Enjoyed Dolly’s, too! The first and last ones made me chuckle!

    And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to do some online Christmas shopping … 🤭

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    • Thank you, Jill, I’m glad you liked it that much!

      I’m the same – even when I could go out I always avoided shops on sale days. Nowadays I just have to resist the blandishments of copious emails!

      As you’ll have gathered I wasn’t going for an entirely serious set of songs with this one 😊

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  19. I’m not a fan of Black Friday but you lightened it up by sharing some songs. Love that Jack Daniel’s song! Weird Al is pretty good too. Mind you, hubby just ordered badly need tires for our car at half the price so I guess it’s not all bad.

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  20. My phone company sent me a text regarding some whizz-bang phone at a special Black Friday deal of £548 off!!!??????. So I checked this item, which retails at £999, and read the specifications then the reviews….
    They were written in English but of the Hi-Tech version, and thus I was left unsure as to whether you could use the phone to actually make a phone call.
    Though I bet folk are scrambling like mad to get this masterpiece of tech.

    The classic Charlie Daniels video from way back, one thing – the keyboard player with one arm in a cast….what a trouper and the band’s confidence in him to still deliver the goods.

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      • I came away rather perplexed on account of the fact that a whole younger generation were not just talking techie stuff I did not understand but doing it too, like it was day to day. Still, we know how to sharpen pencils, add up columns of figures and do our ‘times tables’ which will be invaluable gifts during that aftermath of that massive EMP beloved of a certain type of writer. 😀👍.

        On a lighter note. 1979 and the video and song are still fresh…
        One line
        ‘Granny, does your dog bite? No, child, no’
        Had to smile….
        Here’s North Mississippi Allstars doing the whole song:

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