Sung to the tune of Camelot
Last summer Warner Hall grew somewhat nervous,
The students did not like the food they got;
And so they called upon a new food service,
Called Marriott!
You'll taste a treat that you will long remember,
The hot dogs here are hardly ever hot.
Your stomach's safe and sound until September,
With Marriott!
MARRIOTT!
MARRIOTT!
I know the food's a bit bizarre!
But with Marriott,
MARRIOTT!
That's how the kitchens are..
So if you ever feel like feeling run down,
Or tempt to make your taste buds disappear,
In short there's simply not,
A more convulsive spot,
To sacrifice your appetite than here, with, Marriott.
Marriott!
MARRIOTT!
If your romantically inclined,
Now with Marriott,
MARRIOTT!
You can be my Validine!
So if your health is leaning towards the ill-side,
There's nothing we can do for you, we fear.
In short there's simply not,
A more convulsive spot,
To sacrifice your appetite
Since we're with Marriott!
No author listed either, but I believe it was one of Art Benjamin babies, probably with help from Mitch Swartz and/or H3nry. Jump in if I'm wrong, if so, I apologize for the error!
Of course, Validine was (if it still isn't) the electronic food contract system where students paid into a "bank" for food and received a little plastic card with a magnetic stripe on the back (actually incorporated into the student ID.. . who woulda thunk such a thing!) Your card went into a little slot in the cash register, and, if you were lucky, the amount of your purchase was deducted from your account. Geez, it was like something out of Buck Rodgers.
We had props for this one. We all came out onstage in food service uniforms and with cafeteria trays with cups and plates glued onto them. I felt like an idiot , in the second row. On the bottom of the trays in the first row, the Marriott logo was emblazonned on each tray (I seem to remember Mitch staying up all nigh t to finish these. When the chorus came, "MARRIOTT!" the first row held up their trays, to much audience applause. Well, in the second row, each tray had one letter of the Marriott logo, to be held up when we sang the second "MARRIOTT" i n the chorus. (I had, and still have, the last "T" with the little "registered trademark" circle on it. Someday I'm going to auction it off at Harrod's). I remember vividly standing there in the back, thinking of what a fool I was goin g to be, when the first row held up there trays, and the audience went nuts. In that brief second before the next note, I stood there thinking "if they liked that, their gonna LOVE what comes next! And of course they did. We were a big hit, and it's really one of my best memories ever of my time at Pilam. (Libby, remember we were waiting together backstage to go on, completely nervous until they announced us!)
For the second chorus of the song, when we sang the "you can be my Validine" line, the four center players on stage held up their previously unrevealed trays, which, held together in tiles, made up a big facsimile of a Validine card: white with the black stripe, and a big red heart in the middle. A real show stopper. I don't care what anyone says, people love puns.