On Today's Alley Oop, 14 February 2022.

I haven't commented on this strip for quite a while  because the basic lack of logic in the stories, the total disregard for the long established basic premises that made this strip so great, the abysmal art and the even more abysmal choice of background colors, the Sunday strip, the utter stupidness of the main characters, the lack of true dramatic conflice - gee, is there anything good about this version of "Oop"? Soemtimes I don't even know where to begin. But today, at the start of a new story where Alley and Ooola travel to Utopia, Joey tries to be funny by ripping off a classic Talking Heads' song, "Nothing But Flowers". 

The song deals with a post-apocalyptic world where all of the "mod cons" of our world have vanished and people resort to eating nuts and berries, among other less attractive alternatives. David Bynre sings:

"We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
We got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall
Now it's all covered with flowers
You've got it, you've got it

If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
You've got it, you've got it"

Byrne later laments that he misses the "cherry pies, candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies". In other words, in the search for a life free of the ills of the modern world, you also get rid of the little things in life that we not only take for granted but we would surely miss if we lived in this Utopian paradise. At the end of the song, Byrme sings "don't leave me stranded here, I can't get used to this lifestyle", exactly oposite to Oop saying he could used to this place.

Sayers is, of course, free to use whatever she wants as inspiration for a story. But, if history is any guide, this is not likely to be done well and, rather then being a tribute to Byrne, is more likely to end up as an insult. And, for goodness sakes. If you're going to use the lawnmower line, at least due the decent thing and acknowledge where you stole the line.