[Kevin Rainbow]

Rocky was a flying squirrel, not a raccoon.

[John Riley]

There seems to be a trend among millennials and those younger to hate the Beatles. It is silly, of course, but so much of youth is silly. I think they see it as quintessential boomer music and mocking boomers is very much in style, much as boomers mocked the older generation years ago. The Beatles have been caught up in this so it isn't cool to like the Beatles. My son, however, who just turned twenty-seven and is a talented violinist, loves the Beatles because he recognizes their genius. He also loves Dylan, who is someone so many young people have never listened to. I don't know if this would have any effect on your poem, but suspect it will among certain age groups.

[Julie Steiner]

I didn't recognize "Rocky Raccoon" as a Beatles song. Basically, the only Beatles songs I knew were the ones that got airplay on Top 40 radio stations in the 1970s. (And I haven't expanded my Beatles repertoire much since. I discovered "Blackbird" for the first time a few years ago.)

On encountering "Rocky Raccoon" in a poem, I would have assumed it was the theme song of a children's show I'd never heard of, and moved on without bothering to look it up.

The answer to question "to note or not to note" comes down to how important it is to you that every reader catch the reference to its lyrics.

[Roger Slater]

I'm stunned, Julie. It's such an "iconic" song (hate that word). I'd say half the planet of a certain age has the lyrics embedded deep in their neurons. Here.

[Matt Q]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

On encountering "Rocky Raccoon" in a poem, I would have assumed it was the theme song of a children's show I'd never heard of, and moved on without bothering to look it up.

Yes, cartoon is also what it suggested to me. I think I'd have assumed it was a US cartoon that hadn't made it to the UK, or a kids cartoon that pre- or post-dated my childhood.

[Aaron Novick]

Perhaps it would be more resonant if Mr. Mustachio were crooning WAP?

[Julie Steiner]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

I'm stunned, Julie. It's such an "iconic" song (hate that word). I'd say half the planet of a certain age has the lyrics embedded deep in their neurons. Here.

I was born to a religiously conservative family in 1968--the same year that the White Album (containing "Rocky Raccoon") was released, and two years after John Lennon had blasphemously said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. So I was given zero opportunity to hear obscure songs on Beatle double albums. If a song wasn't on the Top 40 pop or country and western charts between late 1973 and 1986, so that I could hear it on the school bus, I missed it.

Granted, my television-less, painfully wholesome household in a tiny, rural community in the Mojave Desert was not representative.

[Max Goodman]

I suppose everyone has their own version of the pop cultural landscape. I can sing most of "Rocky Raccoon" by heart, like most Beatles' songs, but its place in my landscape is a lot closer to its place in Julie's than to its place in Roger's. Obscure.

[Allen Tice]

Sic transit, gloria mundi, which in the common speech means “Amtrak delay, Gloria ETA next week, sorry, your snookums, XOXOX Gloria,” or “So brief is the fame of this world,” as the Latin teacher had both translations in her cornball story mix. Probably even Donald J. Oops is more famous than the Beatles now. I liked visiting the Mohave area myself. I read Julie’s recent post with some comprehension, since I periodically dove into the world of certain ethno-religious conservative relatives whom I actually liked quite a bit. Still, I didn’t have to live every day with them. Anyway, I think to use the reference without a note is unkind to the poem.

[E. Shaun Russell]

I'm 41 and know the song well, though I have a fairly significant musical background, so I'm not representative either.

But personally I think familiarity with the song might be besides the point. Milton and Joyce pack Paradise Lost and Ulysses with allusions that even the most erudite among us would miss. I'm very much of a mind with Jane -- in this day and age, anyone who reads this poem and doesn't know the song will just look it up. It's always ideal when people catch allusions, but I don't think it's necessary. At least, that's what Holmardinzo said when Periamplus quoted from The Andris Bharglyphia.