Wakko's America
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"Wakko's America" is a song from Animaniacs sung by Wakko Warner. It appears in an episode segment that parodies Jeopardy! while the Warner siblings are at school, where Wakko gets the daily double, bets all of his money ($100, as this was only the second "answer" of the game), and is told to name all of the fifty states of the United States of America and their respective capital cities. Wakko takes out a fiddle and begins to sing.
The song starts with a map of the United States and the melody is based on the tune of Turkey in the Straw, naming every state and its capital city. As he sings, he points to each state so it glows and a star appears, representing the capital city's location in that state.
When the song is finished, Wakko is disappointed to find out that his answer is counted as incorrect, as he forgets to answer in the form of a question, which is the format done on Jeopardy! He then proceeds to break his fiddle over his head, knocking himself out cold.
[edit] Notes
- Wakko says "Jefferson" rather than Jefferson City as the capital city of Missouri.
- Wakko refers to Oklahoma's capital city simply as "its city" rather than Oklahoma City.
- The line "And you can live in Frankfort in your old Kentucky home" is a reference to the Kentucky state song, "My Old Kentucky Home".
- Wakko pronounces Pierre as "pee-YAIR"; the city's name is pronounced "peer" by its residents. Wakko also pronounces Montpelier in the French manner, "MONT-pee-lee-YAIR", rather than "mont-PEEL-yer". These and other minor deviations (e.g., Concord NH's stress on the second syllable rather than the first) might be attributable to Wakko's heavy Scouse accent and to the need to meet the meter and rhyming patterns of the song.
- The song deviates from "Turkey In The Straw" in the final line, "That's all the capitals there are!", which is instead set to the classic musical couplet "Shave and a Haircut".
- The line "Salt Lake City out in Utah where the buffalo roam" references the first line in the classic Western ballad "Home on the Range", "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam". It is notable that despite the line referencing Utah, "Home on the Range" has been the state song of Kansas since 1947.
- Wakko mentions Washington D.C., even though it isn't a state capital, nor in any state, but is the country's capital. This may also fall under poetic license.
- In a cameo appearance on Freakazoid!, Wakko starts to sing this song but is quickly interrupted by the show's titular character wanting to know what he's doing.
- Wakko jumps on Kansas and forms a dust cloud. This is a reference to the 1930's Dust Bowl.
- Delaware and Rhode Island are not near each other. No state that touches one touches the other.
