h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I read in the book 'The Salmon of Doubt' that when H2G2 was first established in 1999, Douglas Adams wrote something in the Independent on Sunday in November about unfinished business that needs to be cleared up before the year 2000.

His most niggling piece of unfinished business was the song in the Sound of Music called "Do-Re-Mi". He wrote that 'each line... takes the name of a note from the solfa scale and gives its meaning', and the business he wanted sorted out was this line:

'La, a note to follow So...'

And he wrote: 'What? Excuse me? What kind of a lame excuse for a line is that?'

Douglas Adams thought it was a placeholder that Oscar Hammerstein put in until he could think of what a 'La' actually was, but then after all, he couldn't think of anything.

So has this issue been sorted out yet, and if not, what do you think the line should be? If we sort it out four years late then it is better than not sorting it out at all!

Maybe:

'La, the chemical symbol for Lanthanum...'

Doesn't quite fit though does it?

"La-la the yellow Teletubbie..."

?

Come on! As DNA said, 'we shouldn't let the century end with such a major popular song in such an embarrassing state of disarray', despite the fact that the century has now ended.

Oh sorry Queen Bronners; I posted at the same time as you.
That sounds like a modern and considered suggestion.

Latitiude, a place not to fall from

I've got it

La - a little French female

F S

LA - stands for Los Angeles...

what is the given meaning of SO in the song then?

A needle pulling thread ( SO = sew )

F S

ah, such a clever song *sarcastic note*

so LA is a note to follow a needle pulling thread...any ideas anyone?

Crossstitch is a note to follow needle pulling thread...?

i think it has to be a pun or alternative meaning to the word 'LA'

what are the origins of DO, RE, MI, FA, SO, LA? does anyone know their original meaning?

They might stand for something, so RE obviously stands for Religious Eduction. DO, could stand for Donuts Orifice etc

very good, but in all seriousness, i think the answer could lie in how they were originally devised

DO (Doe) a deer, a female deer

RE (Ray) a drop of golden sun

MI (ME) a name I call myself

FA (Far) a long, long way to run

SO (Sew) a needle pulling thread

LA (our problem note)

TE (Tea) a drink with jam and bread

That will bring us back to DO

I still think the French Female will work, but it is up th the community.

F S

No! I'm sorry, but none of the suggestions so far will work and here's why:

By looking at FloridaSailor's excellent rendition of the song, one can see that alternate lines starting with the second actually rhyme: sun and run; and therefore (something) with DO. This, I presume, is why Oscar Hammerstein chose 'A note to follow so', because 'so' rhymes with 'do'.

Thus, we should think of a definition of 'la' that ends in a word that rhymes with 'doe'. Sorry to make the challenge even harder than it already is.

How about:
"La", a syllable never used by Poe

Edgar Allen, that is.
Might not work, as he may have actually use "La" in something.

has anybody actually ever thought that all 'LA' is, is just a note to follow so?

just a thought

But La isn't just a note to follow so because it is also the feminine determiner of French nouns and the abbreviation for Los Angeles and the chemical symbol for Lanthanum.

So unless Edgar Allen Poe wrote about Los Angeles or radioactive elements or French characters, then we have a rhyming alternative.

How about 'La - for Lanthanum to show'?
I suppose it's difficult to come up with something without using Shakespearian word order.