Song of the Day 12/28: The Smothers Brothers, “Boil That Cabbage Down”

Tom Smothers, the comic half of the squabbling Smothers Brothers, died Tuesday at age 86. Though they’ll always be remembered for having their top-rated variety show axed by CBS in 1969 for its criticism of the war in Vietnam, I remember them more for bringing some levity to audiences years earlier, during the Great Folk Music Scare.

Folk music in the early ’60s wasn’t in the confessional style we call folk music today. Civil rights, union solidarity and anti-war sentiment were serious stuff, even with traditional tunes mixed in. Tom and his younger brother Dick played those traditional folk songs, or rather they started them. They never finished before an argument broke out.

They first reached a national audience on the Tonight Show in 1961, when Jack Paar was still the host. They made lots of TV guest appearances over the next few years like this one from 1963. “Boil That Cabbage Down” was part of their act for decades, though they frequently varied the specifics of their disagreement.

Their onstage personalities were a reflection of their offstage relationship, which Tommy described as “like an old marriage – a lot of fighting and no sex.” They even went to a couples counselor later in their career, and both credited it with preventing the breakup of their act. They were planning to tour again before Tom was diagnosed with lung cancer last year.

Their act translated well to a network variety show, as their rendition of “Waltzing Matilda” demonstrated.

Tom played the fool onstage, but he was sharper than most people realized, and committed to the anti-war movement. Six weeks after the comedy hour was cancelled, he was with John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the Montreal hotel room where they recorded “Give Peace a Chance.”

He was also a more versatile comedian that was generally appreciated. Here’s how the Smothers Brothers made their final “Tonight Show” appearance, on one of Johnny Carson’s farewell shows.