Dilly Dilly

Contrary to some recent internet descriptions for the Budweiser commercial, dilly dilly is not new. Versions of the song date back to at least the 1700s. Below typical version (name back then was 'Lavender's Blue', from1849.
    Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
    When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen:
    Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
    'Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.

Other versions from the 1940s were sung by Burl Ives and Dinah Shore. In addition, this is my favorite version from 1959 'Lavender Blue' by Sammy Turner. LINK            

American Brands or Not

Do you know which of these ten brands are American owned?
Lucky Strike, Budweiser, Vaseline, Good Humor, Hellman's (mayonnaise), Purina, French's (condiments), Frigidaire, Popsicle, 7-Eleven

Answer, None.

Lucky Strike, England
Budweiser, Belgium
Vaseline, England
Good Humor, England
Hellman's, England
Purina, Switzerland
French's England
Frigidaire, Sweden
Popsicle, England,
7-Eleven, Japan

Kind of looks like England is buying the US back, one brand at a time. It has made its strike to take our good humor and other things to just rub it in and on us. At least we have Krafted a way with some Mondelēz to get back some sweets by taking over Cadbury a few years ago.

Seven Un-American Brands

Firestone tires was bought out in 1988 by Bridgestone, a Japanese rubber conglomerate based in Tokyo.

Dial soap was bought in 2004 by by Henkel KGaA, of Germany.

Shell Oil Company is the US-based affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell from Netherlands.

Church's Chicken was sold in 2004 Arcapita of Bahrain (it removed bacon from its menu due to Sharia law).

Holiday Inn is now owned by British InterContinental Hotels Group PLC.

The Chrysler building in New York is now owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.

Budweiser is now owned by Belgian company InBev.

Also, GM, Walmart, Symantec, Kodak (what's left of it), and McDonald's now get the majority of sales outside of the US. In fact, 53.6% of total sales from all the S&P companies were made outside of the US.

Lady Godiva and Lady Gaga

It just occurred to me that we should send Lady Gaga to Washington and she can do for us what Lady Godiva did for Coventry. Hey, it worked before. I am sure Budweiser would lend her a horse. Then we could decide what to do with our tax money and eliminate the middlemen, who have not been doing a very good job lately.

Six Brands That You Thought Were All American

Some common names in the US have non-American owners.

Henkel KGaA, Germany, owns Dial Soap

Arcapita, Bahrain, owns Church's Fried Chicken - (that's why they took bacon off the menu)

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, UK, owns Holiday Inn

Abu Dhabi Investment Council, UAE, owns the Chrysler building in NY

Seven & I Holdings, Japan, owns Denny’s and 7Eleven

Willis Group Holdings, UK, owns the former Sears Tower in Chicago, now officially called Willis Tower

InBev, Belgium, owns Budweiser.