Clare Briggs

Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.

Related Post Roulette

8 Responses

  1. Brandon Berg says:

    It’s called sum pot because the amount of money in to the pot is equal to the sum of all the contributions. Product pots, much like pot products, are banned under federal law.Report

  2. Jaybird says:

    I didn’t know it was an Irving Berlin song, but I shouldn’t be surprised.

    I imagine that most Gen Xers first heard the song in the same place I first heard it: Cartoons.

    Report

    • Brandon Berg in reply to Jaybird says:

      Apparently the full song is called “The Near Future.” There’s a video of the lyric on YouTube, but it has no audio. I can’t find the full song, even on paid streaming services:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Near_FutureReport

      • Brandon Berg in reply to Brandon Berg says:

        Notably, although the song, a dialogue between a customer at a restaurant and a waiter who offers him only soft drinks, is clearly about Prohibition, it was written the year before Prohibition was enacted, hence the title.Report

        • Jaybird in reply to Brandon Berg says:

          I had no idea! Whenever I’ve heard the song sung, it was with a drunken slur.

          [Man:]
          How dry I am, how dry I am
          It’s plain to see just why I am
          No alcohol in my highball
          And that is why so dry I am
          Waiter, Waiter

          [Waiter:]
          What do you want? What do you want?

          [Man:]
          I’m just as thirsty as can be

          [Waiter:]
          What’ll you have? What’ll you have?

          [Man:]
          Suggest a little drink for me

          [Waiter:]
          Of the very finest soft drinks we have all the best

          [Man:]
          I don’t know a thing about them
          What would you suggest?

          [Waiter:]
          Have a little Coca-Cola
          Really, it’s a lovely drink
          Percy, Clarence, Reginald, too
          They will recommend it to you
          Have a little Coca-Cola
          It’s the very best I think
          It isn’t alcoholic but you can have a frolic
          If you take enough to drink

          [Man:]
          They are much too dry

          [Waiter:]
          Then how’d you like to try
          Sarsaparilla, try sarsaparilla
          Sarsaparilla ought to do
          Rockefeller drinks sarsaparilla
          And what’s good enough for Rockefeller
          Is good enough for youReport

    • Burt Likko in reply to Jaybird says:

      When I was a very small child watching these Saturday morning cartoons I had no trouble at all recognizing that this was a song people sang when they were drunk. No one was hiding the ball here.Report