From: will.dockery@gmail.com   
      
   On Tuesday, October 15, 2013 at 6:49:47 PM UTC-4, Michael Black wrote:   
   > On Wed, 25 Sep 2013, Joel Polowin wrote:   
   >   
   > > I've enjoyed listening to Arlo Guthrie's "Ring-Around-A-Rosy   
   > > Rag" for a long time; it's upbeat and catchy.  But I've never   
   > > been able to figure out what it's really *about*.  (Not the   
   > > nursery rhyme, which according to incorrect folklore refers   
   > > to the Black Death; Guthrie's unrelated song.  "Ring around,   
   > > ring around Rose / Touch your nose and blow your toes /   
   > > And mind after doin' the Ring-Around-A-Rosy-Rag.")  Can   
   > > anyone here help?   
   > >   
   > I always figured it was just a nonsense song, kind of like some of Woody's   
   > children's songs.  Musically I like it, so maybe Arlo was trying other   
   > things musically; I'm not sure it sounds like the rest of his recorded   
   > work. So maybe the lyrics didn't matter.   
   >   
   > Of course, maybe it's a reference to drugs, something that just occurs to   
   > me in looking up the lyrics.   
   >   
   >     Went in the park late at night   
   >     And he put a lot of people over eighty up tight   
   >   
   > KIds often hung around in the park at night, and older people would be   
   > upset.   
   >   
   > The Motorcycle Song off the same album makes more sense, but still is   
   > pretty vague.  I assume the pickle is in there becuase it sort of rhymes   
   > with motorcycle.   
   >   
   >    Michael   
      
   But "people over 80"?   
      
   That was REALLY old for the times, 50 years ago, when even folks over 30 were   
   not to be trusted...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)