On Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 12:55:05 PM UTC-4, 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?   
   >    
   > Thanks!   
      
   Back around 1965 or 1966 some friends and I were walking to a gig around the   
   corner from Rittenhouse Square. The square has a circular fountain in it, and   
   my friends got lost circling the fountain, and ended up holding hands and   
   chanting Ring-A-Round-A-   
   Rosy, for which they were promptly arrested - charged with "disorderly   
   ring-a-round-a-rosy playing." I was not among the arrested, but went to the   
   gig at The 2nd Fret, got onstage and wrote the song then and there. For   
   decades I've introduced the song    
   with a preamble that helps the song make sense. But, on the original recording   
   preambles were not allowed, so it ended up just being silly. Arlo Guthrie   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)