When You're Hot, You're Hot

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>The Yale Book of Quotations cites newspaper reports from 1972 and 1971 for
>"When you're hot, you're hot" and "When you're hot, you're hot, and when
>you're not, you're not," both described as "Modern Proverbs."  I expect
>that they both derive from the popular 1971 song by Jerry Reed (aka Jerry
>Reed Hubbard), titled the former and including the latter in its
>lyrics.  I don't know if he also wrote the lyrics or not.

This was one of Flip Wilson's (Geraldine's?) sayings around the same time,
wasn't it? Did this precede the song? Either way I suppose the saying was
used by gamblers earlier.

-- Doug Wilson


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