Sun (does|doesn't|don't|gotta|can't|will) shine on (a|every|the same)( ol')? dog's ass (all|every|some)( the | )?(day|time)

Philip (Flip) Kromer flip at MRFLIP.COM
Tue Jul 17 19:44:04 UTC 2007


Since moving to Texas, I've heard many variants of the following expression:
I:   "The sun don't  shine  on the same dog's ass all the time." (attr. Catfish
Hunter <http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quohunt.shtml>, Darrel
Royal<http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/quotes/qt_no.htm>
)
     "Sun don't shine on the same dog's ass everyday, but, mister you ain't
seen a ray of light since you got here."
(Hoosiers<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091217/quotes>
)
II:  "The sun's got to shine  on a dog's ass some time. (And the sun's gonna
shine in my backdoor someday.)" (on
web<http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/1148.html>
)
III: "The sun even shines on a dog's ass some days."     (White Men Can't
Jump <http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/top20/no15.html>)

I take the first to mean
  <Our luck will change; all dog's asses being equivalent, the sun may
eventually shine on ours.>
  "Breaks balance out. The sun don't shine on the same ol' dog's ass every
day." -- Darrell Royal

I take the second to mean
  <Every dog will have his day: even if you are a dog's ass you'll
eventually get sunshine.>
  "The sun's got to shine on a dog's ass some time. (And the sun's gonna
shine in my backdoor someday)."

and the third to mean
  <Luck can reward even the non-deserving>
  "The sun even shines on a dog's ass some days. Anybody can win the
lottery. Know what I'm saying?"
But some of the third form ones can be said to mean "Every dog will have his
day" if the "dog's ass" in question seems to be yourself or someone
sympathetic: compare
  The sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass some days, right?
  The sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass some days.

I tried to googlefight to find whether one form is more popular than the
others.

I found the following examples on the web:
I:
         The sun   don't     shine   on the same ol' dog's ass every day.
         The sun   don't     shine   on the same     dog's ass every day
         The sun   don't     shine   on the same     dog's ass all day,
         The sun   don't     shine   up the same     dog's ass every day
         The sun   doesn't   shine   on the same     dog's ass every day
             Sun   can't     shine   on the same     dog's ass every day
         The sun   don't     shine   on the same     dog's ass all the time.
             sun   don't     shine   on the same     dog's ass forever
         The sun   can't     shine   on the same     dog's ass all the time,
             Sun   don't     shine   on the same     dog's ass everyday,
                  but, mister you ain't seen a ray of light since you got
here.
II:
         The sun   will      shine   on every        dog's ass one day in
its life.
         The sun's gonna     shine   on every        dog's ass sooner or
later.
     But the sun's gotta     shine   on a            dog's ass some day
         The sun  eventually shine's on a            dog's ass at some point
         The sun's got to    shine   on a            dog's ass some time.
                             (And the sun's gonna shine in my backdoor
someday.)
         The sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass some days,
right?
         The sun's gotta     shine   on a            dog's ass once a week
                             (today is just the Sox' day to lose their tan
lines.)
III:
  Shoot, the sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass occasionally.
I reckon the sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass occasionally.
         The sun   even      shines  on a            dog's ass some
days.
         The sun   even      shines  up a            dog's ass sometimes.
I guess  the sun   will      shine   on a            dog's ass every now and
then.
         The sun             shines  on a            dog's ass every once
anwhile
    Even the sun             shines  on a            dog's ass some days.
    Even the sun   sometimes shines  on a            dog's ass.

More Variants:
         (And a winner never quits
         The sun   don't     shine   on a sleepin    dog's ass) [Bruce
Springsteen]
         The sun   never     shines  on a sleeping   dog's ass.
         The sun  even       shines  out of a        dog's ass on a good
day.  [???]
         The sun   may       shine   on a            dog's ass once in
awhile.
                             But it won't shine there forever.

Here are counts from doing search (logged out), clicking to last page, and
not "using repeated search results"
186 "sun * (shine OR shines OR shine's)" "dog's ass"
144 "sun * shine"  "dog's ass"
 82 "sun * shine"  "same dog's ass"
  5 "sun * shine"  "same * dog's ass"
 97 "sun don't shine * dog's ass"
  4 "sun doesn't shine * dog's ass"
  2 "sun can't shine * dog's ass"
 51 "sun * shines" "dog's ass"
 96 sun shine "same dog's ass"
 70 "sun (will OR gotta OR even OR eventually)"  "dog's ass"

I guess I'd call that inconclusive, but if someone smarter than I can
improve my methodology I'd appreciate it.  Until then I'd have to say that
none of the three forms seems canonical.

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