Cole Porter

[Baker, John]

        A Waldorf salad is a salad named after the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and made from apples, walnuts, lettuce and/or celery, dressed with mayonnaise.  They are still popular.  A Berlin ballad is a song by Irving Berlin, probably the most popular American songwriter.  Mrs. Astor (née Caroline Webster Schermerhorn) (1830 - 1908) was the unquestioned doyenne of New York City society for decades.  The upper reaches of NYC society were often called the "four hundred," a reference to the number of people who could fit in her ballroom.

        According to http://dogslife.blogspot.com/2002_07_01_dogslife_archive.html, the Irving Berlin lyrics to You're the Top are as follows:

You're the top.
You're Miss Pinkham's tonic.
You're the top.
You're a high colonic.
You're the burning heat of a bridal suite in use.
You're the breast of Venus,
You're King Kong's penis,
You're self-abuse!
You're an arch from the Rome collection.
You're the starch in a groom's erection.
I'm a eunuch that has undergone an "op."
But if, baby, I'm the bottom, you're the top!

        I'm mystified by Miss Pinkham's tonic and hazy on the arch from the Rome collection.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: Billionbridges.com [mailto:translation at BILLIONBRIDGES.COM]
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 1:08 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Cole Porter


Waldorf salad? Berlin ballad? Mrs. Aster? I agree
with the rest in the selection you quote, but as a
culturally cognizant 36 year-old, these three escape
me.

Best,
Don