Grits ain't groceries (1965); "Blind man," "Candy & nuts" update

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   Back at NYU with the better databases.

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GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES

GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES--2,390 Google hits, 466 Google Groups hits

   Grits Ain't Groceries Lyrics (various web sites--ed.)
If I don't love you baby,
grits ain't groceries,
eggs ain't poultry,
and Mona Lisa was a man.


   It's a song title.  Life would be a bowl of cherries if I could find this food phrase before that.
   OT:  I read somewhere that "Mona Lisa" _was_ a man.


(OCLC WORLDCAT)
Title: George Jones' greatest hits.
Vol. II
Author(s): Jones, George, 1931-  (Performer - prf)
Publication: [S.l.] :; Mercury,
Year: 1960-1969?
Description: 1 sound disc :; analog, 33 1/3 rpm, stereo. ;; 12 in.
Language: English
Music Type: Country music
Standard No: Publisher: MG-21048; Mercury; LCCN: 94-765751
Contents: Eskimo pie -- Money to burn -- Just one more -- Aching, breaking heart -- Wandering soul -- Big Harlan Taylor -- Seasons of my heart -- You're still on my mind -- If I don't love you (grits ain't groceries) -- When my heart hurts no more -- Cup of loneliness -- Tarnished angel.

(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM)
Post Crescent - 6/8/1969
...Columbia CS Evil Ways (Willie' Bobc, Verve GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES (Little Milton, Checker.....Milton is one great blues singer, and "GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES" is one outstanding..
Appleton, Wisconsin   Sunday, June 08, 1969  267 k

Coshocton Tribune - 5/5/1975
...at a good pace. Among the highlights are "GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES (Broad St. "Grandma's..
Coshocton, Ohio   Monday, May 05, 1975  1355 k

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A BLIND MAN IN A DARK ROOM LOOKING FOR A BLACK CAT/HAT THAT ISN'T THERE (continued)

   I tried "black cat" and "black hat."  I still can't beat 1901.


(AMERICAN PERIODICAL SERIES)
Article 2 -- No Title
The Dial; a Semi - monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information (1880-1929). Chicago: May 1, 1908. Vol. Vol. XLIV., Iss. No. 525.; p. 263 (4 pages)
First Page:   ...--it is an old simile--as a blind man looking in a dark room for a black hat that is not in the room.

(JSTOR)
New Books
H. R. Mackintosh; H. Wildon Carr; W. L. Lorimer; James Lindsay; J. Laird; Helen Bosanquet; John Edgar; A. E. Taylor; W. L. M.; M.; W. D. Ross; A. Wolf; S. J. Chapman
Mind, New Series, Vol. 21, No. 84. (Oct., 1912), pp. 576-601.
Pg. 579:  He is greatly pleased with the old gibe against metaphysics that it is like "a blind man in a dark room hunting for a black cat which--is not there!  He does not tell us who the "keen think and great lawyer" is who "not long ago" made this comparison, but the new version of this venerable joke which substitutes hunting a black cat for looking for a black hat, is hardly an improvement, for unless all electro-magnetic disturbances are supposed excluded from the dark room there is no absurity in looking in it for the black cat.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
DANGERS AT OUR DOORS.
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Mar 11, 1918. p. II4 (1 page):
   It must have been an American who defined a pessimist as "a blind man looking in a dark room for a black hat which wasn't there."

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Topics of The Times
New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Oct 3, 1939. p. 18 (1 page):
   If the hour were not so serious, one might say of Winston Churchill that he polished up his phrases so carefully that now he is the ruler of the King's navee.  Speaking of Soviet Russia's purpose, the British First Lord of the Admiralty has just said, "It is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma."  Conceivably the epigram was suggested to Mr.   Churchill by a popular definition of metaphysics: a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
About A Definition
ERIC UNDERWOOD. Washington, Nov. 24.. The Washington Post (1877-1954). Washington, D.C.: Nov 30, 1942. p. 8 (1 page) :
   I hope Mr. Walter Lippman will not mind my pointing out that his story of "a student who once said of philosophy that it was like the search in a dark room for a black cat that wasn't there" is incomplete and not quite accurate.
   The correct version is that: "a student said of metaphysics that 'it was like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat that wan't there.'"
   I am sure Mr. Lippmann will agree that metaphysics for philosophy, the immobility of a hat as compared with a cat and the fact that the searcher was blind are improvements on his version.
   The story is attributed to the English Prime Minister, himself a philosophical scholar, who was England's leader at the outbreak of the war of 1914-1918--Herbert Henry Aquith, afterward Earl of Oxford and Asquith.
   ERIC UNDERWOOD
Washington, Nov. 24.

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IF "IFS" AND "BUTS" WERE CANDY AND NUTS (continued)

   Dandy Don Meredith dood it.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
  1. Producer Forte Makes ABC Go On Monday Night; Producer Forte Makes ABC Go on Monday Nights
By Lawrence Laurent Washington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973). Washington, D.C.: Nov 26, 1972. p. C1 (2 pages)
Pg. C6:  On-the-air and at public meetings, Meredith is the bucolic, puppy-friendly, old-shoe, ex-athlete.  He has made a running gag, lasting for three seasons, about his inability to explain pass interference.  He is filled with country boy wisdom:
   "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts,
   We'd all have a Merry Christmas."

   2. Of Eggs, Fish, Hot Dogs and Football
The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Mar 10, 1974. p. C10 (1 page):
   "If 'ifs' and 'buts' were candy and nuts we'd all have a merry Christmas," Meredith said, repeating an on-the-air favorite.

   3. Maryland Solves Duke in Time; Terps Down Duke After Slow Start
By Mark AsherWashington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Jan 9, 1975. p. E1 (2 pages)

   4. Jimmy The Greek Gives Fewer Points for Fervor
By Dave BradyWashington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post (1974-Current file). Washington, D.C.: Dec 7, 1976. p. D6 (1 page)