YBQ in WSJ / "bottle in front of me" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Tue Oct 7 16:55:53 UTC 2008

A slight antedating of the Tom Waits version.   Apparently Waits used the quote on "Fernwood 2 Night" on 8/1/1977:

http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/interviews/77-aug1-fernwood2night.html

Note that he also said "Champagne for my real friends, real pain for my sham friends," a line with a similar structure. (although no statement that he originated the line.)

________________________________

From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
Sent: Mon 9/15/2008 11:56 AM
To: American Dialect Society
Subject: RE: YBQ in WSJ / "bottle in front of me" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

The referenced article quotes:
"Shapiro's favorite frivolous quotation: "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" (musician Tom Waits, Creem magazine, 1978)."

"People" by Rip Rense, _The Valley News_ 12/29/1977 p 4

"Waits ... Has been quoted for such noteworthy phrases as "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"."

"Deep Down In His Heart Steve Allen is Silly" by Don Freeman, Copley News Service.  _[Danville VA] Bee_, Nov 26 1976, p. 19.

[Steve Allen is Dr. Mal Practice, being interviewed by Jayne Meadows]
"Jayne: "I was thinking of a prefrontal lobotomy."
Steve: "A free bottle in front of me? Listen, you need a prefrontal lobotomy like you need a hole in your head."  "

>From context, it's not clear if the quote is contemporaneous, or a sketch they had done in the 1950's.  In his book, _Make 'Em Laugh_ (1993), Allen describes writing this line "some years ago".

Paul Dickson in _The Official Explanations_ (1980) has this quote as "Fred Allen's Motto"
(in the form "I'd rather have a free bottle in front of me than a prefrontal lobotomy.")  Allen died in 1956, and I can find no connection between this adage and Allen before 1980.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
> Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 12:57 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: YBQ in WSJ
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      YBQ in WSJ
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 13-14,
> has an article about the five essential reference books for a
> home library.  #1 is the World Almanac and #2 is the Yale
> Book of Quotations:
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122125935106030191.html?mod=2_1167_1
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org <http://www.americandialect.org/>
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