[Ads-l] Quote: If you remember the =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=9960s=2C_you_really_weren=E2=80=99t_?=there

[Laurence Horn]

> On Aug 29, 2016, at 5:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> LH wrote:
>> As Geoff says, 1973 is the usual pub. date given but the copyright note
>> in my  copy says 1971.  As Wavy Gravy sort of said, if you can remember
>> accurate dates from that era, you weren't there.
> 
> LH seems to be referring to a remark that I examined on the QI website.

Yes, but I'm surprised Wavy Gravy (a.k.a. Hugh Romney) didn't even rank an honorable mention.  I've come across several attributions of the saying to Mr. Gravy, late of the Hog Farm and the original Woodstock festival.  He had an interesting back story.  According to one web-posted biography:

"As a child in Princeton, NJ, young Hugh would take walks around the neighborhood with family friend Albert Einstein. In the early 1960’s, he was poetry director of the Gaslight Cafe on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village and shared a room upstairs with Bob Dylan. As a monologist, he opened shows for Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane and Peter, Paul and Mary to name just a few."

Paul Krassner, who *is* mentioned among the usual suspects on Garson's QI page as a possible (though not actual) originator of the saying, identifies Mr. Gravy as "the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Teresa", although as far as I know that has not been verified by 23andme.com test results.  He (Wavy Gravy, not Paul Krassner or Harpo Marx) was also a Ben & Jerry's flavor.  

Among those attributing the quote to Mr. Gravy are variously Arlo Guthrie, some commenter posting on the cannabis.com page, someone else posting on YahooAnswers.com, the authors of a 2016 Routledge book called _Critical Event Studies_, and some Yale professor posting on the ADS-L site in 2003 in the course of a thread on "Bras (and draft cards)".  Plus Wavy Gravy is clearly someone who *could* have said it first, if he wasn't too stoned to.  

LH
> 
> If You Remember the ’60s, You Really Weren’t There
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__quoteinvestigator.com_2010_05_07_remember-2D1960s_&d=CwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=ejqNNn1ijEffJAQm6yt8p5ZBTJYalMF7NFzv2rfgdvo&s=WGtQB5RqqYNsK-v_gw81hOEzCR09UbAQVHLTAGlOBug&e= 
> 
> (Arguably, the 1960s era extended into the early 1970s.) Stephen
> Goranson found the earliest germane citation in the "Los Angeles
> Times" on June 13, 1982:
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> EXIT LINE: Comedian Charlie Fleischer observes: "If you remember the
> ’60s, you really weren’t there."
> [End excerpt]
> 
> The most interesting and enjoyable event occurred after this
> information was posted. Charles Fleischer saw the article, and he left
> a comment expressing gratitude for the ascription.
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Comment Poster: Charles Fleischer
> Date: March 1, 2012 at 2:06 am
> Thank you for providing the truth.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> (Note, I have not authenticated the identity of the author of the
> comment, but I think it probably was the comedian.)
> 
> Additional evidence would be welcome,
> Garson
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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