“Obie said he was gonna put us in a cell
He said “kid, I’m gonna put you in a cell
I want your wallet and your belt”
I said, “Obie, I can understand your wantin’ my wallet, so I don’t have any
Money to spend in the cell, but what do you want my belt for?” and he said
“Kid, we don’t want any hangin’s
I said, “Obie, did you think I was gonna
Hang myself for litterin’?”
Obie said he was makin’ sure, and, friends, Obie was, ’cause he took out the
Toilet seat so I couldn’t hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
Out the toilet paper so I couldn’t bend the bars, roll the toilet paper out
The window, slide down the roll and have an escape.”
Woozy, that’s a quote from Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, by Arlo Guthrie, in the first response. It would be a geezer reference, but NPR plays it every Thanksgiving.
I guess I would have understood the title to this post without the comments had I had the patience to actually listen to the entire recording at some point. I never got the appeal. Kind of similar to my thoughts on the Grateful Dead.
Okay, I thought the Arlo reference was the usual meaning of Arlo and I didn’t see how toilet paper only justifies an Arlo reference. (Then again, I don’t get why a “When Harry met Sally” reference does either). (And I actually don’t really get this— escaping by climbing down toilet paper is dumb but not *humorously* dumb.)
I thought Usual John had come up with the Alice’s Restaurant reference entirely on his own as potential unintentional interpretation of “Arlo” and I thought it was clever. But then it was pointed out that was Bill’s *intended* interpretation… so I had a case of impression deflation…. So those my favorite Sherlock Home impression deflation quote.
@ woozy – “…“Arlo” … was Bill’s *intended* interpretation…”
I guess it’s time to duly place the credit and/or blame where it belongs. Bill agreed that it would be an interesting experiment (to find out how long it would take someone to make the connection), but I was the one who sent the silly idea to him. I was amused to see that the text source Usual John quoted was the same one that I had looked up (or at least it had the same idiotic capitalization).
@ zookeeper – There have been at least two cases in which an inmate managed to escape using a “rope” made of dental floss purchased from the prison’s pharmacy.
Arlo [Guthrie, that is] performs in the Tampa area quite often . . . I think he’s scheduled for some time in January 2020, so I doubt ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ will be sung.
@ Andréa – I recently listened to his “50th Anniversary” performance (via Internet), but it was so mellowed out (either by his age, or distance from the stress factors that gave the “edge” to the original) that the result was just not worth listening to. I quit halfway through and put on my CD copy of original version.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Arlo Guthrie, that is.
“Obie said he was gonna put us in a cell
He said “kid, I’m gonna put you in a cell
I want your wallet and your belt”
I said, “Obie, I can understand your wantin’ my wallet, so I don’t have any
Money to spend in the cell, but what do you want my belt for?” and he said
“Kid, we don’t want any hangin’s
I said, “Obie, did you think I was gonna
Hang myself for litterin’?”
Obie said he was makin’ sure, and, friends, Obie was, ’cause he took out the
Toilet seat so I couldn’t hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
Out the toilet paper so I couldn’t bend the bars, roll the toilet paper out
The window, slide down the roll and have an escape.”
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Would work with Andrex paper from the UK (if it’s a puppy escaping)… here’s one of their 1970s ads about how strong their paper is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdm_hmqp0Ao . Their ad slogan for 32 years until 2004 was “Soft, Strong and Very Long” – https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/aug/03/advertising1
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I assured the person who sent me this (“a guy from Group W”) that somebody would have it within the hour.
Fifty minutes did it.
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Really, it doesn’t look that high. If I could get through the window, I’d probably just drop down.
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If it was suggested for the Arlo page then… I don’t get it.
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Just not THAT Arlo Page, woozy.
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woozy, Usual John got and explained it in the first response.
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Woozy, that’s a quote from Alice’s Restaurant Massacree, by Arlo Guthrie, in the first response. It would be a geezer reference, but NPR plays it every Thanksgiving.
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Not only does NPR play it every Thanksgiving, but I link to it from here every Thanksgiving.
At noon, of course.
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Oh, I thought Usual John was being clever.
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You mean I wasn’t?
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I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it, after all.
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Ouch…!
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It’s elementary, my dear woozy.
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I don’t believe you ever said that, Winter Wallaby.
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woozy, Winter Wallaby never said most of the things they said.
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Arlo still holds an open party for Thanksgiving at the Church.
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Beam me up, woozy?
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I guess I would have understood the title to this post without the comments had I had the patience to actually listen to the entire recording at some point. I never got the appeal. Kind of similar to my thoughts on the Grateful Dead.
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Okay, I thought the Arlo reference was the usual meaning of Arlo and I didn’t see how toilet paper only justifies an Arlo reference. (Then again, I don’t get why a “When Harry met Sally” reference does either). (And I actually don’t really get this— escaping by climbing down toilet paper is dumb but not *humorously* dumb.)
I thought Usual John had come up with the Alice’s Restaurant reference entirely on his own as potential unintentional interpretation of “Arlo” and I thought it was clever. But then it was pointed out that was Bill’s *intended* interpretation… so I had a case of impression deflation…. So those my favorite Sherlock Home impression deflation quote.
LikeLike
@ woozy – “…“Arlo” … was Bill’s *intended* interpretation…”
I guess it’s time to duly place the credit and/or blame where it belongs. Bill agreed that it would be an interesting experiment (to find out how long it would take someone to make the connection), but I was the one who sent the silly idea to him. I was amused to see that the text source Usual John quoted was the same one that I had looked up (or at least it had the same idiotic capitalization).
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Quoth Arthur: “woozy, Winter Wallaby never said most of the things they said.”
They will, Arthur, they will.
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Hidden knowledge: one can make a rope from toilet paper. Holds weight and some shock. Useless if it gets wet.
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@ zookeeper – There have been at least two cases in which an inmate managed to escape using a “rope” made of dental floss purchased from the prison’s pharmacy.
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Hidden knowledge: one can make a rope from toilet paper. Holds weight and some shock.
Mythbusters did that one. No problem with strength, but it was very slippery and hard to hold onto.
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Mark M – have not only heard it all the way through, but once heard it performed live.
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Arlo [Guthrie, that is] performs in the Tampa area quite often . . . I think he’s scheduled for some time in January 2020, so I doubt ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ will be sung.
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@ Andréa – I recently listened to his “50th Anniversary” performance (via Internet), but it was so mellowed out (either by his age, or distance from the stress factors that gave the “edge” to the original) that the result was just not worth listening to. I quit halfway through and put on my CD copy of original version.
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I wonder how many times he’d sung this by then . . . that could have been a factor, too.
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Certainly apropos . . . combining several threads . . .
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Thanksgiving he is usually and I presume will be this year at THE church with a dinner that is open for people to come.
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By the way, larK, lest you think nobody caught your James Whistler/ Oscar Wilde reference…
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I guess the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about…
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