I will have a lot of “performance” related moments this year, and before each, I will be telling myself to “make it count”! Some of these moments will be very small, like playing through a piano piece without mistake during practice at home, or on a public piano. However, some will be big and important, like the higher than annual average number of big consequence decisions I expect to make this year.
I picked MAKE IT COUNT over IT’S SHOW TIME because some of these bigger moments will be serious in a rational way to finalize something, rather than an emotional perk up before a “performance” to come. However, I imagine there’ll be lots of moments where I’ll start out with IT’S SHOW TIME, followed by MAKE IT COUNT, as a double mantra.
And whether you love Twilight to use this… or hate it to take a jab at it, it certain beats the boring old feeling “good” or “great” expressions. Ask a Twilighter if you don’t know the reference in my answer.
I wish more people were creative with the answers to how they’re feeling or how they’re doing.
A popular expression used in English is “one in a million”. It can be used to describe a lot of things, from events to phenomena to people, for their rarity. However, with the world population at 7 billion these days, if describing people, it’s no longer that much of a compliment.
There once was a time when you could take a dirty phrase to make a classy hit song out of it. I don’t know when it ended, but it was certainly alive in the 1940s when this song came about! This is the Louis Armstrong version, with Velma Middleton and the Louis Armstrong Orchestra, not the original Fats Waller version (at the end) that wasn’t nearly as good.
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Hey Pops! What’s wrong Daddy? You look like somethin’ botherin’ you Ain’t nothin’ botherin’ me honey That a piece of roast beef can’t fix up
A man works hard then comes on home Expects to find stew with that fine ham bone He opens the door, then start to lookin’ Say, Woman, what’s this stuff you cookin’?
Now all that meat and no potatoes I just ain’t right, dey like da green tomatoes Here I’m waitin’ Palpitatin’ With all that meat and no potatoes
All that meat and no potatoes All that food to the alligators Now hold me steady I’m really ready Now all that meat and no potatoes
I don’t think that peas are bad With meat most anything goes Yes, I look into the pot I’m fit to fight ‘Cause, woman, you know that mess just ain’t right
Oh, Pops!
All that meat and no potatoes Just ain’t right, like green tomatoes Woman, I’m steamin’, yeah! I’m really screamin’ All that meat and no potatoes
Say, I don’t think that beans are bad With meat most anything goes I look into the pot And what a sight! Oh, woman, you know that without rice Beans just ain’t right
Oh, Pops!
All that meat and no potatoes Just ain’t right, like green tomatoes Now woman, I’m steamin’ And I’m really screamin’ All that meat and no potatoes
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Louis Armstrong & Velma Middleton
When I first heard this song, I found it really groovy, and I still do, but I thought to myself, why would someone write such a great song about meat and potatoes?
Well, after some researching, I found out.
The title of this song, All That Meat and No Potatoes, was a slur from the early 1940s that was used to described a big figured attractive woman with small breasts. Gee, don’t you wish English was still that classy these days?
Hey, some people will never be classy, but you could help them by giving them language like this rather than, well, you use your own choice words.
Anyhoo, the story regarding how this song came about was that Fats Waller liked some female vocalist he was working with, except that she was all that meat and no potatoes. So he wrote a song about it.
Awww. Wasn’t that romantic? 🙂
But you’ve got to give credits to Fats, and his manager Ed Kirkeby. They wrote a good song on the literal end of things, expressing discontent with cooking that had a lot of meat and no potatoes, as a metaphor for Fats’ feelings towards this woman.
Then Louis came along and just took it to another level. Compare the version above to the version below.
It might be jazz, but I’ll tell ya, can Louis rock it or what???
Digital Citizen 