The Beatles "The Ballad Of John And Yoko"

All this week, words I learned because of songs.  Today's word is:  Mac

Oh, did I torture my parents with questions about The Beatles.  I didn't understand that my folks wouldn't know every little thing about every little song.

And as I became more accustomed to their later work, I found myself running into things my parents were definitely not quite ready to address, like slang.

But for whatever reason, my folks DID know what a Mac (short for Mackintosh) was.  The "Man In The Mac" was a much clearer vision in my mind, as soon as they explained it was another work for raincoat.

To this day, however, we don't really know the meaning of the acorns tied in a sack.


Hear the song on Youtube.

The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France
The man in the mac said, "You've got to go back"
You know they didn't even give us a chance

Christ you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Finally made the plane into Paris
Honeymooning down by the Seine
Peter Brown called to say
"You can make it OK
You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain"

Christ you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton
Talking in our beds for a week
The newspapers said, "Say what you doing in bed?"
I said, "We're only trying to get us some peace"

Christ you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Saving up your money for a rainy day
Giving all your clothes to charity
Last night the wife said
"Oh boy, when you're dead
You don't take nothing with you
But your soul, think!"

Made a lightning trip to Vienna
Cating chocolate cake in a bag
The newspapers said, "She's gone to his head
They look just like two gurus in drag"

Christ you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Caught an early plane back to London
Fifty acorns tied in a sack
The men from the press said, "We wish you success
It's good to have the both of you back"

Christ you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me
The way things are going
They're going to crucify me

Widespread Panic "The Ballad Of John & Yoko"

I learned two new fun terms from an old friend.

Facebook is great for that---catching up with people you haven't seen since high school.

You do a lot of "Here's what I've been up to, what have you been up to?" back and forth.

And, because of my job, the conversation often turns to music.

We were going back and forth about shows we had seen.  And, unlike 90% of the folks I talk to, he'd seen as many shows as or more shows than I have.

And then he bested me:

"Gonna' whip out the concert penis here . . ." and went on to talk about how many times he'd seen Widespread Panic.

I'd never heard the expression "Concert Penis" before, but I knew exactly what he meant.

There is that conversation that I've had a million times before, where someone tries to impress you with the size of their musical knowledge or experience.  And maybe you volley with, "Oh nice, you've seen them 9 times?  I saw them 20 times, including once in a small club."

That's whipping out your Concert Penis.

Particularly with jam bands, the number of times you've seen the band, and the earliest date of your first show, is currency within the fan base.

And he explained, that within the Widespread Panic world, they call it your "Panis."

That made me laugh out loud.

If only there were such thing as a Blog Penis, I could impress the ladies by saying that mine is 1155 posts long!


Hear the song on Youtube.