A Well-Known Song, With Annotations
I'd like to sum up each Philosopher's Philosophical views with a few pithy sentences, but Philosophy rarely works like that, and I am not smart enough or arrogant enough to try and make it. What follows is a bit about each one, some information on the figurative language used in the song, the references I used (so you can track my research if so desired), and a handful of interesting links right at the bottom.
The Bruces’ Philosophers Song
Immanuel Kant(1) was a real pissant(2)
Who was very rarely stable,
Heidegger(3), Heidegger was a boozy(4) beggar(5)
Who could think you under the table,
David Hume(6) could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(7),
And Wittgenstein(8) was a beery(9) swine(10)
Who was just as schloshed(11) as Schlegel.(12)
There’s nothing Nietzsche(13) couldn’t teach ya
’Bout the raising of the wrist(14),
Socrates(15), himself, was permanently pissed.(2)
John Stuart Mill(16), of his own free will(17),
On half a pint of shandy(18) was particularly ill,
Plato(19), they say, could stick it away,
Half a crate of whisky(20) every day.
Aristotle(21), Aristotle was a bugger(22) for the bottle(23),
Hobbes(24) was fond of his dram(25),
And René Descartes(26) was a drunken fart(27),
“I drink, therefore I am.”(28)
Yes Socrates(15), himself, is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker,
But a bugger(22) when he’s pissed.(29)
by Eric Idle(30)
The Annotations
1. Immanuel Kant: German, born in Prussia. "Kant as a young man was quite gregarious and enjoyed attending social events about town. He also regularly invited guests over for dinner, insisting that company and laughter were good for his constitution. It was only after befriending the English merchant Joseph Green that Kant began living a very regulated life: according to some stories neighbours would set their clocks according to the time Green and Kant finished their daily get-togethers." WK. The comment in line two is highly unfair.
2. Piss ant: Piss: 1. urine 2. alcohol (slang); Pissed: drunk; Pissant: "inconsequential, irrelevant, small, unimportant, worthless." OSD.
3. Martin Heidegger: German. Nazi: "Heidegger not only cooperated with the educational policies of the National Socialist government but also offered it his enthusiastic public support." PP.
4. Boozy: Booze: alcholic drink UK.; Boozy: adjective
5. Beggar: One who must beg for the essentials of life; Euphemism for 'bugger' (22) UK.
6. David Hume: Scottish. "Critics of religion during Hume's time needed to express themselves cautiously. Less than 15 years before Hume was born, an 18-year-old college student was put on trial for saying openly that he thought Christianity was nonsense, was convicted and hanged for blasphemy. Hume followed the common practice of expressing his views obliquely, through characters in dialogues... So masterful was Hume in disguising his own views that debate continues to this day over whether Hume was actually a deist or an atheist." Hume inspired Immanuel Kant. WK.
7. Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: German. Born in Stuttgart. Became professor of philosophy at Heidelberg in 1816. HEGEL. Unsure whether he obtained any dueling scars during his tenure.
8. Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein: Austrian. Pre-and-concurrent-philosophical occupations included: old-money-inheritor, soldier, village school-teacher, divestor-of-all-worldly-wealth, architect. "Belief that language can perfectly capture reality is a kind of bewitchment, Wittgenstein now proposed. Thus, philosophy is properly a therapeutic activity, employed to relieve the puzzlement generated by (philosophical) misuses of ordinary language." WITT.
9. Beer: Fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from malt and hops. DD.
10. Swine: 1. a hog or pig. 2. a coarse or beastly person. WB.
11. Schloshed: Probably 'sloshed': Drunk. (from the 1900s!) UK.
12. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel: German
or possibly his brother:
August Wilhelm von Schlegel: German WK.
13. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: German. Wrote: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. 'Zarathustra' is the German name for the Persian prophet 'Zoroaster', who apparently founded the world's first monotheistic religion.
Sample quotes:
- "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
- "Through life's school of war: that which does not kill you only serves to make you stronger."
- "Whatever is done from love always occurs beyond good and evil" WK.
14. Raising of the wrist: Slang. Equals 'raising of the mug (of alcohol)', held in hand, connected to wrist. I had an interesting discussion with my poetry lecturer as to whether this figure of speech is technically synecdoche ("the part instead of the whole, as in 'fifty head' for 'fifty cattle'" PM) or metonymy ("the substitution of the name of an object for that of something else, usually a larger concept, to which it is related. Examples are 'scepter' for 'sovereignty', 'the ring' for 'boxing', and so on." PM). I'm leaning towards metonymy right now.
15. Socrates: Greek. At around age seventy committed suicide by taunting a jury of several hundred men into granting him a death sentence and then drinking hemlock one month later.
16. John Stuart Mill: English. "John Stuart Mill was born in Pentonville, London... He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with boys his own age. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham were dead.
His feats as a child were exceptional; at the age of three he was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, and the whole of Herodotus, and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laërtius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato (see his Autobiography). He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic." WK.
17. Free Will: An oft revisited philosophical problem. Issues include: Determinism vs. Indeterminism, Moral Responsibility, Free Will + Omniscient/Omnipotent God, the Problem of Evil (Omniscient/Omnipotent/Omnibenevolent God) etc. WK.
18. Shandy: A drink made of beer and lemonade. DD.
19. Plato: Greek. One of Socrates' 'students' and the actual writer of most of the Socratic dialogues (other Greeks occasionally wrote them down, but not Socrates himself). These days, it is hard to tell where Socrates leaves off and Plato begins in the dialogues.
20. Whisky: "a strong, intoxicating liquor made from grain ... In the United States, whiskey is made of corn or rye; in Scotland, Ireland, and Great Britain, whikey is often made of malted barley ... (short for obsolete 'whiskybae', variant of 'usquebaugh' WBD. People make whisky from corn?!? I shudder to think.
Grain Whisky is made from unmalted barley, wheat or maize produced as a continuous process in a column still. Malt Whisky applies to whisky made entirely from malted barley. Malt is barley which has germinated by soaking it in water, then germinated, traditionally on a wooden or stone floor or more commonly nowadays in large rotating drums or Saladin boxes with automatic turners. Malting converts the stored starch into soluble compounds such as the sugar maltose which allows fermentation. Then drying the malt over a furnace stops the germination. By adding peat to the furnace a peaty aroma and taste is transferred to the malt." IJ.
21. Aristotle: Greek. A student of Plato (who was one of the students of Socrates). Among other things, tutored Alexander the Great. Invented syllogisms. WB.
22. Bugger: "... is an expletive used in vernacular British English, Australian English, and New Zealand English. When used in context it still retains its original meaning, implying sodomy; however it is now more generally used to imply dissatisfaction (bugger, I've missed the bus) or used to describe someone whose behaviour is in some way displeasing (the bugger has given me the wrong change). The word can also used amongst friends in an affectionate way (you old bugger) and is also used as a noun in Welsh English vernacular to imply that one is very fond of something (I'm a bugger for Welsh cakes). The character Unlucky Alf from The Fast Show always said "Awwww bugger" whenever something went wrong.
The phrase bugger off means to run away, and when used as a command it means "go away" or "leave me alone". Bugger all means "Nothing"...
The word is derived from the French word Boulgre, derived from "Bulgarian" (meaning the Bogomils of Bulgaria), who Catholic propagandists said were practicing 'buggery'. WK
23. Bottle: Bottles can be made from skin (animal, I hope), stoneware, earthenware, glass, metal, or plastic. They are containers for holding liquids, and can have narrow or wide necks. WB. If Aristotle had lived today or in the past few centuries, and had had a liking for champagne, he might conceivably have drunk it out of a:
* bottle (aka. Imperial) (750 ml) or a
* Magnum (1.5 L)
* Jeroboam (3 L)
* Rehoboam (4.5 L)
* Methuselah (6 L)
* Salmanazar (9 L)
* Balthazar (12 L)
* Nebuchadnezzar (15 L)
* Melchior (18 L)
* Solomon (25 L)
* Primat (27 L) WK.
24. Thomas Hobbes: English. A contemporary of Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Ben Jonson. WK.
25. Dram: 1: A small weight. 2: a) An apothecary's dram: 8 dr./oz. b) In avoirdupois weight: 16 dr./oz. 3: Fig. A small amount of anything (also drachm). However, here it is probably 4: A small drink of intoxicating liquor. WBD.
26. Rene Descartes: French. Descartes, "also known as Cartesius, was a French philosopher, mathematician and part-time mercenary." WK. Invented the Cartesian Co-ordinate System (By this we mean, all graphs with X/Y axes are descended from this man.) Famous for uttering three small Latin words: "Cogito ergo sum"("I think therefore I am.)"
27. Fart: 1. The gas expelled due to anal flatulence. Originally s.e. from 1250s, but deemed slang from 1800s. 2. An unpleasant and objectionable person. Cf. 'old fart'. UK.
- 'old fart': Noun. An elderly, old fashioned and tedious person. Derog. UK.
- 'raspberry': Noun. A flatulent imitative sound made with the lips and tongue, either expressing derision or used humourously for its rude associated qualities. From the rhyming slang raspberry tart meaning 'fart'. {Informal}
28. "I drink therefore I am": That would be "Bibo ergo sum." SP.
29. "But a bugger when he's pissed": Actually he probably wasn't. The dialogue The Symposium discusses various forms and theories of love and ends with one of the characters (Alcibiades, based on a real person) explaining why he is in love with Socrates. He then recounts the time when he, as a very beautiful boy, tried to seduce the fellow. Having finally maneouvred the man into coming to dinner and then ... staying the night, this is what happened:
"I gave him a shake, and I said: ‘Socrates, are you asleep?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘Do you know what I am meditating? ‘What are you meditating?’ he said. ‘I think,’ I replied, ‘that of all the lovers whom I have ever had you are the only one who is worthy of me, and you appear to be too modest to speak. ... To these words he replied in the ironical manner which is so characteristic of him:—‘Alcibiades, my friend, you have indeed an elevated aim if what you say is true, and if there really is in me any power by which you may become better; truly you must see in me some rare beauty ... But look again, sweet friend, and see whether you are not deceived in me. The mind begins to grow critical when the bodily eye fails, and it will be a long time before you get old.’ Hearing this, I said: ‘I have told you my purpose, which is quite serious, and do you consider what you think best for you and me.’ ‘That is good,’ he said; ‘at some other time then we will consider and act as seems best about this and about other matters.’ Whereupon, I fancied that he was smitten, and that the words which I had uttered like arrows had wounded him, and so without waiting to hear more I got up, and throwing my coat about him crept under his threadbare cloak, as the time of year was winter, and there I lay during the whole night having this wonderful monster in my arms. This again, Socrates, will not be denied by you. And yet, notwithstanding all, he was so superior to my solicitations, so contemptuous and derisive and disdainful of my beauty—which really, as I fancied, had some attractions—hear, O judges; for judges you shall be of the haughty virtue of Socrates—nothing more happened, but in the morning when I awoke (let all the gods and goddesses be my witnesses) I arose as from the couch of a father or an elder brother." SY.
However, The Symposium ends with the narrator passing out drunk in the middle of the night, only to wake in the morning to see Socrates still awake, cheerfully sharing an enormous cup of wine with two others while arguing a debate with them. As dawn comes, he puts them all to bed, has a bath and goes about his regular day. Truly he was the Philosopher for this song.
30. Eric Idle: Either "the nicest of the six members of Monty Python" or "the sixth nicest member of the old Monty Python group..." EI. For more information check the references.
References:
DD: http://dict.die.net/beer/
EI: http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/index.shtml
HEGEL: http://www3.baylor.edu/~Scott_Moore/hegel.html
IJ: http://www.isleofjura.com/whiskyeducation/glossary.asp#leterm
OSD: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/
PM: Stillman, F. (1966) The poet's manual and rhyming dictionary. London: Thames and Hudson
PP: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/heid.htm
SP: Stephanie Pegg, Nascent Latin Translator and Beloved Sister
SY: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/p71sy/symposium.html
UK: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
WB: Barnhart, C. L., Barnhart, R. K. (Eds.) (1985) The world book. Chicago: Doubleday Inc.
WBD: Barnhart, C. L., Barnhart, R. K. (Eds.) (1985) The world book dictionary. Chicago: Doubleday Inc.
WITT: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/witt.htm
WK: http://en.wikipedia.org
Interesting Links:
A study of The Galaxy Song
Eric Idle, Himself
More Python Philosophers
Historical Roots of the Genre
The Almighty Wikipedia's Own Sanctified Annotations
The Bruces’ Philosophers Song
Immanuel Kant(1) was a real pissant(2)
Who was very rarely stable,
Heidegger(3), Heidegger was a boozy(4) beggar(5)
Who could think you under the table,
David Hume(6) could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(7),
And Wittgenstein(8) was a beery(9) swine(10)
Who was just as schloshed(11) as Schlegel.(12)
There’s nothing Nietzsche(13) couldn’t teach ya
’Bout the raising of the wrist(14),
Socrates(15), himself, was permanently pissed.(2)
John Stuart Mill(16), of his own free will(17),
On half a pint of shandy(18) was particularly ill,
Plato(19), they say, could stick it away,
Half a crate of whisky(20) every day.
Aristotle(21), Aristotle was a bugger(22) for the bottle(23),
Hobbes(24) was fond of his dram(25),
And René Descartes(26) was a drunken fart(27),
“I drink, therefore I am.”(28)
Yes Socrates(15), himself, is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker,
But a bugger(22) when he’s pissed.(29)
by Eric Idle(30)
The Annotations
1. Immanuel Kant: German, born in Prussia. "Kant as a young man was quite gregarious and enjoyed attending social events about town. He also regularly invited guests over for dinner, insisting that company and laughter were good for his constitution. It was only after befriending the English merchant Joseph Green that Kant began living a very regulated life: according to some stories neighbours would set their clocks according to the time Green and Kant finished their daily get-togethers." WK. The comment in line two is highly unfair.
2. Piss ant: Piss: 1. urine 2. alcohol (slang); Pissed: drunk; Pissant: "inconsequential, irrelevant, small, unimportant, worthless." OSD.
3. Martin Heidegger: German. Nazi: "Heidegger not only cooperated with the educational policies of the National Socialist government but also offered it his enthusiastic public support." PP.
4. Boozy: Booze: alcholic drink UK.; Boozy: adjective
5. Beggar: One who must beg for the essentials of life; Euphemism for 'bugger' (22) UK.
6. David Hume: Scottish. "Critics of religion during Hume's time needed to express themselves cautiously. Less than 15 years before Hume was born, an 18-year-old college student was put on trial for saying openly that he thought Christianity was nonsense, was convicted and hanged for blasphemy. Hume followed the common practice of expressing his views obliquely, through characters in dialogues... So masterful was Hume in disguising his own views that debate continues to this day over whether Hume was actually a deist or an atheist." Hume inspired Immanuel Kant. WK.
7. Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: German. Born in Stuttgart. Became professor of philosophy at Heidelberg in 1816. HEGEL. Unsure whether he obtained any dueling scars during his tenure.
8. Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein: Austrian. Pre-and-concurrent-philosophical occupations included: old-money-inheritor, soldier, village school-teacher, divestor-of-all-worldly-wealth, architect. "Belief that language can perfectly capture reality is a kind of bewitchment, Wittgenstein now proposed. Thus, philosophy is properly a therapeutic activity, employed to relieve the puzzlement generated by (philosophical) misuses of ordinary language." WITT.
9. Beer: Fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from malt and hops. DD.
10. Swine: 1. a hog or pig. 2. a coarse or beastly person. WB.
11. Schloshed: Probably 'sloshed': Drunk. (from the 1900s!) UK.
12. Karl Wilhelm Friedrich von Schlegel: German
or possibly his brother:
August Wilhelm von Schlegel: German WK.
13. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: German. Wrote: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. 'Zarathustra' is the German name for the Persian prophet 'Zoroaster', who apparently founded the world's first monotheistic religion.
Sample quotes:
- "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
- "Through life's school of war: that which does not kill you only serves to make you stronger."
- "Whatever is done from love always occurs beyond good and evil" WK.
14. Raising of the wrist: Slang. Equals 'raising of the mug (of alcohol)', held in hand, connected to wrist. I had an interesting discussion with my poetry lecturer as to whether this figure of speech is technically synecdoche ("the part instead of the whole, as in 'fifty head' for 'fifty cattle'" PM) or metonymy ("the substitution of the name of an object for that of something else, usually a larger concept, to which it is related. Examples are 'scepter' for 'sovereignty', 'the ring' for 'boxing', and so on." PM). I'm leaning towards metonymy right now.
15. Socrates: Greek. At around age seventy committed suicide by taunting a jury of several hundred men into granting him a death sentence and then drinking hemlock one month later.
16. John Stuart Mill: English. "John Stuart Mill was born in Pentonville, London... He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with boys his own age. His father, a follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism, had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham were dead.
His feats as a child were exceptional; at the age of three he was taught the Greek alphabet and long lists of Greek words with their English equivalents. By the age of eight he had read Aesop's Fables, Xenophon's Anabasis, and the whole of Herodotus, and was acquainted with Lucian, Diogenes Laërtius, Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato (see his Autobiography). He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic." WK.
17. Free Will: An oft revisited philosophical problem. Issues include: Determinism vs. Indeterminism, Moral Responsibility, Free Will + Omniscient/Omnipotent God, the Problem of Evil (Omniscient/Omnipotent/Omnibenevolent God) etc. WK.
18. Shandy: A drink made of beer and lemonade. DD.
19. Plato: Greek. One of Socrates' 'students' and the actual writer of most of the Socratic dialogues (other Greeks occasionally wrote them down, but not Socrates himself). These days, it is hard to tell where Socrates leaves off and Plato begins in the dialogues.
20. Whisky: "a strong, intoxicating liquor made from grain ... In the United States, whiskey is made of corn or rye; in Scotland, Ireland, and Great Britain, whikey is often made of malted barley ... (short for obsolete 'whiskybae', variant of 'usquebaugh' WBD. People make whisky from corn?!? I shudder to think.
Grain Whisky is made from unmalted barley, wheat or maize produced as a continuous process in a column still. Malt Whisky applies to whisky made entirely from malted barley. Malt is barley which has germinated by soaking it in water, then germinated, traditionally on a wooden or stone floor or more commonly nowadays in large rotating drums or Saladin boxes with automatic turners. Malting converts the stored starch into soluble compounds such as the sugar maltose which allows fermentation. Then drying the malt over a furnace stops the germination. By adding peat to the furnace a peaty aroma and taste is transferred to the malt." IJ.
21. Aristotle: Greek. A student of Plato (who was one of the students of Socrates). Among other things, tutored Alexander the Great. Invented syllogisms. WB.
22. Bugger: "... is an expletive used in vernacular British English, Australian English, and New Zealand English. When used in context it still retains its original meaning, implying sodomy; however it is now more generally used to imply dissatisfaction (bugger, I've missed the bus) or used to describe someone whose behaviour is in some way displeasing (the bugger has given me the wrong change). The word can also used amongst friends in an affectionate way (you old bugger) and is also used as a noun in Welsh English vernacular to imply that one is very fond of something (I'm a bugger for Welsh cakes). The character Unlucky Alf from The Fast Show always said "Awwww bugger" whenever something went wrong.
The phrase bugger off means to run away, and when used as a command it means "go away" or "leave me alone". Bugger all means "Nothing"...
The word is derived from the French word Boulgre, derived from "Bulgarian" (meaning the Bogomils of Bulgaria), who Catholic propagandists said were practicing 'buggery'. WK
23. Bottle: Bottles can be made from skin (animal, I hope), stoneware, earthenware, glass, metal, or plastic. They are containers for holding liquids, and can have narrow or wide necks. WB. If Aristotle had lived today or in the past few centuries, and had had a liking for champagne, he might conceivably have drunk it out of a:
* bottle (aka. Imperial) (750 ml) or a
* Magnum (1.5 L)
* Jeroboam (3 L)
* Rehoboam (4.5 L)
* Methuselah (6 L)
* Salmanazar (9 L)
* Balthazar (12 L)
* Nebuchadnezzar (15 L)
* Melchior (18 L)
* Solomon (25 L)
* Primat (27 L) WK.
24. Thomas Hobbes: English. A contemporary of Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Ben Jonson. WK.
25. Dram: 1: A small weight. 2: a) An apothecary's dram: 8 dr./oz. b) In avoirdupois weight: 16 dr./oz. 3: Fig. A small amount of anything (also drachm). However, here it is probably 4: A small drink of intoxicating liquor. WBD.
26. Rene Descartes: French. Descartes, "also known as Cartesius, was a French philosopher, mathematician and part-time mercenary." WK. Invented the Cartesian Co-ordinate System (By this we mean, all graphs with X/Y axes are descended from this man.) Famous for uttering three small Latin words: "Cogito ergo sum"("I think therefore I am.)"
27. Fart: 1. The gas expelled due to anal flatulence. Originally s.e. from 1250s, but deemed slang from 1800s. 2. An unpleasant and objectionable person. Cf. 'old fart'. UK.
- 'old fart': Noun. An elderly, old fashioned and tedious person. Derog. UK.
- 'raspberry': Noun. A flatulent imitative sound made with the lips and tongue, either expressing derision or used humourously for its rude associated qualities. From the rhyming slang raspberry tart meaning 'fart'. {Informal}
28. "I drink therefore I am": That would be "Bibo ergo sum." SP.
29. "But a bugger when he's pissed": Actually he probably wasn't. The dialogue The Symposium discusses various forms and theories of love and ends with one of the characters (Alcibiades, based on a real person) explaining why he is in love with Socrates. He then recounts the time when he, as a very beautiful boy, tried to seduce the fellow. Having finally maneouvred the man into coming to dinner and then ... staying the night, this is what happened:
"I gave him a shake, and I said: ‘Socrates, are you asleep?’ ‘No,’ he said. ‘Do you know what I am meditating? ‘What are you meditating?’ he said. ‘I think,’ I replied, ‘that of all the lovers whom I have ever had you are the only one who is worthy of me, and you appear to be too modest to speak. ... To these words he replied in the ironical manner which is so characteristic of him:—‘Alcibiades, my friend, you have indeed an elevated aim if what you say is true, and if there really is in me any power by which you may become better; truly you must see in me some rare beauty ... But look again, sweet friend, and see whether you are not deceived in me. The mind begins to grow critical when the bodily eye fails, and it will be a long time before you get old.’ Hearing this, I said: ‘I have told you my purpose, which is quite serious, and do you consider what you think best for you and me.’ ‘That is good,’ he said; ‘at some other time then we will consider and act as seems best about this and about other matters.’ Whereupon, I fancied that he was smitten, and that the words which I had uttered like arrows had wounded him, and so without waiting to hear more I got up, and throwing my coat about him crept under his threadbare cloak, as the time of year was winter, and there I lay during the whole night having this wonderful monster in my arms. This again, Socrates, will not be denied by you. And yet, notwithstanding all, he was so superior to my solicitations, so contemptuous and derisive and disdainful of my beauty—which really, as I fancied, had some attractions—hear, O judges; for judges you shall be of the haughty virtue of Socrates—nothing more happened, but in the morning when I awoke (let all the gods and goddesses be my witnesses) I arose as from the couch of a father or an elder brother." SY.
However, The Symposium ends with the narrator passing out drunk in the middle of the night, only to wake in the morning to see Socrates still awake, cheerfully sharing an enormous cup of wine with two others while arguing a debate with them. As dawn comes, he puts them all to bed, has a bath and goes about his regular day. Truly he was the Philosopher for this song.
30. Eric Idle: Either "the nicest of the six members of Monty Python" or "the sixth nicest member of the old Monty Python group..." EI. For more information check the references.
References:
DD: http://dict.die.net/beer/
EI: http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/index.shtml
HEGEL: http://www3.baylor.edu/~Scott_Moore/hegel.html
IJ: http://www.isleofjura.com/whiskyeducation/glossary.asp#leterm
OSD: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/
PM: Stillman, F. (1966) The poet's manual and rhyming dictionary. London: Thames and Hudson
PP: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/heid.htm
SP: Stephanie Pegg, Nascent Latin Translator and Beloved Sister
SY: http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/p71sy/symposium.html
UK: http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/
WB: Barnhart, C. L., Barnhart, R. K. (Eds.) (1985) The world book. Chicago: Doubleday Inc.
WBD: Barnhart, C. L., Barnhart, R. K. (Eds.) (1985) The world book dictionary. Chicago: Doubleday Inc.
WITT: http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/witt.htm
WK: http://en.wikipedia.org
Interesting Links:
A study of The Galaxy Song
Eric Idle, Himself
More Python Philosophers
Historical Roots of the Genre
The Almighty Wikipedia's Own Sanctified Annotations
posted by theamazingcatherine | 6:00 pm
5 Comments:
My word but you put a lot of work into this. Been a bit bored lately, huh?
Steph
I didn't realise that it would take quite that much work. Once I had started, I did not want to do an inferior job or give up, so...
Most impressive indeed!
*Warm fuzzies*
Alan
So you are going to do another one?
Steph
Suggestions are welcome. But tomorrow ... The Midwife's Tale (part 1)
Post a Comment
<< Home