Key West, Florida, not far from Margaritaville. Paul Goldfinger photo. ©
If you scroll down to the article about bagels (Sept 3), there is a song by a country group. The song is called “Hey Good Lookin'” by the Parrothead All-Stars performed by Clint Black and friends.
In that song is a reference to a book. Tell us what that book is called and what it is used for. Please be specific.
The first one who gets both parts right wins a prize at Seasons General Store at 69 Main Avenue in Ocean Grove.
Comment below with your answers.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have a quick winner, Maureen. Check the comments for the answer and discussion regarding the lyrics to “Hey, Good Looking'”—-Paul @Blogfinger
Waterseller: I have the Hank Williams version, but Jimmy Buffet is emphasized in this post because this version is from a Jimmy Buffet tribute album by his country music friends. Thanks for the input.
Maureen: You are first, so you win. But when I first listened to this version, the singer sort of soft-enunciated that word (“date”). As a former musician who tends to focus on things like harmony, melody, instrumentation and rhythm, I often am a sloppy listener of pop lyrics.
What I heard was “fake book,” not “date book,” which is a book that musicians carry around to gigs. It provides the bare essentials of many songs including lyrics, melody notation and chords—then you are on your own to “fake” the rest. I can imagine a musician making notes into his fake book, because being in a band is a great way to meet girls.
My friends in high school didn’t do much formal dating, and we never heard of “date books.” We did hear of “little black books” which fit in your wallet and contained mostly names and phone numbers, but no “dates” in the calendar sort of way.
Today things are different, and paper/pencil are becoming memories, especially for the young. Even the dating rituals are much different. I saw a “modern romance” piece yesterday in the NY Times video section where a young woman is trying to meet a guy for a particular romantic purpose. She saw a man in a bar who seemed right, so she struck up a conversation. Then she asked him for his phone and she entered her number into it, then handed his phone back to him and said something like, “You can call me if you want.”
So, the recording of dating data has become electronic including the calendar, and the modern-day little black book is not so little anymore.
Yet, some things don’t change, and she still put it on him to make the first call and she didn’t ask for his number.
Maureen, you can pick up your prize at Seasons, 69 Main Ave. OG. You will get an email —Paul
Date book
Used to keep track of appointments
Love your blog. Thanks.
“date book” also known as “little black book”…this was where the boys would keep the girls names and phone numbers…so they could call when looking for a date
sounds very sexist by today’s standards…
It’s a date book. Used to keep names and phone numbers of young ladies you are a-courtin’. Paul, Hey Good Lookin’ is a Hank Williams song, not Jimmy Buffet, although Jimmy probably recorded it too.
He tossed his Date Book which he used to record his dates with girls.