"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

[Raul]

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"

Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?

[num...@hotmail.com]

In article <3700e946...@24.0.0.71>,

Rau...@mailexcite.com (Raul) wrote:
> "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
>
> Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?
>
>

i recall Tom Smothers saying it on an awards show (i think) a couple of
months before the album came out....i recall a bunch of us watching it
thinking how profound it sounded... mike

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

[Derek J. Larsson]

Raul wrote:

> "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
>
> Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?

I saw this quote appear on a Salada tea bag paper tag .. but
that was only in the middle 1980's - a few years -after- Lennon
had wrote and released his "Beautiful Boy" song ("Double Fantasy")
in 1980 (and also after this song was included on Geffen's
"Lennon Collection" album).

I think Salada picked this up as a "useable quote" from the
Lennon's song itself which became popular after his death
(the quotes and expressions Salada uses on their tea bags quips
are rarely original).

In later years I've also seen it appear on some retail greeting
cards ...
but once again only well after the original release of Lennon's
song
(the greeting cards may have picked this up from either
Lennon's song directly or from the Salada tea bag quip).

-- Derek

======================================================
Derek J. Larsson EMail: derek_...@3com.com
======================================================

[Jeff]

I doubt John originated this phrase. Probably
was said thousands of years ago, though not
in those exact words likely.

[JLW44]

>I doubt John originated this phrase. Probably
>was said thousands of years ago, though not
>in those exact words likely.

Don't you know that John originated most phrases. For instance Help! was never
used before John invented it(just being a little sarcastic here). And for the
record, I had heard that phrase many times over before John used it in his
song(the life phrase that is). Still fits nicely into the song though. I think
attention was given to it mainly due to the circumstances of the time and how
true that phrase came to be for John unfortunately.

[Jeff]

"just being a little sarcastic here'

yeah I can tell that.John gets too much credit.
He represented the Beatles better than the others but we can't give him
credit for every phrase used on Planet earth. As he himself
says in a 1969 interview The Beatles were only
a part of a movement, and they didn't change
the world all by themselves. He spoke well and
we want to beleive he had the answers to
everything. I am not answering your post very
well and I'm getting a bit off topic not expressing
what I am trying to say very well. It's one of those days.:)

[Tracer]

In article <24971-37...@newsd-132.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,

Life...@webtv.net (Jeff) wrote:
> I doubt John originated this phrase. Probably
> was said thousands of years ago, though not
> in those exact words likely.

I agree that a similar phrase has probably been used for thousands of years,
but I believe, unless someone can prove otherwise, that John originated the
phrase we know. I have an issue of "Life" magazine from sometime after John's
death and the opening page uses the quote and gives officail credit to John.

"My life's a circus, and insane chain of circumstances" - Cheap Trick

[num...@hotmail.com]

In article <7du49h$ird$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,

Tracer <trac...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
> In article <24971-37...@newsd-132.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
> Life...@webtv.net (Jeff) wrote:
> > I doubt John originated this phrase. Probably
> > was said thousands of years ago, though not
> > in those exact words likely.
>
> I agree that a similar phrase has probably been used for thousands of years,
> but I believe, unless someone can prove otherwise, that John originated the
> phrase we know. I have an issue of "Life" magazine from sometime after John's
> death and the opening page uses the quote and gives officail credit to John.
>
> "My life's a circus, and insane chain of circumstances" - Cheap Trick
>

i'll try this again...i heard Tom Smothers say that exact phrase several
months prior to the shooting
mike

[ian hammond]

On Wed, 31 Mar 1999 15:14:12 GMT, Rau...@mailexcite.com (Raul) wrote:

>"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
>
>Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?

Life is what happens to you when you're making other plans
Betty Talmage, according to The Book Of Quotes, Barbara Rowe, 1979
Thomas La Mance, according to Quotations For Our Time, L. Peter,
1977 source: NRDPA201/202

Every day in everyway, it's getting better and better
Coue

ian

[Jeff]

Tracer
It's hard to disagree with you when your agreeing with me in a way too.
Now cut that
out.:)

[Tracer]

In article <7du8lh$mq2$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,

num...@hotmail.com wrote:
> In article <7du49h$ird$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
> Tracer <trac...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
> > In article <24971-37...@newsd-132.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
> > Life...@webtv.net (Jeff) wrote:
> > > I doubt John originated this phrase. Probably
> > > was said thousands of years ago, though not
> > > in those exact words likely.
> >
> > I agree that a similar phrase has probably been used for thousands of
years,
> > but I believe, unless someone can prove otherwise, that John originated the
> > phrase we know. I have an issue of "Life" magazine from sometime after
John's
> > death and the opening page uses the quote and gives officail credit to John.
> >
> > "My life's a circus, and insane chain of circumstances" - Cheap Trick
> >
> i'll try this again...i heard Tom Smothers say that exact phrase several
> months prior to the shooting
> mike

There is no way in hell that Tom Smothers had the brains to invent that
quote! However, Tom Smothers was a friend of John Lennon's. John
wrote "Beautiful Boy" almost a year before he was killed, so it is possible
that Tom had heard the song earlier. Either that or someone else wrote the
quote, but "Life" magazine thinks it was John Lennon.

"My life's a circus, and insane chain of circumstances" - Cheap Trick

-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------

[Tracer]

In article <3704ab65...@news.supernews.com>,

Okay, "Life" magazine was wrong, but at least it wasn't Tom Smothers! ;)

[Tom]

>> "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
>>
>> Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?
>
>

It's a secular version of a very old line about the way to amuse God. Make
plans.

[Pville2000]

I had read it was EMILY DICKENSON> Oh well, there ya go. It IS such a
true-ism, whoever said it.

[Amaranth56]

>It's a secular version of a very old line about the way to amuse God.
>Make plans.

Wanna make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.

Never let it be said that God doesn't have a sense of humor! Ever notice that
the words 'cosmic' and 'comic' are only a letter apart?

[ian hammond]

I always thought Lennon was singing "comic wheel" in "Mind Games". The
written lyrics are "karmic wheel". But who ever says "karmic"? I still
think it's "comic", which fits better:

Putting their soul power to the comic wheel.

The line reminds of that little step from the ridiculous to the
sublime. Which is what you were saying (with or without the mythic
being you reference).

ian

[Tracer]

In article <19990401030845...@ng-fu1.aol.com>,

amara...@aol.com (Amaranth56) wrote:
> >It's a secular version of a very old line about the way to amuse God.
> >Make plans.
>
> Wanna make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.
>
> Never let it be said that God doesn't have a sense of humor! Ever notice that
> the words 'cosmic' and 'comic' are only a letter apart?

And that god spelled backwards is dog? He's a jokester that God is!

[Ron Robinson]

On the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, prior to the release of John Lennon's "Double Fantasy LP, Tommy Smothers said "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" as a wisecrack that got a laugh. I saw this show and recognized the line later when Lennon's album came out. Unless Lennon had shared this lyric with Smothers at an earlier date, Lennon, who was known to be an avid TV watcher, saw the same show and made this a lyric in his song.

[Ron Robinson]

On Wednesday, March 31, 1999 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-6, num...@hotmail.com wrote:
> In article <3700e946...@24.0.0.71>,
> Rau...@mailexcite.com (Raul) wrote:

> > "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"
> >
> > Did John originate this phrase or was it around before?
> >
> >

> i recall Tom Smothers saying it on an awards show (i think) a couple of
> months before the album came out....i recall a bunch of us watching it
> thinking how profound it sounded... mike

> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

I definitely saw Tom Smothers say "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" as a wisecrack that got a laugh on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, before Lennon's Double Fantasy album was released. I recognized it immediately when the album came out. Unless Lennon had previously shared this line with Smothers, Lennon, who was known to be an avid TV watcher, saw the same show and turned it into a song lyric. Ironically Smother's wisecrack took on a "deeper meaning" when people attributed it to John Lennon.

[curtis...@gmail.com]

I buy it.

John loved the Tonight Show and had history with the Smothers Bros.