You can Call Me Al, What does it mean?
Jim Edelman
I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
"Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
Al" to be a coincidence. Just from the context it seems to me that it
must be a term of respect of some sort. Does anyone know the
historical significance of this phrase?
It’s something that has been bothering me for a long time.
Jim Edelman
Harvey Gerst
jede...@skyweb.nospam.net (Jim Edelman) wrote:
Jim,
My take on this depression era song:
He (the singer) is now a panhandler. Talking to someone he used to work with:
>"Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
He wasn't a bum back then - he had a name.
>Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
Don't you remember me? We used to be friends.
I think the Paul Simon line is totally different in meaning.
Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Records
http://user.aol.com/ITRrecords/
Steven Sellors
Jim Edelman wrote:
>
> I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
> line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>
> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
> Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>
> Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
> Al" to be a coincidence. Just from the context it seems to me that it
> must be a term of respect of some sort. Does anyone know the
> historical significance of this phrase?
>
> It’s something that has been bothering me for a long time.
>
Quit calling me!
Al
Dan Herman
> I thought it was Al as in Al Bowley, the singer who popularized this
> song. (Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? by E.Y. Harburg and J. Gorney) I
> can't see any connection with the Paul Simon song other than the name.
Can you provide any details on Al Bowley's popularization of this song?
I didn't know he sang it. This is particularly interesting in light of
Richard Thompson's great tribute song, "Al Bowley's in Heaven", which
clearly resembles "Brother Can you Spare a Dime" in style.
Dan Herman
db...@columbia.edu
Frank Hamilton
c...@morrison.demon.co.uk (Col Morrison) wrote:
>On Wed, 25 Jun 1997 20:47:10 GMT, jede...@skyweb.nospam.net (Jim
>Edelman) wrote:
>>
>>I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
>>line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>>
>> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
>>Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>>
Does anyone know the
>>historical significance of this phrase?
The idea that Yip had in mind, I think, is that Al is the another name
for the everyday "Joe", the common guy. It's short for Albert, or
Alvin so he's the guy everybody knows well enough to call him Al. It
also conveniently rhymes with "pal." The idea is that in the days of
the Great Depression, the average guy was out of work, not just those
at the very bottom of the economic scale. Just more brilliance from
Yip, IMHO one of the greatest of lyricists.
Frank Hamilton
Jerry Dallal
Dan Herman (db...@columbia.edu) wrote:
: > I thought it was Al as in Al Bowley, the singer who popularized this
: > song. (Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? by E.Y. Harburg and J. Gorney) I
: > can't see any connection with the Paul Simon song other than the name.
: Can you provide any details on Al Bowley's popularization of this song?
I wouldn't have said it was identified with Bowlly.
It was introduced by Rex Weber, and the popular recordings of
the time were by Crosby, (not Columbo), and Vallee . . . and
a by Leo Reisman (v. Milton Douglas).
Bowlly was an extremely talented London-based, Mosambique-born singer
closely identified with Ray Noble who died during a WWII German air
raid over London. He was reading in bed at the time. Some say
his influence can be seen in Fred Astaire.
Joseph C Fineman
ham...@atl.mindspring.com (Frank Hamilton) writes:
>The idea that Yip had in mind, I think, is that Al is the another
>name for the everyday "Joe", the common guy. It's short for Albert,
>or Alvin so he's the guy everybody knows well enough to call him Al.
>It also conveniently rhymes with "pal." The idea is that in the days
>of the Great Depression, the average guy was out of work, not just
>those at the very bottom of the economic scale.
Well, sure, but also, as a previous contributor to this thread has
noted, it alludes to a particular, common, painful situation: when
you're suddenly poor, your friends start avoiding you because they're
afraid you'll ask them for money. Cf. "Down and Out".
--- Joe Fineman j...@world.std.com
||: How lucky that all the war criminals were on the losing :||
||: side! :||
Helen Stephens
I just thought it meant that the man being asked for a dime used to be
friendly enough with him to call him Al, but now he doesn't recognise him
at all.
I might be wrong but that was how I interpreted it when I first heard it
many yonks ago.
Helen
Jim Edelman <jede...@skyweb.nospam.net> wrote in article
<33b183ac....@news.idt.net>...
>
> I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
> line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>
> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
> Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
...
> Just from the context it seems to me that it
> must be a term of respect of some sort. Does anyone know the
Frank Hamilton
"Helen Stephens" <helen.s...@hunterlink.net.au> wrote:
>I just thought it meant that the man being asked for a dime used to be
>friendly enough with him to call him Al, but now he doesn't recognise him
>at all.
>I might be wrong but that was how I interpreted it when I first heard it
>many yonks ago.
>Helen
Helen,
I think it was Yip Harburg's intent to make a social statement about
the poverty during the Depression. There were many Al's who stood in
bread lines who were former soldiers, respectable members of society
who found themselves forced into a lower economic status and they were
being ignored by those lucky enough to withstand the ravages of the
Depression. Al was the archetypical guy who had seen better times and
was now being ignored by the "well heeled".
Cordially,
Frank
jer...@nonet.att.co.kr
On 1 Jul 1997 12:34:55 GMT, "Helen Stephens" <helen.s...@hunterlink.net.au> wrote:
>I just thought it meant that the man being asked for a dime used to be
>friendly enough with him to call him Al, but now he doesn't recognise him
>at all.
>
>I might be wrong but that was how I interpreted it when I first heard it
>many yonks ago.
>
>Helen
>
>Jim Edelman <jede...@skyweb.nospam.net> wrote in article
><33b183ac....@news.idt.net>...
>>
>> I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
>> line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>>
>> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
>> Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>...
>> Just from the context it seems to me that it
>> must be a term of respect of some sort. Does anyone know the
>> historical significance of this phrase?
>
I always interpereted as meaning people used to *know* him - a person with a name. When he fell on
hard times, people didn't see him as a person; friends turned their backs and didn't refer to him by
his name.
Jeri
Anti-Spam Alert
Please replace "nonet" with "inet" in my address when replying.
Jansill
>I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
>line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
>Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
>Al" to be a coincidence.
OK..well there have been a hundred or so interpretations of the line from
"Brother Can You Spare a Dime" (all pretty much the same)...And yet nobody
has ventured even a guess about the Paul Simon lyric!!
My guess is it's the "average guy" thing again and is definitely a
conscious, but loosely connected reference to "Brother". All the verses
describe a sort of average guy lost and confused by the things he sees and
observes.
Any other thoughts?
Jay Ansill
Jan...@aol.com
http://www.dynanet.com/~larry/ja
"I remember everything as if it happened years ago" - Robyn Hitchcock
Spiv
In article <19970702160...@ladder01.news.aol.com>, Jansill
<jan...@aol.com> writes
>>I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
>>line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>
>> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
>>Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>
>>Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
>>Al" to be a coincidence.
>
>OK..well there have been a hundred or so interpretations of the line from
>"Brother Can You Spare a Dime" (all pretty much the same)...And yet nobody
>has ventured even a guess about the Paul Simon lyric!!
>
>My guess is it's the "average guy" thing again and is definitely a
>conscious, but loosely connected reference to "Brother". All the verses
>describe a sort of average guy lost and confused by the things he sees and
>observes.
>
>Any other thoughts?
>Jay Ansill
>Jan...@aol.com
>http://www.dynanet.com/~larry/ja
>"I remember everything as if it happened years ago" - Robyn Hitchcock
--
Keith Hancock
Dick Kaulfuss
Jansill (jan...@aol.com) wrote:
: OK..well there have been a hundred or so interpretations of the line from
: "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" (all pretty much the same)...And yet nobody
: has ventured even a guess about the Paul Simon lyric!!
: My guess is it's the "average guy" thing again and is definitely a
: conscious, but loosely connected reference to "Brother". All the verses
: describe a sort of average guy lost and confused by the things he sees and
: observes.
: Any other thoughts?
It was a private joke between PS and his then wife (Carrie Fisher?).
Apparently, a celebrity guest/hanger-on was taking his leave from one
of their parties and called them "Betty & Al". They were so amused by
this that they kept the names for a while.
(Hazy recollection from a TV interview)
--
Dick
John Mahony
Jansill wrote:
>
> >I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
> >line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>
> > "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
> >Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>
> >Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
> >Al" to be a coincidence.
>
> "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" (all pretty much the same)...And yet nobody
> has ventured even a guess about the Paul Simon lyric!!
>
> My guess is it's the "average guy" thing again and is definitely a
> conscious, but loosely connected reference to "Brother". All the verses
> describe a sort of average guy lost and confused by the things he sees and
> observes.
>
> Any other thoughts?
insight than that! Especially since you were the brains behind the whole
Beatles thing.
In "Brother, Can You...", Al refers to Gov. Al Smith, who would later run
for president, but lost because he was Catholic and Americans at the time
wouldn't give up eating meat on Fridays, even during Lent. The Paul Simon
lyric obviously refers to Rev. Al Sharpton.....but I'd hate to play the
race card.
Nice to see you, even if it's electronically, Jay. Hope all is well.
John Mahony
blaiki...@gmail.com
> I was listening to some of my albums a while ago, and I came across a
> line in the song "Brother can you spare a dime." The line is:
>
> "Say don't you remember? They called me Al. It was Al all the time.
> Say don't you remember? I'm your pal. Brother can you spare a dime?
>
> Now this sounds a little too similar to Paul Simon's "You can call me
> historical significance of this phrase?
>
>
>
> Jim Edelman
Joseph C. Fineman
nickname -- in Harburg's song, in reminiscence; in Simon's, as an
invitation. I doubt if there is any actual allusion by the latter to
the former. The situation in "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" is a
shameful one: Once you are poor, your old buddies don't want to
recognize you, because they're afraid you'll ask them for money. It is
well documented in literature; cf. "Nobody Knows You When You're Down
and Out".
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net
||: Having fun -- not a rule, more like a guideline. :||