Thans to readers Bob Williams and Tim Reynolds for pointing out that Adams was riffing off the following Graham Lee Hemminger poem:
(Poem #1915) Tobacco is a Dirty Weed Tobacco is a dirty weed, I like it. It satisfies no normal need, I like it. It makes you thin, it makes you lean, It takes the hair right off your bean. It's the worst darn stuff I've ever seen. I like it. |
Hemminger in turn seems to have been poking fun at the far more solemn (and, as far as I can find out, anonymous) verse: Tobacco is a filthy weed That from the devil doth proceed, That drains your purse, That burns your clothes, That makes a chimney of your nose. However I still feel that while Hemminger's poem was merely an amusing parody, Adams's had some undefinable element to it that lent it a touch of steel, and which makes it far more trenchant than it appears at first glance. martin
45 comments: ( or Leave a comment )
Post a Comment