From Bethany “Bitty” Ramirez on Facebook on 5/8:
I chopped the rhubarb
But I did not chop the strawberry
— (#1) Ramirez
BR often writes (mouth-wateringly) about food and its preparation, but not lined out like this, and not with what looks like a reference to the song “I Shot the Sheriff” (in either of its two most famous recordings). Depending on your knowledge of popular music (which probably depends on your age), this is either an ostentatiously playful allusion — pretty much everybody of a certain age knows the song, so it leaps right out as the model for #1 — or an Easter egg quotation — a kind of hidden bonus for those younger listeners who happen to be familiar with the model. (More on OPAs and EEQs below.)
The song (and its second line). “I Shot the Sheriff” was written by Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley, and its original recording was by Bob Marley and the Wailers, on the album Burnin’, 1973. The first two lines, immediately repeated with small variations in the form of the second:
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, oh no, oh
I shot the sheriff
But I didn’t shoot no deputy, ooh, ooh, ooh
— (#2) Marley
Then there’s the Eric Clapton version, on the album 461 Ocean Boulevard, 1974 (again with variations in the second line):
I shot the sheriff,
But I did not shoot the deputy
I shot the sheriff,
But I didn’t shoot the deputy
— (#3) Clapton
EEQs and OPAs. From my 3/14/24 posting “The history-rebooted Easter egg”:
From my 4/13/19 posting “Easter egg quotations”:
in the very last sentence [of an Economist article]: “All this may then eliminate the fear, surprise and ruthless efficiency of unexpected viruses”, a quotation from the Monty Python “Spanish Inquisition” sketch.
If you catch the quotation — not every reader will — that doesn’t contribute substantively to your understanding, but it does provide a kind of side pleasure, not unlike that afforded by Easter eggs in video games and the like. So I’ll refer to them as Easter egg quotations.
For the most part, the Economist deploys allusions ostentatiously, as jokes that are meant to be seen as jokes. The Vaccine X allusion to Monty Python, however, can be read straightforwardly and literally, merely asserting that unexpected viruses elicit fear and surprise and are ruthlessly efficient. It could pass by without your noticing. If you recognize the allusion, that’s a bonus, a little gift to you, and you might even feel a bit of pride in your knowledge of culturally significant texts.
That’s the story for EEQs (Easter Egg quotations). On the Economist‘s more common, blunt-force, quotation strategy, in OPAs, see my 5/18/19 posting “Ostentatiously playful allusions”.
(Side note. Don’t ask me how to interpret the song; I can speculate, but I’m inclined to just let it wash over me as disclaiming some sort of responsibility. Clapton apparently tried to extract an interpretation from Marley, but couldn’t make sense out of what Marley said. And now Marley is long dead and unavailable for comment. I like to imagine that there’s an afterworld in which Bob Marley and John Lennon enjoy laboring to explain their lyrics to one another.)
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