Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I've heard Freud was always drawing phallic conclusions about men lighting each others cigars and slobbering over them, so maybe its in line with that. The exclusive smoking clubs, again we have our ol' boys.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I'd be inclined to agree, yes. Guess the whole basis of the analysis of the unconscious is liable to stretch into far-fetched and unfalsifiable territories. In any case, I'd be inclined to say an Adorno critique of cigars would likely involve such things.
 

Leo

Well-known member
Help a limey out here. In 'American Pie', when the good ol' boys are drinking whiskey and rye - is "rye" not a type of whiskey in this context? Or is it something else?

I think he just needed something to rhyme with "singing 'this will be the day that I die' ".
 

woops

is not like other people
I think he just needed something to rhyme with "singing 'this will be the day that I die' ".
He's differentiating between two kinds of good ol boys, those drinkin' whisky, an' those dry... right?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
An alternate theory holds that, since rye is a kind of whiskey, McLean is actually singing "drinking whiskey in rye." Ths singer's home was New Rochelle, which did indeed feature a bar called "The Levee." Allegedly, this bar shut down or "went dry," causing patrons to drive across the river to Rye, New York.
An alternative theory to the alternative theory is that the cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries didn't die when the Sanctuary of Eleusis was destroyed by Alaric in 396, but survived to the present as a decentralized, clandestine organization, practicing the Mysteries in secret every year in various parts of the world. McLean, as an initiate of this cult, of course couldn't make an open reference to it, but used "rye" as a euphemism for the kykeon, the psychedelic potion central to the Mysteries, that was made from rye that had been intentionally infected with ergot.
 

woops

is not like other people
An alternate theory holds that, since rye is a kind of whiskey, McLean is actually singing "drinking whiskey in rye." Ths singer's home was New Rochelle, which did indeed feature a bar called "The Levee." Allegedly, this bar shut down or "went dry," causing patrons to drive across the river to Rye, New York.
drunk driving back home singing "this'll be the day that i die"
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
An alternative theory to the alternative theory is that the cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries didn't die when the Sanctuary of Eleusis was destroyed by Alaric in 396, but survived to the present as a decentralized, clandestine organization, practicing the Mysteries in secret every year in various parts of the world. McLean, as an initiate of this cult, of course couldn't make an open reference to it, but used "rye" as a euphemism for the kykeon, the psychedelic potion central to the Mysteries, that was made from rye that had been intentionally infected with ergot.

Thus the good ol' boys are divided into those seeking the mere oblivion of intoxication by alcohol, and those who seek after higher truths by ingesting the kykeon and thereby apprehending the Mysteries.
 

Leo

Well-known member
An alternate theory holds that, since rye is a kind of whiskey, McLean is actually singing "drinking whiskey in rye." Ths singer's home was New Rochelle, which did indeed feature a bar called "The Levee." Allegedly, this bar shut down or "went dry," causing patrons to drive across the river to Rye, New York.

Good one, some clever lyricism there. Drinking whiskey in Rye, NY.
 

STN

sou'wester
He drinks J&B for its light colour, so the drinks he makes look weaker than they are. First impressions, it'll do.
My grandfather also used to drink it for this reason; it allowed him to escape ‘feminine censure’ from my grandmother. He was too old to have got the idea from The Human Factor so I guess it was a general ‘thing’ among posh old blokes.
 

STN

sou'wester
I may as well add while I’m here that many years ago I took LSD and broke my friend’s turntable trying to play American Pie backwards in case there were secret messages therein.
 
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