Dat's Da Man

I do indeed speak of the man in the street, but he's just walking along State Street or Ashland Avenue or wherever, he's not a part of a group that thinks up Rube Goldberg stunts to put people in power.  Back in the day, there was Man, like Oh, Man, whuzzup Man, which was not the same as The Man.

I was thinking that the expression The Man predated hippies.  I was remembering The Midnight Special by Johnny Cash, which I think was before the sixties and where if you complained about no food in your pan you got in trouble with the man.  But internet research reveals that this song goes past Leadbelly into the foggy ruins of time.  I love those old blues songs where nobody knows who wrote them and sometimes a phrase will drift in and out of songs and really make no sense but when the old Delta guy is banging his geetar and spitting out the words they are like the truest words ever spoken, oh Man.

Yonder comes Miss Rosie. How in the world do you know?
Well, I know her by the apron and the dress she wore.
Umbrella on her shoulder, piece of paper in her hand, 
Well, I'm callin' that Captain, "Turn a-loose my man."

Why is she wearing an apron?  Why is she carrying an umbrella?  Don't matter Man, she's come to turn-a-loose her man,.

But anyway that phrase about The Man goes back to at least 1905, and it seems likely that the phrase was picked from this song to become a popular hippie phrase.  It sounded so cool Man, to be talking about The Man putting his heel across across your neck, Man.  But The Man was like the police, the gummint, the people in power.  They never acted shadowy, they did not use misdirection, they were right in your face Man,

I was happy to see Trump win the nomination.  I watched every debate and came away with a smug smile because after that outrageous performance how could anybody elect that clown?  Still, if the big girl had to lose, I'd rather she lost to Trump than say Cruz.  I hate to imagine a unified republican party in power.  As some said about Trump, at least he is erratic,  I would rather have Trump as the kidney stone in the urethra of the Republican party than have them peeing freely on us.

I never cared much for the word establishment.  It was not a word that we used among ourselves, it was a word that the establishment put in our mouths when they put actors playing us on their tv shows or in their movies (Why is it on tv shows and in movies?  No wonder English is so hard to learn). I notice now that the Trumpists rail against the establishment a lot.  They are kind of like later day hippies, except that they don't believe in peace or love.


Before I make a posting I reread what I've written for typos and to see if it makes any sense (not well enough according to some, so be it), and I try to think of a title.  I was thinking I'd respond to Beagles' title by using Dat's Da Man, but Da Man is not at all the same as The Man.  You know I'm going to use it anyway because I don't have all morning, but once again no wonder it is so hard to  learn English.  It's a wonder we can write it,