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Oz never did give nuthin’ to the tin man

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that he didn’t already have.

—America, “Tin Man”

This is one of my favorite sentences and has been since I was a child. When I was a child, I didn’t quite understand it (and some days I think I still don’t), but it resonated with me deeply until I was old enough to at least grasp the intellectual concept. (Some of the best things I’ve ever read/heard come from a subconscious wisdom that it took chemical enhancement to drag kicking and screaming into the light, but what the hell, right?)

I still draw on it for strength and encouragement fairly often, at least once a week. I don’t have it posted anywhere; I don’t need to.

Go ahead. Be brave. Pony up with your guiding maxims.

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January 7th, 2009  
Tags: music, philosophy

9 Responses to “Oz never did give nuthin’ to the tin man”

  1. Dude
    January 7th, 2009 at 8:51 am

    It’s easy to forget what you have. Sometimes you don’t recognize it or appreciate it until you’ve lost it.

    The song that makes me reflect is “cat’s in the cradle” by Harry Chapin. Especially the line

    “When you coming home, dad?”
    “I don’t know when, But we’ll get together then.
    You know we’ll have a good time then.”


  2. Philip Persinger
    January 7th, 2009 at 10:58 am

    The one I’ve been going with is:

    “God put man on the earth because His arms were full and He had to open the screen door.”

    Persinger, 1998


  3. Th.
    January 8th, 2009 at 12:18 am

    .

    Isn’t it “didn’t didn’t already have”? Isn’t that a double negative? With resulting implications?


  4. RJ Keller
    January 8th, 2009 at 12:45 am

    From ‘Can’t Cry Hard Enough’ by the Williams Brothers (I think.)

    I’m gonna live my life
    Like every day’s the last
    Without a simple goodbye
    It all goes by so fast


  5. Dude
    January 8th, 2009 at 8:11 am

    Th if you want to get technical…it also says never did give nuthin….there for it would reverse back…triple negative.


  6. MoJo
    January 8th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Isn’t it “didn’t didn’t already have”?

    It just looks so clumsy without accompanying soundtrack, but in any case, I would have punctuated it differently.

    “didn’t (didn’t) already have”

    Takes care of the problem quite nicely.


  7. MoJo
    January 8th, 2009 at 8:43 am

    Kel, that’s gorgeous!


  8. Th.
    January 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am

    .

    Oh, you writers and your punctuation!


  9. MoJo
    January 10th, 2009 at 11:31 am

    You just have to find the right workaround solution.


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