# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 414
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8264 "2023-11-27T06:28:46Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > If they really want to switch to dollar coins, they have to get the vending machine companies on board. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Just get rid of pennies at the same time. Yep and yep. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8265 "2023-11-27T06:30:48Z")
They should replace the cent, nickle and dime with the bit (a quarter is two bits) and eliminate the one and the five, replacing them with coins (the $5 coin would be slightly non-circular but not a lot bigger than the one). Of course, cash is rapidly fading, in favor of card things, so it is kind of moot. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8266 "2023-11-27T08:50:44Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/r8EKOEN8d-U/hqdefault.jpg "Steve Martin, Banjo, 1979") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8EKOEN8d-U) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8267 "2023-11-27T11:16:46Z")
So which of you poll voters were lucky enough to see Steve Martin’s live comedy act, and was it before or after his 35-year hiatus from 1981 to 2016? (Or is there some _other_ stand-up comedian out there who plays the banjo in their act?) ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8268 "2023-11-27T14:28:16Z")
I frequently wear black concert tees and black sweat pants. Coincidentally, my sneakers are black as well. I’m sure some folks think I’m trying to make a statement, but honestly, I never gave the whole thematic color thing a thought and just wear in nearly every situation just what’s comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8269 "2023-11-27T15:07:43Z")
Back when I worked backstage in the theater, I would wear a lot of black. One day, I ran into some other theater people “on the wild.” They didn’t recognize me at first. I was wearing colors. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8270 "2023-11-27T15:54:06Z")
I couldn’t vote in the Norwegian Wood mini poll because I think it is a travesty that Nights in White Satin (my vote) lost to it in a landslide. OK, you have a choice between a song about a timeless if tragic love, and another about an asshole who burns down the apartment of some girl just because she refused to fuck him (NOTE: I typed that BEFORE I saw **squeegee** ’s poll on exactly that interpretation of the lyrics). Ok fine whatever, the Hegemony of the Top 40 rules in these polls, beeg fat hairy whoop… So, for the record (heh): NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN is one of my all-time favorite cuts in the entire f. universe. I don’t care who knows that, what they might do with said information, or what they might think of it. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8271 "2023-11-27T16:34:26Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Of course, cash is rapidly fading, in favor of card things, so it is kind of moot. After a handful of visits to Canada in the ‘90s, I became a big proponent of eliminating dollar bills. Fewer bills stuffed in one’s wallet, and if you manage it properly, you never need to have more than one dollar coin in your pocket at a time. IIRC, the US kept trying to get people to embrace dollar coins _before_ discontinuing the bills, which of course never happened. I thought at the time they should just rip the band-aid off like Canada did and be done with it. Now, though, I so seldom use cash that I literally could not care less. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8272 "2023-11-27T16:45:25Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > And replace everybody’s cash boxes/register drawers. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Just get rid of pennies at the same time. Now that you’ve pointed it out, I see that that would work. > [@WildaBeast](#): > > It’s a fun, jaunty little song. About a mass murderer? – I had always assumed he lit a fire in the fireplace; I hadn’t seen the quote from McCartney, which makes McCartney sound a highly unpleasant person – “the guy had to have some sort of revenge”? For what, for being told “no”? But as long as we’re coming up with unpleasant meanings for that song: I couldn’t figure out whether it was “I said I didn’t and crawled off to sleep in the bath” or “I said I didn’t feel called on to sleep in the bath” – the latter of which carries the possible implication that he raped her. And maybe when he woke up she wasn’t “gone” as in gone to work, maybe she was “gone” as in dead. So then he burned the place down in the hope of hiding the cause of death. (Maybe McCartney clarified that wording too. I didn’t look.) (I also couldn’t figure out why, whether or not he insisted on her bed, he’d have slept in the bath. Didn’t she have a couch, or at least a living room rug? Even if it was a studio, if she was willing to have him stay there at all, wouldn’t the bedroom floor have been more comfortable than the bath to lie down on?) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8273 "2023-11-27T17:00:55Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > (I also couldn’t figure out why, whether or not he insisted on her bed, he’d have slept in the bath. Didn’t she have a couch, or at least a living room rug? Even if it was a studio, if she was willing to have him stay there at all, wouldn’t the bedroom floor have been more comfortable than the bath to lie down on?) Because: _She told me she worked in the morning And started to laugh. I told her I didn’t And crawled off to sleep in the bath._ sounds a lot better than: _She told me she worked in the morning And started to slouch. I told her I didn’t And crawled off to sleep on the couch._ ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8274 "2023-11-27T17:02:24Z")
This is why i hate lyrics. If they don’t say what they mean, why bother ? Music is so much nicer without them. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8275 "2023-11-27T18:30:50Z")
I have zero proof, but I strongly believe that the original intent was that the narrator built a fire in the fireplace. As the arson theories arose I suspect that the boys just went along with it, which would be consistent with their history of goofing around, particularly with the media. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8276 "2023-11-27T18:32:20Z")
I’d never heard that interpretation of the “Norwegian Wood” lyrics before, but I can see where Macca and others are coming from. I always assumed that it was just the lonely singer lighting a fire in the fireplace at the end. I’ve liked “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” since I first heard it as a kid - my mom bought all the Beatles albums - and I still like it, despite the incongruously grim lyrics. I’ve never worn all black. I don’t think I even have any black clothes other than some socks. Steve Martin is great! His jokes, playing banjo, his short stories and plays… it’s all good. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8277 "2023-11-27T18:42:13Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > About a mass murderer? I don’t take song lyrics that seriously. In fact I usually don’t pay that much attention to them. I’m too young to have seen Steve Martin’s old comedy act, but I did see him a few years ago when he was doing that tour with Martin Short. He played the banjo in that act, but that _was_ with comedic intent. He brought a whole bluegrass band on stage, and when it was his turn to take a solo he played badly on purpose, even though I’m sure most of the audience knew that he can actually play quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8278 "2023-11-27T18:47:48Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#): > > Because: > _She told me she worked in the morning > And started to laugh. > I told her I didn’t > And crawled off to sleep in the bath._ > > sounds a lot better than: > _She told me she worked in the morning > And started to slouch. > I told her I didn’t > And crawled off to sleep on the couch._ _She told me she worked in the morning And started to squat I told her I didn’t And crawled off to sleep on the cot_ ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8279 "2023-11-27T19:00:28Z")
I love lyrics. I like ambiguity and songs that evoke a mood, rather than make a simple statement. Although a good story song works for me. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8280 "2023-11-27T19:11:07Z")
I think there’s enough space in the world to like lyrics that both make a simple statement and evoke a mood, but I admit I also love me a song that tells a story. Even more when it also makes a statement and evokes a mood! See [my thread on the song Hazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-killer-in-the-richard-marx-song-hazard-1992/964074) as an example. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8281 "2023-11-27T19:49:21Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I don’t take song lyrics that seriously. In fact I usually don’t pay that much attention to them. I can’t always understand lyrics, and I sometimes don’t worry about it when I can’t; but they make a very large difference to me when I can understand them. If the lyrics piss me off, I won’t want to listen to the song. If I think the lyrics are great, I’ll want to listen to it a lot. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8282 "2023-11-27T20:15:51Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I couldn’t vote in the Norwegian Wood mini poll because I think it is a travesty that Nights in White Satin (my vote) lost to it in a landslide Yeah, I didnt get it either. In fact, other then when I listened to the whole album (Rubber Soul), which I never owners, but I would hear sometimes anyway. In fact, until the poll came up, that song flew from my memory, while Nights in White Satin is a true classic. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > About a mass murderer? Only three, and spread out. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/8283 "2023-11-27T20:17:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Only three, and spread out. True. About a serial killer. With no sign that he’d stop at three. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=413) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380.md?page=415)