# I can call you Betty, and you can call me Al **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 25, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380 "2000-04-25T19:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/1 "2000-04-25T19:04:00Z")
I was on Napster the other night (I’ll wait for the booing of the Recording Industry to die down)…Anyway, for lack of anything better to do, I downloaded Paul Simon’s _You can call me Al_. It’s a great song, but it leaves me with one question… **What the hell does it mean?** Does anyone have any thoughts? * * * - Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth. \* ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/2 "2000-04-25T19:07:00Z")
Ah, excellent topic. _Graceland_ is one of my top 10 albums of all time. Partly because I have this thing about South African gumboots music. But anyh00. As per the OP: I dunno. Maybe it’s a pick-up line song? * * * “I go on guilt trips a couple of time a year. Mom books them for me.” A custom made Wally .sig! ```auto My iguana's sick. He's all floppy. Could he have Reptile dysfunction? -Chef Troy, Haiku Master ``` ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/3 "2000-04-25T19:10:00Z")
It’s a glib presentation of the fundamental human problem of persona vs. anima. See Matthew Arnold’s “The Buried Life” for another view. * * * “But when all was said and done, the winners were Bush and Gore, one of whom will be our next president, unless – and I would not totally rule this out – the Constitution suddenly is discovered to be missing, and it mysteriously turns up a few days later in the White House living quarters, and, lo and behold, the part that limits the president to two terms is GONE.” – Dave Barry ---
**Author:** ![Breckinshire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71c47a/32.png) [@Breckinshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breckinshire)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/4 "2000-04-25T19:13:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by pluto: > \*\*It’s a glib presentation of the fundamental human problem of persona vs. anima. \*\* Of course! How could I have been so blind? * * * - Blessed are the Fundamentalists, for they shall inhibit the earth. \* ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/5 "2000-04-25T19:27:00Z")
Oh my. My favourite poem mentioned in a thread about one of my favourite songs. What a day. * * * “Organs gross me out. That’s _organs_, not orgasms.” -the wallster ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/6 "2000-04-25T19:33:00Z")
Oh! Something I can answer! I was told this last year, and was explained it line by line. Its about Dante’s _Divine Comedy_. Betty would be Beatrice, the narrator’s guide. I haven’t read the Divine Comedy, but the person who told me majored in a Great Books Seminar, and was quite proficient. Connor * * * Sala, can’t you count?!? I said NO camels! That’s FIVE camels! ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2000, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/7 "2000-04-25T19:42:00Z")
**mega** – what a coincidence!! LOL! **Breck** – I was being deliberately obscure (for comic effect. haha.) but I really think that’s what the song “means” as much as it means anything. (“A poem should not mean but be.”, Archibald MacLeish, _Ars Poetica_). I think it’s a description of the difference between the who we really are (anima) and who we seem to be (persona). Simon adds a complication by including a third case – who we are seen to be. We can adopt various roles (“You can be my bodyguard, I can be your long lost pal.”) as we deal with life but a) they are not who we really are and b) they will be misunderstood (“doesn’t speak the language, he’s got no currency”) anyway. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/8 "2000-04-26T00:16:00Z")
I love Paul Simon, I think he is one of the most talented men ever. All of his songs are great as far as I’m concerned. Did anybody see him on Oprah about two years ago? He states very plainly that “You Can Call me Al” is about nothing. I guess that means we can interpret it for ourselves. And IF he has any special meanings, it’s personal, and he hasn’t shared it. * * * “The bitch, oh the bitch, the bitch is back…I’m a bitch cuz I’m better then you, it’s the way that I move The things that I do…” Elton John “People try to tell me thoughts they cannot defend…” The Moody Blues “To start, press any key. Where’s the any key?” Homer Simpson. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-can-call-you-betty-and-you-can-call-me-al/16380/9 "2000-04-26T01:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > **mega** – what a coincidence!! LOL! Hardee freaking har. 😉 * * * “Organs gross me out. That’s _organs_, not orgasms.” -the wallster