# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 367
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7327 "2026-09-17T21:42:05Z")
> [@robby](#): > > But the real innovation was the egg mold for the grill and the procedure that was developed so that a McDonald’s employee could crank them out on a grill like hamburgers. (I made thousands of them while working there as a teenager.) Getting back to creative works, has anyone here watched the TV show _Travellers_? The main characters are time travelers from the future where Earth is failing, and food is scarce, and awful. There’s a running joke about characters eating what we consider to be cheap or bad food, and being amazed at how great it is! One guy talks about his breakfast. "It’s _three different kinds of food_, all served on a muffin _from England!_ There’s other characters gushing about hospital food and the school cafeteria. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2026, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7328 "2026-09-17T22:53:32Z")
Heh, I just watched a YouTube featuring a defector from the North Korean army trying American MREs for the first time. His comment: “they’d wish for war every day just to eat this”. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7329 "2026-09-18T12:48:41Z")
I saw that one. He nearly broke his teeth trying to get that bag open. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7330 "2026-09-21T02:35:43Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Heh, I just watched a YouTube featuring a defector from the North Korean army trying American MREs for the first time. His comment: “they’d wish for war every day just to eat this”. The first time I tried MREs in 1987 on a Marine field training exercise with my NROTC unit, I thought they were manna from heaven—which they were, when compared to the decade-old [C-rations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Combat,_Individual_ration) we were given before that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7331 "2026-09-28T04:30:22Z")
I’ve listened to “Soul Man” (the Sam & Dave original) many times. But I was listening to it today and I belatedly thought “This song was released in 1967. How was there a reference in it to the Woodstock festival which didn’t occur until 1969?” So I looked it up. It wasn’t a reference to the music festival. It’s a reference to Woodstock High School, which had been a segregated school in Tennessee. (Which makes more sense considering the singer was educated there.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7332 "2026-09-28T05:42:27Z")
Play it, Steve! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7333 "2026-09-28T09:37:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve listened to “Soul Man” (the Sam & Dave original) many times. But I was listening to it today and I belatedly thought “This song was released in 1967. How was there a reference in it to the Woodstock festival which didn’t occur until 1969?” > > So I looked it up. It wasn’t a reference to the music festival. It’s a reference to Woodstock High School, which had been a segregated school in Tennessee. (Which makes more sense considering the singer was educated there.) TIL all this. ☝ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7334 "2026-09-28T14:38:07Z")
Re-reading my post, I realize I may have created some confusion. I made a reference to the singer being educated there. That was a reference to the line in the song: > I was brought up on a side street, listen now > I learned how to love before I could eat > I was educated at Woodstock > When I start lovin’, oh, I can’t stop Woodstock High School was a real school in Millington, Tennessee. (It’s now an elementary school.) But neither of the Soul Man’s singers, Sam Moore and Dave Prater, or writers, Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter, attended that school. I assume that Hayes and Porter, who grew up in the Memphis area, had heard the name of the school and thought it fit in the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7335 "2026-09-28T14:56:56Z")
I can’t believe I went my whole life, up until a few days ago, having the lyrics for Wish You Were Here wrong in my head, until my 20 year old daughter corrected me. The real lyrics for the part in question are > How I wish, how I wish you were here > We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year > Running over the same old ground, what have we found? > The same old fears, wish you were here That last line “The same old fears…” I’ve always heard as “The same old _fish_”. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7336 "2026-09-28T15:22:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > “This song was released in 1967. How was there a reference in it to the Woodstock festival which didn’t occur until 1969?” I went through the same thought process, decades ago, and translated it as “I was educated _by good stock_.” Like, his family instilled the best values in him. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7337 "2026-09-28T16:09:46Z")
That was the way I always heard it. Even more so after the Blues Brothers version. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7338 "2026-09-28T19:26:36Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Play it, Steve! Fun fact: Sam Moore (in the original Sam & Dave version) and John Belushi (in the Blues Brothers live cover) both called out “Play it, Steve!” to the _same_ Steve. Legendary session guitarist Steve “the Colonel” Cropper played on both. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7339 "2026-09-28T20:11:21Z")
I often felt like Dan Aykroyd and Jon Belushi were reviving an old forgotten genre with the Blues Brothers. But in reality, their performance of “Soul Man” on SNL was only eleven years after the original Sam & Dave version. And their recording of the song was a year later. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7340 "2026-09-28T20:32:08Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Talking about that movie recently, I realized how obvious it actually is. Louis Cypher = Lucifer. Duh! I thought Mickey Rourke’s character pointed it out in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7341 "2026-09-28T20:58:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I often felt like Dan Aykroyd and Jon Belushi were reviving an old forgotten genre with the Blues Brothers. But in reality, their performance of “Soul Man” on SNL was only eleven years after the original Sam & Dave version. And their recording of the song was a year later. In terms of changes in pop music, the 11 years from 1967 to 1978 were a lot longer than, for example, the 11 years from 2015 to 2026. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7342 "2026-09-28T21:15:51Z")
The _Soul Man_ lyrics are “I was educated and good stock.” Nothing about Woodstock. Can’t prove it, but it sounds that way on headphones, makes a helluva lot more sense, and [some lyrics sites have it that way](https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/samdave/soulman.html). ---
**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:** [September 28, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7343 "2026-09-28T22:12:02Z")
The original Sam & Dave version is clearly “I was educated at Woodstock.” Dave Porter himself has confirmed that the line refers to Woodstock High School, a segregated black school in Tennessee. The Blues Brothers changed the line to “I was educated from good stock.” There seems to be no documentation as to exactly why. My theory is that Belushi realized it would be a bad look for a white guy to sing about going to an all-black school in the ‘60s. Another possibility is that they wanted to avoid confusion with the subsequent Woodstock festival. Either way, it’s unlikely that Belushi simply got it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7344 "2026-09-28T22:34:28Z")
I withdraw my contention about the lyrics. Read the Wikipedia entry with the writer’s comments and “Woodstock” it is. Thank you Mr. Wheelz. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7345 "2026-09-28T23:30:21Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Fun fact: Sam Moore (in the original Sam & Dave version) and John Belushi (in the Blues Brothers live cover) both called out “Play it, Steve!” to the _same_ Steve. Legendary session guitarist Steve “the Colonel” Cropper played on both. I’d heard that before. I get the impression that Belushi knew exactly what he was doing when he said that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/7346 "2026-09-28T23:44:24Z")
Play it, Steve. Play “As Time Goes By”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=366) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=368)