No, I think it’s just “toe the line or blow”. Blow was formerly used more often to mean “leave”–as in, let’s blow this joint, or I’m bored, I’m gonna blow. Either toe the line or blow–either behave or get out. Nowadays if you say “blow” people start thinking about blow jobs. Or blowing chow.
We understand that “that’s all she wrote” is idiomatic. We just believe Skaggs is playing with the idiom by using it literally, just as Hank Williams had done a generation earlier in Dear John:
Well when I woke up this mornin’
there was a note upon my door
said don’t make me no coffee babe
cause I wont be back no more,
and thats all she wrote, “Dear John,
I’ve sent your saddle home.”
You’re right; I misheard the lyric. The sentiment is the same, though: Straighten up or beat it.
Why? Nothing else in the song suggests he’s got a woman waiting for him back home, unlike the Hank Williams example you give.
Yeah there is. “Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack.”
He’s shacked up with someone; and he missed the boat on that relationship by cutting out to do whatever it is he’s doing. (Gambling, if you read the song literally, perhaps pursuing a music career if you take the song as metaphor.)
That’s REALLY a stretch. A “shack” is a house or a pla ce to live. Aside from the term “shacking up” there’s nothing about it to suggest another person – and that’s quite a stretch.
The note came from someone.
I always figured it was a gambling thing myself, most of the slang in the song is gambling related. What seems to have happened in Chicago had to be serious, he’s not just leaving town, he’s headed out of the country (borderline). Maybe he owed some money to the mob, and a friend of his who was also connected, told him he better either come up with the money or really leave town, and fast. But, being addicted to gambling, he’s already got his next game (or con, if you think he’s a scam artist instead of a gambler) all planned out.
Oh, that’s actually the sequel. The bad guys catch up to Lido before he reaches the border, and they force him to dig his own grave before they shoot him.
My take on this song is that Lido is a small time crook who’s decided to live fast and die young. He stole some money from the local mob (“grab a handle off the top”) and now they’re looking for him. So he’s evading them as long as he can (the shuffle) and spending the money but eventually he’ll be caught and killed.
My take:
Lido screwed something up (missed the boat), probably related to gambling debts and money belonging to loan sharks/mobsters and took off (left the shack) in a once-flashy but now run-down (juke-joint) car. He stole money (grabbed a handle off the top) from a bar in the boonies where old drunks go to die (tombstone bar). (Or maybe he stole money he was transporting for the mob.) He went to Chicago and gambled his stolen money. He got a message from his former employers telling him to straighten up or else (toe the line or blow it). He dropped his fooling around (that was all she wrote) and headed for Mexico.
Lido is a card shark/gambling cheat and has been warned by to skip town or face the consequences from the criminal element running the city.
Of coure, that way of phrasing it has no beat and you can’t dance to it. I still give it an 85.
And the “shuffle” is a play on words. “Shuffle” is certainly a type of song (“Chinatown Shuffle”), a way of walking (“shuffle off to Buffalo”), and a preparation to playing cards (“shuffle the deck”).
Wait! Is it |li’ do| like Lido Iacocca, or |lai’ do| like short for English pronunc. of lidocaine?
I listened to the song and it’s pretty clear.
Lido is a gambler, and he’s not a good one.
He’s leaving because people are after him but like most gamblers he thinks “one big score and I’m even.” This is how people with a gambling addiction get taken in.
In otherwords, I’ll make one more score, win, pay back what I owe then QUIT, cause this time I learned my lesson
The words
Lido be runnin’, havin’ great big fun, until he got the note
Sayin’ toe the line or blow, and that was all she wrote
Have nothing to do with a woman, Lido was a gambler and he was having a great time, blowing money all over but now his creditors have said “Ok fun’s over pay up.” In other words “toe the line,” (we used to say “toe the mark”) In other words fun’s over PAY UP.
And that was the note, the she isn’t refering to a woman, it’s just like you call a ship a she or a car a she, it’s just a way to use a pronoun.
Shuffle is just a way to describe how he’s fleeing.
It’s kind of like songs, “Kay’s lament,” or Tess’s Torch Song. Plus the shuffle has the bonus of being a play on cards which may (or may not be) the source of Lido’s gambling problem which now means he must pay up or leave the area to avoid being knocked around.
The line from lido about the tombstone bar… it was a one horse (juke box joint) in phoenix arizona…it is (was) actually called lidos… named after the lido in paris…(a burlesque show)… after he grabbed a handle off the top a shot of booze (top shelf)… off to shy town… chi town… partying his butt off. 1more shot 1 last job refers to a trick he is with… a girl … a hooker … then she wants to get serious… man up or spit… he splits the borderline isnt the U.S. border… its the breaking point… hes pushin it all the way… well thats how i see it…i will try to decifer more later.
The song “She’s Always a Woman” was a tribute to Billy Joel’s first wife, Elizabeth. For many years, she was his business manager as well as his wife.
The song reflects the fact that people (record company execs, for instance) who had business dealings with Elizabeth found her to be a real hard-nosed bitch, a woman who was tenacious in fighting for every dime, and relentless in negotiations. People who’d been through a business meeting with Elizabeth Joel would sometimes tell Billy, “I feel sorry for you man- it must be brutal to be married to such a shrew.” The song was Billy’s way of saying, “The harpy you see in a business meeting isn’t the person I live with- when she’s alone with me, she’s a totally different woman. With me, she’s a sweet, kind, loving woman… but you’ll never get to see that side of her.”
The line “She can’t be convicted ,she’s earned her degree” probably means something like, “She’ll take you to the cleaners, and squeeze you for every penny she can get- and it’s all perfectly legal. She has a business degree, she knows how to play the game, and she’ll rob you blind.”
That song is rather vague.
It’s basically about a con-man, made-man, organized crime guy or something, who wants out and he’s planning on doing one more job and then leaving. But, apparently they don’t want him to leave.
Lido be running having great big fun
Till he got the note
Saying tow the line or blow
And that was all she wrote
“Tow the line or blow” just means get back in line or disappear (or else?)
A note on the title:
“Shuffle” refers to the structure of the song – not a dance, or anything like that, but the basic underlying rhythm. A shuffle (which some people call a boogie) is probably the most common rhythm in blues music, and you can hear it most clearly if you listen to the backing guitar during the opening verses of this song. That “swing” that makes you want to tap your foot is the shuffle.
Calling this song the “Lido Shuffle” is along the same lines as names like “Summertime Blues”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Maple Leaf Rag”. It’s a shuffle about Lido.
As far as the verses are concerned:
Lido missed the boat that day he left the shack
But that was all he missed and he ain’t comin’ back
He had responsibilities (ie, a ferry to work or something similar) and happily ditched them
A tombstone bar in a jukejoint car, he made a stop
Just long enough to grab a handle off the top
Next stop Chi town, Lido put the money down and let it roll
Pretty obviously, he went on a gambling/drinking bender through small-town dives on the way to Chicago
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One more for the road
Couldn’t stop gambling once he got started; typical of someone on a bender
Refrain:
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He’s for the money, he’s for the show
Lido’s waitin’ for the go
Lido, whoa-oh-oh-oh
He said one more job ought to get it
One last shot 'fore we quit it
One more for the road
He’s living it up, etc
Lido be runnin’, havin’ great big fun, until he got the note
Sayin’ toe the line or blow, and that was all she wrote
He be makin’ like a beeline, headin’ for the borderline
Goin’ for broke
**Got in over his head, probably on the bad side of the folks who make their living fleecing gamblers, and ran for the border as a final gamble.
**
I always that Lido’s problem was that he was doing too well. Taking too much money out of the game if a gambler, drawing attention if running cons …