David Allen Coe’s song “If That Ain’t Country” contains the, to me, obscure line “If that ain’t country, it’ll harelip the Pope/If that ain’t country, it’s a damn good joke.”
Putting aside whether Pope rhymes with joke (it’s my possibly-apocryphal understanding Coe killed a guy in prison, so I don’t want to rile him unnecessarily), how would one harelip (v., t.) anyone? Why the Pope in particular? Who first thought this was a v., t.?
Has anyone else heard this expression in any other context or have any clue as to the etymology? I’m assuming it must be very regional?
Oddly, the lyrics actually seem to be “hair-lip the Pope,” rather than the correct “harelip.” Googling “hair lip the Pope” locates only the lyrics (with one exception, which gives no clue to the phrase’s origin.) “Harelip the Pope” gives zero results.
According to this, an old folk superstition had it that a harelip could be caused by the devil appearing to the expectant mother in the form of a hare (which itself, obviously, is harelipped). I think you could say that the devil was harelipping the baby.
I never realized that was a regional expression. I thought it was just another one of my dad’s nonsensical expressions, like, “well rain on their bald heads,” meaning, “to hell with them all.” He used it in the context of planning to take some unpopular action, “I don’t care if it hare-lips the mayor.” It sounds as if whomever is getting hare-lipped is optional, as long as it rhymes?