Clean and sober here in the States, but what is the deal in Amsterdam? Have a two hr. layover, and I thought, what the heck, it is legal, and I graduated from college a generation ago... Just tell the cab driver? thanks, mike.

<BR>Mike - <BR>The deal in Amsterdam is that some areas in the center city have about two or three emporia per block for the sale of cannabis. Rather than a cab, take the train - you'll save time. There's a station right in the airport. Walk straight out of Centraal Station in downtown A-dam, and you'll start seeing "coffee shops". Do some web research to find one with nice ambience in that immediate neighborhood. Ask the proprietor about the selection of weed... it's not always on open display. They'll have maybe a dozen different varieties. Get a very small amount and ask the counter person for something that produces a mild high that won't knock you out. It's all quite good and you don't want to take ANY out of the country. They have packs of papers there for you to roll a number with. Don't get too wasted or you'll miss your flight (2 hours is cutting it pretty close). Everybody in Amsterdam speaks excellent English, so it's no problem figuring out which train to take.

Okay the movie...was it Nightmare on Elm Street? It's a far cry from Peter Sellers. It's also a movie that I've only caught glimpses of, but from the selection, seems like the character of "Freddie" would have achieved world fame. Whiteside, if this isn't it, don't bogart the hints.

Delighted to learn I'm not the only one to have dys-audia (!?) on that line. I always heard "woken up like a Doozer in the roaring of the light." <BR> <BR>But pullease, what is the derivation of "mondagreen" or is that a mondagreen in itself?

"Dys-audia"... love it! <BR> <BR>OK; "mondagreen": here 'tis. The first person to start collecting these gems, back in the 50s, had her own dys-audia with a Scotish folksong that she frequently heard as a child. A line from it goes something like "They killed the Earl of [someplace], and laid him on the green." She always heard the lyric as "... and Lady Mondagreen". (I told you it was obscure!) <BR> <BR>My personal favorite from my own childhood was hearing the Christmas carol "Silent Night" and thinking "round yon virgin mother and child" was "brown young virgin, mother, and child".

Hint #2: <BR> <BR>The Film was taken from the first of three novels each featuring the same character. The title of the film is not the same as the novel. The film of the second novel did have the same title. The film of the third novel is in ( or may recently have finished ? ) production.

Sometime in the past year, I heard an interview with a man, Garvin Evans. <BR>He has compiled a book, <BR>"When a Man Loves a Walnut , and Other Misheard Lyrics" <BR>The interview was very funny, and of course filled with "dys-audias" <BR>Sounds just the ticket , doesn't it? <BR> <BR>Bill and Mike, <BR> i.e. Amsterdam ,in 1968 I had to worry about what my parents would say if they found oput. <BR>now, over 30 yrs. later, I would have to worry what my *children* would say! <BR> <BR>Beth, concerning the person calling up radio station for the "two hr. version of "In a Gadda", I think that is *very* funny! <BR>nancy

Beth, not a location joke! Funny and completely believable, as one who has done late night DJ'ing. <BR> <BR>Bill, if you are Anglican/Episcopalian, perhaps you grew up with the hymn about the Consecrated Cross-Eyed Bear? My father nearly burst his hernia stitches when he heard me sing, "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to wall." <BR> <BR>Of course, we had to convince both him and my mother that the words to Lucille (or was it Long Tall Sally? have I got that wrong, after 40+ years?) indicated that she sure liked to bowl. <BR> <BR>Then there are the wackos here in the US who recorded the themesong to Mr. Ed ("A horse is a horse, of course, of course"), played it backwards, and found the demonic chant, "Satan's the source, the source, the source"!! <BR> <BR>Would someone please explain to me why those myths have Satan busy in a recording studio, engineering things to run in reverse? Time to update them for computer hackers and RealPlayer. I know mine often behaves as if possessed.

To the top -- much more fun than the political ping-pong. Any Europeans peeking here who are old enough to have listened to pop music in the 60s and early 70s: what song brings back the strongest, "Proustian" memory of the era for you? Where were you, what were you doing? For me, it was "Aquarius" and "Jumping Jack Flash," and I wonder if either were "big" in Europe.

OK - I just must jump in here just in case a Fodorite was at my senior prom in 1968. The Iron Butterfly was the entertainment! Yikes. Any of you graduate from Marywood, Connelly or Servite (Catholic Schools) in Orange County California? <BR>We were waaay too bitchen!

Speaking of Amsterdam and sixties moments, on my first-ever trip to Europe back in the summer of 1969, I made the pilgrimage to a site made famous just a few months earlier by John Lennon and Yoko Ono -- the Amsterdam Hilton. Just had to see this wonderful place and feel its karma. <BR> <BR>Ugliest building I ever saw, set in the middle of the most god-awful Euro-modern office-industrial "park." Just looked at this building and this place and kept thinking to myself, "this has to be the wrong Amsterdam Hilton." <BR> <BR>Went inside (me, the scruffy, smelly, poncho-wearing hippie), asked, and was told that yes, this was the place. That's when I began to suspect that Yoko was up to no good.

Dr Betty, you are such a clever girl. Wichi tai to is a Cherokee (I think) song that is "water spirits running round my head, makes me feel glad I'm not dead", which I quoted not too long ago. Originally done by Jimmy Pepper, a Cherokee (I think) tenor sax player back when Janis was still with Big Brother and Van was lead singer with Them.

The Iron Butterfly song was featured in Manhunter, with Will Peterson and Dennis Farina. The book title was Red Dragon, and a minor character was Hannibal Lechter (the character played by Peterson was the FBI guy who'd caught Lechter).

Thanks for the info Bill, mike.

elvira, <BR> <BR>Thank you for solving the mystery of the movie connection. I never would have figured it out. I remember reading your quote about the water spirits and find it amazing that this is a phrase that I periodically find myself singing. I guess we'll have to chalk this up to one of life's many cosmic connections. <BR> <BR>When I was little, my mother would sing to me the song "Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be..." I always thought it was a mother talking to her daughter, Kay Sarah, Sarah. <BR> <BR>

The second line to blinded by the light is:- "revved up like a dueuce, another runner in the night" (saddo that I am I looked it up in the music book.) Mondegreens by the truck load at www.kissthisguy.com. Hilarious site. Incidentally not a sixties moment but the first band I ever saw were led zeppelin, and I went with my dad.

incidentally the "inna a gadda da vida" thing is stoned speak for "In the Garden of Eden"

Sorry, Scorch -- too many foggy nights. Jumping Jack Flash was the Stones. They weren't exactly an American group, ya know?

COVERED by Bruce Springsteen???? He WROTE Blinded by the Light. For the lyrics, get the Greetings from Asbury Park album. <BR> <BR>Sorry, got a little frayed around the edges...rock'n'roll saved my life. I get a little touchy about it.

Points arising: <BR>Mondegreens - from "slain the Earl of Moray & laid him on the green" <BR>I have heard the first line of King of the Road (trailers for sale or rent..) <BR>sung as "sailors for sailorettes" <BR> <BR>A'dam - try the Greenhouse,Siberie,Kandinsky,Rusland.