STAN FREBERG HERE...I Heard The Word On The Street Through The Grapevine
Stan Freberg here. The other day I heard somebody say, "Yeah, I heard it through the grapevine." Is that possible? Can you hear something through a grape vine? And another saying I hear once in a while is "Well, that's the word on the street." WHAT street? Let's examine these sayings, after this. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
One comment that drives me up the wall is "Well, that's the word on the street." The word on WHAT street? Are they telling you about a Wall Street?
Say I took a plane to New York and then took a cab to Wall Street. If I went to that street, where would I stand to hear "the word"? If I asked the first stockbroker that walked by, "What's the word?" he'd probably shrug and go "Beats me."
Now, about the comment "I heard it through the grapevine." Is it really possible to hear through a grape vine?
I know a man who actually owns a lot of grape vines. He's the producer-director Francis Ford Coppola. He owns his own vineyard that's doing very well now up in Napa Valley in Northern California.
I'm gonna ask Francis if he's ever held a grape vine up to his ear, in between movies, and heard anything. Like, an idea for another movie? Um, I doubt it. He probably gets enough scripts thrown over the transom at his vineyard, without resorting to holding grape vines up to his ear.
No, I think it's probably very unlikely that a person could actually hear anything through a grape vine, no matter what Marvin Gaye said.
At least that's what I hear through the grapevine.
Stan Freberg here.
Copyright ©1996, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.