Comments on: Rather have a bottle in front of me

By: gold mine

gold mine — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:21:02 +0000

the “bottle in front of me” quote is most often attributed to Dorothy Parker (Wiki “Algonquin Round Table”). I’m seeing lots of mis-attributions on the web, and its interesting how recent people think this quote is . . .

By: Matthew Good

Matthew Good — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Actually, on that linked page it says that Dr. Hanzlick himself got the quote from a bathroom wall.

By: Matthew Good

Matthew Good — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Also, I should say thanks for the heads-up on the Waits interview. Perfect timing too, as I read this about 2 minutes before American Routes came on my local NPR station.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

I’m pretty sure that Groucho Marx was the one who came up with the quote, although I can’t give you a reference right now…

By: micah

micah — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

thanks for pointing this out, I would have never noticed it otherwise. I’m a big Tom Waits fan! I happen to remember the “I’d rather have the bottle in front of me…” as a song I heard on Dr. Demento, “just different ways to kill the pain the same…” it started something like, “Jimmy and I were brothers, but we went down different paths, Jimmy always listened to my mother,
And me, I never like to take a bath….I might be drunk, but at least I’m not insane!”