[78-L] Dept of meaningless lyrics?

[Don Chichester]

The term should be written 'fine-tooth comb', referring not to its quality but to its close spacing between teeth.  Such a comb would be useless to a black person with tough, kinky hair.  Have you ever seen the kind of combs black folks use?  Very wide spacing.  Hence the meaning of the lyrics: the girl was left with nothing but a good-for-nothing fine-tooth comb!

 

Don
 
> Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:29:08 -0500
> From: kenreg at tds.net
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Dept of meaningless lyrics?
> 
> Geoffrey Wheeler wrote:
> > "leave you with nothing but a fine tooth comb"?
> > ("Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?").
> >
> > Perhaps the tooth in the comb is just short of being mint and is thus 
> > “fine.” Must have been a large tooth, perhaps a T-Rex tooth. The song 
> > doesn’t say what the comb was made of, perhaps marzipan.
> > 
> 
> I'm thinking that "fine" refers to the size and spacing of the teeth of 
> the comb. Fine vs course, so fine would be thin teeth spaced closely 
> together. I think that "leave you with nothing but a fine tooth comb" 
> means that you are left with something of little or no value, and that 
> "fine tooth comb" simply fits the meter and comb rhymes with home.
> 
> -- Ken
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