Salad days

Last updated

"Salad days" is a Shakespearean idiom referring to a period of carefree innocence, idealism, and pleasure associated with youth. The modern use describes a heyday, when a person is/was at the peak of their abilities, while not necessarily a youth.

Contents

History

The phrase is attributed to William Shakespeare, who made the first known use of it in his 1606 play Antony and Cleopatra . [1] In the speech at the end of Act One in which Cleopatra is regretting her youthful dalliances with Julius Caesar she says, "...My salad days, / When I was green in judgment, cold in blood/To say as I said then!" [2]

The phrase became popular only from the middle of the 19th century, coming to mean "a period of youthful inexperience or indiscretion." The metaphor comes from Cleopatra's use of the word 'green'—presumably meaning someone youthful, inexperienced, or immature. Her references to "green" and "cold" both suggest qualities of salads. [3]

Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage summarizes several other possible meanings of the metaphor:

"Whether the point is that youth, like salad, is raw, or that salad is highly flavoured and youth loves high flavours, or that innocent herbs are youth's food as milk is babes' and meat is men's, few of those who use the phrase could perhaps tell us; if so, it is fitter for parrots' than for human speech." [4]

Usage

Queen Elizabeth II used the phrase during her silver jubilee royal address in 1977, referring to her vow to God and her people when she made her 21st birthday broadcast: "Although that vow was made in my salad days, when I was green in judgment, I do not regret nor retract one word of it." [5]

The phrase has been used as the title of several books, including novels by Theodora Benson, [6] Françoise Sagan, [7] and Charles Romalotti; [8] Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s autobiography The Salad Days; [9] and numerous cookbooks. [10] [11]

In film, television, and modern theatre

Salad Days is a British musical by Julian Slade and lyricist Dorothy Reynolds. It premiered in the UK at the Bristol Old Vic [12] in June 1954, and transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London on August 5, 1954. One of its songs, "The Time of My Life," includes the lyrics, [13] "We're young and we're green as the leaf on the tree / For these are our salad days."

A sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus is called "Salad Days," and features a parody of Slade's musical as interpreted by Sam Peckinpah.

The phrase was used by H.I. McDonough (played by Nicolas Cage) in the Coen Brother's film Raising Arizona. H.I. states that "These were happy days, the salad days as they say" when he and his wife Ed (played by Holly Hunter) arrive home with their son. Later in the film, upon losing their son, H.I. states "But I preminisced no return of the salad days".

Salad Days is the name of a documentary film released in 2014 about the evolving punk and hardcore scene in Washington DC during the 1980s and 1990s. The choice of name hints at the 1985 Salad Days (EP) by the Washington DC band Minor Threat.

The 2010 Taiwanese drama Gloomy Salad Days is named after the expression.

In literature

In Katherine Applegate's Animorphs series, Marco says his dad Peter referred to the time before losing Eva (Marco's mom) as the "salad days", though Marco doesn't understand the reference.

In music

Album and song titles

  • In 1985, Washington, D.C., hardcore punk band Minor Threat released the song "Salad Days," reflecting on days of spirited youth in contrast to a time of adult disillusionment.
  • The pop-punk/emo band Misser has a song called "Goddamn Salad Days" from their 2013 EP Distancing. [14]
  • "Salad Days" is a song by the Cardiff post-punk band Young Marble Giants, including the lyric "Think of salad days, they were folly and fun, they were good, they were young."

In song lyrics

  • The phrase is used in the Spandau Ballet song "Gold": "These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away."
  • The idiom is used again in the opening line of the track "Lovers Who Uncover" by The Little Ones: "Where do all the lovers meet with one another, in an effort to uncover what has happened to their salad days?"
  • The phrase is also used in the track "Spotlight (Oh Nostalgia)" from Patrick Stump's Truant Wave EP: "Oh, nostalgia I don't need you anymore / 'Cause the salad days are over and the meat is at my door."
  • Frank Zappa's song "Electric Aunt Jemima" contains the phrase as well: "Holiday and salad days, and days of moldy mayonnaise."
  • Talib Kweli's song "Friends & Family" on his album Gutter Rainbows uses the phrase in reference to his early career: "Rhyming in Greenwich Village circa 1993 / Yeah those were the salad days, my career's appetizer." His song "Ms. Hill" on his album Right About Now uses the phrase, saying, "We used to kick it in the salad days, but she look at me like she don't know me when she see me nowadays."
  • The phrase is also used in the chorus of the track "Vince The Loveable Stoner" from The Fratellis's Costello Music album: "And I haven't seen a pupil in his eyes for 16 days, the Catholic girls love him in a hundred million different ways, and he's been up for days, in a thick malaise, he's only listened to the salad days." [16]
  • The song "What Would Jimi Do?" on bassist Tony Levin's album Resonator begins with the lyric "Lately, I've been thinking back, back into my salad days."
  • Geddy Lee refers to the phrase in Rush's 2010 documentary called Beyond the Lighted Stage. [17]
  • Green Day's song "¡Viva la Gloria!" uses the phrase: "You made your bed in salad days amongst the ruins."
  • The Finn Brothers song "Edible Flowers" from 2004's Everyone Is Here album features the line "Taste the edible flowers scattered in the salad days."
  • Desaparecidos' song "City on the Hill" from their 2015 record Payola includes the lyric: "All the stolen melodies they played in the hit parade / all the borrowed spirituals they fade in the salad days."
  • Brand New's song "Waste" from their 2017 record Science Fiction includes the lyric: "You and I were stuck in the waste / Talking about our salad days / What a damn lie."
  • Deep Purple's single "Any Fule Kno That" from their 1998 album Abandon contains the lyric "Salad days go a-tickling by / Have a high time, burn money in the meantime."
  • The phrase is used in The Maddy Prior Band song Roll on the Day written by Rick Kemp, from the 1982 album Hooked on Winning. The song contains the lyric "You were easy meat in your salad days." [18]
  • The Sheila Divine's song "Black River" uses the phrase: "I guess these salad days have taken their toll."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joey Ramone</span> American punk rock singer (1951–2001)

Jeffrey Ross Hyman, known professionally as Joey Ramone, was an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. His image, voice, and his tenure with the Ramones made him a countercultural icon. He, along with the guitarist Johnny Ramone, are the only two original members who stayed in the band until the disbandment in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minor Threat</span> American hardcore punk band

Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C., by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Brian Baker and guitarist Lyle Preslar to form Minor Threat. They added a fifth member, Steve Hansgen, in 1982, playing bass, while Baker switched to second guitar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meat Puppets</span> American rock band

Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood, and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix. The three then moved to Tempe, Arizona, where the Kirkwood brothers purchased two adjacent houses, one of which had a shed in the back where they regularly practiced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian MacKaye</span> American singer and record label owner

Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is an American musician. Active since 1979, he is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label, and the frontman of hardcore punk band Minor Threat and post-hardcore band Fugazi. MacKaye was also the bassist for the short-lived band the Teen Idles, and frontman for Embrace, and Pailhead, a collaboration with the band Ministry. MacKaye is a member of The Evens, a two-piece indie rock group he formed with his wife Amy Farina in 2001 and in 2018 formed the band Coriky with Farina and his Fugazi band mate Joe Lally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slade</span> British rock band

Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The British Hit Singles & Albums names them the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. They were the first act to have three singles enter the charts at number one; all six of the band's chart-toppers were penned by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. As of 2006, total UK sales stood at over 6,500,000. Their best-selling single, "Merry Xmas Everybody", sold in excess of one million copies. According to the 1999 BBC documentary It's Slade, the band have sold more than 50 million records worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Young Marble Giants</span> Welsh post-punk band

Young Marble Giants were a Welsh post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales, in 1978. Their music was based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time. Young Marble Giants released just one studio album, Colossal Youth, in 1980. They also released two EPs and recorded a John Peel session.

<i>Ramones</i> (album) 1976 studio album by the Ramones

Ramones is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released on April 23, 1976, by Sire Records. After Hit Parader editor Lisa Robinson saw the band at a gig in New York City, she wrote several articles about the group and asked Danny Fields to be their manager. Fields agreed and convinced Craig Leon to produce Ramones, and the band recorded a demo for prospective record labels. Leon persuaded Sire president Seymour Stein to listen to the band perform, and he later offered the band a recording contract. The Ramones began recording in January 1976, needing only seven days and $6,400 to record the album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borstal</span> Type of youth detention centre

A borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a borstal school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dead or Alive (band)</span> British band

Dead or Alive were an English pop band who released eight studio albums from 1984 to 2021. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums in the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass), and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989. Burns died in 2016; with the death of Coy in 2018, the band ended.

<i>Salad Days</i> (musical) Musical

Salad Days is a musical with music by Julian Slade, and with book and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. The musical was initially performed in 1954 in the UK in Bristol and then in the West End, where it ran for 2,283 performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Riot</span> 1977 single by The Clash

"White Riot" is a song by English punk rock band the Clash, released as the band's first single in March 1977 and also included on their self-titled debut album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)</span> Song of Neil Young

"Hey Hey, My My " is a song written by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Combined with its acoustic counterpart "My My, Hey Hey ", it bookends Young's 1979 album Rust Never Sleeps. The song was influenced by the punk rock zeitgeist of the late 1970s, in particular by Young's collaborations with the American art punk band Devo, and what he viewed as his own growing irrelevance.

<i>Up on the Sun</i> 1985 studio album by Meat Puppets

Up on the Sun is the third album by the Meat Puppets, released in 1985 by SST Records. The album features a cleaner and more technical sound with a more psychedelic rock feel, in contrast to the sloppy punk approach of their first album (1982), while continuing with the mystical, poetic lyrics and country-inflected songwriting of Meat Puppets II (1984).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clampdown</span> 1979 song by the Clash

"Clampdown" is a song by the English rock band the Clash from their 1979 album London Calling. The song began as an instrumental track called "Working and Waiting". It is sometimes called "Working for the Clampdown" which is the main lyric of the song, and also the title provided on the album's lyric sheet. Its lyrics concern those who have forsaken the idealism of youth and urges young people to fight the status quo. The word 'clampdown' is a neat cover-all term the writers adopted to define the oppressive Establishment, notably its more reactionary voices who were to be heard throughout the 1970s calling alarmingly for "clampdowns" by government and law enforcement on strikers, agitators, benefits claimants, football hooligans, punks and other perceived threats to the social, economic and moral wellbeing of the UK.

<i>Crackers</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Slade

Crackers is a studio/compilation album by the British rock band Slade. It was released on 18 November 1985 and reached No. 34 in the UK charts. It was certified Gold by the BPI that same month. The album was produced by bassist Jim Lea except for "All Join Hands", "Do You Believe in Miracles", "My Oh My" and "Run Runaway", which were all produced by John Punter. The album contained a mix of the band's previous hits, some re-recorded songs and a selection of covers.

<i>Hi, How Are You</i> 1983 album by Daniel Johnston

Hi, How Are You: The Unfinished Album is the sixth self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in September 1983. The subtitle refers to the length of the album; Johnston had intended for it to be an hour-long release, as a majority of his earlier releases were.

Salad Days may refer to:

Charles Romalotti is an American author of punk fiction. Born on February 10, 1970, in Topeka, Kansas, he is the author of two novels, Salad Days and Pariah, both released by Layman Books. He currently resides in Austin, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mac DeMarco</span> Canadian musician (born 1990)

MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco is a Canadian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He has released five full-length studio albums: his debut, 2 (2012), Salad Days (2014), This Old Dog (2017), Here Comes the Cowboy (2019), and Five Easy Hot Dogs (2023). He additionally released the mini-albums Rock and Roll Night Club in 2012 and Another One in 2015, as well as the compilation album One Wayne G in 2023. His style of music has been described as "blue wave" and "slacker rock", or, by DeMarco himself, "jizz jazz".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blame It on My Youth (Blink-182 song)</span> 2019 single by Blink-182

"Blame It on My Youth" is a song recorded by American rock band Blink-182. The song was released on May 8, 2019, through Columbia Records, as the lead single from the band's eighth studio album Nine. The song is an upbeat, nostalgic track that recounts the band's early days. It was written by bassist Mark Hoppus, drummer Travis Barker, and guitarist Matt Skiba, as well as producer Tim Pagnotta, and songwriters Sam Hollander and Matt Malpass. The song debuted with a lyric video featuring renowned graffiti artist Risk.

References

  1. ↑ Jack, Albert (2005). Red herrings and white elephants: the origins of the phrases we use everyday. HarperCollins. p. 44. ISBN   978-0-06-084337-3 . Retrieved April 28, 2011. The phrase is a simple one with a simple origin provided, once again, by Shakespeare. In 1606 the Bard wrote the play Antony And Cleopatra, which includes the line: 'They were my salad days, when I was green in judgement.'
  2. ↑ Michael Macrone (1990), "Salad Days", Brush up your Shakespeare!, pp.  126–127, ISBN   978-0-517-18935-1
  3. ↑ Walker, John Louis (2002). Shakespeare and the classical tradition: an annotated bibliography, 1961–1991. New York: Routledge. p. 340. ISBN   0-8240-6697-9 . Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ↑ Fowler, H. W. A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press, 1926.
  5. ↑ "Britain Marks the Queen's Silver Jubilee". The New York Times Archive. June 8, 1977. p. 73. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Salad Days". The Spectator Archive. October 20, 1928. p. 52. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  7. ↑ Sagan, Françoise, Salad Days, Dutton Adult, 1984, ISBN   0-525-24238-4
  8. ↑ Romalotti, Charles, Salad Days, Layman Press, 2000, ISBN
  9. ↑ Fairbanks, Douglas, Jr., Salad Days, Doubleday, 1988, ISBN   978-0-385-17404-6
  10. ↑ Desaulnier, Marcel, Salad Days: Main Course Salads for a First Class Meal, Simon & Schuster, 1998, ISBN   978-0-684-82261-7
  11. ↑ Powell, Pam, Salad Days: Recipes for Delicious Organic Salads and Dressings for Every Season, Voyageur Press, 2011, ISBN   0-7603-4043-9
  12. ↑ "Salad Days". August 27, 2021.
  13. ↑ Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade (1961), Salad Days – Book and lyrics, p. 54, ISBN   978-0-573-08025-8
  14. ↑ Video on YouTube
  15. ↑ "Mac DeMarco announces new album, Salad Days, stream "Passing Out Pieces"". January 21, 2014.
  16. ↑ "The Fratellis – Releases". Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage" – via www.imdb.com.
  18. ↑ Roll on the Day | The Maddy Prior Band Lyrics, Meaning & Videos , retrieved May 19, 2023
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.