[lit-ideas] Dr. Feelgood and the Interns
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:26:52 EDT
P. A. Stone wrote [amongst other things]:
>>people DO die -- including us.
M. Chase comments:
>Paul's post raises all kinds of questions, but I'll hone them
>down to
>two:
>Given that many people often feel that life is hard to take: is
>this inevitable or not?
In my reading, Stone was saying that _death_ is hard to take (or accept) --
not life? Which was a non-sequitur because as Stone notes:
>>people do die (including us).
Geary commented:
>>>I think maybe the very last concern of philosophy
>>>would be how we feel about our lives.
>>>At least not in any Dr. Feelgood way.
Chase comments:
>>I don't know what you mean by this.
Robert Paul answers:
>I think that MG means that philosophy cannot _pace_ Bentham, help us
>understand our lives at the level of pleasant sensations and smiley faces.
That
>is, even if philosophy could help us understand our lives (or show us why we
>can't) it would do so at a more interesting level than this. This was
surely the
>Socratic program. And if MG does mean this, I'd agree. At what level and how
>philosophy does help us understand our lives, I have no idea: I don't really
>understand what's meant by understanding one's life, as a broadly conceived
>enterprise--no idea what would count as having understood my life, e.g. And
(for
>me), where the answer does not exist, the question does not exist.
By Geary's own answer, I think he (Geary) was having blues pianist (William
Perryman) in mind, rather than Jeremy Bentham (the philosopher):
>>>I don't know what you mean by this.
>Yeah, you have to be familiar with a group called The Negro Problem. It's
>from one of their songs. Pretty esoteric reference.
Interestingly, the ellipstical is credited in the OED
the term ["doctor feelgood"] seems to have
been first used as a simple self-designation
(without any of the later negative connotations)
by the blues pianist â??Piano Redâ?? (William
Perryman) who broadcast, and subsequently
recorded, under this sobriquet. The words of
the 1967 hit song which popularized the phrase
do, however, suggest awareness of the sense
described [above].
-- more below.
Cheers,
JL
--
OED
'feel-good' -- ellipt. for "Doctor Feelgood" s. v. DOCTOR, n 6 e rare.
1972 Newsweek 25 Dec. 29/3
The best way to guard against Feelgoods and charlatans is for the medical
profession to keep its own house in order.
Doctor Feelgood (usu. written as Dr.), a physician who readily prescribes
mood-enhancing drugs, such as amphetamines, esp. for non-medicinal use; hence,
any doctor who provides short-term palliatives rather than a more effective
treatment or cure; also transf. and attrib.
The term seems to have been first used as a simple self-designation (without
any of the later negative connotations) by the blues pianist â??Piano Redâ??
(William Perryman) who broadcast, and subsequently recorded, under this
sobriquet. The words of the 1967 hit song which popularized the phrase do,
however,
suggest awareness of the sense described above.
1962 â??PIANO REDâ?? (title of record) Dr. Feelgood and the Interns.
1967 A. FRANKLIN & T. White in Doctor Feelgood (song)
Don't send me no doctor
Filling me up with all those pills
Got a man named Dr. Feelgood
That man takes care of all of my pains and my ills.
1967 J. KRAMER Instant Replay (1968) 40
Ever since then, we've called him â??Doctor Feelgoodâ??.
1973 Oui Apr. 55
Dr. Feelgood used to shoot Duke What's-His-Name in the ass every week or so
with a nice mixture of speed and vitamins.
1975 Business Week (Industr. ed.) 24 Nov. 12/2
[There are those] who treat the famous, and those who are famous because
they treat disease better than other doctors. Among the former, you might find
the Dr. Feelgoods and the Marcus Welby types who offer concern and gentle
bedside manners at very high prices.
1978 Time 9 Oct. 45/1
The Carter Administration has responded with a Dr. Feelgood litany that the
dollar's health is sound... But the world's money traders are not buying that
happy talk.
1981 Washington Post 14 Aug. A29/5
We have here a problem that Ronald Reagan is peculiarly suited to address.
He is no phony Dr. Feelgood. He is the Real Stuff.
1986 S. CHURCHER N.Y. Confidential xii. 288
What you need is a Dr. Feelgood. Most of the physicians who provide
rejuvenating blasts of dope to rich New Yorkers use amphetamines.
1992 M. LEYNER Et Tu, Babe (1993) v. 100
Wachtel was one of the White House â??Dr. Feelgoodsâ?? who pumped JFK full of
speed every day.
Cheers,
JL
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
