Talk:Let's Take a Walk Around the Block

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Much Cited But Never Attributed

There is a song called Let's Take a Walk Around the Block by Harold Arlen with lyrics written by Ira Gershwin and E.Y. Harburg, made popular by Ella Fitzgerald in the US and Geraldo in the UK. One of its verses says:

You're just the companion
I want at Grand Canyon
For throwing old blades down the rock....

Searching for the origin of what I assumed was some honeymooner's tradition or the like, I turned to a popular Internet search engine. It turns out that the reference is to a quote attributed to Ring Lardner, one supposedly made in response to seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time: "What a marvelous place to throw old razor blades!" But this attribution occurs online only in an article called Theology and Imagination, and in none of the many posted copies thereof could I find the citation's source. Does anyone know how we know that he said that, or even if he did?

Though the quote certainly seems plausible, I hope to be sure before I pass it on in my own writings. More misinformation is an Internet blessing we just don't need. 24.8.178.172 (talk) 06:06, 20 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A search on Google Books produces this quote from Gardner [1] I think the reference in the song is more a result of the genius of Harburg than Gardner. Gareth E Kegg (talk) 20:39, 21 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]