The WELL: deadsongs.vue.138: Mister Charlie

#11: John P. McAlpin (john-p-mcalpin) Mon 10 Apr 06 14:16

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 14:16:00 PDT

"Mister Charlie" has become the openly used knick-name for my office boss. Charlie is his first name.

About a year ago I mocked one of my co-workers, joking about his wierd, malicious subservience to this boss and used the phrase "Yes, sir, Mister Charlie..." saying that that he was acting like one of the Manson Children around this boss. The co-worker, who claims to be an intelligent bon vivant, completely misundersood and thought I was making some plantation reference.

So for over a year now this guy has been blurting out "Yes, sir, yes, sir Mister Charlie" like his some cross between Rainman and Song of the South.

Makes me wish I never opened my mouth. [Read entire topic]

#10: Christian Crumlish (xian) Wed 1 Mar 06 07:08

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 07:08:00 PST

right, i mean "the man," not "da man." [Read entire topic]

#9: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Mon 27 Feb 06 09:08

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 09:08:00 PST

Make that Charlie [Read entire topic]

#8: Robin Russell (rrussell8) Mon 27 Feb 06 09:07

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 09:07:00 PST

Mr Charley, as I understand it, is white and non-benign. So The Man, yes, but not in the "Right on, Earl, you['re] The Man" sense. [Read entire topic]

#7: Christian Crumlish (xian) Sun 26 Feb 06 14:57

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 14:57:00 PST

I've also (I think) heard it as a reference to a cop - or, more generally, as "the man." [Read entire topic]

#6: searchlight casting (jstrahl) Tue 21 Feb 06 09:47

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:47:00 PST

In my memory (growing up in New York), Mr Charlie was around well before Whitey. [Read entire topic]

#5: David Gans (tnf) Mon 20 Feb 06 13:16

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:16:00 PST

> And now we have James Baldwin in "Blues for Mister Charlie," summoning the > Negro to battle even as he grieves for "Mister Charlie," the white man, as > the Negro calls him.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin- burden.html?_r=1&oref=slogin [Read entire topic]

#4: David Gans (tnf) Mon 20 Feb 06 13:15

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:15:00 PST

Isn't Mr. Charlie black slang for Whitey? [Read entire topic]

#3: Tim Lynch (masonskids) Mon 13 Feb 06 21:36

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:36:00 PST

Or is he talking about Charlie Manson???? [Read entire topic]

#2: Andrew Trott (druid) Mon 13 Feb 06 21:01

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:01:00 PST

Credit for this idea should go to Jen Avian, not me, but an awful lot of the lyrics of this song fit in with the premise that the narrator is going out to score some heroin. In that context, "horse" was once slang for heroin, and free association might link "Charlie" with "horse." [Read entire topic]