Chrysti The Wordsmith: Life Is a Bowl of Cherries

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. Life is just a bowl of cherries this breezy catch phrase translates. Don't be too serious life is sweet and enjoyable. Well many of our familiar expressions have foreign and ancient origins. This one is red white and blue 20th century American. It began life as the name of a song written by Ray Henderson and Lou Brown for the Broadway musical. George White's scandals of 1931 the refrain reads life is just a bowl of cherries. Don't take it serious. Life's too mysterious. You work you save you worry so but you can't take your dough when you go go go. 23 year old Ethel Mermen sang the song for the 1931 premiere of George White's scandals and over the decades. Life is just a bowl of cherries has been recorded by Bing Crosby Debbie Reynolds Perry Como Tony to Neil and many others. Little wonder that with the song placed so conspicuously on the pop music landscape it's cheery optimistic title would become a 20th century catch phrase.

However in a less sanguine age we have taken to inverting the intention of this cliché by intoning it with heavy sarcasm. As in I got laid off my job right before Christmas. Life's just a bowl of cherries. CHRISTIE The wordsmith has produced and recorded on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman in the studios of KGO FM Southwest Montana's music alternative. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.