Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve seen enough reruns of “M*A*S*H” to have the following impromptu drinking song from the “Alcoholics Unanimous” episode seared onto my brain:

Come on in!
Take off your skin!
And rattle around in your bones!

[repeat]

I was always curious about the origin of this little ditty. It doesn’t seem that unique at first glance, but it’s a catchy little knee-slapping snippet, almost mantra-like.

A little research yielded a surprising background to these lyrics: They’re based on a 1920s dancehall number by Edgar Leslie and Walter Donaldson, that was later re-composed by Tom Waits. The original chorus:

‘Tain’t no sin
To take off your skin
And dance around in your bones

At root, a skeletal refrain. In which case, I’d rather rattle than dance…

Just in time for Halloween costume ideas: Take an extra-long and an extra-short tube sock or balloon, tie them together, place them strategically, and you’ve got Attila the Hung.

It’s taken almost twenty years, but I believe we’ve finally found a mock-pornstar name that beats George Costanza’s “Buck Naked”. And amazingly, it seems like not too many others have ever thought of it.