{"history":[],"article":{"id":"70de6e98-12d2-4b49-ae40-dca29d157426","title":"The Near Future","slug":"the-near-future","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n\"**The Near Future**\" is a song written by [Irving Berlin](https://bliptext.com/articles/irving-berlin) and performed in the [Ziegfeld Follies of 1919](https://bliptext.com/articles/ziegfeld-follies-of-1919).\nIt is better known for the small part of its lyric that took on a life of its own: \"**How Dry I Am**\".\n\n# Origins\nThe origins of the song and its components are somewhat obscure, as are the factors that differentiate \"The Near Future\" from \"How Dry I Am\".\n\n## Melody\nThe origin of the melody predates Berlin's song.\nThe distinctive four-note motif was used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Sonata, Op. 10 No. 3, published in 1798.\nThe motif is also used in [Oh Happy Day](https://bliptext.com/articles/oh-happy-day), the earliest known printing of which is in The Wesleyan Sacred Harp from Boston in 1855 (although the words to [Oh Happy Day](https://bliptext.com/articles/oh-happy-day) can be traced even further back to 1755).\nThis melody is in turn attributed to English composer [Edward F. Rimbault](https://bliptext.com/articles/edward-f-rimbault).\nThe notes' positions in the major scale are 5 < 1 < 2 < 3 as numbered diatonically and 8 < 1 < 3 < 5 as numbered chromatically (e.g., G < C < D < E in C major, C < F < G < A in F major, and D < G < A < B in G major).\nThe transition of the melody from a hymn to a song associated with drinking caused some confusion.\nIn one example from 1931, courthouse chimes playing \"Oh Happy Day\" were thought by \"respectable Minnesotans\" to be playing \"How Dry I Am\".\n\n## Lyrics\nThe term \"Dry\" in the lyrics means abstinence from alcohol.\nWhile the lyrics are often associated with [Prohibition in America](https://bliptext.com/articles/prohibition-in-america), the lyrics were written before 1920.\nAn early precursor to the lyrics was published in an 1874 edition of Gem of the West and Soldiers' Friend, a journal of curious miscellany.\nThe passage describes a \"sleeping car adventure\" in which \"one lady exclaimed in a slow and solemn voice, 'Oh, how dry I am'\" several times until someone brings her some water, after which \"came the same solemn tones, 'Oh, how dry I was,'\" much to the annoyance of the rest of the passengers on the train.\nThe phrase \"how dry I am\" had become structured into song and referred specifically to drinking alcohol by at least 1898, as one journal describes a college drinking song that goes: \"How dry I am, How dry I am! God only knows How dry I am.\"\nWhen the State of Kansas passed a Prohibition law in 1917, which was signed by the governor on \"the 23rd\" [of February or March] the legislature greeted the event by singing \"How Dry I Am\".\nThis also strongly suggests that a song with these lyrics existed prior to Irving Berlin's treatment of the melody.\nA 1919 book entitled Out and about: A Note-book of London in War-time describes a group of Americans drinking in London and singing \"some excellent numbers of American marching-songs,\" including one described as \"the anthem of the 'dry' States\" whose lyrics were:\"Nobody knows how dry I am, How dry I am, How dry I am. You don't know how dry I am, How dry I am, How dry I am. Nobody knows how dry I am, And nobody cares a damn.\"The 1921 musical comedy Up In The Clouds included a similar song entitled \"How Dry I Am\" with music by Tom A. Johnstone and words by Will B. Johnstone.\n# [Bob Satterfield cartoon in The Tacoma Times (January 16, 1918), after the Mississippi legislature passed a dry amendment to the state constitution | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/%22Now%2C///Then%2C///All///Together!%22///by///Bob///Satterfield///-///%22Mississippi///Legislature///Passes///Dry///Amendment///to///Constitution%22///%22Nobody///Knows///How///Dry///I///Am!!%22///in///The///Tacoma///Times///on///January///16%2C///1918%2C///Page///4.jpg]\n\n# Musical influence\n\"How Dry I Am\" (also widely heard in the variant form, \"How Dry Am I\") has come to represent a four-pitch sequence widely used to begin both popular and classical works.\nOther songs influenced by the melody include [Will B. Johnstone](https://bliptext.com/articles/will-b-johnstone) and [Benny Bell](https://bliptext.com/articles/benny-bell).\nThere is an old Greek song called Bufetzis (Μπουφετζής) written by [Yiorgos Batis](https://bliptext.com/articles/yiorgos-batis) made with the music of \"How Dry I Am\".\nComposer, television producer, and humorist [Allan Sherman](https://bliptext.com/articles/allan-sherman) included in his concert album Peter and the Commissar a [quodlibet](https://bliptext.com/articles/quodlibet-music) titled \"Variations On 'How Dry I Am'\" and quoting works ranging from \"[Home on the Range](https://bliptext.com/articles/home-on-the-range)\" to \"[The Flying Trapeze](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze-song)\" to the final section of the [William Tell](https://bliptext.com/articles/william-tell-opera) overture and the Russian military theme from Tchaikovsky's [1812 Overture](https://bliptext.com/articles/1812-overture).\nThe song is used as the theme of [P. D. Q. Bach](https://bliptext.com/articles/p-d-q-bach)'s fugue in F major from The Short-Tempered Clavier (S. 3.14159265, easy as).\nIn a 1959 television broadcast titled \"The Infinite Variety of Music\", [Leonard Bernstein](https://bliptext.com/articles/leonard-bernstein) found similarities between the opening notes of \"How Dry I Am\" and 22 other well-known melodies: the French song [fr:Il était une bergère](https://bliptext.com/articles/fr-il-tait-une-berg-re), the Moldau (Vltava) theme from Smetana's [Má vlast](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-vlast), the waltz from Lehár's [The Merry Widow](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-merry-widow), Handel's [Water Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/water-music), Schubert's [Arpeggione Sonata](https://bliptext.com/articles/arpeggione-sonata), the second movement of [Beethoven's Symphony No.2](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-2-beethoven), [Brahms's Piano Concerto No.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/piano-concerto-no-1-brahms), the ending of Strauss's [Death and Transfiguration](https://bliptext.com/articles/death-and-transfiguration), the [nocturne](https://bliptext.com/articles/nocturne) from [Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-mendelssohn), the [Simple Gifts](https://bliptext.com/articles/simple-gifts) melody used by [Aaron Copland](https://bliptext.com/articles/aaron-copland) in [Appalachian Spring](https://bliptext.com/articles/appalachian-spring), the 1956 song [The Party's Over](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-party-s-over-1956-song) from the musical [Bells Are Ringing](https://bliptext.com/articles/bells-are-ringing-musical), Strauss's [Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks](https://bliptext.com/articles/till-eulenspiegel-s-merry-pranks), the [Westminster chimes](https://bliptext.com/articles/westminster-chimes), [Sweet Adeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/sweet-adeline-song), the finale of [Prokofiev's 5th symphony](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-5-prokofiev), Wagner's [Siegfried](https://bliptext.com/articles/siegfried-opera), the finale of [Brahms's symphony no.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-1-brahms), Strauss's [Salome](https://bliptext.com/articles/salome-opera) and [Der Rosenkavalier](https://bliptext.com/articles/der-rosenkavalier), Beethoven's [Pathétique Sonata](https://bliptext.com/articles/piano-sonata-no-8-beethoven), the overture to Raymond by [Ambroise Thomas](https://bliptext.com/articles/ambroise-thomas), and the finale of [Shostakovich's fifth symphony](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-5-shostakovich).\n\n# Use in popular culture\nThis portion of the song...\"How dry I am, how dry I am It's plain to see just why I am No alcohol in my highball And that is why so dry I am\"... became known for its ironic use as a drinking song in all manner of popular media, especially [Warner Bros. cartoons](https://bliptext.com/articles/warner-bros-cartoons), in which the song became a stock substitute for the explicit mention of alcohol and/or drunkenness.\nThat use of the song necessitated removing any phrases in it that overtly mention drinking, leading to its frequently being condensed to these two lines:\"How dry I am, how dry I am Nobody knows how dry I am... Hooow dryyy I aaaaaam!\"A [Westinghouse](https://bliptext.com/articles/westinghouse-electric-corporation) [clothes dryer](https://bliptext.com/articles/clothes-dryer) from 1953 played the song when clothes were dry.\nPlayed in the opening montage of the 1932 film [Three on a Match](https://bliptext.com/articles/three-on-a-match).\nThe song is referenced in [Richard Matheson](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-matheson)'s 1954 novel [I Am Legend](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-am-legend-novel).\nThe song is used in the plot of [The Twilight Zone](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-twilight-zone-1959-tv-series) episode \"[Mr. Denton on Doomsday](https://bliptext.com/articles/mr-denton-on-doomsday)\", and is sung by [Dan Duryea](https://bliptext.com/articles/dan-duryea).\nThe song is sung by actors [Bill Macy](https://bliptext.com/articles/bill-macy) and [Conrad Bain](https://bliptext.com/articles/conrad-bain) on the September 22, 1975 episode of the television show [Maude](https://bliptext.com/articles/maude-tv-series) titled “Rumpus in the Rumpus Room”.\nThe song was referenced in a lyric by [Method Man](https://bliptext.com/articles/method-man) in a [Wu-Tang Clan](https://bliptext.com/articles/wu-tang-clan) ad for [St. Ides](https://bliptext.com/articles/st-ides) malt liquor.\nThe [Salvation Army](https://bliptext.com/articles/salvation-army), to celebrate sobriety, uses the song (without lyrics) in both band and piano arrangements, in street concerts and meetings.\nThis may be one reason for the raucous band arrangement of [Bob Dylan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bob-dylan)'s \"[Rainy Day Women #12 & 35](https://bliptext.com/articles/rainy-day-women)\" (a.k.a. \"Everybody Must Get Stoned\") from his album [Blonde on Blonde](https://bliptext.com/articles/blonde-on-blonde).\nApparently the producer and Dylan agreed at 4:30 in the morning that they wanted the sound of a Salvation Army band.\nHomebrew Stew used it as a satirical arrangement with the retitled “How Dry I Am in Bird-in-Hand” which is included in his LP Folk Songs of Lancaster Co., PA.\nHis version was inspired by the [Prohibition Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/prohibition-party)'s national convention which was held in [Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania](https://bliptext.com/articles/bird-in-hand-pennsylvania) for the 2000 election.","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T10:13:17.641Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T10:13:17.641Z","search_vector":"'futur':3 'near':2","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n\"**The Near Future**\" is a song written by [Irving Berlin](https://bliptext.com/articles/irving-berlin) and performed in the [Ziegfeld Follies of 1919](https://bliptext.com/articles/ziegfeld-follies-of-1919).\nIt is better known for the small part of its lyric that took on a life of its own: \"**How Dry I Am**\".\n\n# Origins\nThe origins of the song and its components are somewhat obscure, as are the factors that differentiate \"The Near Future\" from \"How Dry I Am\".\n\n## Melody\nThe origin of the melody predates Berlin's song.\nThe distinctive four-note motif was used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Sonata, Op. 10 No. 3, published in 1798.\nThe motif is also used in [Oh Happy Day](https://bliptext.com/articles/oh-happy-day), the earliest known printing of which is in The Wesleyan Sacred Harp from Boston in 1855 (although the words to [Oh Happy Day](https://bliptext.com/articles/oh-happy-day) can be traced even further back to 1755).\nThis melody is in turn attributed to English composer [Edward F. Rimbault](https://bliptext.com/articles/edward-f-rimbault).\nThe notes' positions in the major scale are 5 < 1 < 2 < 3 as numbered diatonically and 8 < 1 < 3 < 5 as numbered chromatically (e.g., G < C < D < E in C major, C < F < G < A in F major, and D < G < A < B in G major).\nThe transition of the melody from a hymn to a song associated with drinking caused some confusion.\nIn one example from 1931, courthouse chimes playing \"Oh Happy Day\" were thought by \"respectable Minnesotans\" to be playing \"How Dry I Am\".\n\n## Lyrics\nThe term \"Dry\" in the lyrics means abstinence from alcohol.\nWhile the lyrics are often associated with [Prohibition in America](https://bliptext.com/articles/prohibition-in-america), the lyrics were written before 1920.\nAn early precursor to the lyrics was published in an 1874 edition of Gem of the West and Soldiers' Friend, a journal of curious miscellany.\nThe passage describes a \"sleeping car adventure\" in which \"one lady exclaimed in a slow and solemn voice, 'Oh, how dry I am'\" several times until someone brings her some water, after which \"came the same solemn tones, 'Oh, how dry I was,'\" much to the annoyance of the rest of the passengers on the train.\nThe phrase \"how dry I am\" had become structured into song and referred specifically to drinking alcohol by at least 1898, as one journal describes a college drinking song that goes: \"How dry I am, How dry I am! God only knows How dry I am.\"\nWhen the State of Kansas passed a Prohibition law in 1917, which was signed by the governor on \"the 23rd\" [of February or March] the legislature greeted the event by singing \"How Dry I Am\".\nThis also strongly suggests that a song with these lyrics existed prior to Irving Berlin's treatment of the melody.\nA 1919 book entitled Out and about: A Note-book of London in War-time describes a group of Americans drinking in London and singing \"some excellent numbers of American marching-songs,\" including one described as \"the anthem of the 'dry' States\" whose lyrics were:\"Nobody knows how dry I am, How dry I am, How dry I am. You don't know how dry I am, How dry I am, How dry I am. Nobody knows how dry I am, And nobody cares a damn.\"The 1921 musical comedy Up In The Clouds included a similar song entitled \"How Dry I Am\" with music by Tom A. Johnstone and words by Will B. Johnstone.\n# [Bob Satterfield cartoon in The Tacoma Times (January 16, 1918), after the Mississippi legislature passed a dry amendment to the state constitution | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/%22Now%2C///Then%2C///All///Together!%22///by///Bob///Satterfield///-///%22Mississippi///Legislature///Passes///Dry///Amendment///to///Constitution%22///%22 Nobody///Knows///How///Dry///I///Am!!%22///in///The///Tacoma///Times///on///January///16%2C///1918%2C///Page///4.jpg]\n\n# Musical influence\n\"How Dry I Am\" (also widely heard in the variant form, \"How Dry Am I\") has come to represent a four-pitch sequence widely used to begin both popular and classical works.\nOther songs influenced by the melody include [Will B. Johnstone](https://bliptext.com/articles/will-b-johnstone) and [Benny Bell](https://bliptext.com/articles/benny-bell).\nThere is an old Greek song called Bufetzis (Μπουφετζής) written by [Yiorgos Batis](https://bliptext.com/articles/yiorgos-batis) made with the music of \"How Dry I Am\".\nComposer, television producer, and humorist [Allan Sherman](https://bliptext.com/articles/allan-sherman) included in his concert album Peter and the Commissar a [quodlibet](https://bliptext.com/articles/quodlibet-music) titled \"Variations On 'How Dry I Am'\" and quoting works ranging from \"[Home on the Range](https://bliptext.com/articles/home-on-the-range)\" to \"[The Flying Trapeze](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze-song)\" to the final section of the [William Tell](https://bliptext.com/articles/william-tell-opera) overture and the Russian military theme from Tchaikovsky's [1812 Overture](https://bliptext.com/articles/1812-overture).\nThe song is used as the theme of [P. D. Q. Bach](https://bliptext.com/articles/p-d-q-bach)'s fugue in F major from The Short-Tempered Clavier (S. 3.14159265, easy as).\nIn a 1959 television broadcast titled \"The Infinite Variety of Music\", [Leonard Bernstein](https://bliptext.com/articles/leonard-bernstein) found similarities between the opening notes of \"How Dry I Am\" and 22 other well-known melodies: the French song [fr:Il était une bergère](https://bliptext.com/articles/fr-il-tait-une-berg-re), the Moldau (Vltava) theme from Smetana's [Má vlast](https://bliptext.com/articles/m-vlast), the waltz from Lehár's [The Merry Widow](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-merry-widow), Handel's [Water Music](https://bliptext.com/articles/water-music), Schubert's [Arpeggione Sonata](https://bliptext.com/articles/arpeggione-sonata), the second movement of [Beethoven's Symphony No.2](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-2-beethoven), [Brahms's Piano Concerto No.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/piano-concerto-no-1-brahms), the ending of Strauss's [Death and Transfiguration](https://bliptext.com/articles/death-and-transfiguration), the [nocturne](https://bliptext.com/articles/nocturne) from [Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-midsummer-night-s-dream-mendelssohn), the [Simple Gifts](https://bliptext.com/articles/simple-gifts) melody used by [Aaron Copland](https://bliptext.com/articles/aaron-copland) in [Appalachian Spring](https://bliptext.com/articles/appalachian-spring), the 1956 song [The Party's Over](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-party-s-over-1956-song) from the musical [Bells Are Ringing](https://bliptext.com/articles/bells-are-ringing-musical), Strauss's [Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks](https://bliptext.com/articles/till-eulenspiegel-s-merry-pranks), the [Westminster chimes](https://bliptext.com/articles/westminster-chimes), [Sweet Adeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/sweet-adeline-song), the finale of [Prokofiev's 5th symphony](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-5-prokofiev), Wagner's [Siegfried](https://bliptext.com/articles/siegfried-opera), the finale of [Brahms's symphony no.1](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-1-brahms), Strauss's [Salome](https://bliptext.com/articles/salome-opera) and [Der Rosenkavalier](https://bliptext.com/articles/der-rosenkavalier), Beethoven's [Pathétique Sonata](https://bliptext.com/articles/piano-sonata-no-8-beethoven), the overture to Raymond by [Ambroise Thomas](https://bliptext.com/articles/ambroise-thomas), and the finale of [Shostakovich's fifth symphony](https://bliptext.com/articles/symphony-no-5-shostakovich).\n\n# Use in popular culture\nThis portion of the song...\"How dry I am, how dry I am It's plain to see just why I am No alcohol in my highball And that is why so dry I am\"... became known for its ironic use as a drinking song in all manner of popular media, especially [Warner Bros. cartoons](https://bliptext.com/articles/warner-bros-cartoons), in which the song became a stock substitute for the explicit mention of alcohol and/or drunkenness.\nThat use of the song necessitated removing any phrases in it that overtly mention drinking, leading to its frequently being condensed to these two lines:\"How dry I am, how dry I am Nobody knows how dry I am... Hooow dryyy I aaaaaam!\"A [Westinghouse](https://bliptext.com/articles/westinghouse-electric-corporation) [clothes dryer](https://bliptext.com/articles/clothes-dryer) from 1953 played the song when clothes were dry.\nPlayed in the opening montage of the 1932 film [Three on a Match](https://bliptext.com/articles/three-on-a-match).\nThe song is referenced in [Richard Matheson](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-matheson)'s 1954 novel [I Am Legend](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-am-legend-novel).\nThe song is used in the plot of [The Twilight Zone](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-twilight-zone-1959-tv-series) episode \"[Mr. Denton on Doomsday](https://bliptext.com/articles/mr-denton-on-doomsday)\", and is sung by [Dan Duryea](https://bliptext.com/articles/dan-duryea).\nThe song is sung by actors [Bill Macy](https://bliptext.com/articles/bill-macy) and [Conrad Bain](https://bliptext.com/articles/conrad-bain) on the September 22, 1975 episode of the television show [Maude](https://bliptext.com/articles/maude-tv-series) titled “Rumpus in the Rumpus Room”.\nThe song was referenced in a lyric by [Method Man](https://bliptext.com/articles/method-man) in a [Wu-Tang Clan](https://bliptext.com/articles/wu-tang-clan) ad for [St. Ides](https://bliptext.com/articles/st-ides) malt liquor.\nThe [Salvation Army](https://bliptext.com/articles/salvation-army), to celebrate sobriety, uses the song (without lyrics) in both band and piano arrangements, in street concerts and meetings.\nThis may be one reason for the raucous band arrangement of [Bob Dylan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bob-dylan)'s \"[Rainy Day Women #12 & 35](https://bliptext.com/articles/rainy-day-women)\" (a.k.a. \"Everybody Must Get Stoned\") from his album [Blonde on Blonde](https://bliptext.com/articles/blonde-on-blonde).\nApparently the producer and Dylan agreed at 4:30 in the morning that they wanted the sound of a Salvation Army band.\nHomebrew Stew used it as a satirical arrangement with the retitled “How Dry I Am in Bird-in-Hand” which is included in his LP Folk Songs of Lancaster Co., PA.\nHis version was inspired by the [Prohibition Party](https://bliptext.com/articles/prohibition-party)'s national convention which was held in [Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania](https://bliptext.com/articles/bird-in-hand-pennsylvania) for the 2000 election.","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History