Think of This, When you Smoke a Backhoe (Smoke Tobacco)
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From Dr. Deke's Childhood
When I was very young, my mom and dad frequently listened to records by the band Banish Misfortune, the main members of which were friends of theirs.
One of their songs is an adaptation of an old poem about the use of tobacco, and contains in its refrain the phrase: "Think of this, when you smoke tobacco." However, when I was very little, I thought it said, "Think of this, when you smoke a backhoe." Now, I was familiar with the concept of smoking cigarettes, or a pipe, but I wasn't exactly sure how one would go about smoking a backhoe. I mean, I thought about the possibility that one could put one's mouth up to the exhaust pipe and inhale, but even at that age, I didn't like the smell of Diesel smoke, so I didn't think that people would probably do that. But I couldn't think of any other way in which someone could smoke a backhoe.
One morning when I woke up and came downstairs (this must have been either in the summer or during preschool when I didn't have to go every day), the Tobacco song happened to be playing on the record player. So, when it got to the part about smoking a backhoe, I asked my mom, "Mom, how does someone smoke a backhoe?" I don't remember exactly what she said, but I'm sure she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about until I explained it in the context of the song. At that point, I think that the lyrics were clarified for me, as I definitely knew that the song was about tobacco, rather than a backhoe, from then on.