Huckleberry Hound

[libertango]

I was just listening to an .mp3 of "Moon River", sung by Audrey Hepburn. It was probably recorded off the Breakfast at Tiffany's DVD. And for the first time I noticed the phrase, "your huckleberry friend."

The first thing that reminded me of, of course, is Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday in Tombstone -- "I'm your huckleberry." (Insert appropriate bow of obeisance to Steve Brust here.)

Still, where did the phrase come from, and what the hell does it mean? According to a web-based article I found:

"To be one’s huckleberry—usually as the phrase I’m your huckleberry—is to be just the right person for a given job, or a willing executor of some commission."

Oh. OK.

Comments

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's the only good version... Dave Brubeck's kid, Matt, is in a group called Oranj Symphonette, and they had an album a few years back called Plays Mancini. They do a version that starts out very ethereal, but then becomes a sax-driven cha-cha. Great stuff. Instrumental, though.

If you click through the link to that article above, you'll see the author has some speculations/interpretations about Twain.

[jadine.livejournal.com]

Great term- I've gotta use that now.

[sicarii.livejournal.com]

So.. I guess we can extend this to Huckleberry Hound too?

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

He seems pretty good at being a hound, yes... :)

Actually, I was just looking for a title for the post that would, a) not be repetitive, b) still have some entertainment value, and c) be decipeherable if I look at a Subject list of my posts months from now -- so that's what I went with.