"The Near Future" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1919. It is better known for the small part of its lyric that took on a life of its own: "How Dry I Am".
Origins
The origins of the song and its components are somewhat obscure, as are the factors that differentiate "The Near Future" from "How Dry I Am."
Melody
The origin of the melody predates Berlin's song. The distinctive four-note motif was used by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Sonata, Op. 10 No. 3, published in 1798. The motive is also used in Oh Happy Day, the earliest known printing of which is in The Wesleyan Sacred Harp from Boston in 1855. This melody is in turn attributed to English composer Edward F. Rimbault. The notes' positions in the major scale are 5 < 1 < 2 < 3 as numbered diatonically and 8 < 1 < 3 < 5 as numbered chromatically. The transition of the melody from a hymn to a song associated with drinking caused some confusion. In one example from 1931, courthouse chimes playing "Oh Happy Day" were thought by "respectable Minnesotans" to be playing "How Dry I Am."
Lyrics
The term "Dry" in the lyrics means abstinence from alcohol. While the lyrics are often associated with Prohibition in America, the lyrics were written before 1920. An early precursor to the lyrics was published in an 1874 edition of Gem of the West and Soldiers' Friend, a journal of curious miscellany. The 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. The 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:
When the State of Kansas passed a Prohibition law in 1917, which was signed by the governor on "the 23rd" the legislature greeted the event by singing "How Dry I Am." This also strongly suggests that a song with these lyrics existed prior to Irving Berlin's treatment of the melody. A 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 comedyUp In The Clouds included a similar song entitled "How Dry I Am" with music by Tom A. Johnstone and words by Will B. Johnstone.
Musical influence
"How Dry I Am" has come to represent a four-pitch sequence widely used to begin both popular and classical works. Other songs influenced by the melody include Will B. Johnstone and Benny Bell. There is an old Greek song called Bufetzis written by Yiorgos Batis made with the music of "How Dry I Am". Composer, television producer, and humorist Allan Sherman included in his concert album Peter and the Commissar a quodlibet titled "Variations On 'How Dry I Am'" and quoting works ranging from "Home on the Range" to "The Flying Trapeze" to the final section of the William Tell overture and the Russian military theme from Tchaikovsky's The Year 1812.
...became known for its ironic use as a drinking song in all manner of popular media, especially Warner Bros. cartoons in which that behavior became a stock substitute for the explicit mention of alcohol and/or drunkenness. That use necessitated removal of the phrases that overtly mentioned drinking, leading to the song's 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 Westinghouseclothes dryer from 1953 played the song when clothes were dry. Played in the opening montage of the 1932 film Three on a Match. The song is referenced in Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend. The song is used in the plot of The Twilight Zone episode "Mr. Denton on Doomsday", and is sung by Dan Duryea. The Salvation Army, to celebrate sobriety, uses the song in both band and piano arrangements, in street concerts and meetings. This may be one reason for the raucous band arrangement of Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women#12 & 35" from his album "Blonde on Blonde." Apparently the producer and Dylan agreed at 4:30 in the morning that they wanted the sound of a Salvation Army band.
