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TIL there is an enduring mystery about who wrote Black Betty (bam-a-lam), and what "Black Betty" stood for. It was first recorded in 1933, using black Texas prisoners.

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e0aY5 TIL in 1982, two ex-members of the band Yes started a new band, Cinema. The actual band Yes still existed at that point, but broke up shortly afterward. Two of Yes's ex-members then joined Cinema. At that point Cinema just decided to become the band Yes.
awEjZ TIL Anthony Burgess sent a preliminary draft of A Clockwork Orange to Rolling Stone in place of an article and Hunter S. Thompson wrote a letter rejecting Burgess' "limey bullshit" and calling him "cheapjack scum."
j65ln TIL Yogi Berra and his Yankees teammates advertised Yoo-Hoo in the 1960s by saying "It's Me-He for Yoo-Hoo!"
d8aOZ TIL that the film Rocky was filmed in just 28 days for a budget of $960,000
5bkD TIL, The ammount of Vermouth in a martini has gone from a 2:1 ratio to so little it has been quoted, “A perfect Martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy,” Italy being a major producer of vermouth.