This is the truth: I had hoped to find lots of songs in which the subject of the songs was, explicitly, someone described as "lean." But you know what happened?
Yes, there were far more songs about the verb "to lean." Including, incredibly, over half a dozen songs called "Lean On Me" that were not covers of the Bill Withers tune. What to do, what to do.
What is "a lean show," anyway? Am I supposed to be trimming the fat off the show? But that's me! I am the fat of the show! Without me, the show would be quite lean indeed. How could I do that?
This will take some thinking. Some deliberation. Some puzzling over. I'll have to get back to you.
What, you wanted more than four paragraphs today? So sorry. I will share with you the most famous use of the word lean in the English language. You know this, right?
Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
But, together both
They licked the platter clean.
What was Jack Sprat's wife's name? Dolores. Dolores Keen. She kept her maiden name. Very progressive for a Mother Goose character, I know. In fact, the poem was less famously told this way:
Dolores Keen could eat no lean
Her husband could have no fat
But they shared their every meal
& ate it all, & that is that.
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