We'll be discussing that idiom today, made all the more popular recently by the Cage the Elephant song "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked." The irony of the Cage the Elephant song title is that ain't no forms a double negative, implying that there is, in fact, rest for the wicked.
One way Cage the Elephant could escape this problem is by claiming to be using negative concord, in which multiple negatives merely intensify the negativity of the statement. If that's the case, the band would be in good company -- plenty of artists have used negative concord in their song titles and lyrics, including Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine," The Rolling Stones' [I Can't Get No] "Satisfaction," and Matthew Wilder's [Ain't Nothing Gonna] "Break My Stride." Negative concord occurs in some non-standard dialects of English, but a double negative in standard English usage results in a positive. Nonetheless, it's funnier to think of "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" as employing a double negative to extol the virtues of crime.* But I digress. Let us return to the idiom, before this entry becomes any more like a grammar lesson.
"No rest for the wicked" first appeared in English as "no peace for the wicked." According to Gary Martin of The Phrase Finder, the phrase first appeared in the Myles Coverdale Bible, the first Bible printed (i.e. not handwritten) in English, in 1535. The phrase appears in Isaiah 48:22, 57:20 and 57:21:
As for the vngodly, they haue no peace, saieth the LORDE. (Isaiah 48:22)The phrase is taken to refer to the eternal punishments that await sinners in Hell, as opposed to the comfort and repose awaiting the saved in Heaven. In Dante's Inferno, these punishments range from swirling about in an eternal whirlwind, to enduring fiery rain, to swimming in boiling pitch, to lying icebound in coldness so intense that your tears congeal the moment you weep. And it's hard to get some shut-eye while you're in constant pain -- especially when you've got a chunk of ice over your eyelid.
But the wicked are like the raginge see, that ca not rest, whose water fometh with the myre & grauel. (Isaiah 57:20)
Eueso ye wicked haue no peace, saieth my God. (Isaiah 57:21)
People use the idiom in the modern day to refer to the necessity of continuing with their work despite their fatigue. The Phrase Finder links this shift in usage to Harold Gray's use of the idiom as the title for one of Little Orphan Annie comic strips in 1933. (See the comic strip in question by following the link above.) The comic grew in popularity from its debut strip on August 5, 1924, and by the time Gray published the strip using the idiom for a title, Little Orphan Annie was a syndicated comic in several American newspapers.
On a side note, the original Annie wasn't just a lovable waif with a talent for singing and tap-dancing; in the comic book she's punching out criminals and turning the tables on swindling businessmen. Or so the comic advertises. In fact, Susan Houston tells us that the comic-strip Annie even blows up a submarine (follow the link and read the entry under the heading "May 16, 1942"). All in a day's work, of course.**
The modern sense of the phrase can still take on a religious overtone. After all, reaching Heaven, Nirvana or whichever form of enlightenment or afterlife you [might] believe in takes perseverance. And this idea applies in a secular sense as well, if you take "wicked" to mean "imperfect." We all have shortcomings, vices and areas in which we could improve, and many people struggle their whole lives in an effort to conquer them, or at least learn to live with them.
This standpoint on the idiom brings us back to the Cage the Elephant song, which gives the phrase a whole new lease on life. I suppose you could call this interpretation the opposite of the phrase "the sleep of the innocent." In the song, a lady of the evening (working in the daytime?), a mugger, and finally the singer himself all interpret "no rest for the wicked" in the same way, and quite literally at that:
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
And there ain't nothing in this world for free
So I can't slow down
I can't hold back
Though you know I wish I could
Oh no, there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good
At first the song seems to say that a life of crime ensures that you will always be running, either looking for your next client, mark or victim or staying one step ahead of the police. The singer ultimately concludes, however, that "the wicked" include not just those who break the law, but all of us. As long as we're alive, we'll need money to get by and to enjoy life, and because of that, we shan't get a moment's rest until we die.
If being "wicked" is wanting to "satisfy those thrills," or in other words, to enjoy life, isn't the whole point of industriousness and working one's butt off -- of being good -- to be able to be a bit wicked every so often? Even if you're working three jobs, tackling the daily housework single-handedly, or putting yourself through school by the sweat of your own brow, the few moments of rest or enjoyment you have will allow you to plunge back into your work with renewed vigor. I know that at the end of my life, learning something new, watching a play in Shakespeare's Globe, looking over the edge of the Grand Canyon, smiling back at the woman I love and spending time in the company of friends and family will be the memories that I treasure.
If you believe in life after death, enjoy the pleasures and experiences now that the hereafter might not offer. Chances are we won't get to skydive or have snowball fights or fly-fish*** in the Great Beyond. And if you don't believe in an afterlife, all the more reason to enjoy the time you can call your own.
But as with all good things, everything in moderation.
'Til next time, logonauts.
Information purloined from The Yale Grammatical Diversity Project, The Phrase Finder, StudyLight.org, The Library of American Comics, "Little Orphan Annie: The War Years, 1939-1945, or, Heroism on the Home Front" by Susan Houston and lyrics.com
* : You haven't robbed a bank in two weeks?! How can you live with yourself?!
** : The tagline for the long-awaited sequel to Annie: "The sun will come out, tomorrow -- but not for you, Nazi scum."
*** : "I caught a big one!" "No, Larry, that's just another cherub. And you know the Big Guy's policy -- you gotta throw 'em back." "Well, I can't help it that the only bait we have around here is this endless mountain of chocolate."
