The 1987 film Ishtar opens with two middle-aged men sitting at a piano. Lyle Rogers (Warren Beatty) and Chuck Clarke (Dustin Hoffman) are trying to write a song called “Dangerous Business,” which Clarke later tells Rogers is as good as anything Simon and Garfunkel wrote. In that opening scene, the two flub along as they try to compose the song’s lyrics: “Telling the truth is a bad idea. / Telling the truth is a scary predicament. / Telling the truth is a bitter herb. / When you get out of that tunnel… it’s a bitter herb.”
“Forget herb,” Hoffman says in frustration. “I’ve never heard of a hit with the word herb in it.”
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