“What goes around, comes around”
“What goes around, comes around” is a way of saying: “OK, you got me this time, but you’ll get yours (payback) the next time.” The phrase has been used in song titles by Bob Marley (1968) and Justin Timberlake (2007). The phrase has long been used in politics.
“What goes around, comes around” is first cited in print in the novel Burn, Killer, Burn! (1962) by Paul Crump.
Wiktionary: What goes around, comes around
Proverb
1. The status eventually returns to its original value after completing some sort of cycle.
2. A person’s actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person.
ClichéSite.com
Cliché: What goes around comes around
Explanation:
1. You got what you deserved.
2. Justice was served.
Country: United States
Hollywood Obituaries
PAUL CRUMP Died Oct. 11, 2002
In 1953, Paul Crump and four other men pulled off a robbery in which a guard was killed. Mr. Crump got the death penalty. He missed 15 dates with the electric chair. Mr. Crump wrote a book called “Burn, Killer Burn.” Many people, including Billy Graham took the work as a sign or rehabilitation. Mr. Crump’s sentence was commuted to 119 years in prison. He was paroled out in 1993. Director William Friedkin made his directorial debut in 1962 with the documentary film “The People vs. Paul Crump.” Mr. Crump was also the subject of a song by Phil Ochs. Mr. Crump died of lung cancer in a mental hospital where he had been incarcerated for the last two years.
Wikipedia: What Goes Around…/...Comes Around
“What Goes Around…/...Comes Around” is a song by American singer Justin Timberlake. The track was created after Justin and collaborators Timbaland and Nate “Danja” Hills were fooling around Timbaland’s studio in Virginia Beach. They produced the song for Timberlake’s second solo studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. The song has similarities to “Cry Me a River”; although Timberlake disclosed to whom he wrote the song, the public had generated their lyrical interpretation.
The track was released as the third single from the album early in 2007. It became Timberlake’s third consecutive number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
Iration.com
What Goes Around Comes Around (original)
written by - Bob Marley
lead vocals - Bob Marley
released in - 1968
produced by - Johnny Nash & Arthur Jenkins
What goes around comes around (what goes around comes around)
Same old thing (same old thing)
[etc.]
4 December 1968, Englewood (IL) Bulletin, pg. 49?:
Like they say, “What goes around, comes around.”
14 December 1968, Chicago (IL) Daily Defender, pg. 6 ad:
You have helped us and yourself by keeping your black dollars in the black community and as we all know, “What goes around, comes around.”
30 December 1968, Chicago (IL) Daily Defender, “Confetti” by Doris E. Saunders, pg. 12:
We found, in 1968, that what goes around, comes around, and that all of the sins of the fathers were now being visited upon the children, and that what had been forecast by philosophers and pundits for years had finally come to pass.
OCLC WorldCat record
Voices from the big house.
Author: Frank Earl Andrews; Albert Dickens
Publisher: Detroit, Harlo Press [1972]
Edition/Format: Book : Fiction : English
Contents: An ode to Honky Tonk Bud.—McMillan, H.L. What goes around comes around.—
1 July 1974, Oakland (CA) Tribune, Forum Page, pg. 14, col. 5:
Maybe there is some truth to the old saying “What goes around comes around.”