Moronika
General Boards => Nitpicker's Corner => Topic started by: Giff me dat fill-em! on December 15, 2005, 01:49:28 PM
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Sylvia's Mother - Dr. Hook
A few observations on this tune ...
First, we can assume that the snubbed boyfriend has deposited an initial 40 cents to be speaking to Sylvia's mother in the first place. Also, the boyfriend is far enough away to have to call long distance.
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's busy, too busy to come to the phone
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's tryin'to start a new life of her own
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's happy so why don't you leave her alone
And the operator says forty cents more for the next three minutes
So far, the phone call is up to 80 cents and has lasted at least 6 minutes.
(Chorus)
Please Mrs. Avery I just gotta talk to her, I'll only keep her awhile
Please Mrs. Avery I just wanna tell her goodbye
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's packin', she's gonna be leavin' today
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's marryin' a fellow down Galveston way
Sylvia's mother says please don't say nothin' to make her start crying and stay
And the operator says forty cents more for the next three minutes
Now our phone call has lasted 9 minutes and is up to $1.20 ... also, it appears that Sylvia's mother is going to allow the boyfriend to speak directly to Sylvia, but we never get to hear that conversation.
(Chorus)
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's hurryin, she's catchin' the nine o'clock train
Sylvia's mother says take your umbrella 'cause Sylvie, it's startin' to rain
And Sylvia's mother says thank you for callin' and sir, won't you call back again
And the operator says forty cents more for the next three minutes
(Chorus)
Now, the phone call has lasted 12 minutes and has totaled $1.60 ... this works out to 13 1/3 cents per minute. If he'd had called nowadays, the only way he'd get that rate is to use one of those pre-paid phone cards. Also, we just aren't told WHERE Sylvia is going now! Whether she spoke to the boyfriend and is going back to him, or whether she has told him a final goodbye and left for Galveston.
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1. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Maybe Pilsner can answer this one ... Why would Stevie tell a reggae woman to "boogie on"?
2. Why do they call the words to a song the “lyrics” anyway? I think that is a nitpick in itself. Every song I’ve ever heard didn’t have a lyre as it’s accompanying instrument … why don’t they call them “guitarics” or “keyboardics”?
3. Devil With a Blue Dress On /Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Lyrics
... the song insists that the Devil will wear a blue dress ... why? Is there some satanical quality to the color blue? ... OR, is blue a pacifying color, and therefore needful for the Devil to wear? ... (in order to subdue the veiwers of the blue dress) ... or is the Devil a transvestite?
4. Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John
It's four o'clock in the morning, dammit
Listen to me good
I'm sleeping with myself tonight
Saved in time
Thank God my music's still alive
Now the puzzle is:
If it's 4 am, does he mean "I'm spending the rest of the hours 'til daylight sleeping by myself" or does he mean "I'm going to sleep by myself when it becomes late evening today, since it's already 4 am."?
5. In the song "Do Wah Diddy" by Manfred Mann, the lyrics go "we walked on to my door, then we kissed a little more", but I always heard ... "And then we kissed a little Moe ..." This always confused me, and it finally dawned on me - "I shall call him, Mini Moe", you lunkheads!
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Giff wrote <<<< Devil With a Blue Dress On /Good Golly Miss Molly - Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Lyrics >>>>
Just in case you didn't know, both of the songs in this medley are covers, the original Devil was by Shorty Long a few years earlier for the Stax label and most folks know that Good Golly was by Little Richard Penniman in the '50's.
This continued the pattern of white artists covering original material by black artists, a common practice from the 1930's thru the 70's, sadly the original artist is often unknown and under paid while the white artist always did better financially.
Blues and rhythm had a baby, Rock n Roll, a new name for an old style. Rock n Roll individually and collectively is found in Black music dating back to the mid-1920's.
Louis Jordan, Ike Turner, T-Bone Walker are among the true founders of rock n roll, not Bill Haley, Elvis, Chuck Berry etc
Alan Freed coined the term rock n roll while he was a dee jay in Cleveland by listening to R n B songs hence why the so-called Rock n Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland
S F
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Thanks for the info on the original artist of that tune, Shmoeley. Cover songs are a subject all to themselves. Read some of Shemps#1 "Music That Sucks" entries, such as Micheal Bolton to see how cover songs can be treated by "the white artists" as you call them.
But let's move on to fresh nit-wits ... I mean ... nitpicks.
These two entries are from Bob Dylan's album Blood on the Tracks.
Tangled Up in Blue
And everyone of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
I know this is REALLY nitpickish, but a coal doesn't GLOW until the BURNING part is over ...
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary started drinking hard
And seeing her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention
Tired of playing the role of Big Jim's wife
No one knew the circumstance
But they say that it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open
And a Colt revolver clicked
The next day was Hanging Day
The sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up
Killed by a penknife in the back
…
The only person there missing was the Jack of Hearts
Now, the "scratch yer head" quandary is this: HOW did Big Jim die? A gunshot or a knife wound? I know the song says "killed by a penknife in the back" ... but the confusing part is the "Colt Revolver" verse. I also have trouble believing that being stabbed in the back with a penknife can be fatal, yet, I suppose if you chose the correct spot, maybe you could pierce a kidney or a large intestine.
And also: How can a person be THERE and MISSING at the same time?
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Giff: With all due respect, if we were to analyze lyrics for songs in any style or category going back as far as you wish or just remaining within comteporary times, we would wind up like the Stooges did oft times at the end of their shorts-pulling our hair off our heads as lyrics do not make sense for the most part.
Poetic license? 67 cents 67 cents 67 centavos
S F
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With all due respect, if we were to analyze lyrics for songs in any style or category going back as far as you wish or just remaining within comteporary times, we would wind up like the Stooges did oft times at the end of their shorts-pulling our hair off our heads as lyrics do not make sense for the most part.
Shemoeley, that is the entire point of this board, and certainly this thread ... to try and point out the oddities of song writers and their blasted "poetic licence". It seems that these licences can be gotten from a box of Cracker Jacks ... Candy coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize - that's what you get in Cracker Jack!
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This Song Has No Title - Elton John
Neverminding the self-negating song title, the lyrics Elton sings during the entire song is "This song's got no title ..." NOT "This song has no title".
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1. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Maybe Pilsner can answer this one ... Why would Stevie tell a reggae woman to "boogie on"?
"Boogie" is a general term that can mean a number of things, not all of them related to music. I'm going to do a Boogie-Woogie Pilsner's Picks segment fairly soon, giving examples of various types of Boogie-Woogie, from the early pianists Jimmy Yancey and Pine Top Smith to later, more jazz-pop mutations like the Boogie recordings by Gene Krupa's band, and the Andrews Sisters.
Musically speaking, it's a piano-based style, with eight beats to the bar of music rather than the standard four beats to the bar of Swing; this is what gives it a kind of rushed, excited quality, especially in the hands of the greatest Boogie-Woogie keyboard players like Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. Basically, you need both a powerful left hand (bass) and a delicate right (treble) to play it right; when it is played right, the results will make your jaw drop.
8)
As for those lyrics, damn if I know... but I do know that our dear President once waved at Stevie Wonder, trying to get his attention.
::)
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Well, we can forgive Bushy for that ... I mean ... Stevie's only been blind since birth ...
"Boogie" is a general term that can mean a number of things, not all of them related to music.
Okay, then ... so Stevie used his insipid "poetic licence" to proclaim that a reggae woman can boogie on? "Indeterminate" is a general term, so could Stevie have sung, "Move indeterminately, Reggae Woman"?
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This Song Has No Title - Elton John
Neverminding the self-negating song title, the lyrics Elton sings during the entire song is "This song's got no title ..." NOT "This song has no title".
Well, how about a composition that has a title, but no music?
http://interglacial.com/~sburke/stuff/cage_433.html
I've actually heard— no, that is, seen this performed in a classical concert hall.
The whole score (one page) consists of the following instructions:
I.
Tacet [silence]
II.
Tacet
III.
Tacet
IV.
Tacet
[end]
***
Unlike some rock music, it's never ruined anyone's hearing!
;)
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Well, we can forgive Bushy for that ... I mean ... Stevie's only been blind since birth ...
"Boogie" is a general term that can mean a number of things, not all of them related to music.
Okay, then ... so Stevie used his insipid "poetic licence" to proclaim that a reggae woman can boogie on? "Indeterminate" is a general term, so could Stevie have sung, "Move indeterminately, Reggae Woman"?
He had no idea what kind of movements she was actually making, so what difference did it make to him?
(Just had my own poetic license revoked).
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"Boogie" is a general term that can mean a number of things, not all of them related to music.
Okay, then ... so Stevie used his insipid "poetic licence" to proclaim that a reggae woman can boogie on? "Indeterminate" is a general term, so could Stevie have sung, "Move indeterminately, Reggae Woman"?
He had no idea what kind of movements she was actually making, so what difference did it make to him?
(Just had my own poetic license revoked).
Brave-o! En-chore! Touch-ay! Thou hast pricked me with the foil, and I lay fatally wounded, and so wilt I meet my fate with a laden heart from your usurpedness.
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Although out dated now, in the 1970's "to boogie" was to split, to leave, to go..... once can easily see why that came to be after reading the definitions of boogie given by Pils. Boogie also to a lesser extent meant to dance, one could tell someone at a club or house party, "c'mon let's boogie" and it would be known it meant to get on up and get down on the dance floor.
It's interesting to see the evolution of slang, I have books from the 1930's and 1940's written by Cab Calloway and a personal hero of mine, Babs González respectively defining the slang terms of the time. Many words are back in style. It is also interesting to see how words used by blacks and or jazz-blues musicians became slang used by beatniks, hippies, grungers and now hip hoppers. Some slang terms are amazing in that they have manintained the same meaning for many decades and have remained in vogue.
S F
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In reviewing my archival notes on past slang, I noticed that in the 1920's and 1930's, besides the musical connotations, boogie woogie was slang for syphillis and gonorrhea. Alphonse Capone died due to effects of the boogie woogie.
S F
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Death by Boogie-Woogie, eh?
This brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "The boogie-man is gonna get ya"!
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U Can't Touch This - M.C. Hammer
I TOLD you homeboy ... (You can't touch this)
Yeah, that's how we livin' and you know ... (You can't touch this)
Look at my eyes, maaaaaaan ... (You can't touch this)
Yo, let me bust the funky lyrics ... (You can't touch this)
I have YET to see a photo of M.C. Hammer that DOESN'T show him without wearing sunglasses! (that actually HIDE his eyes from view!!) Also, this song makes use of LETTERS to represent whole words in the title/words of a song, and as such, it represents a demonstration of a "kind-of" phonetic spelling technique. In that regard, and in order to keep with M.C.'s pronounciations, the title to the song should REALLY be U Kayn't Tutch Dis!
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Take Me Home - John Denver
Almost heaven, West Virginia,
Blue Ridge Mountains
Shenandoah River.
Life is old there,
Older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains
Growin' like a breeze.
The age of life is the nitpick here ...
"Younger than the mountains" is questionable/debatable, and while I don't know the approximate age of the Blue Ridge Mountains, if you can find fossils in the mountains, then the mountains (at least that part that is found above the location of the fossil) are younger than life.
“Older than the trees” is, on the other hand, believable. Trees have only been around since the Mesozoic era, and I believe insects beat the trees by an era or two.
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Jump - Kriss Kross
Now,the formalities of this and that
Is that Kriss Kross ain´t comin´ off wack
And for all ya´ll suckers that don´t know
Check it out
Some of them try to rhyme
But they can´t rhyme like this
Some of them try to rhyme
But they can´t rhyme like this
Some of them try to rhyme
But they can´t rhyme like this
Some of them try to rhyme but they can´t
Cause I´m the miggida-miggida-miggida-miggida Mac Daddy
Miggida-miggida-miggida-miggida Mac
Cause I´m the miggida-miggida-miggida-miggida Mac Daddy
Miggida-miggida-miggida-miggida Mac
I make ya wanna
Jump jump
The Mac Dad will make ya Jump jump
The Daddy Mac will make ya Jump jump
Kriss Kross will make ya Jump jump
uh huh uh huh
The nitpick here is that after viewing the "rhymes" ... I wouldn't want to rhyme "like that" even if I could! About the only attempt at a rhyme in that entire passage is the words "that" and "wack".
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Nitpicking the audio track between the songs Don't Leave Me Now and Another Brick In The Wall, Part III from the Pink Floyd album The Wall has a distraught male shooting out the sets of six TV's, ALL of which are tuned to various TV stations. HOWEVER, the audio track records the sound of 16 TV's being turned ON, and only 6 TV's being shot out!
This might be rationalized as follows:
1. The actual number of sets manipulated were only 6 ... (i.e., 6 sets were turned ON and 5 sets were turned On and then OFF) leaving only 6 sets to be blasted away by the 6 gunshot sounds that follow.
2. There actually were 16 sets turned on, and the shootist used a shotgun to blast away at 3,3,3,3,3 then finally ONE set (as the audio track records).
3. Only 6 sets were turned on, then the shootist changed the channels of one or more sets to account for the extra ten clicks.
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Jamaica Farewell - Harry Belafonte
Down the way where the nights are gay
And the sun shines daily on the mountaintop
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop
(Refrain)
But I'm sad to say, I'm on my way
Won't be back for many a day
My heart is down, my head is turning around
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town
Sounds of laughter everywhere
And the dancing girls sway to and fro
I must declare my heart is there
Though I've been from Maine to Mexico
Refrain
Down at the market you can hear
Ladies cry out while on their heads they bear
Aki rice, salt fish are nice
And the rum is fine any time of year
Refrain
Down the way where the nights are gay
And the sun shines daily on the mountaintop
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica, I made a stop
Refrain
Observation
I really enjoy the plethora of internal rhymes this song has to offer. Not many songs can match the rhyming that occurs in this single tune! It makes for a most pleasurable listening experience. (along with Harry's wonderful voice)
Nitpick
The man weaving this story seems to be more in love with Jamaica than with the "little girl in Kingston town" that he keeps mentioning in the refrain. He comments on the local street vendors, the way he got to Jamaica, the flavor of local street life there, etc., but ONLY in passing says that he had to leave a "little girl" when he left Jamaica. Is this a slam against Jamaican women? Does it take Jamaica itself to keep a world traveler from leaving?
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Ahh, you're being too nitpicky now. That's a really nice song; both the lyrics and the melody are very well-written. I haven't heard it or thought about it in years, but I remember it when from I was really small, because my parents had a few Harry Belafonte albums.
I've spent a fair amount of time in Jamaica, too:
http://officialsite.com/asp/officialsite.asp?RegionId=32&CategoryId=58&ListingID=3528
Whoops! Wrong Jamaica! I've never been to the other one. According to Wikipedia, "Jamaica" derives from an old Indian word for "beaver."
Which must be true, since I've found some beaver there myself.
;)
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Pilsner ... nice etymology, there. Perhaps you could make a "sweater" out of it.
Return To Sender - Elvis Presley
So I dropped it in the mailbox
And sent it Special D
Bright and early next morning
It came right back to me
I seriously doubt that the singer could send a letter by "special delivery" by just dropping it in the mailbox, unless there was a plethora of stamps applied to the envelope. Most special delivery letters are negotiated at the post office counter and a fee paid prior to mailing. Also, the post office workers in Elvis’ day must have been VERY efficient, because not only did they deliver a parcel of mail to the girlfriend, but she wrote “return to sender” on it, placed it back in the mailbox (supposedly), and the postal service returned his letter the very next morning! Hats off to the post office!
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Daniel – Elton John
Daniel my brother
You are older than me
Do you still feel the pain
Of the scars that won't heal
Now, a scar denotes a wound that HAS already healed! ... therefore the line should have more appropriately been sung "Of the wounds that won't heal".
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HUGE nitpick!!! -
I was yearning to own a copy of Tommy James and the Shondells' tune Crimson and Clover and a copy of The Moody Blues' tune Nights in White Satin ... HOWEVER ... the ONLY copies I could find on any "greatest hits" collection contain copies that OMIT the 1) long guitar solo in the middle of Crimson and Clover and 2) omits the poem at the end of of Nights in White Satin!! Pissed me off to no end buying a "greatest hits" CD and they omit the best parts of each song! (dumbasses!)
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I can't believe I never visited this section of our little asylum called threestooges.net!
I worked in one of the greatest used record stores in the country for 7 years! It's Jerry's in Pittsburgh (used to be in Oakland, hen moved out to Squirrel Hill). It was the greatest job I ever had! It was just like every used record store you have seenn in the movies like 'High Fidelity" and "Pretty in Pink"....but TWO FLOORS!!!!
Man, did the characters pour into there! Lots of regulars...touring casts and companies, doctors, the county coroner, celebs, bookies. Thats how I met the legendary Doug Drown, aka The Jazz Stooge. Man, was he a strange guy (rest his soul). He ran the Stooges film festivals for years in Pittsburgh, especially the rowdy, crazy ones in the 1980s that went Fri-Sun.
I think I'm gonna like like it here.......
BTW, did it ever sound like somebody was playing raquetball in the background of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?"???
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Fine Bari <<< I worked in one of the greatest used record stores in the country for 7 years! It's Jerry's in Pittsburgh (used to be in Oakland, hen moved out to Squirrel Hill). >>>>>>
There's a Pittsburgh in both No Cal and Pennsylvania, so where is this store located? I am a vinyl junklie so I am always on the lookout for new places to dig through the crates.
S F
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Fine Bari <<< I worked in one of the greatest used record stores in the country for 7 years! It's Jerry's in Pittsburgh (used to be in Oakland, hen moved out to Squirrel Hill). >>>>>>
There's a Pittsburgh in both No Cal and Pennsylvania, so where is this store located? I am a vinyl junklie so I am always on the lookout for new places to dig through the crates.
S F
The Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. You know, the one with the football team thats going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Sorry, I normally don't gloat....but its the SUPER BOWL!!!). [dance]
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In response to my query about the location of Jerry's Records, FineBari wrote <<< The Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. You know, the one with the football team thats going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, I normally don't gloat....but its the SUPER BOWL!!!).>>>
I thought so, but because you also mentioned Oakland I wasn't sure as I didn't realize that there's an Oakland in PA too, seems like quite a coincidence that both the Golden State and the Keystone State have a Pittsburgh and an Oakland in close proximity to each other.
My cousin lives in Denver and he is distraught about the Steelers destruction of the Broncos, it was one thing to lose but the Broncos weren't competitive. I hope the Steelers beat the Seahawks in an exciting game....
The last time I was in Pittsburgh PA, maybe 10-12 years ago, I was taken to the warehouse district late at night where the truckers congregate to have one of those famous sandwiches where they place the fries in the sandwich with the meat and veggies......pretty good with an Iron City beer to wash it down.
S F
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Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting - Elton John
I'm a juvenile product of the working class
Who's best friend floats in the bottom of a glass
I know ... this is another one of those "poetic licence" things, but we all know this "friend" is the worm in the tequila bottle, and we also know it doesn't "float" in the bottom of the glass. Anything that is floating will NOT be at the bottom.
And another technical nitpick, the Yellow Brick Road album supplies the buyer with an insert that prints all the lyrics to the songs contained on the album. The quoted lyrics for "Saturday Night" has them printed just as seen above, yet it is misspelled, because in the context of the song, the "who" is asserting that their best friend was a worm, and in that case, it should be whose. Just to reinforce the point, here is the dictionary definition of the two words:
Whose - the possessive form of who
Who's - a contraction of who is or who has
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Here's another case of poetic license by one of the finest composers of the "Tin Pan Alley" era. The song in question is from the pen of Lorenz Hart and is titled "Manhattan", check out the line **** from the verse...
We'll have Manhattan,
The Bronx and Staten
Island too.
It's lovely going through
The zoo.
It's very fancy
On old Delancey
Street, you know.
The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro.
***** And tell me what street
Compares with Mott Street ****
In July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by.
The great big city's a wondrous toy
Just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
Into an isle of joy.
That should be which street, however it is obvious it wouldn't ryhme with Mott Street. I have known this song for many moons and have heard dozens of jazz versions of it, this morning on my local public radio station that plays jazz, I heard a terriific version by the Queen of the Blues-Dinah Washington. As soon it came on, I immediately thought of this thread. The program host said Manhattan was written for a Broadway play, Garrett Gayeties, from the 1920's.
S F
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As a native Manhattanite, I can tell you that there isn't any street there with a name that rhymes with "which." No Itch Street or Snitch Street or Bitch Street or whatever. So, there's nothing wrong with this little bit of poetic license. Except for the northernmost and southernmost parts of the island, the vast majority of the streets have numbers instead of names, anyway. Interesting sidelight on that: back in the 1950's, the city government decided to change the name of Sixth Avenue to Avenue of the Americas, in honor of the United Nations. This idea may have looked good on paper, but it failed miserably in practice, because the stubborn Noo Yawkers went right on calling it Sixth Avenue, which they still do to this day.
Rodgers and Hart is one of my favorite songwriting teams, very urbane and sophisticated— but later on when Richard Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein as lyricist, they started writing sappy stuff like "South Pacfic" and "The Sound of Music." Both shows were big Broadway and film hits, but they're not my cup of borscht. My favorite Rodgers and Hart song, by the way, is "You Took Advantage Of Me," especially the 1928 recording by Paul Whiteman with Bing Crosby, Frankie Trumbauer, and Bix Beiderbecke. If I ever get to do a Pilsner's Picks again (hi there, Rob!), I'll find some reason to post it.
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Pils wrote <<< As a native Manhattanite, I can tell you that there isn't any street there with a name that rhymes with "which." No Itch Street or Snitch Street or Bitch Street or whatever >>>>
Aaaaaaah but I believe there is, the southern extension of 8th Avenue is Greenwich St, doesn't it rhyme with which?
I know of this street because I have a uncle and aunt who lived in Chelsea, 8th Ave and 15th St. I used to visit them often in the summers of the 60's and 70's to hang with the NY branch of my family. My cousins would take me to a great hamburger joint on 8th Ave and 13th St, the White Tower, competitors to White Castle(IMO much better). Often we would then walk south to Bleecker St and into the Village as 8th Ave turned into Greenwich. 14th Street is the dividing line between Greenwich Village and Chelsea, the north side is Chelsea, the south side is the Village, Moreover, 14th Street between 8th and 7th Avenues has an added designation, Little Spain, because of the abundance of Spanish(from Spain) businesses that were situated there from the 1920's Pan American movement until the early 80's. Every August in conjunction with the birthday of the patron saint of Spain, Santiago de Compostela, they would close the street to have a Little Spain Street Festival complete with simulated bullfights, flamenco music-dancers, food, sangria etc etc.
I have often noted that to this day Avenue of the Americas still has double street signs, 6th Ave and Ave of the Americas. Many businesses also list both names for the avenue. After the change of government in Cuba in 1959, many buildings, parks, streets, squares etc were renamed, yet as in NYC, the people continued to refer to them in their original names and to this date, several generations later, although they may be officialy called one thing, everybody knows them by their previous names as well, a completely binomial occurence.
Even if there was a street in Manhattan with an exact rhyme to which, Mott Street, in particular at the time the song was written was a street that had many stores and much activity as did Delancy St, streets in the Lower East Side which are the objects of Lorenz Hart's attention.
I like walking on 6th Av in the Village and seeing the "flags" of the Americas painted on shields that hang from the street lights. My favorite pizza slice in the whole city is the Original Ray's Pizza on 6th and 11th St, talk about extra cheese.
Are you sure Avenue of the Americas was named in honor of the UN? The UN includes nations beyond the Americas.
Finally, thanx for the easy instructions even a Bonehead like me could understand.....
S F
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Pils wrote <<< As a native Manhattanite, I can tell you that there isn't any street there with a name that rhymes with "which." No Itch Street or Snitch Street or Bitch Street or whatever >>>>
Aaaaaaah but I believe there is, the southern extension of 8th Avenue is Greenwich St, doesn't it rhyme with which?
Nope. The name is pronounced "Grennich," not "Green-witch," just like the original town in England (famous, of course, for Greenwich Mean Time).
By the way, I think these are the silliest lines in what's still a great song:
"The subway charms us so
When balmy breezes blow
To and fro."
The last word I'd ever think of to describe the Subway is "charming," and whatever's blowing down there, it sure isn't balmy breezes!
[pound]
Glad to help out on the picture.
:)
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Here's what I discovered about the renaming of Manhattan's 6th Avenue to Avenue of Americas: << Also known as 6th Avenue, which former Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia renamed in honor of the country in 1945, is one of New York City's busiest streets. >> This was supplied by writer John P. Adamski in his site, History of NYC street names.
I talked to my NYC cousin early this morning, a life-long Manhattanite who considers The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens as suburbs, Staten Island, Jersey and Long Island as the wilderness. Heck, to him Manhattan, north of the GWB is the country. He is a citizen of concrete and cacaphony. Anyhoooo, he told me about a great site that has an illustrated history of 6th Avenue complete with 2 pix of the "hanging streetlight shields" dipicting the nations of America. http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/deepsix/deepsix.html I attempted to include a pix of one but couldn't figure out how to do it without making it an attachment, a no-no for this site. Regardless, for any NYC history buffs the site is chock full of great info and pix. By the way, decades before Starsucks, NYC had Chock Full Of Nuts coffee shops dotting the landscape. Pils are you old enough to remember Nedick's stands?
S F
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I have a sort of vague memory of Nedick's, but I think they were all gone by the time I was five or six years old. There was a similar stand in my neighborhood, though, Gray's Papaya at 72nd and Broadway; specialized in papaya juice, orange juice, and hot dogs, and I think it's still there.
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Pils wrote <<< Gray's Papaya at 72nd and Broadway; specialized in papaya juice, orange juice, and hot dogs, and I think it's still there. >>>
Yes sir, it's still there and still the best hot dogs around, better than runner up-Nathan's. Besides great franks and delicioso juices like piña colada, their namesake papaya and others they are very inexpensive. I was in the City for 3 days in early December, my first voyage back to the Apple since 9-11 and I was surprised to see Gray's Papaya on the East Side, West Side, all around the town, they are now like Starsucks, ubiquitous.
Pils, here's another old timer New York memory for you I am sure you've heard abou. When my family first arrived to the USA in the mid 50's, we lived in NYC until 1960 when we moved here to So Cal and I recall going to what they called "automats", I believe Horn and Hardat's Automat where all the food and beverages were behind revolving glass shelving, you would insert the proper coin amount into the slots and voila!, you could slide open the compartment that had the item you selected, then go and sit down and enjoy them.
By the way, Nedick's had the best orange and grape drinks served in paper cones placed into plastic cone holders. Another adolescent memory of mine from the City was the Levy's Bread billboards seen on buses and subway stations, "You don't have to be Jewish to like Levy's Rye Bread", they would have a picture of different kids eating a slice of bread, Asian, Black, sub-continent Indian, Latino etc etc I also remember hearing radio ads for Schaeffer Beer that had the following, "In New York, where there are more Italians than in Rome, Italy, more Italians drink Schaeffer than other beer" or "In New York, where there are more Puerto Ricans than in San Juan, Puerto Rico, more Puerto Ricans drink Schaeffer than other beer", there were 2 or 3 other groups mentioned as well.
Finally, I remember my parents, aunts and uncles, taking a group of 7 or 8 of their children, all of us cousins, to the Statue of Liberty in either 1957 or 1958, I was 8 years old, and we were able to climb up her arm and outside to the platform surrounding the torch. A year or 2 afterwards, that was closed to the public and the crown-window viewing area was as high up one could go. The Alfred Hitchcock mid-40's movie, Sabatouer has a recreation of the torch platform in the film's thrilling finale.
There are 7 million stories in the Naked City, this has been one of them.
S F
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Stevie Wonder was NOT born blind:
Stevie Wonder was born premature and placed in an incubator. He was given high levels of oxygen to sustain his life. He suffered from the blinding disease known as retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP.
Very premature babies don't have properly formed blood vessels in the retina, the eye's innermost layer. Sudden exposure to oxygen as doctors attempt to save these babies is believed to cut off further blood vessel formation. Then there's a backlash: Blood-starved retinal tissue sends out an urgent call for help that results in sudden growth of abnormal blood vessels, eventually causing vision-blocking retina scars and even detachment.
So, Stevie Wonder wasn't actually born blind, but suffered from ROP.
http://www.answerbag.com/c_view.php/1312#q_4231
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As I was reading this category I came upon a post where Shemoeley Fine mentions Louis Jordan. Louis is the reason I go by the name JazzBill. I was watching the movie Swing Parade Of 1946. It wasn't all that good but the Stooges were in it so I felt obligated to watch it thru. Gale Storm and Phil Regan didn't do much for me but then came Louis Jordan, he blew me away. This guy did everything , he sang, he danced and he played the sax. HE ROCKED, I thought I found some hidden treasure .Only later did I find out that he was put into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the 2nd Year of inductions. I then started digging deeper into the whole Big Band - Swing era. Thats when I found Benny Goodman, Lionel Hamton, Count Basie, Jack Teagarden, Harry James ,etc. So not only did the Stooges give me something to watch, they also give me something to listen to.
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Jazz Bill wrote <<<< but then came Louis Jordan, he blew me away. This guy did everything , he sang, he danced and he played the sax. HE ROCKED, I thought I found some hidden treasure .Only later did I find out that he was put into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the 2nd Year of inductions. >>>>>
I hate having to pull the R card out but when it comes to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, it has to be done. Not only should Louis Jordan been on the very first induction, he should have been crowned the true and official
King of Rock n Roll, not the E man, not Billy Haley nor Chuck Berry or Little Richard. Louis played in several big bands of the Swing era of pre-WW2, he was a fine player. After WW2 the big band era came to an end due to increasing travel costs making it difficult for most big bands to continue although there were a few exceptions, Duke, Count, Woody Herman and a very few others managed to survive although their peak of popularity waned.
In Los Angeles' famed Central Avenue District there were many clubs like the Alabam, Jungle Room, Barrelhouse and others where Louis Jordan and other swing era-big band members led small groups they called combos that had the swing of the big bands in a small group, 5, 6 or 7 musicians, of which most inlcuding a guitarist, an electrified one at that. Most of the musicans in Los Angeles were from Texas or Oklahoma where the blues jumped and swung. Aaron "T-Bone" Walker was the most prominent of the guitarists, known for having a 25 foot extensions cord attached to his axe so he could walk outside of the club he played unto the street to attract customers inside. Other fine 'git-tar' players of the era were Pee Wee Crayton, Lowell Fulson, "Guitar" Lewis, Jimmy Nolen and others including a young precursor to Jimi Hendrix in the early 1950's Johnny "Guitar" Watson. The added a certain grit to the combos that the dancers loved. That's is where and how Rock n Roll truly began. In the early 1950's a few years after the L A scene was well established a similar process was happening in the Memphis area to a lesser extent where Ike Turner's combo made a fabulous record titled "Rocket 88" in 1951 with a fine guitar solo that in its final coda blew out the amp causing a odd sound that was left in the recording that helped make it a huge seller and for it to be cited as one of, if not the first Rock n Roll recording.
Listen to the music of Louis Jordan of post-WW2, you'll hear rapping n rhyming, great guitar solos, back beat shuffles-all the ingredients of rock n roll. Louis was the first video star as well as he was the most popular artist of soundies-the first videos for both Black and White audiences.
Meanwhile back on the rancho of LA's Central Avenue, artist like the brothers Liggins, Jimmy and Joe- Roy Brown, Big Joe Turner, Amos Milburn and many others polished their combos to shine bright with the yet unamed but clearly identified new dance sounds of jump blues and RnB alongside the burgeoning vocal harmony group scene a decade plus later to be mis-christened "doo-wop"
In 1954 in Cleveland, home of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame classical music disc jockey Alan Freed noticed that white teens were buying 45's of Black artists and learned they were listening to Black AM radio stations at the end of the dial late at night where this music was being played. Seeing an opportunity to make money $$, Alan petitined his radio station to allow him to begin playing these RnB artists and songs but Alan knew that RnB had negative connotations in both Black and White communities as Whites viewed it a "nigra music", "jungle sounds", a way to lower the White man to the Black man's level with all the lewd rhythms and double entendre of the music. Blacks frowned upon RnB and jump blues as the "devil's music" because it was not gospel and the lyrics were suggestive sexually and also sang about drinking and partying. Alan Fredd after hearing how often the words rock and roll were used individualy and collectively named the music he played Rock N Roll after a few months of calling it the Big Beat. By the way there are recordings dating back to the 1920's where rock n roll are used individually and or collectively, in Black street slang rock or roll meant a romp in the sack, yup you guessed it, sex! In 1925 there's a blues sang by a female titled, "My Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll" and the list of lyrics goes on from there. Heck, even Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, a New Orleans pioneer of jazz who proclaimed himself(erroneously) as THEE creator of jazz, gave himself that nickname because of his notorioty of being a pimp and supposedely a well endowed ladies man. I guess he loved rolling and rocking in the jellyroll of his ladies.
In 1959, the payola scandals broke out during the annual convention of Rock n Roll or Pop radio in Miami Beach, it ruined the career of Alna Freed who had taken his Moondog Show to NYC radio in 1956 after blowing up in Cleveland, he launched the carreer of many an artist through his radio shows, his movies and live stage shows. Meanwhile a squeaky clean young boyish looking man out of Philadelphia got away scott free although he was as guilty as Freed of taking money to play songs on the radio and accepting favors from record labels, this led the way for he to become the leading proponent, dee jay and TV host of Rock N Roll, Dick Clark.
When the Rock n Roll Museum opened in Clevland it should've had the true story of rock n roll with all the mothers and fathers, godfathers and godmothers prominently honored with their stories instead of succumbing to the big coporate sponsorship and the perpetuation of myths relagating the actual creators and pioneers to back of the bus, second degree citizenry status if remembered at all. That's why you wont see my face in the place.
I am part of a committee here in So Cal to correct the myths and establish a museum along the Central Avenue corridor that will give merit to the actual heroes in the actual place that made it all possible.
S F
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Let Her In was released in 1976, during John Travolta's second season as Vinny Barbarino on Welcome Back Kotter, a good two years before his "singing" movie appearance in Grease. If the movie producers chose John based on his performance on THIS song, they must've been thinking they'd send him to voice lessons, his singing on this song sucks!
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1. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
Maybe Pilsner can answer this one ... Why would Stevie tell a reggae woman to "boogie on"?
"Boogie" is a general term that can mean a number of things, not all of them related to music. Musically speaking, it's a piano-based style, with eight beats to the bar of music rather than the standard four beats to the bar of Swing; this is what gives it a kind of rushed, excited quality, especially in the hands of the greatest Boogie-Woogie keyboard players like Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson.
I've found another reference to "Boogie" that may be a little off the beaten path ... :o :P
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Here is a generalized nitpick about "Corn-try" music ... a self-negating tune about a guy who decides he must leave his girl, but can't think of any goddammed reason why.
I ain't never been with a woman long enough
For my boots to get old
We've been together so long now
They both need resoled
If I ever settle down
You'd be my kind
And it's a good time for me
To head on down the line
Heard it in a love song (3x)
Can't be wrong
I'm the kinda man likes to get away
Like to start dreaming about
Tomorrow, today
Never said that I love you
even though its so
Where's that duffle bag of mine?
It's time to go
Heard it in a love song (3x)
Can't be wrong
I'm gonna be leaving
At the break of dawn
Wish you could come
But I don't need no woman taggin along
I'll sneak out that door
Couldn't stand to see you cry
I stay another year if I saw teardrops in your eyes
Heard it in a love song (3x)
Can't be wrong
I never had a damn thing, but what I had
I had to leave it behind
You're the hardest thing
I ever tried to get off of my mind
Always something greener on the other side of that hill
I was born wrangler and a rambler
and I guess I always will
Heard it in a love song (3x)
Can't be wrong
Contradictions abound in this stupid tune. First, the guy states he's NEVER been with a woman long enough for his boots to wear out, yet in the very next statement, he proclaims his current wench has worn his heels off. THEN, he says he'd consider settling down with her, but he's gotta dash off jus' now. And the tag line "Heard it in a long song ... cain't be wrong" is just ignorant. Who, except a hayseed chewin' barnyard shit-kicker would believe ANYTHING he/she heard from the lyrics of a song right off the cuff as gospel truth? Also, "Like to start dreaming about tomorrow, today" ... DUH!!! When ELSE would you dream about tomorrow!? And finally, "I was born a wrangler and a rambler, and I guess I always will". This dufus is proclaiming that he'll always do what he was inately endowed to do ... once again, DUH!
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I can't believe that that John Travolta song has been downloaded 32 times to date... there must be a lot of Scientologists out there!
::)
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Be not so down, Senior Panther, perhaps it was because I gave the tune such a rotten review that made the patrons download the song, and perhaps NOT because they ALL want to "Jump The Couch".
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Here's a tune that deserves scrutiny - that being a song from the well-deserved "King of Western Swing" himself ... Bob Wills. The man and his band, The Texas Playboys, made for themselves a rich fortune and legacy by being the premier swing band for a country-western audience.
However, THIS song definitely has its roots in the Black American art of Scat - i.e., the art of vocalizing either wordlessly or with nonsense words and syllables, and thus becomes a sort-of "voice instrumental".
One can tell by this song that Bob spent a few nights in a nightclub somewhere sipping margaritas and manhattans while listening to the local talent. And, the way Bob and his band sings it, the song title should be Fo' Five Times.
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Here’s a nitpick that has been a burr under my saddle blanket for years.
The tune Freddy Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five-Piece Band) sung by Ray Stevens in 1969 contains lyrics that are a slap in the face to any music lover that has taken the time to learn how to read music.
The offending lyrics are thus:
A cat named Percy,
Have Mercy,
Plays piano in the Treble Clef
Viewing a piano keyboard from a player’s perspective, normally, the left hand is relegated to the “higher” notes, and the right hand the “lower” notes. The “higher” notes are usually written on the Treble Clef, and the “lower” ones on the Bass Clef, and hence the term “Middle C” becomes clear, because it is the note that is exactly between both clefs. Piano music is normally written in both clefs so that the piano player can know what to do with both hands in order to perform the piece.
NOW, if our beloved Percy plays only in the Treble Clef, then either:
1. He is missing his right arm and cannot perform the music properly
2. He re-writes all music he performs so that all the notes appear in the Treble Clef, which would make it a high-pitched piece of music, to be sure
The piece of music Percy plays for us when he is introduced certainly sounds like he is using both hands and playing in both clefs, but that’s mere opinion on my part.
A minor nitpick occurs earlier in the tune, when Yum-Yum (the drummer) is described as “Blows real cool, makes all the girls drool”. As far as I know, there are NO percussion instruments that must be blown into to make music with them. A xylophone and a vibraphone use air in making music, but the instrument is still struck with mallets, and not blown into.
In spite of all, I love the tune anyway.
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The tune The Devil Went Down To Georgia performed by The Charlie Daniels Band asserts that the Devil (in his/her/its infinite wisdom) promises to the young man a "shiny fiddle made of gold" if he outplays the Devil in a one-on-one contest. I draw the following conclusion from this fact:
The Devil is rather dense to offer such a prize - he/she/it may as well have offered him money, gold or silver that would have made him rich beyond the Dreams of Avarice, because to offer him a fiddle made of gold is just dumb, IF the fiddle player wanted a prize that would match the perfect sounds offered by a genuine, well aged Stratavarius. (See Disorder in the Court for references) Besides, even if a "fiddle made of gold" could be played on with the musical equivalence of a Stratavarius, how long could someone DO that before the derned thing got too heavy to hold up? (not more than a few moments, I wager)
I suppose though that a lump of gold fashioned into the shape of a fiddle would be worth a VERY pretty penny, and perhaps that it would represent the Dreams of Avarice I mentioned earlier.
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And while we're on the subject of Mr. Daniels, here are some choice lyrics from "Uneasy Rider":
I was takin a trip out to L.A.
Toolin along in my cheverolet
Tokin on a number and diggin on the radio
Just as I crossed the Mississippi line
I heard that highway start to whine
And I knew that left rear tire was about to blow
Well the spare was flat and I got uptight
Cause there wasn't a filling station in sight
So I just limped on down the shoulder on the rim
I went as far as I could and when I stopped the car
It was right in front of this little bar
Kind of a red-neck lookin joint called the Dew Drop Inn
I stuffed my hair up under my hat
And told the bartender that I had a flat
And ywould he be kind enough to give me change for a one
There was one thing I was sure proud to see
There wasn't a soul in the place except for him and me
He just looked disgusted and pointed toward the telephone
...
I just ordered up a beer and sat down at the bar
When some guy walked in and said, "Who owns this car
With the peace sign, the mag wheels and the four on the floor?"
He looked at me and I damn near died
And I decided that I'd just wait outside
So I laid a dollar on the bar and headed for the door
Just when I thought I'd get outta there with my skin
These 5 big dudes come strollin in
With one old drunk chick and some fella with green teeth
I was almost to the door when the biggest one
Said, "You tip your hat to this lady, son!"
And when I did, all that hair fell out from underneath
Now the last thing I wanted was to get into a fight
In Jackson Mississippi on a Saturday night
Especially when there was three of them and only one of me
First of all, if he realized his left rear tire was going bad as he crossed the Mississippi line, and he stopped in Jackson, that's a hell of long ride on a bad tire.
Secondly, he says at the point where I stopped, "There was three of them and only one of me". Let's count: Setting aside Mr. Daniels, there's the bartender, the guy who walks in asking about the car, the five big dudes, the drunk chick, and "Green Teeth". If my mathematics are not in error, that's nine, not three. ???
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And while we're nitpicking, the right hand of a keyboard player generally plays the treble or higher notes while the left hand plays the bass or lower notes. To play keyboard in the manner you describe would mean having to cross your arms in front of you.
This piano player may have been playing with both hands to the right, or treble, side of Middle C. He wasn't playing in a treble clef, though. You can write score music in the treble clef, but since a clef is written music, you don't "play" it in there.
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And while we're nitpicking, the right hand of a keyboard player generally plays the treble or higher notes while the left hand plays the bass or lower notes. To play keyboard in the manner you describe would mean having to cross your arms in front of you.
This piano player may have been playing with both hands to the right, or treble, side of Middle C. He wasn't playing in a treble clef, though. You can write score music in the treble clef, but since a clef is written music, you don't "play" it in there.
Sorry - I was going by my faultedly bad memory of a piano keyboard - I stand corrected.
Genius - All too true, but I love that tune and hadn't gotten up the heart to pick it as you - I offer an unqualified bravo.
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Why is it that songs about killing your lover over his/her infidelity soars to the top of the charts? ...
Here is a pair that went gold in their respective genres. Of course, the weapon of choice for both of these killers is a knife - perhaps thats what made them so popular.
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Next up ... Lorne Greene, no less!
The song is titled "Ringo" and features Lorne in a rhymed-speaking ballad of his experiences with the killer/gunslinger named Ringo.
Here's his tune that was an unqualified hit when it was released. However, at the end of the song he offers these lines -
The story spread throughout the land
That I had beaten Ringo's hand
And it was "just the years", they say
That made me put my guns away
But on his grave they can't explain
The tarnished star above the name -
Of Ringo
Hell, I CAN explain it! It's very simple - he gave it to him, so its Ringo's STAR!!
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It's infrequent you listen to a song that contains lyrics that are no longer "current" ... but this tune has completely been left in the dust as far as relevance to a current listening public.
It's hardly ever that you get a phone number that you've dialed that just rings and rings and rings ... invariably there is a voicemail message to respond to, or even a choice to send a text message. Although a very good song, ELO's "Telephone Line" just doesn't make good lyrical sense anymore.
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Honest-to-goodness, folks, I was taking my lunchtime walk (which happens to parallel a major freeway access road) when I discovered a tossed CD. The jewel case was broken, but the CD unharmed. It was titled, "Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor" so I was expecting songs that included vegetables and wine, but what I got was a rap CD with so-called "songs" that had nothing to do with food and drink. In fact, what I got was a CD filled with this guy gasping for breath, because nearly every "song" was filled with his incessant inhaling which diluted any message he was trying to convey.
Here, listen to this tripe!
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Honest-to-goodness, folks, I was taking my lunchtime walk (which happens to parallel a major freeway access road) when I discovered a tossed CD. The jewel case was broken, but the CD unharmed. It was titled, "Lupe Fiasco - Food and Liquor" so I was expecting songs that included vegetables and wine, but what I got was a rap CD with so-called "songs" that had nothing to do with food and drink. In fact, what I got was a CD filled with this guy gasping for breath, because nearly every "song" was filled with his incessant inhaling which diluted any message he was trying to convey.
Here, listen to this tripe!
The one song by Lupe Fiasco that I know is "Daydreamin'" with Jill Scott, and that one I like a lot. Maybe it's because I saw the video first and fell in love with Ms. Scott - she's gorgeous in that video! ;D
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At least the GASP! guy has the right last GASP! name ... (no wonder why it was tossed ... GASP!) :laugh:
(Daydreamin' is on this CD also ... "Food and Liquor" my fried egg butt)