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Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2020 12:59:48 GMT
bellbottoms mentioned in the BBs v Everybody thread that "concentrated" (as found in "Busy Doin Nothing") is an unusual word to find in a pop lyric. That made me think about Frank Zappa's "discorporate" in "Absolutely Free." And now here we are.
Pop music lyrics are loaded with similar ideas, phrases, and words. Sometimes something jumps out as different (whether for the good or bad). If you've got an example in mind of something outside the ordinary, let us know here.
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bellbottoms
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 727
Likes: 201
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Post by bellbottoms on Jul 17, 2020 13:16:54 GMT
Got one! All of the lyrics in this song are on the whimsical side, but the mention of a linguistic term is pretty far out. It's in the second verse of Marquee and the Moon by Sloan:
They're all in good spirits, I'm happy to hear it But haven't the sweetest idea To me buzz is onomatopoeia Will something be happening soon To settle the difference between the Marquee and the Moon?
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2020 13:21:53 GMT
My first offering isn't so much a crazy word as a few you just don't hear in rock lyrics ... especially from Americans. (Though the words fit considering the song...)
Of Montreal--from whom you could find an example in every song because Kevin Barnes seems to use a thesaurus while writing, based on his constant use of strange and big words--did "My British Tour Diary" in the mid '00s. It included:
Up to our necks in crisps and litter In a van we dubbed the Gary Glitter
Here's a live version from the late 00s (which kind of rocks, though the sound quality is mediocre to bad). The lyrics in question are around 1:30.
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Post by jk on Jul 17, 2020 13:58:38 GMT
Good call, Cap'n. Still my favourite in the weird words department is the appropriately named "Am I Normal?" by David (actually, Virginia David, a lady). Unavailable generally, this is the extended mix as uploaded by the mighty PigFluSneeza: Please read the description in the link -- it's priceless. The two words in question are "exhastavent" and "pend"... what?? "Comes alive / Driving auto fast / ExhastaventLoves to drive / Shifts away from that / What's got her pend?" meaninglessinsights.blogspot.com/2014/03/lost-80s-gems-1-am-i-normal-david.html
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2020 14:34:35 GMT
Interesting. At least pend appears to be a word. Exhastavent, not so much?
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2020 15:04:51 GMT
Of course if you want to cram it all into just one sentence, you can't easily beat the opening line of Captain Beefheart's "Pachuco Cadaver":
"A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous. Got me?"
But the song doesn't lack other atypical rock words: bolero, seltzer, pachuco, alfalfa, tarnished utensils, umbrella...
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 17, 2020 15:31:43 GMT
I have one from a Doors' song. Ah, I'll bet you immediately thought of Jim Morrison and one of his unique poetic lyrics. But, no, this one actually comes from Full Circle, the second and last post-Morrison Doors' album. The song title and the word is the same - verdilac. I had to look up the definition of "verdilac". This is from Wikipedia: Wurdulac, also spelled wurdalak or verdilak, is a vampire in the Slavic folklore mythology. Some Western sources define it as a type of "Russian vampire" that must consume the blood of its loved ones and convert its whole family. This notion is based apparently on Alexey K. Tolstoy's novella The Family of the Vourdalak, telling the story of one such (actually, Serbian) family. In Russia the common name for vampire (or wurdulac) is "upyr" (Russian: упырь). Nowadays the three terms are regarded as synonymous, but in 19th century they were seen as separate, although similar entities. The Russian upyr was said to be a former witch, werewolf or a particularly nasty sinner who'd been excommunicated from the church. In Ukraine the upyrs were also feared as the vampires who could bring about droughts and epidemics. In Russian language the word "wurdulac" (Russian: вурдалак) first appeared in early 19th century, and became common due to Alexander Pushkin's 1836 poem of the same name, part of the Songs of the Western Slavs cycle. It is the corrupt form of the West Slavic word "volkodlak" (Russian: волкодлак), meaning literally "a wolf with his skin turned inside out".
I wouldn't be surprised if Ray Manzarek came up with this song. He was getting pretty "out there" in the early/mid-1970's:
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 17, 2020 15:38:10 GMT
Well, SJS, that is probably going to be the most interesting/educational post of the day.
Gotta say, the song doesn't sound like vampire music to me!
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Post by jk on Jul 19, 2020 14:12:54 GMT
The word psychedelicized can't figure in too many lyrics. These are The Chambers Brothers and "Time Has Come Today". "And my soul has been psychedelicized" occurs twice, at 2:00 and 9:30: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Has_Come_Today
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Post by B.E. on Jul 30, 2020 3:25:17 GMT
I came here to add "lickity-splitly" to the list from Tom Waits' "Ol' 55" (covered by the Eagles). I've always gotten a kick out of that. It's humorous. Especially adding the -ly to it. Never heard that anywhere else. But, upon closer inspection, it doesn't sound like that's what they're singing at all. They both appear to sing "lickity-splickly". Was that made up just to rhyme better with "quickly"? I kind of wish I didn't notice this!
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 30, 2020 12:15:03 GMT
I bet Tom Waits could provide us quite a few examples, actually. Quite a gift with words, that fellow. I'm going to think about it.
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Post by jk on Jul 30, 2020 20:48:27 GMT
We can't forget Mr. Beefheart now can we? "I'm Gonna Booglarize You, Baby"!
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Post by B.E. on Aug 5, 2020 13:32:37 GMT
It's not often a top 40 hit features "carnivorous" in its opening line. This honor goes to Jimmy Buffett's "Cheeseburger in Paradise".
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