Some of you of an older vintage will remember a band of the 1980’s who rejoiced in the name The Flying Pickets. They had a couple of hits, but was unusual about them was that they sung “a capella”. This musical term, meaning “without accompaniment,” has a rather interesting history. It …
Deor may be the name of an Anglo-Saxon scop (pronounced “shop,” a kind of early English minstrel or bard), or it may be a pseudonym. It literally means something like “wild animal” and may refer to the poet’s low or “wild” station. Whoever this was, he left behind a poem …
Richard the Lionhearted, the very essence of chivalry! The brave king of England went on crusade, fought his noble opponent Saladin to a draw in the Holy Land, and while he was away, managed to have his kingdom nearly stolen by his brother, the vile Prince John. Only Robin Hood …
In a previous post I was rambling on about misheard song lyrics and I forgot to mention that there was also a funny little thing called a mondegreen . Have you ever listened to Purple Haze and wondered whether Jimi Hendrix is saying: Excuse me while I kiss the sky …
This morning I was eating my breakfast whilst listening to the radio, when on came David Bowie’s song Modern Love, and I was suddenly struck by the rhetorical arrangement of the chorus. Anaphora is the technical term for starting a series of clauses with the same words. A classic example …
The following is a list of the most common misheard lyrics – make of it as you will but I am ashamed to admit that for years I thought The Police`s song “So Lonely” was a paen to the former news reader Sue Lawley. 1. ‘Money for nothin’ and chips …
R, E, S, P, E, C, T: Find out what it means to me. R, E, S, P, E, C, T. Take out the TCB. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. So sang the late Miss …
Going to a classical music concert can be somewhat bewildering, what with all the odd terms that seem to be used. For this we must blame the Italians; they like to qualify things. Sometimes they do this with suffixes (that -issimo, for instance, means “very,” -ino and -etto both mean …
R, E, S, P, E, C, T: Find out what it means to me. R, E, S, P, E, C, T. Take out the TCB. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. Sock it to me. So sang the late …
The French cannot do pop music. Everybody knows this except the French. I recently met a fellow in my local pub who had a theory to explain this gallic failure. He said that all the best pop songs have Germanic lyrics. English is basically made up of Germanic words …
