Grammar

[Melaszka]

This is totally random and it's probably just me being weird, but does anyone else find something very sexy about David's use of archaic and pedantic grammatical structures in his lyrics?

e.g. (from the Librarian) "Lest you fly, lest you take off and show whomever what's what"

e.g.2 (from "Mother and Child") "Should they be waiting there on my return, I may run into their arms"

[godisinthesilences]

you're not weird ... I adore this!

[Slope]

Methinks it hast a certain appeal. Verily, I say to thee.

[camphorvan]

I don't find them "sexy", but inventive. I didn't liked his use of mixed metaphor in I Surrender. Intentional, but clumsy.

C

[Melaszka]

I don't find them "sexy", but inventive. I didn't liked his use of mixed metaphor in I Surrender. Intentional, but clumsy.

C

Ooh, don't get me started on David's mixed metaphors. Drowning men having embers, weights in your coat tails burning you out, hurdles falling in your lap being fuel for the fire and straws for our backs. Bah! Stop it, David - it's not big and it's not clever.

[camphorvan]

Actually straw for our backs is proper grammer innit. Straw as in straw to sleep on as opposed to actually having a drinking straw for a spine. Which opens up all manner of possibilities in my, admittedly, twisted imagination....


Oo look another shiny thing...

C

[Chet]

i have always adored the line:
fuel for the fire and straws for our backs

[Melaszka]

Actually straw for our backs is proper grammer innit. Straw as in straw to sleep on as opposed to actually having a drinking straw for a spine.

Grammatical, yes (as in the proverbial phrase "the last straw that broke the camel's back" - i.e. something which is trivial in itself, but on top of everything else, sends you over the edge), but logical? In context, no. I can just about understand how "hurdles" could be "fuel" (you could get a nice fire going by setting fire to a pile of hurdles) or "straws" could be "fuel", but not how "hurdles" could also be "straws".

Aw, I'm just being too English-teachery about this. There's something about that line that just reminds me too much of the kind of football manager mangled cliches that go down in legend - you know the sort of thing "Don't bite the hand of the gift horse that lays the golden egg" and that sort of stuff.

Apologies to those of you that like that line - it's just me.

[godisinthesilences]

i like the like "weights in your coat tails burning you out" ... somehow it makes complete sense to me. Then again I'm a wacko....

[Astronaut]

Who said song lyrics have to be logical? Who said art has to be meaningful? Art for art's sake and music for music's sake! If David wants to mix his metaphors let him, makes no difference at all. Read my signature and learn! Stop trying to make sense of everything - in the end what does it matter?

[Melaszka]

Fair enough. I do find the line deeply naff, though, have always had a kneejerk "yuck" to it. I'm just trying to apply logical thought to work out why I don't like it after the event, rather than taking a rigid stance that mixed metaphors are always wrong. I'm sure other poeple find my favourite lines naff, too - I'm not knocking anyone else's taste, just expressing an opinion.

[godisinthesilences]

hhmm i think it was sort of a groovy topic... i didn't take any offense ...

[Astronaut]

You people are all so defensive! Did I say I had taken offence at Mel's remarks? No I did not. It was a perfectly fair and, dare I say, logical statement. I neither agree nor disagree with it. I merely find the whole interpretation, "lets make sense of this" approach unnecessary. It is what it is. You either like it or you do not. Simple as. However, if Mel wishes to analyse her own reactions to the lyrics that is entirely a different matter.

[godisinthesilences]

LOL who's getting touchy? LOL HA HA

[tallulahtaurus]

I didn't really notice the old fashioned language but I know I always liked those lines so maybe thats why. Although maybe that's my love of the song??

Who knows

As it's my favourite song of his, well sometimes...I was always amused/a bit bothered by one of the lines in "Before the Bullfight".

"every word's sunk in deep like the blades of a knife through my heart"

Multi bladed knife? Really? Or just a failure to reconcile the plural "blades" and the singular of "knife"?

That said I still adore the song and am moved unbearably by it as I am by "I Surrender" even with all his mixed metaphors.

I guess the reality is that it's all about the performance.

But then you knew that anyway, lol.