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Post by paulumbo on Sept 12, 2008 17:02:55 GMT -5
We've discussed the song backmasks that mention the word "dead", but I found some slang definitions.
--from THE ENGLISH DIALECT DICTIONARY (1962) edited by Joseph Wright: DEAD (3)-- unconscious, faint, senseless.
--from A DICTIONARY OF THE UNDERWORLD (1964) by Eric Partridge: DEAD (2)-- a dead man is a criminal that is either discouraged or reformed.
--from THE CASSELL DICTIONARY OF SLANG (1998) by Jonathon Green: DEAD MAN [late 17C-late19C] (orig milit)-- an empty bottle (I also found this reference in another book.)
DEAD [19C]-- very drunk.
These would have to considered in context, but it shows that they were not necessarily talking about literal death.
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Post by TotalInformation on Sept 13, 2008 0:02:48 GMT -5
-- pining for the fjords
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Post by plastic paul on Sept 13, 2008 5:44:02 GMT -5
lol TI
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Post by P(D)enny La(i)ne on Sept 13, 2008 8:53:41 GMT -5
Norwegian Wood prefers kipping on its back. ;D |
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Post by paulumbo on Sept 16, 2008 14:34:19 GMT -5
So I started looking at a concordance of Beatles lyrics and I found 3 references to "dead" that make my point:
--from Paul's FOR NO ONE: "And yet you don't believe her when she says her love is DEAD..." Literally? Or without any affectionate feelings remaining?"
--from John's SHE SAID, SHE SAID: "She said , I know what it's like to be DEAD." Literally? Or so low she feels lifeless?
--from George's IT'S ALL TOO MUCH: "You're too much--aah. We are DEAD." Literally?
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Post by iameye on Sept 16, 2008 18:00:28 GMT -5
IF "life is but a dream", then death must be also but a dream. To sleep, perchance to dream....
"For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, /When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, /Must give us pause."
naw, it's probably WAY cool
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Post by mommybird on Sept 16, 2008 18:35:23 GMT -5
paulumbo's first 2 references are from BEFORE Paul died. The last one ( the George ) one isn't. Who knows, maybe George felt dead inside because of the ordeal that they were all going through.  |
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Post by DarkHorse on Sept 16, 2008 18:40:34 GMT -5
Yes, I was just going to point out that It's All Too Much was a post '66 track.
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Post by plastic paul on Sept 16, 2008 18:53:42 GMT -5
Also it is suggested that a figurative "dead" is a literal "dead" and a literal "dead" a figurative "dead."
To me that means the argument that proves one can just as easily disprove the other.
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Post by paulumbo on Oct 2, 2008 17:13:48 GMT -5
Continued... I was reading THE LOVE YOU MAKE by Peter Brown (1983, with Steven Gaines) and he quoted a NEWSWEEK interview John gave in 1980. He was talking about being separated from Yoko: ". . . being kicked out of the nest and being dead. Or being not connected is like being dead. There's that difference--being alone and being lonely is two different things." Again, he's not talking about literal death, he's talking about FIGURATIVE death. I went looking for that article and I actually didn't find that quote in there. I don't know if they were quoting from notes that didn't get published or they had it mixed up with another interview. What I found in the interview was John talking about Elvis: "Yoko showed me what it was to be Elvis Beatle, and to be surrounded by sycophant slaves only interested in keeping the situation as it was--a kind of death." I'm not trying to belabor the point, but when the post-'66 Beatles were talking about PAUL, they may have been talking about a non-literal death.
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Post by mommybird on Oct 3, 2008 7:18:08 GMT -5
PAUL IS DEAD, MISS HIM, MISS HIM, MISS HIM....
Sounds like "literal death" to me...
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Post by paulumbo on Oct 3, 2008 16:15:19 GMT -5
Mommybird, if you've ever taken English lit classes, you know better.
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Post by TotalInformation on Oct 3, 2008 18:06:37 GMT -5
Correct quote is: Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, MISS HIM! PAUL IS DEAD, MISS HIM, MISS HIM, MISS HIM.... Sounds like "literal death" to me... |
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Post by mommybird on Oct 3, 2008 20:17:21 GMT -5
Thank you, T.I. I stand corrected.  Paulumbo, I fail to see why I would need to take an English lit course to form an opinion. Knowledge is great. However, its how you use it that counts.  |
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Post by paulumbo on Oct 6, 2008 15:45:05 GMT -5
Mommybird, you don't need to have taken an English lit course, but when it comes to analyzing Beatles' songs, it helps. Paul and John considered themselves literate (in a literature sense of the word) and Faul and Fohn put up a good front (although I haven't heard of too many policeman-poets.)
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