Does one word really make a difference?

[snickers]

i was just reading over the fingernails/bacon thread....

and last night i sent someone an email where i said i thought a line had "to" not "through" in it....

why does one word matter so much to people, in his lyrics?

just wondering.

[Strange and Grandiose]

In the case of fingernails vs. bacon, one is brilliant and the other inane.

[Wolfdog]

It's a fine line between stupid and clever.

the kids sing, 'it's hiiiiiiiiiiiiigh TIDE!'

might have to get em a blondie cd.

[angela]

On theskyway's lyrics page, they have this line wrong in World Class Fad:

Never leave a trail of crumbs

when it's actually:

Remember leave a trail of crumbs

Which is completely the opposite meaning. So in cases like that, one word can make a difference to me. But if it's an argument about, say, 'no' and 'nope' for example, then no, I would say that's maybe a bit too anal.

[saywhatyouwill]

angela said:

On theskyway's lyrics page, they have this line wrong in World Class Fad:

Never leave a trail of crumbs

when it's actually:

Remember leave a trail of crumbs

yeah, it's definitely "remember". one word can make all the difference and can affect yr whole perception of a song. there are songs i listened to so often when i was younger, then when i listen again now, i think, oh RIGHT! that's what that lyric is - and the whole song makes sense.

[angela]

saywhatyouwill said:

yeah, it's definitely "remember". one word can make all the difference and can affect yr whole perception of a song. there are songs i listened to so often when i was younger, then when i listen again now, i think, oh RIGHT! that's what that lyric is - and the whole song makes sense.

Haha, I have a whole list of songs like that. Where one day you realize what is being said after umpteen number of years thinking it was something else and them BAM! you have an epiphany and the song makes sense. Those are great head-slapping moments!

[scoOter]

angela said:

Haha, I have a whole list of songs like that. Where one day you realize what is being said after umpteen number of years thinking it was something else and them BAM! you have an epiphany and the song makes sense. Those are great head-slapping moments!

don't make me tell you the story about my neighbor who would ride his dirt bike around singing:

"HERE I AM (NA-NAH, NA-NAH, NA-NAH) ROOOCK YOU LIKE A NERD AGAIN!!!"

[cellarfullofnoise]

The Skyway (and thus every commercial lyrics site) has the line from "Dyslexic Heart" as: "Thanks for the book, now my table is ready" instead of "Thanks for the book, now my table is steady." "Ready" could barely make sense if you take it as weak sarcasm about coffeetable books, but even that's a stretch and it leaves you with a same-word rhyme in the next line. "Steady" is clever, with a clear connection to dyslexia and even the "got your books go read em" of "Knockin' on Mine." It's one of those lines I wonder whether he thought up or jotted it down for future use when he overheard it somewhere.

Also, I think I finally on the millionth listen heard the word "yet" as he's repeating "but you ain't got me" at the end of that song, a nice undercut if it's really there.

[snickers]

cellarfullofnoise said:

The Skyway (and thus every commercial lyrics site) has the line from "Dyslexic Heart" as: "Thanks for the book, now my table is ready" instead of "Thanks for the book, now my table is steady." "Ready" could barely make sense if you take it as weak sarcasm about coffeetable books, but even that's a stretch and it leaves you with a same-word rhyme in the next line. "Steady" is clever, with a clear connection to dyslexia and even the "got your books go read em" of "Knockin' on Mine." It's one of those lines I wonder whether he thought up or jotted it down for future use when he overheard it somewhere.

i am trying to get ready to go out of town and don't really have time to sit here and type this out.

in a way, that ties in nicely with what i was thinking when i wrote out this thread.

namely, i think his music often inspires total rabidity in the listener.

i think that the "table is ready" thing is a nod to how long it took the person to slip him their number....or how long the note was? i'm not sure.

i think bacon is almost as good as fingernails, and better than a million other lyrics out there.

i had forgotten about this...but a while ago, like six seven years ago i came across the page that was entitled i think, "replacing" and it had little vignettes about the replacements that were almost like short stories.
my favorite one i have up on my wall...(along with pictures of my daughter and etc).

"Hey Good Lookin'

The people in the next car over, a red convertible, asked them to keep it down, they couldn't hear the movie. "it was backed with 'i will dare' and it was a 12-inch", he shouted in a hoarse whisper.

"seven inch. seven, seven, seven!" she screamed, dousing his stunned face with her large diet cola".

apologies for not crediting the author....but i think this perfectly illustrates the fierce love that inspires the fingernails/bacon debate, or any (pw) other, for that matter.

[snickers]

by the way, it is in fact a twelve inch....(i have it)

[kgp]

I always heard 'steady' like using a book to balance out the short leg of the table, but then 'Dyslexic Heart' has never been one of my favorite Paul songs so I could be very wrong.

[cellarfullofnoise]

cellarfullofnoise said:

I think I finally on the millionth listen heard the word "yet" as he's repeating "but you ain't got me" at the end of that song, a nice undercut if it's really there.

Yep, it's there. I always just heard it as a hollered "Yeaahh," but you can hear the "T" sound at the end, so it's really: "You ain't got me ... YET!"

[landshark]

cellarfullofnoise said:

Yep, it's there. I always just heard it as a hollered "Yeaahh," but you can hear the "T" sound at the end, so it's really: "You ain't got me ... YET!"

It's there all right. A perfect PW finish.

[karenripington]

Yeah, I do think one word really can make a difference -- especially depending on what (and/or where) the word is.

Today as I was puttering around town in the old vw listening to "Silent Film Star" I heard "Hurry up, my FACE or his" rather than the usual "Hurry up, my PLACE or his" that I'd heard the other zillion listens. Has anyone else ever heard this before or am I having auditory hallucinations again?

Not that this is the best example of one word really making a difference in a song but it did get me to thinking about how it can.

[Caroline]

Self Defense

And only when you're chased
Do you ever run fast

or is it

And only when you're chaste
Do you ever run fast

I think it works either way but the meanings are so different.

[cellarfullofnoise]

That's like the "hair/hare" line in C'mon

[ADJ]

one word can alter the whole meaning of the song, change the way you feel about it. if you cherish it, then that word is important.

i've been trying to pin down one single word sung once at a live show for years now - to me it matters. it's like if the bible was smudged. at least, that's how i feel.

the thread below is about one (missing) word:

paulwesterberg.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=Lyrics&action=display&thread=1121290010

[The Indoor Boy]

One word can make all the difference. In the Tom Waits song, Hold On, there's a lyric which goes "you don't meet nice girls in coffee shops". I only found this out quite recently, when glancing at the lyrics sheet. It was only then I realised that for nigh on three years I had been mistaken when I heard the line as, "you don't meet nice girls in coffin shops."

Personally I still think my version was better. ;D

[Miss E.]

for the longest time i thought the line in Silent Film Star was:

so impressed, watching you undress
just like a paid program

instead of:

the foreign press is watching you undress...

i actually prefer mine. it's easier to relate to.

[guess this is more than one word, but it still works under the subject heading...]

[The Indoor Boy]

I heard it as:

So impressive watching you undress
Just like a painted fan.

Strange these tricks our ears play on us.