ciaraldi@rochester.UUCP (03/15/85)
From: Mike Ciaraldi <ciaraldi>
I have received several messgaes about missing words in songs
recently posted.
On the "Tom Slick" theme, "once" seems to be the leading candidate,
i.e.
In his Thunderbolt Greaseslapper
Once he's on your trail,
He won't quit...
That makes sense.
About Lola's voice, however, there is a lot of disagreement.
I have seen the following put forward:
dark brown
safron (i.e. yellow-orange)
gutt'ral (contraction for "guttural")
So, I think this is still up in the air.
Another controversy about this song is Lola's gender.
I have heard people say that she was an assertive woman,
a transvestite, and even a transsexual.
Part of this comes, I think, from the ambiguity in the final verse:
I know what I am,
And I'm glad I'm a man,
And so's Lola.
Is she also a man, or also glad the singer is a man?
Both might be consistent with the rest of the song,
depending on her gender.
On the subject of sung lyrics not matching written lyrics,
my favorite is from the VOLUNTEERS album by Jefferson Airplane.
It has the words included with the album cover.
The famous lines in "We Should Be Together"
We are all outlaws in the eyes of America.
In order to survive we steal, cheat, lie, forge, f**k, hide, and deal.
are shown as "cheat, lie, forge, fred, hide..."
And
Up against the wall,
Up against the wall, motherf**kers
is printed as "Up against the wall, fred"
Just a little harder to make fit! I mean, four syllables instead
of one, after all.
Mike Ciaraldi
rochester!ciaraldi