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wuxtry

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Everything posted by wuxtry

  1. I know it's credited to him, I just said so myself. That just has to do with contracts and royalties and so on. They dubbed his voice onto a backing track with other voices and instruments. You can hear the "pops" where they spliced the tapes at the beginning and end of the line he sings. The question is, where did they get that backing track? Did they make it themselves, or is it the Blondie record, which it sounds exactly like? It's legal to do that as long as you get permission from the owners of the recording you use. I'm sure they didn't do it without permission. Notice also, by the way, that (in Sweet's line only) there is a chorus of humming much louder than on the rest of the song. It's even possible that those hums were put in just to drown out Debbie Harry's voice, as she sang that line solo just as Sweet did.
  2. All I have is the DVD of the film. I don't know what's on the soundtrack CD, but they often have versions different from those in the film itself. In fact, I guess it's very unlikely that they would put Blondie on their CD under Sweet's name. But still, I suspect that's what they did in the film.
  3. As is now well known, Blondie's 1980 smash hit "The Tide Is High" can be heard in the background of the tennis game scene in the recent film "How To Eat Fried Worms". The credits say "Performed by Matthew Sweet" and they did put in his voice for one line (obviously spliced in), but all the rest of the song sounds identical to the original by Blondie, including the vocals. The resemblance is much too exact to be accidental. I'm convinced that they either used the Blondie recording (perhaps with permission, but still without credit) or else made a deliberate imitation of it, hoping the viewers would think it was Blondie. The latter is possible but unlikely, I think, because making an imitation indistinguishable from an original (especially with all the strings/horns/percussion) is not an easy task, and I'd be surprised if any film studio would go to that much trouble when it wasn't necessary.
  4. "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" is my favorite. I never get tired of it.
  5. "Bright Eyes" is available on Fox Home Video. I watched the scene of Shirley Temple singing "On the Good Ship Lollipop" to the aviators on the plane (11 of them), and it certainly looks as if those who wrote it (Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare) and staged the scene (Sammy Lee) intended the innuendo, albeit Shirley herself was undoubtedly just following instructions. She stands at the front and sings the intro to all of them. Then she walks slowly up the aisle of the plane, singing to each pilot one at a time as she passes. She stops in front of one of them and points her finger in his face as she says "See the Sugar Bowl." Then, all in one motion, she turns slightly sideways, moves a little closer to him, stands up tall with hands on hips, looks at him sideways, raises her eyebrows, and flashes him a mischievous grin. She holds that pose for only a split–second, on the first syllable of "Tootsie" as she sings "Do the Tootsie Roll." Then, on "With the Big Bad Devil's Food Cake," she shoots her hands up and recoils in fear, as if he were advancing upon her (which he isn't). I tell you, guys, this was professional showgirl stuff. Nothing less. Then she holds her belly and shakes it with her hands as she says "you'll awake with a tummy–ache," which could also have another meaning. She jumps into the arms of one of the men just as she says "into bed you hop." They pass her around, holding her up above their heads, as she repeats the whole song. Finally one of them hands her an object about a foot and a half in length, made to look like a giant Tootsie Roll. And, of course, the word "lollipop" is suggestive, as is the line "How would you like to be my crew?" in the intro. Adding it all up, I think the best way to look at it is that there were two things there, one a movie and the other a song, which had little to do with each other. The movie was for everybody, but the song was for (and understood by) adults only. I guess there's nothing wrong with that.
  6. Many old children's songs and rhymes are far from innocent. (See my other thread about "Pop goes the weasel.") Shirley was very "good" in the sense of fair and upright and noble and so on, both on–screen and off. But her goodness came from good upbringing, and not from any garden–of–Eden "innocence." When you work (and eat and sleep) on a Hollywood soundstage, you learn a lot. She showed astonishing maturity for her age, had a genius–level IQ, and on her own time she played mostly with boys, and almost acted like one. I wouldn't assume that the line was a double–entendre, but I think it's possible. Most of Shirley's films were targeted for everyone, not just for children, and contained a lot of stuff that only adults could fully understand. You have to place this in the context of Hollywood's standards and philosophies in the 1930's, which were very different from its present ones. That song was a pure fantasy, and its details really had no relevance to the rest of the film, so any such gag–line would belong to the song alone and be associated with the songwriters, not with the characters or the actors. Such a thing would in no way reflect upon Shirley's image. Today it might be different.
  7. I passed one of those sidewalk rides recently and it was playing "Pop Goes the Weasel." The kids who ride on those things probably think of it as a nonsense-song, just as I did. But now, hearing it again, I felt that some of the lines were probably something more than pure nonsense. I searched the Internet and read several articles about the song, which is over 100 years old. It seems to have a great many versions, some long and some short; I found 22 verses, though not all in one place. Many of them ARE just nonsense--but not all. It's ironic that children--those who like the song best and would be interested in what it means--are those least likely to know! Here I've picked out just the few verses that contain important and non-obvious references, and greatly condensed the discussions of it that I've found on the Net. I'm sure there are some among you--especially in England--to whom this won't be news. Apparently the song originally dealt with the life of garment workers in 19th-century working-class London. One old meaning of "weasel" was a device used by tailors and weavers, which held a spool and sometimes made a popping sound. A penny for a spool of thread, A penny for a needle; That's the way the money goes-- Pop goes the weasel! You may try to sew and sew And never make anything regal, So roll it up and let it go-- Pop goes the weasel! Thus they spent their money on supplies for work; also on living and supporting children. Cheap foods like rice and treacle were a major part of their diet, and were also ingredients of homemade alcohol. Johnny's got the whooping cough And Mary's got the measles; That's the way the money goes-- Pop goes the weasel! Half a pound of tupenny rice And half a pound of treacle; Mix it up and make it nice-- Pop goes the weasel! On Saturdays they would spend much of their wages drinking in pubs and taverns. A "monkey" was a kind of drinking-glass used in such pubs; a shot of liquor was a "stick," and drinking it was "knocking it off." Every night when I go out, The monkey’s on the table; Take a stick and knock it off-- Pop goes the weasel! The Eagle was a famous 19th-century pub located on City Road in London's East End, with a pawnbroker's shop nearby. After spending their money in the pub, they would have to pawn something--often a coat--until the next payday. "Weasel" was also a slang term for a coat, and to "pop" meant to pawn. Up and down the City Road, In and out of the Eagle; That’s the way the money goes-- Pop goes the weasel! Thus the "cobbler"--the garment worker or other laborer--was pulled back and forth between the world of the weasel (spool or coat) and that of the monkey (drinking-glass)--with the latter usually winning: All around the cobbler's bench The monkey chased the weasel; The monkey thought 'twas all in fun-- Pop goes the weasel!
  8. An amusing thing I noticed recently. "On the Good Ship Lollipop" goes back to 1934, and that's pretty old. (Sung by Shirley Temple in a movie.) But look at the lyrics and note in particular: "See the sugar bowl do the tootsie roll With the big bad devil's food cake." That's worded as if the "toosie roll" were a dance. Which it was, in the 90's. But was there a dance of that name in the 30's? Or were the movie people pulling a little joke there, putting in a bit of dirt: "Do the toosie roll with" meaning "have sex with". I can see them getting away with it. There was no need for Shirley to know.
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