I was watching The Family Guy the other night, and accidentally had the closed-captioning on. If I remember right, the words that showed during the theme-song were something like:
“Lucky there’s a man who positively can do all the things that make us…”
And then Stewie’s line said: “laugh and cry”
But I’d always thought it sounds like he says “f-ing cry” or “effin’ cry”, depending on how you like to spell that.
What do y’all think? Is he saying “laugh and cry”, or is the CC just cleaning up the language? I’m sure it’s been discussed before, so go ahead and link to previous threads if that floats your boat, but please don’t just post links and nothing else. I’d like to hear people’s opinions in this thread. Thanks.
But my opinion, since you’re asking, is that he’s saying “laugh and cry”. I just don’t hear “f’n” at all. I listened to my DVD version and I still hear “laugh and cry”.
Thanks for all the replies so far. And please make sure that everyone mentions that it has been discussed before, lots of times, even though I already said that I thought it probably had, because you just can’t say that enough.:rolleyes:
I had heard that it was re-recorded. Naturally, I’m referring to the original version.
I only started watching Family Guy recently, and have only seen a handful of episodes. The first time I heard the theme, I thought, “Did he really just say ‘effin’ cry’?” But after I listened a few more times I figured it was ‘laugh and cry.’ Like someone said, “effin’ cry” doesn’t really make much sense, at least not as much as the other way.
“effin’ cry” is within broadcast standards, so nothing would stop Fox from airing. And on an “edgy” show like Family Guy, it’s all the more reason to do it.
Then you have Seth MacFarlane, a guy who has built his career on a show that makes fun of everybody has always said it was “laugh and cry.”
I’m not going to let it die because I haven’t gotten to comment on it.
I know it’s laugh and cry, but…
I’ve always heard it as laugh and cry. My husband heard it as effin cry. I saw on tv tome that they re-recorded it. However, I always use captions and most of the time the captions say “effin cry”. I was actually surprised when I opened this thread to read that you had seen the captions as “laugh and cry” because I don’t recall seeing that (I believe you, though). Kind of funny that I’m hard of hearing and I heard it correctly, maybe l&c just made more sense…
I think there are 2 different versions. Some episodes have effin cry, some have laugh and cry. I’ve been watching reruns of the show and paying attention to that and there are definitely two distinctive different recordings amongst the different episodes.
I dunno if they changed it later in the series for censorship, or perhaps deliberately did that to spark debates like this
Sorry, but this is the only thread I’ve seen on it, so it hasn’t been done to death for me. I’ve always heard it as “effin’ cry”, and the expression in Stewie’s voice (and knowing Stewie’s personality) just confirms it for me.
I’ve never heard it as laugh and cry, and it never even occured to me that it could be. Hmm.
I agree totally. I’ve listened to all the commentary on the DVDs, and I can’t think of any reason why MacFarlane wouldn’t have told the story regarding “effin’ cry” if there was a story to tell. The only time the commentors ever mentioned it was to imply that it was ridiculous to think that it was anything but “laugh and cry.”
Here’s my theory. The lyric was always “laugh and cry”, but in the original recording, it sounded kinda like “F-in’ cry”, enough to fool the caption guy. Maybe Stewie’s voice actor didn’t have it down yet. Whatever the reason, it was unclear enough that they decided to re-record it so that it sounded more like the lyric that it actually is.
“laugh and cry” = meaningful, makes sense in the context of the song, and is a pre-existing cliche.
“F-in’ cry” = stupid, not funny if it’s a joke, and absolutely without reason for being there.
Actually those of you who think you hear “Effin cry” are not listining close enough.
Spoiler below:
What stewie actually says, if you listen close enough, is the third word ending in “gry”. Those of us in the know won’t tell you what it is, and get a kick out of you thinking it is effin cry, and starting multiple threads on it.
The OP has been answered, and in as much time as it took you to post your message (and for me to needlessly reply), you could have found them yourself. Remember, Google is your friend. It’s against SDMB policy to post the complete lyrics to a song.
You know, I’d always heard “effin’ christ”. I realized it couldn’t be right - the lyric makes no sense, and would certainly offend - but every time I listened, that’s what I heard. It was so … random.
"Lucky there’s a man who
"Positively can do
“All the things that make us”
Stewie: “Effin’ Christ!”
I always meant to look it up, but I didn’t know the correct lyric until now. Go figure.
