I never thought of Penny Lane that way before, boy do I feel naive.
Anyway I’m remembering from the '80s a song on the obvious side that went something like “Mama’s Little Angel Plays Pocket Pool”.
I can’t remember the artist (and I will never google “pocket pool” again).
I’ll never hear “Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all” the same way again. And actually, I think it would improve the song. Thanks, Scrivener!
Me neither
McCartney also makes reference to “Four of fish and finger pie,” which I guess is Liverpudlian slang for, well, the female’s bits.
Happy
It’s a floor wax and a dessert topping!
IIRC, Andy Partridge had recently had a baby when he wrote that song. I see the song as a marvelous extended double-entendre.
I don’t see it either. Anyone want to enlighten us?
Lyrics are here:
http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/t/turning_japanese_the_vapors.html
Now, wait a minnit. How is “Why am I so happy when there’s tears down in your eye?” about a baby?
Turning Japanese is plainly about being alone with a photograph of someone you love, and mentions kissing the photo and wanting to get more photos. It’s obviously in part about being apart from the person you love.
The song includes the line “I sit there staring and there’s nothing else to do”. Five lines later, he mentions kissing the picture, but is that really what he’s talking about? Lines like “Everyone around me is a total stranger” reinforces the singer’s loneliness, and “No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women, No fun, no sin, no you” suggests his boredom.
So maybe he’s just sitting alone and can’t find anything else to do except kiss the photo, but just maybe he tries a little self-love. There seems some debate about what the title means, but I’ve heard the claim that it refers to a belief that wanking will make you go slitty-eyed (racist as that makes the title), although there are other theories.
This page from InThe80s.com lists Orgasm Addict, She Bop, Turning Japanese and Dancing With Myself. Apparently Billy Idol says Dancing is about a club where everyone dances in front of mirrors. The site considers The Stroke, then rejects it. It says Turning Japanese is more obvious if you’re British. Someone on the Brunching Shuttlecocks boards claims Turning Japanese refers to the facial expression of someone who’s wanking. It could also refer to the phrase Jap’s Eye, which is (probably British) slang for the bit at the top of the penis.
[What did you do at work today? Well…]
I always heard that Turning Japanese was about masturbation. There was an old, rather racist joke regarding this. I can’t remember the whole thing, but it had to do with making a stereotyped asian face by bucking your teeth and squinting (think Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s), then simulating wanking off.
I don’t get this, either–even though the lyrics are a bit ambiguous.
Yeah, what s/he said. Or “Don’t you think it’s time you met some female pink thing?” Right.
I mean, I see how “When I stroke your head I feel a hundred heartbeats high” could be about a baby. If I squint. And turn my head sideways. And look through a kaleidescope…
Whip it. Whip it good.
Devo