# Oddly chosen words in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153 "2013-10-13T19:15:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/41 "2013-10-14T13:09:17Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > He is quoting Coleridge already. Where else, before 1797 and _Kubla Khan_, has there been a “pleasure dome”? > > Which is not to say that his cheesifying the phrase isn’t awful. Knowing that phrase comes from _Kubla Khan_ actually makes me feel better about it. It still sounds dorky, but at least there’s a reason for him choosing it that specific phrase. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/42 "2013-10-14T13:18:00Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Wet bus stop - she’s waiting - he starts to shake and cough > Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov I like the newer version with “that \*famous \*book by Nabokov”. It flows better. Aside, his second-famousest book is about butterflies. > [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > The Stray Cats had a song out the same year (1982) called “Rock This Town” which correctly evaluated the price of a jukebox play at one quarter. > > (I prefer the Joan Jett song, to be honest). Wouldn’t you love to see them live and compare them? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/43 "2013-10-14T13:45:44Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > How long did people speak of “dropping a dime” for making a phone call? We still use the phrase “drop a dime,” but it doesn’t mean simply “to make a phone call” but rather to snitch on someone. I didn’t realize that it used to be used in a literal sense. There’s also the phrase “who put a nickel in you” which I still (rarely) hear, even though nickel-operated toys/machines haven’t been around since…well, I don’t remember them in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/44 "2013-10-14T13:51:31Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Got it!. But then, why would he think the devil’s walking next to him? Because Bangkok has a reputation as a sinful city: \*One night in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free You’ll find a god in every golden cloister A little flesh, a little history I can feel an angel sliding up to me \* The “angel” in this case being either a female hooker or a ladyboy, I would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/45 "2013-10-14T13:54:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s also the phrase “who put a nickel in you” which I still (rarely) hear, even though nickel-operated toys/machines haven’t been around since…well, I don’t remember them in my lifetime. I do. Songs on a jukebox used to be a nickel, at least until sometime in the mid-to-late '60s. Long before that, there were nickelodeons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/46 "2013-10-14T14:08:37Z")
What the heck has the SDMB come to, that nobody’s yet mentioned Neil Diamond by way of Dave Barry? _“I AM,” I said – to no one there – and no one heard at all; not even the chair._ ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/47 "2013-10-14T14:12:11Z")
I was going to use _ **The cattle all have brucellosis** _ as an oddly chosen line, but it’s Warren Zevon, so it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/48 "2013-10-14T14:34:35Z")
If Zevon were allowed, this thread would be nothing but. Not any one word, but the black absurdity: “Roland raised his Thompson gun, didn’t say a word…” which does follow to a rhyme with Johannesburg, but we’ve already crossed Zevo off the list. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/49 "2013-10-14T14:53:33Z")
Steve Miller’s _Take the Money and Run_: _“Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas You know he knows just exactly what the facts is.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/50 "2013-10-14T14:57:48Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > That Hawaiian dance song “My little grass shack in Kealakua”: “Where the humu-humu-nuku-nuku-apua-a’s swimming by.” [Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reef_triggerfish) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/51 "2013-10-14T15:30:44Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > _“Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas > You know he knows just exactly what the facts is.”_ Misquote. Miller is describing a South’ren law officer who is not too dumb to understand (then-)modern technology: _"You know he knows just exactly where the fax is._" ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/52 "2013-10-14T15:35:32Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Misquote. Miller is describing a South’ren law officer who is not too dumb to understand (then-)modern technology: > > _"You know he knows just exactly where the fax is._" I thought it was some kind of take off from Joe Friday’s “Just the facts, please.” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/53 "2013-10-14T16:35:39Z")
The line that always bothers me is in Magic by the Cars: \*High shoes with the cleats a-clickin’ \* Um, what kind of footwear is she wearing? I always picture platform baseball cleats. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/54 "2013-10-14T19:07:37Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > What the heck has the SDMB come to, that nobody’s yet mentioned Neil Diamond by way of Dave Barry? > > _“I AM,” I said – to no one there – and no one heard at all; not even the chair._ Same question: “pompatus” ? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/55 "2013-10-14T19:46:05Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I thought it was some kind of take off from Joe Friday’s “Just the facts, please.” Almost certainly. > [@xizor](#): > > \*High shoes with the cleats a-clickin’ \* He’s describing a pretty wild gal in the punk/post-disco era. High heels or platforms with tap cleats or hobnails doesn’t strike me as being at all odd in that context. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/56 "2013-10-14T19:47:52Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Same question: “pompatus” ? It means “pompous idiot who wants everyone to just shut up and listen to his rantings.” In Finnish. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/57 "2013-10-14T20:34:42Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Same question: “pompatus” ? The Master Speaks in an old column: [In Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” what is “the pompatus of love”? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/972/in-steve-millers-the-joker-what-is-the-pompatus-of-love) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/58 "2013-10-14T20:52:44Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > The song is from the musical Chess, about chess tournaments and US-USSR hostilities. More than that, it was a metaphor for US–Soviet relations. I wonder how many people here remember the chess tournament between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fisher in Reykjavik during the summer of 1972? I was at Russian language camp then, and another student (a chess champion in his home state) got daily updates in the mail from his mother. In the age of _détente_, it was a big deal! For some reason (it being neutral ground, I guess), the first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev was also held in Reykjavik, though this was long after _ **Chess** _ debuted, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/59 "2013-10-14T21:01:14Z")
The otherwise brilliant Warren Zevon had a few clinkers, the worst in _[Mr. Bad Example](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/warren_zevon/mr_bad_example.html)_ _I put my last few francs down on a prostitute Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?_ You dig? YOU DIG?! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2013, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153/60 "2013-10-14T21:02:07Z")
Thomas Dolby has created some strange lyrics, as well. This is from \*Leipzig \*off of his _Golden Age of Wireless_ album: > [@](#): > > Another misty bus-queue morning > Faces smile down from a hoarding > Stoop to the bin, drop something in > Well you’ll soon feel yourself again > And every place is just the same, isn’t it? Faces smile down from a hoarding? Evocative, strange and virtually incomprehensible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddly-chosen-words-in-songs/671153.md?page=4)