# Question about song lyrics (Moody Blues)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 20, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158 "2016-10-20T16:52:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**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 20, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158/1 "2016-10-20T16:52:04Z")

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Perhaps best suited for the British contingent in the audience:

_Fishes biting  
So exciting  
Lunchtime sounds so inviting  
 **At the bill  
He gets a thrill  
Sitting, watching Bobby Quill**_

From the album _ **Days of Future Passed** _. Explain, please? 😕

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158/2 "2016-10-20T18:01:29Z")

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Try:

_Angler Bill, he gets a thrill  
Sitting, watching bobbing quill_

The reference is to a quill used as a fishing float.

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**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 20, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158/3 "2016-10-20T18:30:16Z")

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> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> Try:
> 
> _Angler Bill, he gets a thrill  
> Sitting, watching bobbing quill_
> 
> The reference is to a quill used as a fishing float.

Thank you! 🙂

Those lyrics, BTW, were taken off the Internet. They’re not mine.

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**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-song-lyrics-moody-blues/769158/4 "2016-10-20T21:38:36Z")

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Reminds me of these lyrics from Merle Haggard’s _The Way I Am_:

> [@](#):
>
> The way I am, don’t fit my shackles.  
> The way I am, reality.  
> I can almost see that bobber dancin’,  
> So I just dream, keep on bein’ the way I am.

Before I saw them in print, I always heard it as “barber,” and had a mental picture of Floyd doing a flamenco using scissors as castanets.