# What's with all the S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G in current music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874 "2007-03-06T23:11:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/41 "2007-03-08T12:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=Manatee] S A F E T Y Safety dance! (c. 1983) [/QUOTE] What? Did somebody fart? šŸ˜ƒ ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/42 "2007-03-08T13:07:15Z")
BE! AGGRESSIVE! B! E! AGGRESSIVE! B! E! A-G-G! R-E-S-S-I-V-E! ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/43 "2007-03-08T13:56:27Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] If youā€™re looking for arithmetic examples, thereā€™s ā€œCome Togetherā€ by the Beatles: _One and one and one is threeā€¦_ Of course the pedant in me says thatā€™s wrong, since I interpret the word ā€œandā€ as a Boolean expression, meaning the answer should really be ā€œoneā€. They should sing it as ā€œOne **plus** one **plus** oneā€¦ā€ [/QUOTE] The Scissor Sisters played with this convention in ā€œBicycling with the Devilā€: \*I wish I could ride with you because you and me and the devil make two. \* (Note for Googlers: Complete lyrics are highly not-work-safe.) ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/44 "2007-03-08T21:52:07Z")
I hate the parts in Morningwoodā€™s ā€œNth Degreeā€ where they spell the name of the band. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/45 "2007-03-08T22:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] The Scissor Sisters played with this convention in ā€œBicycling with the Devilā€: \*I wish I could ride with you because you and me and the devil make two. \* (Note for Googlers: Complete lyrics are highly not-work-safe.) [/QUOTE] Isnā€™t there a song that goes ā€œYou and me and the devil make threeā€ thatā€™s, like, better at math? Not as good at math as ā€œ[Calculus](http://www.lyricsdownload.com/2-gether-calculus-lyrics.html)ā€ by 2 Gether though. And is there a trend in new music, presumably of the hip-hop or rap variety, to spell things out? I canā€™t think of any songs besides the aforementioned one by Gwen. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/46 "2007-03-09T04:06:37Z")
To go back a bit, check out ā€œL-O-V-E,ā€ one of the best songs Nat King Cole ever sang: > [@](#): > > _ **L** is for the way you **L** ookā€¦ at meā€¦ > **O** is for the only **O** ne I seeā€¦ > **V** is **V** ery, veryā€¦ EX-traordinaryā€“ > **E** is **E** ven more than anyone that you adoreā€¦_ Also, Elvis did one of these; in [Clambake](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061489/) he spelled out ā€œC-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-C-E,ā€ which is way, _way_ too long a word to be spelling out in a song. Iā€™d lose my place halfway through the word, and had to listen a few times to make sure he was spelling what I thought he was spelling. ---
**Author:** ![some\_white\_dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b487fb/32.png) [@some\_white\_dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/some_white_dude)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/47 "2007-03-09T08:50:53Z")
I was lying on the bench slide in the park across the street L-A-T-E-R that week (Len - Steal My Sunshine) ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/48 "2007-03-09T16:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Not just current. Try D-I-V-O-R-C-E for instance. [/QUOTE] Yes, but as much as I passionately hate that song, at least it made senseā€“she was spelling the words she didnā€™t want her little boy to pick up on. Sad, sad song. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/49 "2007-03-09T18:26:24Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain] Yes, but as much as I passionately hate that song, at least it made senseā€“she was spelling the words she didnā€™t want her little boy to pick up on. Sad, sad song. [/QUOTE] True enough. I was just trying to make sure the idea wasnā€™t all that new and ā€œcurrent.ā€ I was going to ask (maybe in another thread ā€“ maybe not) if anybody could name one older than K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O-O, even though thatā€™s not quite the title of the song. **Guinastasia** might know of one. šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/50 "2007-03-09T18:58:26Z")
There was an old song on American Idol this week that used spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Carnacki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carnacki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnacki)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/51 "2007-03-09T19:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=Spatial Rift 47] The first time I heard ā€œJ to the A to the Y to the Zā€ (for example) I parsed it as: J[sup]A[sup]Y[sup]Z[/sup][/sup][/sup]. And I thought, ā€œMan, that would be impossible to integrate.ā€ [/QUOTE] That was my point ā€“ how else is there to possible interpret it? ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874/52 "2007-03-09T21:48:43Z")
[QUOTE=easy e] Maybe theyā€™re just dreaming of U-N-C-O-N-D-I-T-I-O-N-A-L-L-O-V-E. [/QUOTE] Would that be an improvement over a F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A. double L.E.D. L.O.V.E.? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-all-the-s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g-in-current-music/394874.md?page=2)