Comments on: Everybody Knows

By: markm

markm — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:40:33 +0000

David McCourt says:

“England expects that every man will do his, er, their duty.”

Admiral Nelson was not in any doubt as to the gender of his men.

By: Thales

Thales — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:44:18 +0000

Re Tower of Song (the cover album): I wasn’t too enamored of the Henley version–not terrible, just not great–it seemed to lack both the gravitas and twisted humor of the original.

But the Tori Amos cover of Famous Blue Raincoat and the Suzanne Vega cover of Story of Isaac are both fantastic.

By: Sandy MacHoots

Sandy MacHoots — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:53:32 +0000

The best singular pronoun I’ve run across is the gender/human-neutral “s/h/it.”

By: MarcW

MarcW — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:20:55 +0000

Then Billy Markham, he takes the dice, and the dice feel as heavy as stones.
“They should, they should,” the Devil says, “’cause they’re carved from Jesus’ bones.”
And Billy Markham turns the dice and the dice, they have no spots.
“I’m sorry,” says the Devil, “but they’re the only dice I got.”

By: [insert here] delenda est

[insert here] delenda est — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:37:48 +0000

I love Leonard Cohen, and that song.

By: Preferred Customer

Preferred Customer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:37:41 +0000

Fedya: For better or worse, every time I hear the phrase “pump up the volume”, I think of the 80s song — I’ve never seen the movie.

It's no Heathers, but it's worth renting. And now I have the MAARS band stuck in my head. Ironically, Pump Up The Volume the song was not in Pump Up The Volume the movie, though if I recall correctly it was in the movie version of Bright Lights Big City.

By: Fedya

Fedya — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:30 +0000

Preferred Customer: Pump Up the Volume is a significantly underrated film.

For better or worse, every time I hear the phrase "pump up the volume", I think of the 80s song -- I've never seen the movie.

By: Brian G.

Brian G. — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:23:51 +0000

If it was for Pump Up the Volume, I wouldn’t even know the song.

By: Cousin Vinny

Cousin Vinny — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:32:24 +0000

I like Don Henley’s version, too. His solo stuff is routinely outstanding.

By: David McCourt

David McCourt — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:19:10 +0000

“England expects that every man will do his, er, their duty.”

So now he has to do, not only his own duty, but that of those other folks, too. So, with the death of the “spurious rule,” we’ve moved from Nelson’s world to that of Clement Atlee.

“Every dog hath his, er, their day.”

When will the poor fella get a day of his own?

By: Oren

Oren — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:39:09 +0000

Isn’t the possessive pronoun redundant? Whose fingers would everybody cross if not their own?

Yes, “Everybody rolls with fingers crossed” doesn’t have the right number of syllables.

By: A. Zarkov

A. Zarkov — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:22:25 +0000

Now what exactly is the problem with using singular pronouns? Why should I change a lifetime of writing habits and end up with inelegant and less clear prose? It’s time to read 1984 again folks.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:29:42 +0000

The Don Henley version (can’t find it online) is also excellent, from the 1995 “Tower of Song” album. Light as the Breeze (of that same album) is one of the great Cohen covers not done by Jennifer Warnes.

[I agree entirely about the Don Henley version, and there are some other excellent covers on Tower of Song as well. -EV]

By: Cornellian

Cornellian — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:17:02 +0000

One of the greatest lyricists in contemporary music, without a doubt.

See e.g., from “Closing Time”
Looks like freedom but it feels like death
It’s something in between I guess
It’s closing time

just one of many, many examples I could cite.

By: EV's Conscience

EV's Conscience — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:00:18 +0000

Eugene – Get back to work. You remember. It’s that thing you do to justify that obnoxiously high salary UCLA pays you.

[Arggh! Get away! I thought I had you locked nicely in that right bottom desk drawer. -EV]

By: Allan Leedy

Allan Leedy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:34:44 +0000

Isn’t the possessive pronoun redundant? Whose fingers would everybody cross if not their own?

By: fishbane

fishbane — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:22:45 +0000

Got to see Cohen a couple of weeks ago. The man is a genius, and a great performer. And the wind instrument player (can’t recall his name) is a total adorable geek.

By: Jeff Walden

Jeff Walden — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:02:24 +0000

Thursday Song Lyrics? :-)

By: paxloo

paxloo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:54:19 +0000

Elizabeth & the Catapult does an amazing cover..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7XPiGeY3Kk

By: Dennis N

Dennis N — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:32:17 +0000

That reminds me of one of my faves. I believe it is from Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love.

“Of course the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you — if you don’t play, you can’t win.”

By: Preferred Customer

Preferred Customer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:21:31 +0000

U.Va. Grad: I prefer the Concrete Blonde version.(Sacrilege!)

Pump Up the Volume is a significantly underrated film. As with many movies, though, some of the best gems on the actual movie soundtrack weren’t on the officially released CD. If It Be Your Will, for example, is just a fantastic song, but it was nowhere to be found on the movie’s soundtrack disc.

Looks like someone has already written a great deal on this subject, so I’ll just link to Wikipedia, and see if I can find my old Was (Not Was) disc…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(film)

By: LessinSF

LessinSF — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:06 +0000

The original Greedy Associates / current Lawtalkers long ago solved the singular gender pronoun problem with the adoption of the Spivak pronoun “em.”

By: U.Va. Grad

U.Va. Grad — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:14:10 +0000

I prefer the Concrete Blonde version. (Sacrilege!)

By: Joseph Slater

Joseph Slater — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:00:18 +0000

That’s a great song. I saw Leonard Cohen live some months ago, and it was truly a terrific concert.

By: Rodger Lodger

Rodger Lodger — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:52:28 +0000

Roll dice with fingers crossed? Got to see that.

By: Fedya

Fedya — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:48:30 +0000

Everybody Everybody I find it more upbeat than Leonard Cohen....

By: Beandip

Beandip — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:27:27 +0000

From Queens of the Stone Age:

“Everybody knows that you are insane”

By: krs

krs — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:23:14 +0000

As recent commercials tell us, “everybody” actually refers to 4 or 5 effeminate men who harbor misconceptions about the merits of Chevrolet automobiles, and who will surely wilt in the face of contrary arguments from Howie Long.

By: KevinM

KevinM — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:28 +0000

The grammarians always tell us to avoid an awkward construction by recasting the sentence. Let’s see:
“Everybody knows that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” What would Jane A. do?
(On the subject of popular song, it is also a truth universally acknowledged that baby’s got new clothes, and that this is nowhere.)
Cheers.