Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings

Subject: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 05:51 PM

Is it just me, or have others thought about how closely song titles and lyrics are tied to folk sayings?

Sometimes song writers use folk sayings as a song title or a refrain or line in the song. And sometimes a song lyric or title BECOMES a folk saying-or if isn't, it should be.

For example, in Jerry Rasmussens' thread on Music We Lived Our Lives Pauline L mentions three song titles or lyrics that I think may be or should be used as folks sayings:
"We Shall Overcome"
"[Keep your] Eyes On The Prize"
"All I want is a little respect."

And in another thread, a Guest asks about a lyric which I think might come from the song "Free To Be You and Me".

Can you think of any other examples of song titles or lyrics that come from folk saying, or are used as folk sayings or should be used as folk sayings?

In the case of lines from songs, including their source would be helpful or perhaps another poster might be able to add that information.

Anyone?

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Burke
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 06:07 PM

"This Land is your land, this land is my land"

"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me"

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 08:36 PM

Scenario:

I'm in the living room, reading. My Beautiful Wife calls me to come, we'll say for supper.   

"I'm coming, I'm coming. My head is bending low."

Frequent actual usage.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 08:48 PM

Uncle_DaveO .

True confessions:

Though I can recall my mother singing the "I'm coming, I'm coming" part, I have no idea what song this line is from..is this the title? Is this a folk song?

Would you please share some more information about this line?

Thanks.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Padre
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 09:34 PM

The song is 'Old Black Joe' by Stephen Foster

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Amos
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 10:05 PM

I'm coming. I'm coming. And my head is bending low.
I hear them angel voices callin' Old Black Joe.

I have always found this particular couplet to be especially beautiful and poignant, myself, let others make of it what they may.

A

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 10:35 PM

Ha! Ha!

Well I walked right into that one..No wonder I didn't know that song..

And the ironic thing is that I live about a 10 minute drive from Stephen Foster's historical home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!!

And, coincidentially, yesterday a professor from Carnegie Mellon University told me that Foster's home has a museum with resources on secular slavce songs [an interest of mine].So today-before asking the question about that song- I tried unsuccessfully to find a phone number for this home.

I found the phone number for the Stephen Foster Center [a senior citizen's residence]; and the Stephen Foster Theatre booking service[which is part of the University of Pittsburgh], but I found no number yet for the Stephen Foster Museum..I guess I'll have to drive there-yes I know it's within walking distance but there's a number of steep hilly streets I would have to walk up and down, and its still much too cold for me to get my exercise jones on...

Although Stephen Foster is from Pittsburgh, PA, guess again if you think that his songs are taught in that city's public schools. I mean, after all those schools have a majority African American population. Teach "Old Black Joe?! Get real!! I imagine that no teacher in those schools would want to touch Stephen's Foster's legacy with a ten foot pole..

Is this good or bad? Well, you can argue that point.

But it would be interesting to use Stephen Foster's songs and his life in Pittsburgh as a way of introducing discussion in high school history & music and urban anthropology classes-but wait-they probably don't have urban anthropology classes in public high schools. And, besides, national politics have forced teachers to teach for the test..so how much time can they spend in encouraging youth to use their mind to think about subjects that might REALLY matter to them??!

I have mentioned in another Mudcat thread that there is a controversial statue of Stephen Foster that stands outside the main branch of Pittsburgh's Carnegie library & museum. This statue is of Stgephen Foster stading with a pen in one hand and a tablet in another while at his feet sits a widely grinning banjo playing obviously Black man..

Uhmm.. so where did Stephen get his inspiration for his songs???

Inquiring minds want to know..

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Midchuck
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 10:45 PM

When I read the political news of the day, I often mutter the first line of the chorus of Barrett's Privateers, over and over.

But that probably isn't what you had in mind.

Peter.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 11:11 PM

Don't wish to buy into the Stephen foster lies and truths again.

Back to the original idea. Many of the "Parlour/Heart Songs" of the 19th Century started sayings. Not "folk sayings" exactly because they weren't part of a folk society. Neither were the songs. Anyway here's some:

From Thomas Haynes Bayly - "Pilot 'tis a fearful night"
                           "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"
                           "Oh no! We never mention her"

From Paul Dresser - "Just tell them that you saw me" (this sometimes with an added "but you didn't see me saw")

Like Uncle_DaveO we use lots of lines from these and other songs in our everyday speech, with each other. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 11:15 PM

Dare I ask what Barrett's Privateers is and what the first line of the chorus says??

Sure I dare..

However if it's as profane as the political news is, then maybe it wouldn't be appropriate for you to share how the chorus ACTUALLY goes since this is the above the BS line portion of this discusssion forum..


But inquiring minds and all that jazz..

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Little Robyn
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 12:40 AM

In my family we used the "I'm coming" bit but changed the second one to "So's Christmas" sung to the same tune but as a reply!
eg:
Mum: Come and get your dinner.
Me: I'm coming.
Mum: So's Christmas.
We had lots of those little verbals in our family as kids. I miss them now that Mum's gone.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Little Robyn
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 12:46 AM

Then there was "See you later aligator."
"In a while crocodile!"

"Hey, ho, anybody home?"

"So long, it's been good to know you."

There were lots but I can't think of them right now.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Celtaddict
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 12:48 AM

I would have thought the fifth (recurring) line might be apropos.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Celtaddict
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 12:54 AM

verse:
Oh the year was seventeen seventy eight
I wish I were in Sherbrooke now!
A letter of marque came from the King
To the scummiest vessel I've ever seen
God Damn them all!
chorus:
I was told
We'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns, shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett's privateers.

I do see that in the DT it is printed as if the fifth (refrain) line is typed run-on to the first line of the chorus.
At a shanty sing recently, with the incredible Liam Clancy, I heard a gentleman in long blond braids sing, quite clearly,
"I was told we screwed the cheese for American gold."
As a friend with a remarkable talent for typos has written, "The mind Bogles."

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 02:31 AM

Celtaddict- I appreciate the information on Barrett's privateers
Looking in the DT.. why didn't I think of that? I guess that would have been too much like right..

Little Robyn -Thanks for sharing those memories. The everyday things that are shared are sometimes the most precious..

I recall a discussion that I had with another 'Catter in which I said that the response to "See yah later alligator" was "After while Crocodile". I was told that there was a recorded song that said "In a while" instead of "After while"...What song that was I don't have a clue...

****

Here's a call & response exchange that will probably not last very long..though it's been around for some time now:

As a result of the movie, whenever someone says "Who you gonna call?
I always answer..."Ghostbusters!"

[That was a song too, so it fits in this thread..] But if people don't know the movie, they will look at you like you're crazy if you sing out "Ghostbusters!" And you don't say it -you sing it the way it was sung on that record by whats his name..

****

Since other two part exchanges have been mentioned, let me share two exchanges that are from African American traditions and a third exchange that is commonly used among African Americans and probably other people..

The first is from the Baptist church: When someone says "God is good" the automatic response is "All the time"..

The second also from the Baptist church: When someone says "God may not come when you want Him"..the automatic response is "But He's always right on time."

If a person doesn't respond in the expected way to these first statements, people know that he/she is culturally deprived
;O)

The last two part exchange is one I remember from my childhood:
One person: "Good nite, sleep tight.
Second person: " Don't let the bed bugs bite."



Azizi

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 03:10 AM

Hooold UP! Waita minute"!
{this is a lyric from DC House music [dance] song..from DJ Kool's
song "Let Me Clear My Thoat"

But I'm singing it because I just realized that I made a mistake:

The second church exchange is supposed to be
"God may not come when you call Him"..and the automatic response is "But He's always right on time."

It's the c/c alliteration that I gotta remember [come/call].

And here's a rhyme I also gotta remember:
"want" is fine
but it's all in good time. [God's time]

I don't think this will make the hit parade charts..It just popped into my head..

Back at yah. Any other sayings from songs?

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: padgett
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 05:56 AM

The German Musicianer has the line "There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle"

A cheeky line either taken from the song or in popular usage prior to the trad song coming into and still heard on occasion about the old woman v young thruster relationship!!

Ray Padgett

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Fred (Beetle) Bailey
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 01:47 PM

Modestly submit my song for those who want to give you something for nothing:::

"Not without a condom, you can't give that to me!"

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 02:12 PM

A song that promotes the saying "not without a condom, you can't give that to me?"

You probably aren't serious. But I worked at a women's health care agency for 8 years. And know that the health care systems are always looking for creative ways of getting their message to the public.

Who knows? Marketing your song might save lives.

Then your living would not be in vain.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: robomatic
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 03:57 PM

One of the putative future governors of Texas has written a few:

"Git yore biscuts in the oven and yore buns in the bed."

"Waitret oh waitret"

"They ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore"

"What should I do? Save my pants or save my soul?"

Go Kinkster!

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 05:35 PM

Robomatic, I try to look before I leap, but I'll risk it again and ask who you are reffering to when you say "one of the putative future governors of Texas" and "Go Kinkster!" ?

****

Maybe I should mention that the line "Then your living would not be in vain" tht I used in a previous post comes from a religious song. I'm not sure of the title- maybe it is "My Living Shall Not Be In Vain". Here are some of the words to that song as I remember them:

If I can help somebody as I travel along.
If I can cheer somebody with a word
or a song.
If I can help somebody as I travel along,
then my living shall not be in vain.

Oh my living shall not be in vain.
Yes, my living shall not be in vain.
If I can help somebody as I travel along,
then my living shall not be in vain.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 07:51 PM

Not really folk, but "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" (WS Gilbert) springs to mind, or in physiotherapist's terms, "no pain, no gain"!
TB

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: rich-joy
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 08:21 PM

OK, not "folk", but in the theme :

To add to Joybell's Victorian Parlour examples :

"Come into the garden, Maude" ...

and also :

"We'll run them in!" (as in bold Gendarmes ...)


Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: robomatic
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 12:49 PM

Azizi: You've never heard of "The Kinkster"? Kinky Friedman who performed with his backup band: The Texas Jewboys. Best known album: "Old Testaments and New Revelations"

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 02:32 PM

Robomatic: I guess I'm just culturally deprived ;O)

I admitted that I didn't know the Blues and now I'll readily admit that I dont know the Kinster and his back up band.

Are you being serious?

[Sometimes I can't tell when people are being facetious, especially on Mudcat. In many ways, this is a whole 'nuther culture, actually a number of different cultures for me].

If you are serious, what genre of music is it?

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 03:57 PM

Azizi, your leg is NOT being pulled.
KINKY FRIEDMAN IS. HE EXISTS. He writes songs, and fun detective stories. He plays music and sings. And -- HE'S RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR OF TEXAS.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 04:00 PM

(I meant to add "thank you, jesus", and sign off, Tw. What happened?)Tw

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 04:11 PM

I realised one day a few months ago, after a friend pointed it out to me that my standard knee-jerk 'sign off' had changed from "take care" to "I'll see ya down the road"...

A sentiment I suspect inspired by the Stan Rogers cover of the Mary McCaslin song "Down The Road" that I often find myself humming to myself as I pack up gear after a gig...

Lyrics
http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/songs/dtr-sng.html

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 06:02 PM

"KINKY FRIEDMAN IS..and -- HE'S RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR OF TEXAS."

Well he can't be worse than what's his name-Texas' former govenor- who is now you know where.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Celtaddict
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 07:19 PM

Azizi-
Not a song (and I have lines of songs nibbling at the edges of my mind, as I know there are lines used often, and I will think of them at some odd time, in the shower or while driving) but your "God is good" "All the time" reminds me of an Irish saying, which translates "God is strong" "And he had a good mother."

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 08:15 PM

Celtaddict:

Thanks, and here's a follow-up question..does this mean that mothers are seen as the ultimate source of a person's strength?

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: DrWord
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 10:33 PM

Thanks, Azizi, for starting this thread. I just love Mudcat & it's so kewl to have my nick & cookie back! I always appreciate, Azizi, your scholarship & insights, and how you evoke responses that result in a great thread.
Be kind to yourself
dennis
Oak in the Acorn Labyrinth

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Mar 05 - 11:40 PM

Thanks, Dennis.

Unexpected compliments are the best kind.

I went to your "Oak in the Acorn Labrinth" website and for some reason it reminded me of three things. The first was PoppaGator's new thread on "the last post". I guess your link caused me to think about that because posters were getting philosphical about what it means to be the first & the last; how 'last'is determined; and plays on the words "last" and "lasting".

The second thing your labyrinth link caused me to think of [for some reason] is this recurring dream I had when I was in college many years ago. When I had these dreams I was suffering from unrequited love. In that dream I was in an underground maze-a cave actually-and was very anxious because I couldn't find my way out. At some point, this old man-I called him "The Wise Professor-came and talked to me. I'm sure that he said a number of things to me, but the only thing that I recall of the conversation was the advice that "The way in is the way out".

At that time [and now] I interpreted that sentence to mean that even though I had been disappointed in love -the way I got in this [HA! I was going to say "that"] mess, I shouldn't fear to love again {the way out}.

The third thing that your oak labyrinth link reminded me of was the folk saying "big trees from little acorns grow". This caused me to think about a passage in the book "Children's Games in Street and Playground" by the Opies. I was struck by their comment that children's games may die out because of environmental factors..And though they mentioned other examples {and actually didn't mention this}, for some reason I thought of games played with chestnuts and acorns and how some city kids don't even know what these look like.

Your Oak and acorn link made me think about this and I said to myself "Even though they are rare, if you look hard enough you can find an acorn and given time it will grow into a strong oak tree.

My view is that each person is the best interpreter of her or his dreams or in this case dreams & waking 'insights'..[Oh! okay..so thanks for that word too-it was supposed to be part of the puzzle]
I got the meaning I believe I was supposed to get from all of this.
And I apologize for this stream of consciousness moment...

Hopefully, some composer one day will write a song about "The way in is the way out".

That way this post can really fit into this by then probably long forgotten thread. And then this post would not have really been thread drift!

****

Hope to 'hear' more from you, Dennis!!

I'm glad you got your nickname and cookie back. Were they in hiding somewhere?? [another labyrinth clue..thank you very much!]



Azizi

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Fred (Beetle) Bailey
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 09:39 AM

Azizi:
In Re: "Not without a condom, you can't give that to me"

Dead serious (and I salute your efforts in the field).

Funny thing, the song isn't sexual at all -- sociologic, ecologic, anthropologic, historic, theologic but NOT sexual -- and it got less air-play than most of the other songs.

Maybe there's something wrong with my viewpoint of "Protection"?

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: GUEST,Paranoid Android
Date: 12 Mar 05 - 01:47 PM

Pay the woman or leave the bed

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:29 AM

Though it might not be from a song, I woke up with this thought in mind "God don't like ugly".

Then I wondered if that folk saying was ever used in a song. Then I wondered if anyone on Mudcat had ever started a thread on folk sayings used in songs. Then I got up and decided to check it out, and then I found this thread that I had forgotten that I had started.

So, how 'bout those little green apples?!
{that folk expression means something like "Isn't that interesting?" {a rhetorical kind of question which requires no answer since it is rhetorical..}

And a R&B song title that just popped into my mind when I translated "Isn't that interesting" to Ebonese*is "Aint That Peculiar" which is another way of saying "Aint that something?!' which is another way of saying "Un un un" {but how to really convey how those three "sounds" are said when they mean "Aint that peculiar"/ "Ain't that something?!" is beyond me.

* Ebonese is my tongue in check term for what is usually purposeful Black colloquial talkwhat I t is

And it just occurs to me that when people say "Aint that something?! or "Aint that peculiar?!" they do expect some response {since these are call & response expressions}.

One response could be "Yep" It's more than a notion, aint it?.

And a widely used response to that question {that's not really a question} is:

"You got that right".

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:39 AM

And here's a song line from a R&B record that popped into my head when I noticed that goobly gook at the end of one of my sentences in my last post:

"I'm makin it easy for the clean up woman"

{which may not have anything to do with the price of beans in Boston, but does serve as introduction to the fact that the sentence that I meant to write was this one:

* Ebonese is my tongue in check term for what is usually purposeful Black colloquial talk.

By "Black", I mean "African American."

**

And, back to the expression that woke me up tonight-for some reason or another-"God don't like ugly", that means that God doesn't like people acting or thinking in ugly ways. In this context, "ugly" means "not nice".

I still can't think of a song with the expression "God don't like ugly", but the R&B song "Beauty's only skin deep" just came to mind.

And, now that I'm thinkin about it, that song by the Temptations-I think, isn't just talkin about physical beauty, but how you treat other people.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 12:51 AM

It was buggin me who recorded the song "Aint That Peculiar".

In 2005 I probably would have asked my friend Google. But since this is 2007, and since I'm blessed to have high speed Internet access {it was not always thus}, I decided to check out what my friend YouTube had to say on the matter and "My bad!", I found out that "Aint that Peculiar" was a 1965 hit by Marvin Gaye and not The Temptations.

Here's a link to that video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2k1muQoJ38g
Marvin Gaye Ain't That Peculiar Acapella & Instrumental Sync

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 01:08 AM

And the church said Amen.

**

I'm having a stream of conscious moment, but all of this to ask, what song lyrics used as folk sayings or folk sayings used as song lyrics can you add to this eclectic mix?

Thanks in advance for your examples and/or comments if they are given in the spirit that is exemplified by giving the right hand of fellowship. If your comments/examples are not given in that spirit, then no thanks.

PS: "By right hand of fellowship, I mean the second definiton that is given in Wikipedia and not the first. The second definiton is "an expression of good faith and morals".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_hand_of_christian_fellowship
I would expand on this explanation by saying that "the right hand of fellowship is a portion of the church service [at the end of a church service?]where all persons present shake hands and warmly greet church members and strangers alike.

That's what I'm talkin 'bout.

Subject: RE: Song Lyrics Used as Folk Sayings
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 01:20 AM

And just to round this out, here's two YouTube versions of the song "Beauty's Only Skin Deep".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9rfavPkpVZQ&mode=related&search=
Beauty's Only Skin Deep - Temptations

**
http://youtube.com/watch?v=f6SGBxtFyQo
"Beauty's only skin deep" From the movie


Btw #1, at the end of the first video clip whose link I posted, the group says the entire saying: "Beauty's only skin deep. But ugly's clear to the bone

Btw#2, fwiw, I like the second version of this song more than the first. The first version seemed faster than what I remember it, but then again the 1960s was a loooong time ago, so I may be remembering it wrong.