Songs with advice that is no help

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 07:01 PM

Oh I just spotted one on another thread. "All of Me. Why not take all of me?". He offers all the bits of his body - discreetly avoiding some bits. What is the poor girl supposed to do with his bits?

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 06:55 PM

I've wondered about don't let your deal go down, come to think of it. Maybe that Gambler could have explained it but he died before becoming really helpful. I never seriously considered building my nest at the top of a tree either and thyme -- it does grow back.

What about "never place your affections on a green willow tree" Not only have I never thought of doing that but I've never seen a willow in any other color - unless it's dead and you wouldn't be likely to love a dead willow. Of course here willows are terrible weeds so come to think of it dead ones are quite appealing.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 12:26 PM

In "Go to Sea No More" and many other sailor songs, you get the feeling that the singer will do exactly the same thing over and over again.

The same thing goes for "The House of the Rising Sun" where after exhorting others to do differently, the singer returns to New Orleans.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 12:01 PM

Don't Let Your Deal Go Down

I never understood what that meant.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Jeri
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 10:32 AM

"Let no man steal your bonny bunch of thyme."

It's not nice to steal, but the stuff grows like a weed. Give the guy some - especially if he's making dinner for you.

Thyme as a metaphor for virginity is silly anyway. It comes back year after year and spreads all over the place. You can pluck hell out of it and it's STILL THERE. You're SUPPOSED to pluck it! Maybe "Touch-Me-Nots" would have been better, but the name's too hard to fit in a song.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 10:09 AM

"Don't build your nest at the top of the tree" - well I had no intention of doing so - a nest my size would crash straight through the branches.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Peter T.
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 08:47 AM

"If I were you I'd take a permanent vacation, He'la, He'la, my boyfriend's back" ---

"What are you going to do about it, Charlie?"

"Nothing. You should look after your own reputation, you conniving little slut."

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 08:36 AM

I always loved that Danny Kaye routine. Liz, that's "Carrickfergus" and yes, he does keep going after he says he'll sing no more 'till he gets a drink. Perhaps someone slipped him a quick swig between verses. But "The Water is Wide" does have a peculiar metaphor I reckon. She (and it's always she who sings it) says:

"I put my hand into the bush
Thinking the sweetest flower to find
But I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the sweetest flower alone." (so lovely, so sad!)

But it sounds like a bloke thing to do I've always thought.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 11:44 PM

Ah Mudlark, that reminds me of Danny Kaye in The Jester - The potion with the poison is in the palslely with the... no... no...

Not so much as the ORIGINAL advice being no help, except that the attempted _remembering_ of it is of little real help...

Robin

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Mudlark
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 11:37 PM

And all that advice, out of any meaningful context, reminds me of a routine Bob Hope (I think) did in a movie, a western spoof. He, a tenderfoot, somehow got roped into one of those 30 paces at dawn shoot outs with the local fast draw. And the night before gets all this advice...keep the sun over his left shoulder, always draw from the right, etc...which he mumbles to himself the next morning, as he advances toward the desperado...all totally garbled, of course.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Amos
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 08:28 PM

Presumably if you keep the options in mind -- run, walk away, hold, fold -- remembering that you always have a choice, that choosing when to choose which will become second nature. If you live that long.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 08:26 PM

Any song that has in its chorus any line about being home where various examples of native shrubs and trees are thriving.... why are you here singing about it? Shut up and go there!

Oh and that one, 'The water is wide' [Carrickfergus?] where the singer says they'll sing no more now until they've had a drink - the bugger goes on for another chorus? But you said..... GAH, what's the use!!!

LTS

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 07:52 PM

Very wise Willie-O. "Don't come home a-drinkin..." is an example of GOOD advice and VERY helpful. But "The Gambler" - HOW do you know when to run? When to walk away? I'm not speaking for myself. I never met a gambler on a train but I've collected information along the way. I think the best advice I ever got was from my True-love whose mother told him - "Never go out in the rain in your socks" Now that's what I call good advice.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Willie-O
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 07:43 PM

The actually useful advice in The Gambler is the rest of the chorus.
Know when to walk away.
Know when to run.
Never count your money while its sitting on the table. That is excellent advice if the table is in a bar or other public place.

But to come up with other suggestions,

"Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)".

Not much help either but a pretty wise suggestion.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 07:08 PM

He doesn't say that though. He says "For a drink of your whiskey I'll give you some advice" You wouldn't want to hand over your whiskey unless you were getting a better deal than advice about gambling surely. I don't drink whiskey so maybe I'm wrong. Anyway the singer seems to have thought the advice was to be used in a broader sense.
We have a performer here - Martin Pearson - who does a pretty good parody of "The Gambler" (just how do you do italics by the way?) He thinks the old man got a good deal and that was the whole point anyway. Martin's song has the line "....for a drink of your whiskey I promise I'll get drunk..." More honest really.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:49 PM

Surely the real advice in The Gambler is intended to be "Don't gamble unless you know all those things" - and that is excellent advice.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:41 PM

Hello Liz. What a great one.
It occurs to me that there are lots of songs with good advice about things you never wanted to do anyway. - Like "...if you want your finger bit, stick it at a possum." But it's another thread possibility perhaps.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:36 PM

On the Sunny Side of the Street... what is that all about? If I walked only on the sunny side of the street, I'd only be able to get into my home between dawn and mid afternoon, but could get into work any time of day! AND I'd get a headache from the sun, and probably heatstroke or sunburn as well.

LTS

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:31 PM

Yes just how do you keep on the sunny side. Where is it? I've wondered about "Bridge over Troubled Water" - is he saying he wants to be walked on?

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joe_F
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:19 PM

"Keep on the Sunny Side" is not much help if the dark side is the inside.

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 06:18 PM

I Wish I Was Single Again - silly bugger turns right round and does it again!

Subject: RE: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 04:18 PM

Don't Get Married Girls :-)

(Well, I did heed that advice, but many girls don't!)

Subject: Songs with advice that is no help
From: Joybell
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:45 PM

Many songs offer advice and then don't follow through. My personal favourite is "The Gambler" - "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..." Then he doesn't tell you how you know. There are lots probably. What are your favourites?

[Some song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]