It's a river, not a canal...

[Tom Angel]

That it's a river, not a canal is particularly galling to me as I just bought a narrow boat on the basis of hearing the lyric as a good omen!

[Drico One]

I think "If Jesus had a sister" is one of the songs where Neil has written a poem and Chris has set it to music. It doesn't sound like a set of lyrics to me. I do really like it, but I think we might be able to tell when songs have been Neil's poems first.

Yes, that's an interesting observation. The "lyric" actually reads better than it sounds set to music. They've changed how they write in recent years, haven't they? Neil writes the words and sends them to Chris, who sets them to music. Wrack my memory here, but isn't that a departure from how they used to write? I thought I read a while back that it was once the other way around, but maybe I'm hallucinating...

Drico.

[telys]

Didn't somebody on the forum mention that the script to Hard Day's Night says "canal".

[telys]

The way Neil has pronounces Potemkin and even corrected people on the pronounciation is also wrong. A bit cringy actually... when mansplaining goes wrong.

[telys]

Jumped the barrier at Le Bourget
Claimed political asylum there

It actually rhymes, doesn't it? At the lines have nine syllables each, don't they?

[tottenhammattspurs]

Cry Me A River, Not A Canal, is a PSB B-Side just waiting to happen....

[Nina]

Jump the barrier at Le Bourget airport is hardly as melodic as the actual lyric, is it?

“Jump the barrier at a Paris airport” or “Jump the barrier at a Gallic airport” scan just fine.

My research suggests that Nureyev jumped the barrier at Le Bourget Airport, not Orly.

"Your" research, Sean? Or just that you read it in a certain song-by-song review of Nonetheless. You know what a review is, don't you? The result of when the media get sent things in advance so they can assist with the pre-promotion. I think it's called a job.
https://www.stevepafford.com/nonetheless/

[Patrick Bateman]

"Your" research, Sean? Or just that you read it in a certain song-by-song review of Nonetheless. You know what a review is, don't you? The result of when the media get sent things in advance so they can assist with the pre-promotion. I think it's called a job.
https://www.stevepafford.com/nonetheless/

tbh I haven't read your review yet as I don't want to learn too much about the album in advance but thanks for asking.

[daveid]

Canal desires aside, there's no reason why Neil couldn't compress "barrier" into two syllables and say Le Bourget.

[herts101]

Tough crowd.

For an international audience, Orly is far more evocative of a French airport than Le Bourget - which closed to international commercial flights in 1977. It also scans better. And, actually, that's a bigger issue for me in some recent PSB output: words that simply don't scan with the melody or rhyme. Take If Jesus had a sister. I'm not sure if it's just "difficult music" or if Neil's had a lobotomy. Either way, I find parts of it a hard listen, though there's lots to enjoy in the music. It's probably just me.

As I said, tough crowd.

Drico.

For me, my least favourite part of If Jesus had a sister, is the perfect rhyme of “If only he had a sister to say “Get real, Mister!””

It feels too trite to me and I’d prefer if there were less rhymes, not more.


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[TallThinMan]

Fewer rhymes, not less

[herts101]

Fewer rhymes, not less

And this is why I leave the song writing to Mr Tennant!


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[ea39]

I think "If Jesus had a sister" is one of the songs where Neil has written a poem and Chris has set it to music. It doesn't sound like a set of lyrics to me. I do really like it, but I think we might be able to tell when songs have been Neil's poems first.

Yes, that's an interesting observation. The "lyric" actually reads better than it sounds set to music. They've changed how they write in recent years, haven't they? Neil writes the words and sends them to Chris, who sets them to music. Wrack my memory here, but isn't that a departure from how they used to write? I thought I read a while back that it was once the other way around, but maybe I'm hallucinating...

Drico.

No, I'm sure that's right. I seem to remember an interview (posibly in Literally) where Neil is talking about/slagging off Elton for writing melodies to Taupin's lyrics. I think he gave the example of "Sacrifice" being contorted into four syllables. I'd imagine he said something like "Excuse me, but...'Sac-ih-ri-fice'? Pur-lease..." I suppose the issue there was grafting lyrics on to a pre-written melody of four syllables, though, rather than writing a melody to fit those lyrics.

[Ghost within this house]

"Your" research, Sean? Or just that you read it in a certain song-by-song review of Nonetheless. You know what a review is, don't you? The result of when the media get sent things in advance so they can assist with the pre-promotion. I think it's called a job.
https://www.stevepafford.com/nonetheless/

tbh I haven't read your review yet as I don't want to learn too much about the album in advance but thanks for asking.

[Nina]

"Your" research, Sean? Or just that you read it in a certain song-by-song review of Nonetheless. You know what a review is, don't you? The result of when the media get sent things in advance so they can assist with the pre-promotion. I think it's called a job.
https://www.stevepafford.com/nonetheless/

tbh I haven't read your review yet as I don't want to learn too much about the album in advance but thanks for asking.

Coming from one of the most omnipresent posters on a fan forum for said act, one could almost call this irony.