Puzzled by a song lyric? Mystified by an unfamiliar phrase? Enter it here and take advantage of the collective wisdom of the conference participants..24 responses total.
I know it's some sort of traffic barrier, probably a very familiar one, but lately I've heard two songs that refer to a "Jersey barrier" (as in: "hell on eighteen wheels at a hundred per / we went crashing through the Jersey barrier") so I've been wondering what, exactly, a Jersey barrier would be..
Well, from the title, the actual Springsteen line is "stripped out like a deuce", meaning being abandoned for having low usefulness. Perhaps the "Jersey Barrier" is a toll booth into New York?
Re 2 - Which Springsteen song are you referring to? I'd thought he was referring to "Blinded by the Light", which was by the Manfred Mann Band (sp?)... And the lyric for that one is "racked up like a deuce, another roller in the night", which uses different symbolism to say basically the same thing you did.
Jersey Barrier probably refers to the Hudson/East/Delaware rivers, maybe?
RE #3 "Blinded By The Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band was written by Bruce Springsteen.
Right. Listen to the first Springsteen album, "Greetings From Asbury Park" for that and several other tunes that were better known from other artists' versions. I like the Springsteen originals better.
The phrase in the item title was merely meant to represent one of the classic obscure lyrics that mystifies nearly everyone. I submit that it makes little difference whether or not it's correct, as you all knew which song I meant and even now we don't have agreement on what the line really is or what it meant.. I got the impression from something else I was reading that "jersey barrier" was not a geographic feature but was a highway fixture of some sort, like a guardrail or a cement divider of some sort. I'm trying to figure out what kind of such an object it might be..
A cow? :)
<g> Is the chorus of REM's _The Wake-up Bomb_ really "My hat's on fire/ I'm hot iced tea?" Or am I delusional...
Makes as much sense as any REM lyrics. >8) bruin/scott - Ah, got it. Thanks for clearing that up.
25 or 6 to 4?
That's the lyric, all right. What it might mean, I don't know.
afaik, "25 or 6 to 4" came from a band member's misstatement when another band member asked what time it was, and was originally "25 to 6...er, 4." feel free to correct me if i'm wrong.
(I heard a song on the radio the other day. it didn't have much in the way of lyrics, just something like "change the scriptures / smack my bishop." any idea what this song is?)
Heh
(no wonder I couldn't figure out what song it was! I'd misheard the lyrics. it's actually "change the filter / smack my fish up." I wonder if it's a Phish song. I've never heard Phish.)
<lol>
I prefer "smack my bishop", actually...
Ditto. Actually, the corrected version makes less sence then the other.
(it doesn't make any sense to me at all. I think my ears are getting too old for all this new-fangled music.)
Berni (my wife) has just heard the White Album (by the Beatles, silly) for the first time -- she's liked their songs but never felt moved to follow up on what she heard on the radio. A lot of these songs were new to her, and the absence of song titles (we were in the car, at night) made them even more of tabulas rasa. Anyway, did you know there's a song on the White Album called "Glass Un-done"? Now it sounds like that to me too.
And here's another clue for you all: the Walrus is Paul. Looking through a glass onion. <bump> <bump>
Re #11 to #13: When I actually listened to the lyrics of that song, after, I think, also hearing some relevant commentary, I realised that they really were fairly clear: 25 or 26 minutes before 4:00 AM. He's trying to finish an album, needs one more song, but doesn't have anything to say. So he admits it.
...making it all the more ironic that it's the band's best-known song. I like it.
You have several choices: