I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Oct. 6th, 2004 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmolinguistOne of the few things Andrew knew about They Might Be Giants before I made him download some of their music and buy tickets to their concert was the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul."
And the thing he knew about it is that it'd been stuck in his head once for, he tells me, a year and a half.
This seemed quite implausible to me at first, but now that I've become better acquainted with Andrew's memory and with the irrepressible catchiness of some They Might Be Giants songs (I myself cannot hear "Don't Let's Start" without singing it in my head for a good two or three days afterwards) I'm more inclined to give credence to his tale.
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"was played at the concert, natually. Walking home from the bus stop afterwards, Andrew informed me that it was stuck in his head again, but a different part this time. And just to make it worse, he added, he wasn't even sure what the words were this time.
It has been my experience that this is the worst kind of lyric to get stuck in your head; I once learned the words to a song in a language I didn't know, just so I could at least make the right sounds when I was mumbling the words to myself.
Andrew sang his new embedded lyric for me: "Blue canary somethin'-somethin'-somethin' light switch! Who watches over you ..." I knew the line, but I wasn't sure of the words he was missing, either.
A few days later I came downstairs and heard "Birdhouse in Your Soul." I thought it'd just come up on the mp3 player's random play, but then right after The Line in Question he said, "I still can't figure out what he's saying!" I hadn't been paying attention, so we played it again. And again.
There was a little confusion about the preposition—with the light switch? by the light switch? it was hard to tell—and the word preceeding that continued to be nearly unintelligible. I remember suggesting "attic" but Andrew thought that was crazy.
I asked him "Why not just look the lyrics up online?" but he refused, saying it was cheating and anyway those lyrics were never right anyway.
This was getting silly.
I don't remember if I had a sudden epiphany on the subject or if I looked up the lyrics, but I do remember thinking "Outlet"! Of course! It made sense. Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch. The blue canary (as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
karaksindru pointed out) is a nightlight.
Andrew was dubious, though. He also doesn't know the word "outlet," so I had to explain it to him. (I pointed to one, actually.) So he's already biased against it because it's an Americanism—and written by Americans! how dare they?—but he also swears that whatever is being sung there sounds nothing like the word "outlet."
And the line is still stuck in his head, periodically, so he'll just sing, "Blue canary somethin'-somethin'-somethin' light switch!" for no reason.
Sometimes I sigh, sometimes I glare, sometimes I just yell "Outlet!"
He won't give in, but I can't give up. We're both sure we're right.
(Crosslink:rakafkaven wrote something else too great to miss.)
And the thing he knew about it is that it'd been stuck in his head once for, he tells me, a year and a half.
This seemed quite implausible to me at first, but now that I've become better acquainted with Andrew's memory and with the irrepressible catchiness of some They Might Be Giants songs (I myself cannot hear "Don't Let's Start" without singing it in my head for a good two or three days afterwards) I'm more inclined to give credence to his tale.
"Birdhouse in Your Soul"was played at the concert, natually. Walking home from the bus stop afterwards, Andrew informed me that it was stuck in his head again, but a different part this time. And just to make it worse, he added, he wasn't even sure what the words were this time.
It has been my experience that this is the worst kind of lyric to get stuck in your head; I once learned the words to a song in a language I didn't know, just so I could at least make the right sounds when I was mumbling the words to myself.
Andrew sang his new embedded lyric for me: "Blue canary somethin'-somethin'-somethin' light switch! Who watches over you ..." I knew the line, but I wasn't sure of the words he was missing, either.
A few days later I came downstairs and heard "Birdhouse in Your Soul." I thought it'd just come up on the mp3 player's random play, but then right after The Line in Question he said, "I still can't figure out what he's saying!" I hadn't been paying attention, so we played it again. And again.
There was a little confusion about the preposition—with the light switch? by the light switch? it was hard to tell—and the word preceeding that continued to be nearly unintelligible. I remember suggesting "attic" but Andrew thought that was crazy.
I asked him "Why not just look the lyrics up online?" but he refused, saying it was cheating and anyway those lyrics were never right anyway.
This was getting silly.
I don't remember if I had a sudden epiphany on the subject or if I looked up the lyrics, but I do remember thinking "Outlet"! Of course! It made sense. Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch. The blue canary (as
karaksindru pointed out) is a nightlight. Andrew was dubious, though. He also doesn't know the word "outlet," so I had to explain it to him. (I pointed to one, actually.) So he's already biased against it because it's an Americanism—and written by Americans! how dare they?—but he also swears that whatever is being sung there sounds nothing like the word "outlet."
And the line is still stuck in his head, periodically, so he'll just sing, "Blue canary somethin'-somethin'-somethin' light switch!" for no reason.
Sometimes I sigh, sometimes I glare, sometimes I just yell "Outlet!"
He won't give in, but I can't give up. We're both sure we're right.
(Crosslink:
rakafkaven wrote something else too great to miss.)![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 03:32 pm (UTC)Tsk to Andrew. TSK I say!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 03:43 pm (UTC)I'm your only friend
I'm not your only friend
But I'm a little glowing friend
But really I'm not actually your friend
But I am
Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul
I have a secret to tell
From my electrical well
It's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells
So the room must listen to me
Filibuster vigilantly
My name is blue canary one note spelled l-i-t-e
My story's infinite
Like the Longines Symphonette it doesn't rest
There's a picture opposite me
Of my primitive ancestry
Which stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free
Though I respect that a lot
I'd be fired if that were my job
After killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts
Bluebird of friendliness
Like guardian angels it's always near
(and while you're at it
Keep the nightlight on inside the
Birdhouse in your soul)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 02:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 03:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 06:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 02:14 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 06:06 am (UTC):) spice
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 06:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 09:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 08:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 06:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 06:18 am (UTC)songs in other languages
Date: 2004-10-06 03:48 pm (UTC)would it be silly to ask ...
Date: 2004-10-07 02:16 am (UTC)Re: would it be silly to ask ...
Date: 2004-10-07 02:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 09:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-06 11:47 pm (UTC)Keep away from children, do not get in eyes
Date: 2004-10-07 02:18 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-07 02:17 am (UTC)