Song Lyrics

[John Dean]

Hi. I am a teacher of the English Language from Tbilisi, Georgia. I
have often heard my students say that they find it difficult to
distinguish words in songs performed by native English or American
singers. To be honest, the task is rather problematic to me too. I
have got some very good songs by Mitch Woods but I'd like to have the
lyrics too so that we can hear not only the music and melody but the
words as well. The songs are "Blue Boogie", "Easy Street", "Palm Tree
Tie","Please Don't Leave Me", "Swinging At The Savoy", "Jive,
Mr.Boogie", "Jump For Joy", "10th and Parker Blues". I would be very
grateful to anybody who sends me the lyrics of even just one of these

You need to do some creative searching [1] via Yahoo, Google or whoever
takes your fancy. It wasn't hard to come up with this:

http://music.yahoo.com/Mitch-Woods--His-Rocket-88s/House-Of-Blue-Lights/lyrics/891790

The lyrics there are for "House of Blue Lights"
Seek and ye shall find the rest

[1] The best way to see if there are lyrics out there for a given song is to
find a distinctive phrase or two in the song that you are sure of (other
than the title) and plug it into an engine. Frinstance, having found the
example above, if I'd heard it and was sure he was singing "lose your lead"
and "detroit barbecue ribs" I'd try those two and they would lead me to the
Chuck Berry original in several places.

[Ray O'Hara]

Post by John Dean

Hi. I am a teacher of the English Language from Tbilisi, Georgia. I
have often heard my students say that they find it difficult to
distinguish words in songs performed by native English or American
singers. To be honest, the task is rather problematic to me too. I
have got some very good songs by Mitch Woods but I'd like to have the
lyrics too so that we can hear not only the music and melody but the
words as well. The songs are "Blue Boogie", "Easy Street", "Palm Tree
Tie","Please Don't Leave Me", "Swinging At The Savoy", "Jive,
Mr.Boogie", "Jump For Joy", "10th and Parker Blues". I would be very
grateful to anybody who sends me the lyrics of even just one of these

You need to do some creative searching [1] via Yahoo, Google or whoever
http://music.yahoo.com/Mitch-Woods--His-Rocket-88s/House-Of-Blue-Ligh...
The lyrics there are for "House of Blue Lights"
Seek and ye shall find the rest
[1] The best way to see if there are lyrics out there for a given song is to
find a distinctive phrase or two in the song that you are sure of (other
than the title) and plug it into an engine. Frinstance, having found the
example above, if I'd heard it and was sure he was singing "lose your lead"
and "detroit barbecue ribs" I'd try those two and they would lead me to the
Chuck Berry original in several places.
--
John Dean
Oxford

Sound advice, but Chuck Berry was not the original in this case.
"House of Blue Lights" was written by Freddie Slack and Don Raye, and
recorded by Ella Mae Morse in 1946. By the time Chuck recorded it, it
was already an oldie.
Ross Clark

The term is "a standard" everybody has done it right up to todays Commander
Cody.

[Ray O'Hara]

Post by Ray O'Hara
The term is "a standard"

You must be from a.u.e. ;-)

Post by Ray O'Hara
everybody has done it right up to todays Commander
Cody.-

"todays"? Son, you must be older'n I am. ;-)
Still, AFAIK he's still alive.
Ross Clark

I saw him this last week.

He's on tour in New England and New York..

[Peter Duncanson]

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 00:12:07 -0000, "John Dean"

Post by John Dean
[1] The best way to see if there are lyrics out there for a given song is to
find a distinctive phrase or two in the song that you are sure of (other
than the title) and plug it into an engine.

It can help to add the word "lyrics" after the phrase.

This will bring lyrics pages to the top of the search results
list. Other, non lyrics, pages which happen to contain the
phrase will be pushed down the list.

[John Varela]

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:09:15 -0500, ***@yahoo.com wrote
(in article

Hi. I am a teacher of the English Language from Tbilisi, Georgia. I
have often heard my students say that they find it difficult to
distinguish words in songs performed by native English or American
singers. To be honest, the task is rather problematic to me too. I
have got some very good songs by Mitch Woods but I'd like to have the
lyrics too so that we can hear not only the music and melody but the
words as well. The songs are "Blue Boogie", "Easy Street", "Palm Tree
Tie","Please Don't Leave Me", "Swinging At The Savoy", "Jive,
Mr.Boogie", "Jump For Joy", "10th and Parker Blues". I would be very
grateful to anybody who sends me the lyrics of even just one of these

Try http://www.lyricsdepot.com/

Are you looking for "Swinging at the Savoy" or "Stompin at the Savoy"?
http://www.lyricsdepot.com/benny-goodman/stompin-at-the-savoy.html

[heron stone]

Hi. I am a teacher of the English Language from Tbilisi, Georgia. I
have often heard my students say that they find it difficult to
distinguish words in songs performed by native English or American
singers. To be honest, the task is rather problematic to me too. I
have got some very good songs by Mitch Woods but I'd like to have the
lyrics too so that we can hear not only the music and melody but the
words as well. The songs are "Blue Boogie", "Easy Street", "Palm Tree
Tie","Please Don't Leave Me", "Swinging At The Savoy", "Jive,
Mr.Boogie", "Jump For Joy", "10th and Parker Blues". I would be very
grateful to anybody who sends me the lyrics of even just one of these

.for what it's worth, i'm a native speaker of
english and i can't make out the lyrics to
many contemporary songs from just listening
to them
.the singers don't articulate cleary, the music
is too loud, there's distortion, etc.

[Robert Lieblich]

heron stone wrote:

[ ... ]

Post by heron stone
.for what it's worth, i'm a native speaker of
english and i can't make out the lyrics to
many contemporary songs from just listening
to them
.the singers don't articulate cleary, the music
is too loud, there's distortion, etc.

Sorta like what we encounter trying to read what you write -- right,
Heron?

[heron stone]

Post by Robert Lieblich
[ ... ]

Post by heron stone
.for what it's worth, i'm a native speaker of
english and i can't make out the lyrics to
many contemporary songs from just listening
to them
.the singers don't articulate cleary, the music
is too loud, there's distortion, etc.

Sorta like what we encounter trying to read what you write -- right,
Heron?

.well robert, if people are confused by my formatting
style, it's not because it's inherently
difficult or confusing
.they simply don't like it because it's different
from what they are accustomed to

.but obviously you were able to decipher it

.i realize that many people are upset by my style
of formatting text
.so be it

.a small number of people take the time to write to me
that they see a value in it


.a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing
its opponents and making them see the light, but
rather because its opponents eventually die, and a
new generation grows up that is familiar with it
- Max Planck

heron

[Leszek L.]

Post by heron stone
.well robert, if people are confused by my formatting
style, it's not because it's inherently
difficult or confusing
.they simply don't like it because it's different
from what they are accustomed to

...putting the full stop before the sentence
?anything to do with revese polisH notation

,best
.l

[heron stone]

Post by Leszek L.

Post by heron stone
.well robert, if people are confused by my formatting
style, it's not because it's inherently
difficult or confusing
.they simply don't like it because it's different
from what they are accustomed to

...putting the full stop before the sentence
?anything to do with revese polisH notation
,best
.l

no

.it just seemed to me that there is no reason
to wait until the end of a sentence to know
what type of utterance i'm dealing with
?why not declare it up front

heron

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

Post by heron stone
what type of utterance i'm dealing with
?why not declare it up front

Because, in English, we indicate the beginnings of questions by word
choice and order, not intonation. If you spoke Spanish, your idea of
initial punctuation would be both correct and conventional.

¬R

[heron stone]

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
what type of utterance i'm dealing with
?why not declare it up front

Because, in English, we indicate the beginnings of questions by word
choice and order, not intonation.

.that's true... most of the time

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker
If you spoke Spanish, your idea of
initial punctuation would be both correct and conventional.
¬R

.i don't see it as a matter of "correctness"
.and i'm certainly not constrained by convention

.it's a matter of formatting text in a way that
makes the structure of the argument visible
easily... especially the reverse indention
and beginning every statement on a new line

.for example, whether a paragraph is composed of
a few long and complicated propostions, or
more short statements is not readily apparent
in the conventional format, but immediately
obvious using r7ly5 formatting

[Robert Lieblich]

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
what type of utterance i'm dealing with
?why not declare it up front

Because, in English, we indicate the beginnings of questions by word
choice and order, not intonation. If you spoke Spanish, your idea of
initial punctuation would be both correct and conventional.

Heron's questions are rhetorica. He is beyond persuasion.

[heron stone]

Post by Robert Lieblich

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
what type of utterance i'm dealing with
?why not declare it up front

Because, in English, we indicate the beginnings of questions by word
choice and order, not intonation. If you spoke Spanish, your idea of
initial punctuation would be both correct and conventional.

Heron's questions are rhetorica. He is beyond persuasion.

.that question was rhetorical
.and i am not beyond persuasion... changing my mind

.but precedent and convention are not very persuasive
to me

.i assert that r7ly5 formatting is a better system
for making the structure of an argument more
readily apparent

.show why it's not
?why is the old way better

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

Post by heron stone
.i assert that r7ly5 formatting is a better system
for making the structure of an argument more
readily apparent

Perhaps it is. Fortunately, some people still use the English language
for other purposes besides argument.

[heron stone]

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
.i assert that r7ly5 formatting is a better system
for making the structure of an argument more
readily apparent

Perhaps it is. Fortunately, some people still use the English language
for other purposes besides argument.

yes

.i wouldn't use this style for poetry...
or a love letter

.but for exchanging ideas, as we're doing here,
i find it better... at least for me

[heron stone]

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
.i assert that r7ly5 formatting is a better system
for making the structure of an argument more
readily apparent

Perhaps it is. Fortunately, some people still use the English language
for other purposes besides argument.

argument (as in "discussion") n. : a discussion in which reasons are
advanced for and against some proposition or proposal

[Adam Funk]

Post by Glenn Knickerbocker

Post by heron stone
.i assert that r7ly5 formatting is a better system
for making the structure of an argument more
readily apparent

Perhaps it is. Fortunately, some people still use the English language
for other purposes besides argument.

Did you come here for a contradiction?

[Bart Mathias]

Post by heron stone
[...]
.for what it's worth, i'm a native speaker of
english and i can't make out the lyrics to
many contemporary songs from just listening
to them
.the singers don't articulate cleary, the music
is too loud, there's distortion, etc.

Reminds me of the time back in 1956 when I first heard a Japanese Elvis
imitator do "Heartbreak Hotel" and I found out Elvis wasn't really
saying "You'll be so lonely nick a tie."

Bart Mathias

[Bart Mathias]

...

Post by Bart Mathias
Reminds me of the time back in 1956 when I first heard a Japanese Elvis
imitator do "Heartbreak Hotel" and I found out Elvis wasn't really
saying "You'll be so lonely nick a tie."

He wasn't? I'll be pickled. What was he saying?

In case you're not pulling my leg, it was "You'll be so lonely you could
die."

[António Marques]

Post by Bart Mathias

Post by Bart Mathias
Reminds me of the time back in 1956 when I first heard a Japanese Elvis
imitator do "Heartbreak Hotel" and I found out Elvis wasn't really
saying "You'll be so lonely nick a tie."

He wasn't? I'll be pickled. What was he saying?

In case you're not pulling my leg, it was "You'll be so lonely you could
die."

As you can almost make out in John Cale's _Fragments of a rainy season_.
Of which the gem is 'Cordoba'. The lyrics are supposed to be lines taken
from a spanish-english phrasebook. Brian Eno explains the story in
http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/wwulyric.html, though I
think his interpretation leaves a bit to be desired. The lyrics go (sung
eerily but not slowly):

Endless sleeping under a tree.
He wrote to me from Cordoba.
After the theatre, we went to his house.
He's very generous Cordoban.
We waited at the door, but he didn't come.
According to his father, he's very ill.

There was a long line of cars in front of me.
I came as soon as I could.
I left without paying, a suitcase under my arm.
I won't see you until Sunday.
I'll come as soon as I can.
I'll meet you alone in the shoeshop near the bakery.
By the two-storey house/very pretty/like a villa.
The lift stops between two floors.
You start to walk towards the station.
I walk towards the bus.
We'll have to wait at the station.
Leave the parcel on the top deck.
You start to walk towards the station.
I'll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I'll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I'll walk towards the bus.
You walk towards the station.
I'll walk towards the bus.

[Leszek L.]

Mr.Boogie", "Jump For Joy", "10th and Parker Blues". I would be very
grateful to anybody who sends me the lyrics of even just one of these

I often have a similar problem, and I look for the lyrics on the web
by using the title of the song and the word "lyrics" - as somebody
has already hinter. The name of the artist can also help.

Or, I type in some of the words I _can_ hear in the soundtrack (usually,
there are a few that are intelligible), and run a web search on those.
Try to pick some uncommon words. "I love you" will find a billion
different songs; "armadillo barbecue" is likely to be more selective.

Good luck,
L.