Re: Bittersweet indeed

1

I don't know about better, but clearly very different. Changes the entire song, really.

Anyone with an accessible version with the original lyrics?


Posted by: JRoth | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 1:57 PM
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Probably the wrong genre term, but I don't care.

In genre and grammar, as in law, ignorance is no defense.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:12 PM
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I would like a copy of the original version.


Posted by: bryan | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:15 PM
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Puttin' On the Ritz (1929)

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air

High hats and narrow collars
White spats and fifteen dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time

Now, if you're blue
And you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where Harlem flits
Puttin' on the Ritz
Spangled Gowns upon the bevy of
High browns from down the levy
Always spits
Puttin' on the Ritz

That's where each and every lulu-belle goes
Every Thursday evening with her swell beaus
Rubbin' elbows

Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee
And see them spend
Their last two bits
Puttin' on the Ritz

- short instrumental break -

(Boys, look at that man puttin' on that Ritz)

Now, if you're blue
And you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where Harlem flits
Puttin' on the Ritz
Spangled Gowns upon the bevy of
High browns from down the levy
All misfits
Puttin' on that certain Ritz

Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee
And see them spend
Their last two bits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee
And see them spend
Their last two bits
Puttin' on the Ritz

So the original song's basically a relic of Van Vechten-esque Harlem-mania. Hm. I probably should've known that, but I had no idea.


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:16 PM
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Good thing I wasn't citing ignorance.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:16 PM
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Or defending myself, for that matter.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:16 PM
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a Synthpop version by Taco Ockerse recorded in 1982, reaching #4 on the American Billboard's Pop Chart.

I totally remember this one.


Posted by: lemmy caution | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:18 PM
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Good thing I wasn't citing ignorance.

"Probably wrong but I don't care" is effectively "Probably wrong but I don't care to find out whether I'm wrong or not."


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:19 PM
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It is true that "probably wrong but I don't care" probably implies "probably wrong but I don't care to find out whether I'm wrong or not", but the latter is compatible with continuing not to care after discovering that one is definitely wrong, ie, "I know I'm wrong but I don't care"—not to mention that "probably wrong but I don't care to find out whether I'm wrong or not" is also not a citation of ignorance.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:28 PM
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but the latter is compatible with continuing not to care after discovering that one is definitely wrong, ie, "I know I'm wrong but I don't care"

Yes, but the pragmatic intention of the original statement is obviously "Don't bother telling me the right answer, because I don't care" which, given widely known facts about the speaker, points to a clear double standard.

not to mention that "probably wrong but I don't care to find out whether I'm wrong or not" is also not a citation of ignorance.

You're right, it's a rejection of the opportunity to learn something. Leaning on ignorance would be preferable.


Posted by: Gonerill | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:36 PM
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After the Wilder/Boyle version, is there really a need for another?


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:36 PM
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If I'm not mistaken, Rufus Wainwright (perhaps following Judy Garland) does a hybrid version.


Posted by: mrh | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:43 PM
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10.1: I'm afraid I simply disagree with you about the implicature. Given the context, in which I'm clearly attempting at most to disavow responsibility for having made a mistake, the implicature may be "don't remonstrate with me if I've got it wrong", but it isn't "don't bother telling me if I'm wrong"—that is, one might fill the sentence out thus: "Probably the wrong genre term, but I don't care that it's probably wrong" rather than thus: "Probably the wrong genre term, but I don't care about the correct term anyway".

and .2: Since I wasn't saying that I didn't care to learn the correct term, but merely correcting your faulty accusation, I'm not sure how your statement about preferability is relevant.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 2:53 PM
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14

||

This is awesome

|>


Posted by: Tom Scudder | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 3:22 PM
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14: I'll take her.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 3:58 PM
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What, nobody watched the closing credits of Shaft (John Singleton, 2000)?


Posted by: minneapolitan | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 4:12 PM
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a Synthpop version by Taco Ockerse recorded in 1982

Everyone at my gymnastics camp the summer of 1987 performed a big dance number on the final day to this song. Sort of glad to finally see what some of those lyrics are. (And cut away coat, ohhh.)


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 4:47 PM
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The first and only time I heard this song was on I Love the 80s, Ben. Just saying.

Also, it would be nice if the bands you recommend as among the greatest in the world were on torrent websites/Shareminer. Maher Shalal Hash Baz really does sound wonderful.


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 5:06 PM
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Here is a MSHB song. It's not one of their best, by far; I mostly like it because of the completely mysterious cliché western-soundtrack horse-clopping guitar in the first few seconds. What's it doing there?


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06- 5-08 5:18 PM
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i did not understand what he is saying in English, except 'seeing in the different daylight'? line
in Japanese he says 'having lost everything let's forget it you say though' exactly, if it clarifies anything


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 06- 6-08 6:30 AM
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