Almost done. Hope you've enjoyed Hiatus Fortnight, and found it a welcome break from previous Hiatal Fortnights, the basic message of which was "see ya!"
Today I've a lyrical curiosity. If you're of a certain age - or maybe not, I don't know how deeply this particular shard of pop culture embedded in the common gums (what a horrible turn of phrase) - then you'll know what this is about.
The line "some people call me Maurice / 'Cause I speak of the pompatus of love" was written after Miller heard the song "The Letter" by The Medallions. In "The Letter", writer Vernon Green made up the word puppetutes, meaning a secret erotic female paper-doll fantasy figure; however, Miller misheard the word and wrote pompatus instead.
That's the Wikipedia entry on Steve Miller's "The Joker."
Knowing well that I should
To me a black day, to me a black night
To kiss and love, and then have to fight
All the time...
Let me whisper sweet words of pismotality
And discuss the puppetutes of love
And put 'em together, and what've you have
Matrimony, oh my darling, please hear my plea
Some people love this stuff. I am not some of tose people.
Green explained. He coined the term puppetutes "to mean a secret paper-doll fantasy figure who would be my everything and bear my children".
Er - okay. Well, that would explain . . . this. "The Joker" came out in 1974; The Guess Who did this a year later with you-know-who. (This is just a clip.)
What?
I don't remember that at all. But surely we noticed. And surely we thought: whoaaaaaaa.
As long as I'm playing old clips, here's some audio lint I cannot shake. Remember I mentioned those sites I can't throw away? I have sound clips from the days when I had to hold a digitizer up to a speaker to get a wav. Sometimes I took it off a video camera; sometimes off a VCR I'd hooked up to the video digitizer. This was pre-internet.
The answers to the questions will be at the end of the entry.
Can you guess where this is from?
What?
Here's the real killer-question: what's the next line?
This used to be the sound my computer made at the top of the hour.
What?
Guess where it's from. Probably impossible. Did you hear the three notes at the end? I always hear them, but that's because I listened to it several times a day for a couple of years.
This one you'll get instantly, or you won't. It was a pivotal moment in modern political history, and the most cringeworthy thing we had ever heard on TV.
What?
Yeah. Jeez.
One more, and it's my favorite.
What?
I'll give you the answer right here: it's Radio Baghdad, broadcasting "demoralizing" stories to the GIs getting ready for Desert Storm.
Remember what the Petrol Emirs are doing with American girls.
As for the others: it's "A Better Tomororw," the restaurant scene. I feel sorry with my rice. If you have any dignity, you will apologize to the rice right now!"
The clock? Prerecorded announcement on the State Fair Midway for the freak show. They didn't have a barker. Just a recorder. The clock will tell you the time of the next show.
As for the others: it's "A Better Tomororw," the restaurant scene. I feel sorry with my rice. If you have any dignity, you will apologize to the rice right now!"
The clock? Prerecorded announcement on the State Fair Midway for the freak show. They didn't have a barker. Just a recorder. The clock will tell you the time of the next show.
Pubic Hair - well, first one in the comments gets a no-prize.
Exit question: what sounds trigger a nostalgic recollection for you?
