Lyrics question..s

[FlickanMedTörnen]

at the risk of seeming dense.. but oh well. as much as I love Morrissey's lyrics they can be a pain to understand esp. when your english is so-so.. I've been googling ad nauseam so I thought I could ask you instead.. first,
"He does the military two-step down the nape of my neck " - what is a military tow-step? and second what does "slap/shove me on the patio" mean?

hope you can enlighten me..

 

[Fingers B.]

Could the military two-step be "one-two-one-two-one-two-three-four-one-two-etc." or "left-right-left-right" however you're used to it.

??

 

[Please]

Patio is an arrangement of slabs of concrete normally in ones back garden

 

[TessB]

The Military Two Step is a dance, a 'Country' Dance.

Follow this link for more info:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/musicscotland/celticroots/standard/dancing/dancing_feet2.shtml

 

[Uncleskinny]

All very interesting, but I always thought it was the teacher's fingers referred to here. He's moving his fingers, in a hard, threatening way, down the back of the subject's neck. I went to a public school and can vouch for the nastiness of the teachers, who we were forced to call 'Masters'.

Also "grabs and devours, kicks me in the showers...." - we had a 'master' who loved to slap young boys with a wet plimsoll (honestly) on their arses in the showers after Games. What a pervert.

And "Bruises bigger than dinner plates" - I know about that - one of our Maths teachers used to like belting the shit out of his pupils. On the one hand, I valued being sent to a school like that, from my parent's point of view, but on the other hand, I would never, ever send my kids there.

Peter

 

[Kewpie]

I'm sorry it's off-topic, but are other non-Englsih speaking countries where release Smiths/Morrissey albums don't add translation of the lyrics?

In Japan it's very common to add translatation for domestic release although translation isn't always perfect.

 

[Jukebox Jury]

All very interesting, but I always thought it was the teacher's fingers referred to here. He's moving his fingers, in a hard, threatening way, down the back of the subject's neck. I went to a public school and can vouch for the nastiness of the teachers, who we were forced to call 'Masters'.

Also "grabs and devours, kicks me in the showers...." - we had a 'master' who loved to slap young boys with a wet plimsoll (honestly) on their arses in the showers after Games. What a pervert.

And "Bruises bigger than dinner plates" - I know about that - one of our Maths teachers used to like belting the shit out of his pupils. On the one hand, I valued being sent to a school like that, from my parent's point of view, but on the other hand, I would never, ever send my kids there.

Peter

Totally agree Peter
It is wacking a pupil on the back of his / her neck.
I went to a comprehensive school in the 70's and the cane was an integral part of the school system.
You run in school you get the cane.
You step out of line you get the cane.
We had one PE teacher and whoever was last to get changed after PE got the plimsole. Didnt matter if he was last but before the bell went, whoever was last got the slipper.

If anyone thinks me and Skinny are exagerating, get a copy of Kes on video / DVD and watch the scene where the smokers get the strap along with one young lad who was delivering a message to the head teacher who also got the strap.

Slap me on the patio as mentioned above, the patio is a paved area of a garden. So basically the song character is asking to be shagged on the patio.... slowly of course!

Jukebox Jury

 

[FlickanMedTörnen]

thanks for the help

kewpie, here there are no translations.. never heard of that.

 

[Kewpie]

Flickan, pity Swedish record company don't supply the translation of the lyrics.
Anyway you can always ask questions to the experts in here.

Possibly it's very Japanese custom to add the translation for foreign music.
Japanese records/CDs are expensive, the record companies justify the cost which include liner notes and translation.

 

[Still Tired]

If anyone thinks me and Skinny are exagerating, get a copy of Kes on video / DVD and watch the scene where the smokers get the strap along with one young lad who was delivering a message to the head teacher who also got the strap.

What a brilliant film, just bought that the other day. That scene with the little kid who got hit when he was just there to deliver a message was heart breaking to watch, the way his eyes filled up with tears looked so genuine and real. The shower scene was pretty cruel to watch too, although the book probably gave more feeling to that bit I think. I had a demon headmistress at my school, she used to always threaten us with the cane despite the fact it was illegal by this time, at that age you believe anything, we all had an image of this mystical cane lying on her desk and were terrified by the thought. Why do people become teachers when they hate children?! Anyway, off on a tangent again.

 

[Dougal]

What a brilliant film, just bought that the other day. That scene with the little kid who got hit when he was just there to deliver a message was heart breaking to watch, the way his eyes filled up with tears looked so genuine and real. The shower scene was pretty cruel to watch too, although the book probably gave more feeling to that bit I think. I had a demon headmistress at my school, she used to always threaten us with the cane despite the fact it was illegal by this time, at that age you believe anything, we all had an image of this mystical cane lying on her desk and were terrified by the thought. Why do people become teachers when they hate children?! Anyway, off on a tangent again.

You're right- the scene where the boy is unjustly punished is almost unbearably painful to watch & looks so genuine & real because it was- apparently Ken Loach (director) didn't tell the boy what was going to happen so what you see is real distress & pain. Not sure I approve of his methods, but by God he ended up with one of the affecting scenes in cinema, as far as I'm concerned. Tremendous cinema.

 

[Kumo]

I'm sorry it's off-topic, but are other non-Englsih speaking countries where release Smiths/Morrissey albums don't add translation of the lyrics?

In Japan it's very common to add translatation for domestic release although translation isn't always perfect.

Not to mention that some CDs that have no lyrics in the US or UK, e.g. Your Arsenal have both English and Japanese on the Japaese domestic release.

Also the quality of the Japanese Discs are vastly superior, not the sound quality they are all from the same digital master, but the actual disc quality. They use a much higher grade polycarbonite, in turn your discs will last much longer, more resistent to scratches and heat e.g. leaving them in your car. For music I really care about I always try to by the Japanese domestic release.

As to why the Japanese discs are the only ones with translations, is because the margins are the highest on earth in Japan. Other released e.g. Latin America, have very thin margins and simply cannot affort any extra costs.

Kumo