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Post by Timeblue on Nov 14, 2019 23:36:15 GMT
Now that we've analysed it, it does sound like 'play soccer' but I think 'lets have ya' sounds better!
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Post by Chippa on Nov 14, 2019 23:48:17 GMT
What he shouts is "play soccer!". He said it once in an interview. The title of the song "Birmingham Blues" is a play on words with the name of the "soccer" (football) team he is a fan of, Birmingham FC, which's colour is blue (not sure if they are called the "Blues", maybe Horacewimp illustrate us about it). But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound.
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Post by elophile on Nov 14, 2019 23:49:42 GMT
What he shouts is "play soccer!". He said it once in an interview. The title of the song "Birmingham Blues" is a play on words with the name of the "soccer" (football) team he is a fan of, Birmingham FC, which's colour is blue (not sure if they are called the "Blues", maybe Horacewimp illustrate us about it). But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. I totally can hear "Play Soccer!"
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Post by eloneen on Nov 14, 2019 23:59:37 GMT
What he shouts is "play soccer!". He said it once in an interview. The title of the song "Birmingham Blues" is a play on words with the name of the "soccer" (football) team he is a fan of, Birmingham FC, which's colour is blue (not sure if they are called the "Blues", maybe Horacewimp illustrate us about it). But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. Chippa Great minds think alike. I was wondering about soccer vs. football, too, but he also uses the word homely the way we would in the US - see link below. (At least that's what I think he means to say.) He'd started adopting our ways on this side of the pond as early as the late 1970s, it seems. grammarist.com/usage/homely-homey/I hear "Let's play. ?.." but not "soccer" --not sure what it sounds like to me now. I'll take your word that he's saying soccer.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2019 0:06:35 GMT
What he shouts is "play soccer!". I think he said it once in an interview. The title of the song "Birmingham Blues" is a play on words with the name of the "soccer" (football) team he is a fan of, Birmingham FC, which's colour is blue (not sure if they are called the "Blues", maybe Horacewimp illustrate us about it). But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. Well, by then he was spending a good amount of his time in the US, the country where ELO boomed commercially and towards which his product was partly aimed, so it wouldn't have been strange if he decided to dedicate that particular message to American people; or thought that if he said "football", half of his audience would think he was talking about American football. I see that there are several forumheads (plus the forum master) not very convinced by the "play soccer" hypothesis. Well, I wasn't there to certify that "play soccer" is indeed what Jeff Lynne said so I'm not going to defend it with a degree of certainty I don't have, but it's not something I came up with either: I'm repeating what I read or heard somewhere else (I can't remember exactly where). Out of a quick Google search, the Jeff Lynne Song Database -and this is quite a reliable source- says: " About 20 seconds into Birmingham Blues, Jeff shouts something behind the guitar. It's nearly impossible to make out, but unconfirmed official sources say that he shouts "Play soccer!" in a reference to his favorite English football (soccer) team, the Birmingham City Football Club (nicknamed the Birmingham Blues)". The music discussion of the Anime forum (granted, not the most reliable source, but that particular poster seems to know the issue), in an analysis of the OOTB album, says: " Birmingham Blues: Partly an homage to Jeff's favourite soccer team, the Birmingham Blues (evidenced by the opening shout of "Play soccer!!") [...]". I also found someone saying it in a Reddit forum, and funnily enough, he got a similar answer to Chippa 's about why he wouldn't say "football" instead. Let's also agree that, whatever he is saying, he wasn't giving a masterclass of English pronunciation. Words or short phrases can acquire very different intonations or ways of sounding depending on how they are said. And if it's a Brummie yelling it, well, don't expect it to sound exactly in the same way David Attenborough would say "play soccer". This might be a reason why you don't hear it clearly.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2019 0:08:09 GMT
But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. I totally can hear "Play Soccer!" Me too. He says it a bit like "socca", which is an informal but very possible pronunciation for "soccer" (in fact, Trinidad and Tobago's national soccer team is called the "socca warriors").
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Post by elophile on Nov 15, 2019 0:09:54 GMT
I totally can hear "Play Soccer!" Me too. He says it a bit like "socca", which is an informal but very possible pronunciation for "soccer" (in fact, Trinidad and Tobago's national soccer team is called the "socca warriors"). Yes! That's what I hear "play sock-ah". Cute!
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2019 0:22:56 GMT
What he shouts is "play soccer!". I think he said it once in an interview. The title of the song "Birmingham Blues" is a play on words with the name of the "soccer" (football) team he is a fan of, Birmingham FC, which's colour is blue (not sure if they are called the "Blues", maybe Horacewimp illustrate us about it). I’ve always heard it as “ let’s have ya” it’s true that Birmingham FC are locally know as “The Blues” and the supporters are called a “Blue Nose” I’ve never really thought the song was about the football club but about missing Birmingham generally. I'm pretty sure the song is not about the football club, it's about what you say: missing Birmingham. But the title appears to be a play on words related to the team, and that's as far as the reference goes (that, plus the "play soccer!" shout, provided that that's what he said). After all, it is likely that among the things he missed from Birmingham, the Blues (as in the football club) were one of them.
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Post by Grroosss on Nov 15, 2019 4:55:33 GMT
I’ve always heard it as “ let’s have ya” it’s true that Birmingham FC are locally know as “The Blues” and the supporters are called a “Blue Nose” I’ve never really thought the song was about the football club but about missing Birmingham generally. I'm pretty sure the song is not about the football club, it's about what you say: missing Birmingham. But the title appears to be a play on words related to the team, and that's as far as the reference goes (that, plus the "play soccer!" shout, provided that that's what he said). After all, it is likely that among the things he missed from Birmingham, the Blues (as in the football club) were one of them. Funny that this got brought up, 'cos it was just last week that it randomly occurred to me that "Birmingham Blues" could have a double meaning referring to Birmingham FC. I agree that the song itself has nothing to do with football/soccer, just missing Birmingham, but I definitely think the double meaning in the title was intentional, and that Jeff was probably feeling very clever having come up with it.
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Post by Grroosss on Nov 15, 2019 5:37:39 GMT
But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. Well, by then he was spending a good amount of his time in the US, the country where ELO boomed commercially and towards which his product was partly aimed, so it wouldn't have been strange if he decided to dedicate that particular message to American people; or thought that if he said "football", half of his audience would think he was talking about American football. I see that there are several forumheads (plus the forum master) not very satisfied with my answer. Well, I wasn't there to certify that "play soccer" is indeed what Jeff Lynne said so I'm not going to defend it with a degree of certainty I don't have, but it's not something I came up with either: I'm repeating what I read or heard somewhere else (I can't remember exactly where). Out of a quick Google search, the Jeff Lynne Song Database -and this is quite a reliable source- says: " About 20 seconds into Birmingham Blues, Jeff shouts something behind the guitar. It's nearly impossible to make out, but unconfirmed official sources say that he shouts "Play soccer!" in a reference to his favorite English football (soccer) team, the Birmingham City Football Club (nicknamed the Birmingham Blues)". The music discussion of the Anime forum (granted, not the most reliable source, but that particular poster seems to know the issue), in an analysis of the OOTB album, says: " Birmingham Blues: Partly an homage to Jeff's favourite soccer team, the Birmingham Blues (evidenced by the opening shout of "Play soccer!!") [...]". I also found someone saying it in a Reddit forum, and funnily enough, he got a similar answer to Chippa 's about why he wouldn't say "football" instead. Let's also agree that, whatever he is saying, he wasn't giving a masterclass of English pronunciation. Words or short phrases can acquire very different intonations or ways of sounding depending on how they are said. And if it's a Brummie yelling it, well, don't expect it to sound exactly in the same way David Attenborough would say "play soccer". This might be a reason why you don't hear it clearly. I wouldn't be very surprised if he's saying "play soccer" instead of "play football". After all, he's used "sidewalk" in multiple ELO songs... never struck my American ears as odd, but thanks to all the wonderfully educational and thought-provoking discussion on this forum I now know that he technically should be using "pavement".
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Post by Grroosss on Nov 15, 2019 5:50:27 GMT
But wouldn't he say "play football!", since soccer is a very American thing to say? I'm listening to it again, and to be honest, it sounds nothing like play soccer. I clearly hear a "v" sound. I totally can hear "Play Soccer!" Let's not forget the power of suggestion... if you've been told it's "play soccer" then suddenly that's what you'll hear. Like listening to songs with supposed backwards messages... once you hear "he never wore his shoes, we all knew he was dead" or "turn me on, dead man" you can never unhear them...
Honestly, to me it still sounds like total gibberish, though I think I'd agree with "let's 'ave ya" more than "play soccer".
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Post by tammytastic on Nov 15, 2019 7:16:37 GMT
I was convinced she never shares her submarine for a long time
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Post by Horacewimp on Nov 15, 2019 8:31:28 GMT
I totally can hear "Play Soccer!" Let's not forget the power of suggestion... if you've been told it's "play soccer" then suddenly that's what you'll hear. Like listening to songs with supposed backwards messages... once you hear "he never wore his shoes, we all knew he was dead" or "turn me on, dead man" you can never unhear them...
Honestly, to me it still sounds like total gibberish, though I think I'd agree with "let's 'ave ya" more than "play soccer". I’m confused now I can hear both depending on what I want to hear
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2019 18:14:47 GMT
Let's not forget the power of suggestion... if you've been told it's "play soccer" then suddenly that's what you'll hear. Like listening to songs with supposed backwards messages... once you hear "he never wore his shoes, we all knew he was dead" or "turn me on, dead man" you can never unhear them...
Honestly, to me it still sounds like total gibberish, though I think I'd agree with "let's 'ave ya" more than "play soccer". I’m confused now I can hear both depending on what I want to hear That's it, Horacewimp, you have achieved it! You have reached the nirvana, the point where you are good with both God and the Devil.
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Post by laredo on Nov 16, 2019 19:01:18 GMT
When I saw 'The Light Shines On' on cassette in a record shop around 1982,I bought it thinking it was their first album. Also,I didn't know about the connection to The Move until I bought Bev Bevan's 'The Story of ELO' book around the same time.
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