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Dec 1, 2015
This song is very well known in the Western world, and has been used traditionally as one of the many hallmarks of the Christmas season. The joyful gaiety of this song is expressly delivered to a childlike joy and merriment that comes with wintertime. The lyrics bring a message of goodwill and glee accompanied by the beat given by bells tasseled to a horse that is pulling a sleigh through the snow. The first verse brings about a simple, happy feeling brought by the "jingle of the bells". The song takes on a slightly quirky dark turn for the second verse, as the narrator's love interest, Ms. Bright, sits next to him, but the horse, being unhealthy, and unable to pull the two of them, falls into a side bank, and the sleigh turns over. The third verse continues the narrative, as the man is on his back in the snow, and a man rides up in another sleigh, and laughs at his predicament. The fourth verse finishes it off with a happy feel, encouraging everyone to get themselves a sleigh with their friends and girls, and ride on in childlike happiness through the snow-covered countryside while singing this song.
Nov 9, 2015
Oct 29, 2015
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Oct 28, 2015
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Oct 27, 2015
This song. This song is simply a gorgeous way to illustrate how one feels when they are confronted with suicide or depression. Forget all of those goth sympathy songs, this song right here is all you need to show the utter helplessness, the loneliness, the unworthiness. The narrator of this song is not looking for mere sympathy through his words, he is instead singing to himself, trying to give himself comfort because everyone who he's depended on "goes away", or abandons him. "The needle" is symbolic of a syringe. He could be overdosing or, it could be poetic to mean some other form of suicide. The desperation shown in this song is so powerful, that even myself, being one who is afflicted with schizoaffective disorder and has thus horrible depression, it is comforting and therapeutic to hear a song that correctly describes how you feel, even if it does end with the narrator actually committing suicide. Remember. If you, yourself suffers with suicidal thoughts, it is not the answer. Remember that there are people who love you, and that your life is worth so much more than to be ended before it is supposed to. Call or text the suicide hotline at 1 (800) 273-8255 if you need to talk to someone. Remember. There is always someone who cares.
Oct 27, 2015
Oct 27, 2015
Being a quarter Canadian (my grandmother on my dad's side), I personally found this song to be extremely hilarious and good-natured. Of course, I am an American, born and raised, and I've heard plenty of jokes on Canadians, but the point is not to be offensive. And besides, if you do make fun of Canadians in any shape or form, they'll thank you and offer you a drink of their beer. They're just a bunch of simple-natured, calm and gentle folk up north that we down here love to poke fun at down here. And they, in turn, have many jokes about Americans. In general, it's just well known that America and Canada are the best of friends, and so talking trash to them is really a playful punch in the shoulder between siblings. Weird Al effectively wrote a masterful piece of music that captures the well-natured jokes made toward Canadians. At the end of the song, it is shown that the narrator actually believes these things, as he calls for America to make a "preemptive strike" against Canadians, but again, from the stance of the satire and comedy, it's still all in good fun.
Oct 26, 2015
Sep 14, 2015
"
Ninety years without slumbering
Tic tock tic tock
His live seconds numbering
Tic tock tic tock
But it stopped - short - never to go again
When the old man died
Tic tock tic tock
His live seconds numbering
Tic tock tic tock
But it stopped - short - never to go again
When the old man died
Throughout the grandfather's life, the clock never wavered in its duty to count every second. "life seconds" are symbolically giving the seconds of the clock the intimate connection with the grandfather, for its only purpose in life was to keep the time for him. It's a symbol of rustic determination, which is expounded upon in Verse 3.
Sep 14, 2015
"
But it stopped - short - never to go again
When the old man died
When the old man died
The clock, being grieved at the grandfather's death, couldn't ring any more, for its only purpose was to tell him time. this is also symbolic of the grief that the grandson feels, losing his grandfather. The song is using a very deep and complicated topic, death, and explaining it simply with the use of personification of the clock.
Sep 14, 2015
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It was bought on the morn that my grandfather was born
The clock, being close to the grandfather, symbolically was bought when he was born. This gives an instant connection between the two, narratively speaking, and it establishes their relationship that is expounded upon in the other verses. This is simply establishing that the beginning of the grandfather's life was also the beginning of the clocks, and thus they formed an intimate bond.
Sep 11, 2015
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pennyweight
The artistic use of the "pennyweight" illustrates, now, the age of this song. At the time of its writing, it was common to express something as a pennyweight, because of the old systems of measurement. A pennyweight is a very small weight, and shows that Work was being very minute in his description.
The actual definition, if anyone is interested:
A pennyweight (abbreviated dwt) is a unit of mass that is equal to 24 grains, 1⁄20 of a troy ounce, 1⁄240 of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. In the Middle Ages, a British penny's weight was literally, as well as monetarily, 1⁄20 of an ounce and 1⁄240 of a pound of sterling silver. At that time, the pound in use was the Tower pound (5,400 troy grains). The medieval English pennyweight was thus equal to 32 Tower grains (also known as wheat grains). When Troy weights replaced Tower weights in 1527, the Troy weights were defined in such a way that the old Tower pound came out to exactly 5400 Troy grains (also known as barleycorns), the Tower pennyweight 221⁄2 Troy grains (and thus approximately 1.46 grams). After 1527, the English pennyweight was the Troy pennyweight.
The actual definition, if anyone is interested:
A pennyweight (abbreviated dwt) is a unit of mass that is equal to 24 grains, 1⁄20 of a troy ounce, 1⁄240 of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. In the Middle Ages, a British penny's weight was literally, as well as monetarily, 1⁄20 of an ounce and 1⁄240 of a pound of sterling silver. At that time, the pound in use was the Tower pound (5,400 troy grains). The medieval English pennyweight was thus equal to 32 Tower grains (also known as wheat grains). When Troy weights replaced Tower weights in 1527, the Troy weights were defined in such a way that the old Tower pound came out to exactly 5400 Troy grains (also known as barleycorns), the Tower pennyweight 221⁄2 Troy grains (and thus approximately 1.46 grams). After 1527, the English pennyweight was the Troy pennyweight.
Sep 11, 2015
"
too tall for the shelf
So it stood ninety years on the floor
It was taller by half than the old man himself
So it stood ninety years on the floor
It was taller by half than the old man himself
Because no one called a longcase clock a "grandfather clock" at the time that Clay wrote this song, he used this phrase to clarify that the clock to which he is referring is indeed a longcase clock, which adds to its rustic imagery and calm, elderly personification. Clay takes his time, and describes the clock by comparing it to the narrator's grandfather.
The official publishing cover of "My Grandfather's Clock"
The official publishing cover of "My Grandfather's Clock"
Sep 11, 2015
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grandfather's clock
Before this song was written, a longcase clock, or, a clock whose case stood on the floor and reached up, was simply called a "Longcase clock". A longcase clock is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the tower, or waist of the case. Clocks of this style are commonly 1.8-2.4 metres (6-8 feet) tall. The case often features elaborately carved ornamentation on the hood (or bonnet), which surrounds and frames the dial, or clock face. Due to this song's popularity, it became common to refer to a longcase clock as a Grandfather Clock, as it is usually referred to today.
Sep 4, 2015
Sep 4, 2015
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Ain't no private parts, you see
This is a very borderline inappropriate joke inserted into the song perfectly so as to mask its meaning. Being used as it is, it could mean the genital area, which would makes sense, given the context of the song, not being naked. But it could also be interpreted, due to the country style of the verse to mean "There's no privacy", which would reinstate the previous line. Regardless of the intention, it is a very humorous line in a very humorous song, and its placement is perfect to break the awkwardness of the lyrics. Which, incidentally, is referenced two lines earlier.