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    Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
    Never heard of it. British pop was 'Here Be Dragons' territory here in the 80s, with a few exceptions.
    True, in many cases. That was just a rather tiresome novelty inspired by one of Everett’s TV characters.

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      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
      Also the name of a song by Genesis
      Really? Schoolboy error from me.

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          Steve Miller coined “pompatus.“

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompatus

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            The Tragically Hip did a song called Titanic Terrarium. How many times does the word Terrarium feature in a song?

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              Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
              When I started the thread - and being probably their biggest fan on OTF - I was going to mention that, as well as the words naiad, hogweed, slubberdegullions, breadbin, and quite a few others but, as per the OP, didn't feel that would qualify as sufficiently 'popular'.

              (BTW, is that a 7in single cover Ursus? That song is far too unwieldy to be a hit, what were they thinking?)

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                Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                The Tragically Hip did a song called Titanic Terrarium. How many times does the word Terrarium feature in a song?
                10, apparently:

                https://www.lyrics.com/lyrics/terrarium

                Given that a two word search phrase that returns only one page is termed a Googlewhack, if a word appears in only one song could it be a Lyricwhack?

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                  I thought Arab Strap would be good for this, but all I could find was the reference to "Merrydown" cider in "The First Big Weekend", confirmed as being the only such reference in lyrics.

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                    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                    The 'Trick of the Tail' artwork is very recognisible.

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                      kippers

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                        Breakfast in America - Supertramp
                        Angel Delight - Fairport Convention
                        Seafood Song - Divine Comedy
                        Boy What Love Has Done for Me! - Ella Fitzgerald
                        Full English Brexit - Billy Bragg

                        ...all mention 'kippers'. (And songs by Ian Dury, Belle & Sebastian and Mark Knopfler talk of 'kipper' in the singular.)

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                          Originally posted by Mr Cogito View Post

                          It's in a Jam song - Saturdays Kids
                          And Bracklesham Bay

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                            Dang, I thought it had only been used by Supertramp, whatever kippers are
                            Last edited by KyleRoteJr.; 30-09-2020, 12:06.

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                              A 'kipper' is a smoked herring - a popular breakfast dish in the UK, particularly in Scotland and the north.

                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipper

                              Why the heck Supertramp thought them likely to be found in Texas, God alone knows.

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                                Wobbegong (aka a carpet shark) appears in just one song, Luritja Way by (not surprisingly) Midnight Oil.

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                                  I posted about this in relation to re: an earworm. I'm a big fan of Kim Wilde's Kids in America (and maybe like the Muffs' cover even better) but there is a bizarre phrase, so not a word, that nobody would use in California:

                                  New York to east California

                                  Also, I don't know if the phrase music-go-round has been used elsewhere. That's a clever phrase.

                                  Here's the song since I know y'all are itching to hear it now:

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                                    Originally posted by danielmak View Post
                                    I posted about this in relation to re: an earworm. I'm a big fan of Kim Wilde's Kids in America (and maybe like the Muffs' cover even better) but there is a bizarre phrase, so not a word, that nobody would use in California:

                                    New York to east California

                                    Also, I don't know if the phrase music-go-round has been used elsewhere. That's a clever phrase.

                                    Here's the song since I know y'all are itching to hear it now:
                                    https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...ck#post2352958

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                                      I thought Fountains of Wayne would be good for this. I had to do a tiny bit of digging, but New Routine, off their otherwise broadly disappointing album Traffic & Weather, contains the plural "prostates." Apparently, people don't otherwise like singing about more than one.

                                      (This song also contains a rare mention of "Liechtenstein", which makes up the second half of my favourite lyrical rhyme of all time, in no small part because it's *so* unexpected the first time you hear it, although it's some way off unique.)

                                      And so far as I can see, they've also committed the only lyrical reference to Basil Hayden's bourbon on record, on the song Red Dragon Tattoo.

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                                        Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                                        Glad you caught that as well. West coast is certainly used in California, but as you note, there is no sense of what East California means. Even San Bernadino isn't that far east, although it is certainly east of Los Angeles.

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                                          Similarly, "Central California" is defined in terms of east-west, while Northern and Southern California use north-south (with vast swathes of the northernmost part of the state being largely ignored).

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                                            Article on the vagueness of where Northern and Southern California actually are

                                            https://www.mynspr.org/post/where-ex...ornia#stream/0

                                            Palm and Pine tree planted to possibly define the center-line between Northern and Southern California, just south of Madera on CA-99

                                            https://duanehallca.blogspot.com/201...eets-pine.html

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                                              Wiki seems to think that East(ern) California is basically anything that's in the rain shadow of the Sierras, Cascades and Peninsular Ranges, or maybe places where your main route north-south is going to be the 395 rather than the 99 or 5 or 101.

                                              I think defining it by roads would be a very California thing.

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                                                Similarly, South Detroit:

                                                "While the lyrics mention being "born and raised in south Detroit", there is no place in the Detroit, Michigan area called "South Detroit"; the location south of the Detroit city center is actually the Canadian city of Windsor.[8] Steve Perry has said, "I tried north Detroit, I tried east and west and it didn't sing, but south Detroit sounded so beautiful. I loved the way it sounded, only to find out later it's actually Canada."[8] Detroiters often refer to the "East Side" and "West Side" of the city, but only rarely north (sometimes called "8 Mile", after the road of the same name) or south (referred to as "Downriver" or "Mexican Town"). The lyric "streetlight people living just to find emotion" came from Perry watching people walking in the streets of Detroit at night after a show.[9]"

                                                From Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing.' Or, as I prefer to sing it: "Don't start un-believing, Never don't not feel your feelings."



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                                                  Alexei Sayle was on Desert Island Discs last week and chose Shipbuilding, which is a one-off if you disregard its inclusion in some music-hall whimsy from Stanley Holloway.

                                                  Upthread Fussbudget mentioned the propensity towards "precious and literary" lyrics in Orange Juice songs. I'll nominate Edwyn Collins' A Girl Like You for "allegorically," which otherwise appears only in a handful of (I think) obscure tracks.

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                                                    A couple that came up on the same radio show today:

                                                    "conventionality" - Grease by Frankie Valli (though it also appears in half a dozen obscure songs)

                                                    "mahout" - Drop the Pilot by Joan Armatrading; no other mentions that I can find.

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