Laura from Ithaca, New York, is puzzling over the lyrics to Cornell University’s fight song, “Give My Regards to Davy,” sung to the tune of George M. Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway.” The lyrics include the word pikers, specifically, Tell all...
A fan of Bruce Springsteen’s song “Dancing in the Dark” called to say that she’s noticed the lyrics are awfully sad for such a peppy tune, and wonders if there’s a word for this phenomenon. Lyrical dissonance would do the job, but there’s also the...
Our lord of the literary limerick on our Facebook group doesn’t stop with plays and novels. He also remixed song lyrics, like in this rendition of Stairway to Heaven. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Song Lyrics Limericks” Here’s...
Boo, as in my boo for a sweetheart or other loved one, became especially visible in African-American speech and music in the mid-1990s, including in the song “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJs. The term is definitely older than that, though, and may have...
“I don’t see nothing wrong with a little bump n’ grind,” sings the R&B star R. Kelly, referring to the hip-thrusting dance that’s all the rage with kids these days. While some people use the phrase the old bump and grind to refer to the daily grind...
Hip-hop is high art. If you don’t understand that, you’re missing out on some of the best poetry being created today. Grant talks about the new book by English professor Adam Bradley called Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop.
