Russian in "Yellow Submarine"?
saki
>Is that a known fact that Yellow Submarine contains a
>phrase in Russian : "Russkie vperedi, Sergant!", which
>means "Russians are in front (ahead), Sergant!"?
My impression, after listening to the song about eighteen times
(I'll do almost anything for scholarship) is that this is *not*
the case. The words John sasy after "Boat dead ahead, Mr. Boatswain,
boat dead ahead!" seem to be deliberately unintelligible, and though
I can't make it out the phrase seems to contain two or three more
syllables than the one you're suggesting is there (which technically
is a reasonably grammatical phrase in Russian, though I'm not sure
"Sergeant" is cognate in Russian...and my Russian-English dictionary
seems to have hidden itself somewhere beyond my reach).
This leaves open the question of why John would use Russian---a language
with which he was not familiar---and why the greater context of the song
didn't refer to it...but sometimes mysteries are fun. :-)
--
"Fads don't last, but it should be clear by now that
the Beatles are no ordinary fad."
----------------------------------------------------
sa...@evolution.bchs.uh.edu
Fred Gurzeler
(saki) wrote:
> [In the song "Yellow Submarine"] John says "Boat dead ahead, Mr.
> Boatswain, boat dead ahead!"
Now I'm going to have to listen to "Yellow Submarine" eighteen times ;-)
I've always heard John saying, "Full speed ahead, Captain, full speed ahead."
How extensive was John's knowledge of sailor lingo? And (unlike
"cranberry sauce") can we be really sure about what John is saying? It
took me a while to agree that John really does sing "wonky finger" in
"Come Together" as opposed to "monkey finger" but I'll have to sit on the
fence with this one!
Fred
saki
>In article <431mt1$s...@masala.cc.uh.edu>, sa...@evolution.bchs.uh.edu
>(saki) wrote:
>
>> [In the song "Yellow Submarine"] John says "Boat dead ahead, Mr.
>> Boatswain, boat dead ahead!"
>
>Now I'm going to have to listen to "Yellow Submarine" eighteen times ;-)
It improves with each listening. :-) I've found this to be true for
Thomas the Tank Engine video tapes too...there's a hidden philosophy
in the narrative of those stories; and then of course there are the
hidden backwards messages.
Just kidding! Relax. :-) (See (I *do* have a sense of humor).
>I've always heard John saying, "Full speed ahead, Captain, full speed ahead."
Most sources transcribe it this way. I was fully prepared to hear this
too but was amazed to hear instead "Boat dead ahead...." "Boatswain"
is pronounced "Bosun". I don't hear the word "Captain" till the end
of the funny-voices sequence.
>How extensive was John's knowledge of sailor lingo? And (unlike
>"cranberry sauce") can we be really sure about what John is saying?
There's no documentation, alas, but his dad *was* a seafarer (a shipboard
singing waiter) and merchant seamen were quite common in Liverpool, the
home of a bustling port.
Though like many things this may be dependent upon the ears doing the
hearing.
Ed Igoe
Fred_G...@rand.org (Fred Gurzeler) writes:
>How extensive was John's knowledge of sailor lingo? And (unlike
>"cranberry sauce") can we be really sure about what John is saying?
Well, John grew up in a Sailor/Shipbuilder's town, and his father was a
sailor. He hung around with a drummer who used to work on a ship, and
the young Beatles used to take refuge in a sailor's mission in
Hamburg.... He MIGHT know some sailor lingo :)
--
/----------------- -------------------- --- ------------------\
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U21...@uicvm.uic.edu
I guess you get what you pay for with that lousy cms account...
--adam
adam klein
>The words John sasy after "Boat dead ahead, Mr. Boatswain,
>boat dead ahead!" seem to be deliberately unintelligible...
I've always felt that after all of that "boat dead-ahead!" nonsense
John says something along the lines of "It's on the table! Come to
dinner!". I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that he's not
speaking Russian there...
adam klein
adam klein
adam klein
adam klein
adam klein
Joseph Brennan
>sa...@evolution.bchs.uh.edu (saki) wrote:
>>The words John sasy after "Boat dead ahead, Mr. Boatswain,
>>boat dead ahead!" seem to be deliberately unintelligible...
>dinner!". I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that he's not
>speaking Russian there...
No one's mentioned "Captain! Captain! Paul's a queer!". That was a
favorite for a while. It seems unlikely to me, mind you, but it ranks
with the idea of John speaking Russian or calling people to table.
Joe Brennan Columbia University in the City of New York
bre...@columbia.edu ("affiliation shown for identification only")
http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~brennan/beatles.html
LAMMERS E.A.
>From: sa...@evolution.bchs.uh.edu (saki)
>Subject: Russian in "Yellow Submarine"?
>Date: 11 Sep 1995 16:08:01 GMT
>In article <qk0Jmeo0...@silly.com> len...@silly.com (Michael Krakovskiy) writes:
>>Is that a known fact that Yellow Submarine contains a
>>phrase in Russian : "Russkie vperedi, Sergant!", which
>>means "Russians are in front (ahead), Sergant!"?
>My impression, after listening to the song about eighteen times
>(I'll do almost anything for scholarship) is that this is *not*
>the case. The words John sasy after "Boat dead ahead, Mr. Boatswain,
>boat dead ahead!" seem to be deliberately unintelligible, and though
>I can't make it out the phrase seems to contain two or three more
>syllables than the one you're suggesting is there (which technically
>is a reasonably grammatical phrase in Russian, though I'm not sure
>"Sergeant" is cognate in Russian...and my Russian-English dictionary
>seems to have hidden itself somewhere beyond my reach).
>This leaves open the question of why John would use Russian---a language
>with which he was not familiar---and why the greater context of the song
>didn't refer to it...but sometimes mysteries are fun. :-)
At some point you can hear some dutch shouting: "hou ze tegen, hou ze tegen"
which means "stop them, stop them". I doubt it's one of the Beatles shouting.
The fact that I am Dutch, makes me confident that that IS what they're saying.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Lennon
Mitch L. Patterson
: This leaves open the question of why John would use Russian---a language
: with which he was not familiar---and why the greater context of the song
: didn't refer to it...but sometimes mysteries are fun. :-)
No mystery at all -- just proof that THE BEATLES WERE KGB SPIES!!!
MLP
--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mitch Patterson * Harris Controls Division * Box 430 * Melbourne, FL 32902
mpat...@ccd.harris.com http://controls.ccd.harris.com/~mpatters