interpretation of "pearl of the quarter"

[ronald]

does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
"louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:

she said she loved me and was on her way

what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?

what is the "shrine of the martyr"?

--
__ ______ __ / __/ |
_/ (_(_) / (_(_/_/_(_/ .
it's just me against the world,
i got nothing to lose,
it's just me against the world baby
-tupac shakur

[Prodigal Frog]

ronald wrote in message <37DDCCB9...@ripco.com>...

>does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
>this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
>"louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
>she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
>
> she said she loved me and was on her way
>
>what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?

Voulez vous, if it had a question mark, would be What do you want, or quite
literally "Want-you?" By using the pronoun 'vous', the narrator indicates
that she has respect for th main character, but doesn't consider him a good
friend, in which case 'Tu' would be used.

If anyone wants a french lesson....

There are two main ways to form a question; using "Est-ce que" or inversion.

Using the first, the line would be 'Est-ce que vous voulez?"- Is it that you
want?, or Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? - What is it that you want?

Inversuin works by switching the verb with the pronoun- rather than "Vous
Voulez"- You want, it becomes 'Voulez-vous?'- want you?. This is usually
followed by something else- Voulez-vous aller au cinema?- Do you want to go
to the movies? or Manges-tu la pomme? - Do you eat the apple?

I hope that was right... I'm working on a French 11 knowledge here....
corrections are very welcome :o)

-derrick

Right now, I'm listening to: Depeche Mode, "Ultra"

[Lee Derbyshire]

Hi All.

I believe "voulez vous?" is a truncation of the phrase "voulez vous coucher
avec moi?" i.e. "Do you want to go to bed with me?"

When I hear this beautiful and sad song. I imagine Louise standing on a
street corner repeating this phrase to all the men walking by.

Lee.

ronald <ron...@ripco.com> wrote in message
news:37DDCCB9...@ripco.com...

> does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
> this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
> "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
> she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
>
> she said she loved me and was on her way
>
> what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?
>

[Miles Long]

She's the pearl of the French Quarter of New Orleans, where they serve
red beans and riiiiice for a quarter. And the shrine of the martyr
must be in 'Nawlins...

[Daniel Vieira]

ronald <ron...@ripco.com> wrote:

: does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
: this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
: "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
: she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:

: she said she loved me and was on her way

New Orleans is divided up into "Quarters", the most famous being the
French Quarter, which even today still has a lot of French/Creole culture
going on there. And a lot of prostitution and other sordid vices. So
Louise is the "Pearl of the Quarter", or the most beautiful prostitute in
the Quarter. He falls in love with her and dreams of her coming home to
him as a wife would do.

When he gives her the candy and flowers she's happy, but then goes back to
work.

: what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?

Voulez-vous means "do you want" and must really be used with another verb.
Most likely it's "voulez-vous coucher avec moi?" (do you want to go to bed
with me?") or she could be using the famous prostitute line "do you want a
date?" (voulez-vous un rendezvous?) Either one works, and gets the
essential message across.

: what is the "shrine of the martyr"?

Probably one to St. Joan of Arc, although there are many martyrs that
could have a shrine. New Orleans is a very Catholic town.

My question is what exactly is the "Miracle Mile?" Is it a street in NO?

Dan
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dan Vieira | dvi...@primenet.com | dsv2...@huey.csun.edu |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Faire et en faisant, se faire et n'etre rien que ce qu'il s'est fait."

-- Jean-Paul Sartre

"The darkening of the world, the flight of the gods, the destruction
of the earth, the transformation of men into a mass, the hatred and
suspicion of everything free and creative, have assumed such
proportions throughout the earth that such childish categories as
pessimism and optimism have long since become absurd."

-- Martin Heidegger
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Dan's Web Site | http://www.primenet.com/~dvieira/index.html |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ronald]

Daniel Vieira wrote:
>
> the Quarter. He falls in love with her and dreams of her coming home to
> him as a wife would do.
>
> When he gives her the candy and flowers she's happy, but then goes back to
> work.
>

i thought that the line that begins:

"she loved the million dollar words i say..."

was wishful thinking on his part. i think that to her, he was just
another john. that's one of the things which, to me, makes the song
rather sad...

[Greg Anderson]

Daniel Vieira wrote:
>My question is what exactly is the "Miracle Mile?"
>Is it a street in NO?

I have always interpreted the "Miracle Mile" as Bourbon Street.

Greg

[Daniel Vieira]

ronald <ron...@ripco.com> wrote:

: i thought that the line that begins:

: "she loved the million dollar words i say..."

: was wishful thinking on his part. i think that to her, he was just
: another john. that's one of the things which, to me, makes the song
: rather sad...

Yah. She likes the stuff he gives her, but then she just goes back to
work. It's really a song of delusion more than anything else. He hopes
that she'll come home to him, but Louise is just on the corner singing
"voulez voulez voulez-vous."

[Alexander Hertich]

The general idea of inversion vs. est-ce que is correct. However, the
translations themselves are the best. Alex.

[DrJ]

ronald wrote:
>
> Daniel Vieira wrote:
> >
> > the Quarter. He falls in love with her and dreams of her coming home to
> > him as a wife would do.
> >
> > When he gives her the candy and flowers she's happy, but then goes back to
> > work.
> >
>

> i thought that the line that begins:
>
> "she loved the million dollar words i say..."
>
> was wishful thinking on his part. i think that to her, he was just
> another john. that's one of the things which, to me, makes the song
> rather sad...
>

...and he's still wating for her to show up after work.
KLUTE is an old film as of now- but there's a great moment when Jane
Fonda, who plays the prostitute, is doing her best "oh baby" and it has
the audience pretty much believing until she reaches up an arm to have
an exaggerated glance at her watch...
the real pro "loves" anything a paying customer needs her to "love" to
set the mood for return trips... so good for business.

oh baby
David

[frank...@irb.gc.ca]

Couldn't agree with you more Lee. This is a sad sad song about a prostitute in
New Orleans and through Fagan's excellent writing skills you can literally see
her asking all the men walking by "Voulez-vous" which is (in your and my
opinion) "Do you want a trick?", "Do you want a trick?", ...

Lee Derbyshire wrote:

> Hi All.
>
> I believe "voulez vous?" is a truncation of the phrase "voulez vous coucher
> avec moi?" i.e. "Do you want to go to bed with me?"
>
> When I hear this beautiful and sad song. I imagine Louise standing on a
> street corner repeating this phrase to all the men walking by.
>
> Lee.
>
> ronald <ron...@ripco.com> wrote in message
> news:37DDCCB9...@ripco.com...

> > does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
> > this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
> > "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
> > she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
> >
> > she said she loved me and was on her way
> >

> > what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?
> >

> > what is the "shrine of the martyr"?
> >

[DrJ]

frank...@irb.gc.ca wrote:
>
> Couldn't agree with you more Lee. This is a sad sad song about a prostitute in
> New Orleans and through Fagan's excellent writing skills you can literally see
> her asking all the men walking by "Voulez-vous" which is (in your and my
> opinion) "Do you want a trick?", "Do you want a trick?", ...

it's a hook not exactly about the hooker.
the sadness is the sorry-assed naif who sings the song.

David

hello Anne T!
you GB cross-addresser, you.
que bella.

[KidCharlem]

>This is a sad sad song about a prostitute in
>New Orleans and through Fagan's excellent writing skill

Ok, first off, his name is Fagen, and second off, these songs were written by
Becker and Fagen. You gotta give credit where it is due.

Matt

[emont...@gmail.com]

The "Quarter" is obviously the FRENCH Quarter. So Just translate Voulez vous. Its common French term usually used in a question and means "do you want to____?" He opts to repeat the "Voulez" 3 times because he needs that many syllables to fill in the measure. Were he less subtle he might have said something like "Foutre foutre voulez vous. (Ha ha.. if you dont know what that means look it up). Actually sounds pretty good rolling off the tongue-- but there are more elegant and romantic ways to say the same thing in French. (Tho it might be what he means). Either way... Its a love song and he's asking the girl what she wants to do. He leaves it for the listener to fill in the predicate.

[The old geezer]

On Friday, May 9, 2014 9:37:44 AM UTC-4, emont...@gmail.com wrote:
> The "Quarter" is obviously the FRENCH Quarter. So Just translate Voulez vous. Its common French term usually used in a question and means "do you want to____?"

So it took you 15 years to come up with what everyone already determined???

TOG

ND: Firestone IPA

[montaine...@aol.com]

On Monday, September 13, 1999 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, ronald wrote:
> does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
> this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
> "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
> she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
>
> she said she loved me and was on her way
>
> what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?
>
> what is the "shrine of the martyr"?
>
> --
> __ ______ __ / __/ |
> _/ (_(_) / (_(_/_/_(_/ .
> it's just me against the world,
> i got nothing to lose,
> it's just me against the world baby
> -tupac shakur

it's "voulez voulez voulez vous." Literally "want want want you." I make that as an expression of desire or longing rather than truncation of "voulez vous coucher
avec moi"

[montaine...@aol.com]

there is no evidence that Walter Becker is anything other than the luckiest human in human history aside from Ringo Starr and Gerald Ford. His singing voice sounds like toad farts. His guitar work is of the senseless noodling variety and necessitates hiring people like Jon Herrington, Drew Zingg, Larry Carlton, Jeff Baxter etceteraetceteraetceteraetcetera. If you think he ever had anything meaningful to do with any chords or lyrics-- just review any or all of Fagen's solo albums all of which benefit enormously from the absence of Becker. Pay particular attention to Nightfly which several intelligent critics have stated might be the most beautiful and lyrically perfect rock album ever created. Last note: Every in every live concert over the past 8 years the most annoying thing WB has been allowed to do (aside from every guitar lick he ever plays) is a long, stupid, senseless, rambling monologue introducing Cuervo Gold which literally destroys an otherwise beautiful "Hey 19." Go ahead Don. Fire him. You can do it. Your best friend notwithstanding he is a useless, talentless, millstone of a coat-tail millionaire.

[The old geezer]

On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:31:37 AM UTC-4, montaine...@aol.com wrote:

Go ahead Don. Fire him. You can do it. Your best friend notwithstanding he is a useless, talentless, millstone of a coat-tail millionaire.....


And it took you 16 1/2 years to come up with your anti-Walter rant?? Perhaps he is the inspiration to how Don comes up with his material. Kinda like a Mike Love/Brian Wilson thing. And perhaps what you say is so.....what of it? What does it matter? Always remember: Ephesians 4:29!

Ringo was a driving force behind the Beatles. Why do you think they got "good" just after he was recruited by John & Paul. He is a real good guy. Unlike the aforementioned duo. Read Robert Spitz' Bio "The Beatles" if you don't think so.

I'd rather have Gerald Ford as POTUS that the last two "candidates" we had to choose from!

The OLD Geezer

ND: Southern Tier Harvest Ale
NP: Nostalgia For The Future - Steve Roach

[The old geezer]

On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:31:37 AM UTC-4, montaine...@aol.com wrote:

> there is no evidence that Walter Becker is anything other than the luckiest human in human history aside from Ringo Starr and Gerald Ford. His singing voice sounds like toad farts. His guitar work is of the senseless noodling variety and necessitates hiring people like Jon Herrington, Drew Zingg, Larry Carlton, Jeff Baxter etceteraetceteraetceteraetcetera. If you think he ever had anything meaningful to do with any chords or lyrics-- just review any or all of Fagen's solo albums all of which benefit enormously from the absence of Becker.....

Doncha feel bad now??

In a statement released on Sunday, Mr. Fagen said:

“Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

“We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the ‘20s through the mid-’60s), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.”

He added, “I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band.”

[h.f...@gmail.com]

On Monday, September 13, 1999 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, ronald wrote:
> does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
> this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
> "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
> she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
>
> she said she loved me and was on her way
>
> what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?
>
> what is the "shrine of the martyr"?
>

Wow, long time ago. I'll answer anyway. I agree that this is the recurring literary theme of a man who finds a connection with a prostitute. "Voulez vous" is French for "do you want to?" Fill in the blank, "want do what?" The Shrine of the Martyr is a NOLA location: National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
www.seelos.org

[The old geezer]

Boz Scaggs did a nice cover of this tune!

[maxmo...@gmail.com]

Here's Nola.com news post from 2011:

"Sixty years ago, on April 19, 1951, the city celebrated another rebirth for the thoroughfare (Tulane Ave). Dubbed "The Miracle Mile," changes included widening it at the expense of its neutral ground, eliminating the streetcar line and forbidding left turns."

and another about the same street:

What was once known as the "Miracle Mile" has needed a miracle to bring it back to its former glory.The Tulane Avenue corridor is poised for a renaissance and thanks to several recent sales, area businesses have hope that their time is now.
Back in it's heyday, Tulane Avenue was the major artery into New Orleans from Jefferson Parish, but when Interstate 10 was built in the early 70s, that all changed.

[The old geezer]

Huh? What's this got to do with the price of eggs??

[philips...@btinternet.com]

On Monday, September 13, 1999 at 8:00:00 AM UTC+1, ronald wrote:
> does anyone know the significance of the title "pearl of the quarter".
> this sounds like yet another song in the prostitution them with
> "louise" being a prostitute with whom he has fallen in love. while
> she stole his heart, her's was not to be his:
>
> she said she loved me and was on her way
>
> what does "voulez vous" mean? off you go/leave?
>
> what is the "shrine of the martyr"?
>

> --
> __ ______ __ / __/ |
> _/ (_(_) / (_(_/_/_(_/ .
> it's just me against the world,
> i got nothing to lose,
> it's just me against the world baby
> -tupac shakur

One must recognise the possibility that the guy in question (The Lover or John) may actually be a pimp and 'The Pearl' is working for him ... Look at the words again in that context ... It's possible; just sayin' ....

[greenho...@gmail.com]

On Monday, August 28, 2017 at 10:31:37 AM UTC-4, montaine...@aol.com wrote:

I guess you never listened to Walter's bass on Gaucho, or his talk-box addition to Dean Park's lead on Haitian Divorce. Or Walter's Surf and or Die. You nitwit.

[John Knox]

A small comment about something I didn't see in the thread: Joan of Arc was known as "The Maid of Orléans," for her role in the Siege of Orléans. And of course she was a martyr. So one legit interpretation is that the "shrine of the martyrs" refers to the city of New Orleans itself.

For the other interpretation about the local martyr's shrine: Tulane Ave. is not far to the west of the French Quarter, but the shrine to Francis Xavier Seelos is farther south of the Quarter and southeast of the Quarter, on the other side of U.S. Highway 90. But, that could still be what was meant.

Thanks for this multi-decadal thread!

John Knox

[Carlos Roithmayr]

On Sunday, January 31, 2021 at 10:09:09 PM UTC-5, John Knox wrote:
> A small comment about something I didn't see in the thread: Joan of Arc was known as "The Maid of Orléans," for her role in the Siege of Orléans. And of course she was a martyr. So one legit interpretation is that the "shrine of the martyrs" refers to the city of New Orleans itself.
>
> For the other interpretation about the local martyr's shrine: Tulane Ave. is not far to the west of the French Quarter, but the shrine to Francis Xavier Seelos is farther south of the Quarter and southeast of the Quarter, on the other side of U.S. Highway 90. But, that could still be what was meant.
>
> Thanks for this multi-decadal thread!
>
> John Knox

The bio of Fr. Seelos does not indicate he was in any way a martyr. Joan of Arc, of course, was martyred, and this makes the most sense to me. There is a statue of her in the heart of the French Quarter, see https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/1478 The year of the statue's first appearance roughly matches the time the song was recorded.

[Klaus & Rooster]

when following the link you gave in your post one sees a picture and the title "Joan of Arc Statue" - right below it says "home at last" - yet another hidden link to a later piece in Steely Dan's oevre? :-)