"...how deep the bullet lies"
Tero Ruuskanen
There is a beautiful Kate Bush song called 'Running Up That Hill'.
In the song she sings 'You don't want to hurt me, just see how
deep the bullet lies.' I'm not a native speaker of English, and
I have never seen or heard that expression anywhere else.
So what does it mean (the bullet thing)?
This is my guess: 'You don't want to hurt me, but see how much
I can take [of your behaviour].' Well, I don't know, but I'm sure
you native speakers do. Thank you in advance.
- Tero R.
--
Tero Ruuskanen
tru...@cs.joensuu.fi
* Thank you for your attention *
Anandashankar Mazumdar
In article <5j22f2$9...@cs.joensuu.fi>,
tru...@cs.joensuu.fi (Tero Ruuskanen) wrote:
>
> There is a beautiful Kate Bush song called 'Running Up That Hill'.
> In the song she sings 'You don't want to hurt me, just see how
> deep the bullet lies.' I'm not a native speaker of English, and
> I have never seen or heard that expression anywhere else.
> So what does it mean (the bullet thing)?
It's possible she means "you just want to see how badly I'm
(psychologically) wounded."
> This is my guess: 'You don't want to hurt me, but see how much
> I can take [of your behaviour].' Well, I don't know, but I'm sure
> you native speakers do. Thank you in advance.
I think you presume too much. Songwriters, poets (artists of any kind)
have never been required to be clear about what they mean. There are
many, many songs in English (and, I'm sure, in your own native language)
that seem to make absolutely no sense at all. There are some songs that
are famous for being indecipherable.
Ananda
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Brian J Goggin
On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 08:33:26 -0600, Anandashankar Mazumdar
<mazu...@dcez.com> wrote:
[...]
>I think you presume too much. Songwriters, poets (artists of any kind)
>have never been required to be clear about what they mean. There are
>many, many songs in English (and, I'm sure, in your own native language)
>that seem to make absolutely no sense at all. There are some songs that
>are famous for being indecipherable.
>
Speaking of which ....
The word "rifle" occurs, with other non-words, in the refrain of
several Irish (and, I think, some British) folk songs, along with
stuff like "fol lol de riddle down a derry down down". Does anyone
have any idea what, if anything, "rifle" means in this context, or
where it came from?
bjg
Tero Ruuskanen
Anandashankar Mazumdar <mazu...@dcez.com> writes:
>In article <5j22f2$9...@cs.joensuu.fi>,
> tru...@cs.joensuu.fi (Tero Ruuskanen) wrote:
>>
>> There is a beautiful Kate Bush song called 'Running Up That Hill'.
>> In the song she sings 'You don't want to hurt me, just see how
>> deep the bullet lies.' I'm not a native speaker of English, and
>> I have never seen or heard that expression anywhere else.
>> So what does it mean (the bullet thing)?
>It's possible she means "you just want to see how badly I'm
>(psychologically) wounded."
Oh, I just thought about it a bit more. Of course, when someone is really
physically wounded from a bullet, a doctor or someone who is trying
to help is causing some pain while trying to examine the wound.
Here it just means something more abstract. Why didn't I realize it
earlier? But this explanation could be wrong, of course, even if it
makes sense.
>I think you presume too much. Songwriters, poets (artists of any kind)
>have never been required to be clear about what they mean. There are
>many, many songs in English (and, I'm sure, in your own native language)
>that seem to make absolutely no sense at all. There are some songs that
>are famous for being indecipherable.
Yes, I understand. Thanks for your reply.
>Ananda
- Tero
colf...@minn.net
On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 15:51:50 GMT, b...@wordwrights.ie (Brian J Goggin)
wrote:
>
>The word "rifle" occurs, with other non-words, in the refrain of
>several Irish (and, I think, some British) folk songs, along with
>stuff like "fol lol de riddle down a derry down down". Does anyone
>have any idea what, if anything, "rifle" means in this context, or
>where it came from?
>
>bjg
>
If you will quote one at more length, or give a title, I'll try to
track it down.
Carol from Mpls.
David Stewart
Tero Ruuskanen wrote:
>
> There is a beautiful Kate Bush song called 'Running Up That Hill'.
> In the song she sings 'You don't want to hurt me, just see how
> deep the bullet lies.' I'm not a native speaker of English, and
> I have never seen or heard that expression anywhere else.
> So what does it mean (the bullet thing)?
>
> This is my guess: 'You don't want to hurt me, but see how much
> I can take [of your behaviour].' Well, I don't know, but I'm sure
> you native speakers do. Thank you in advance.
>
In English we tend to describe people who appear insensitive to
criticism as being 'thick skinned'. I suspect that Kate Bush is
extending this metaphor in her lyric. Her lover (one assumes) is
frustrated because she is being emotionally endemonstrative and so,
although he doesn't want to hurt her, he finds himself goading her with
words as a means of trying to understand her and get at her thoughts.
He'll say something nasty to see whether it does any damage -
metaphorically, shooting to see how deep the bullet penetrates into that
thick skin.
--
+++++++++++++++++
Show me a man with his head held high
and I'll show you a man who can't get
used to bi-focals.
+++++++++++++++++
John Bailin
>There is a beautiful Kate Bush song called 'Running Up That Hill'.
>In the song she sings 'You don't want to hurt me, just see how
>deep the bullet lies.' I'm not a native speaker of English, and
>I have never seen or heard that expression anywhere else.
>So what does it mean (the bullet thing)?
I'm familiar with that song. As is often the case with lyrics we're closer
to the realm of poetry than idiomatic phrases here, so my comments are
interpretive, and your mileage may vary. As I see it, "you don't want to
hurt me" is sung as a sort of rhetorical question meaning "you don't want to
hurt me, do you?" "Just see how deep the bullet lies" is another rhetorical
device, I believe, meaning "you can see how deeply (emotionally) wounded I
am".
>This is my guess: 'You don't want to hurt me, but see how much
>I can take [of your behaviour].' Well, I don't know, but I'm sure
>you native speakers do. Thank you in advance.
So *I* think the spirit of the song is closer to "please don't hurt me, I'm
already if pretty bad shape."
John Bailin | "Anyone who isn't confused here doesn't
jbailin at cris dot com | really understand what is going on."
Donna Richoux
<colf...@minn.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 15:51:50 GMT, b...@wordwrights.ie (Brian J Goggin) wrote:
> >
> >The word "rifle" occurs, with other non-words, in the refrain of
> >several Irish (and, I think, some British) folk songs, along with
> >stuff like "fol lol de riddle down a derry down down". Does anyone
> >have any idea what, if anything, "rifle" means in this context, or
> >where it came from?
> If you will quote one at more length, or give a title, I'll try to
> track it down.
I have never seen it spelled "rifle," and the Digital Tradition site
does not show "rifle" used that way (in nonsense lines in folk songs).
However, it has plenty of examples using "right fa," and "right fol"
which I think must be what you mean. Actually sometimes "rye" or "ri"
are used as nonsense syllables which, if they precede fa/fol, would be
even closer to your question (except I don't know how "ri" is
pronounced). You can have a look for those yourself at DigiTrad
<http://www.deltablues.com/dbsearch.html>. Here's the ones I found with
"right":
I. RIGHT FA
a. The Irish Dragoons
Wi my right fa lal de deedle addle illy dal Wi my right fa lal de
deedle addlie Said You're right good fellows o' your purse, but ye
choose not a maid at all o
II. RIGHT FOL
a. Around Cape Horn
REFRAIN: Right fol day, fol-de-diddle day Right fol right-o,
fol-de-diddle day
b. THE BEGGARMAN (3)
To my Right Fol the lol and me dandy, O "But if you were a right
girl as I took ye for to be,"
c. THE CRAFTY BOY
Timothy right, fol de dol de dol de, right fol dol de And as for
that villain you served him right
d. Let Onion Be
Right fol de rol de ri too ra li do Right fol de rol de ri too ra
li do Right fol de rol de ri too ra li do
Best wishes --- Donna Richoux
colf...@minn.net
On Thu, 17 Apr 1997 22:38:25 GMT, b...@wordwrights.ie (Brian J Goggin)
wrote:
>On 17 Apr 1997 22:09:33 GMT, tr...@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote:
>
>>I have never seen it spelled "rifle," and the Digital Tradition site
>>does not show "rifle" used that way (in nonsense lines in folk songs).
>>However, it has plenty of examples using "right fa," and "right fol"
>>which I think must be what you mean. Actually sometimes "rye" or "ri"
>>are used as nonsense syllables which, if they precede fa/fol, would be
>>even closer to your question (except I don't know how "ri" is
>>pronounced).
>
>Aha! That makes sense.
>
>Carol asked me to quote one, whereat I found I didn't have any in
>writing (apologies, Carol, for not responding sooner: I've been
>searching). The last one I heard was sung last week, on a radio
>programme, by one of our government ministers.
>
>It's possible, even likely, that I've never actually seen it written
>down, so "right fa/fol" or "rye fa/fol" would certainly fit.
>
Well, I think you two pretty well took care of it!
Carol from Mpls.