"Fade away" in song lyrics
R F
It's always seemed to me that an awful lot of popular music songs
contain the expression "fade away" in their lyrics, far more
often than one might expect given the current use of "fade away", and
certainly "fade away" remains a popular and actively used phrase.
Questions: Am I just imagining this, or is there really some
noticeable use of "fade away" in post-Suez song lyrics (perhaps
especially those in the "rock and roll" idiom), perhaps especially
during the 'Sixties, though there are also many contemporary examples?
If so, why?
tomca...@yanospamhoo.com
> It's always seemed to me that an awful lot of popular music songs
> contain the expression "fade away" in their lyrics, far more
> often than one might expect given the current use of "fade away", and
> certainly "fade away" remains a popular and actively used phrase.
Is there a fancy musical term for "fade away"?
MC
wrote:
Could it be "diminuendo"?
Ross Howard
"Madonna's career"?
Ross Howard
--------------------
(Kick ass for e-mail)
Jack Gavin
I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
http://www.twin-music.com/azlyrics/h_file/songs/buddy_not.html :
Buddy Holly
Not Fade Away
I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
You're gonna give your lovin' to me
I'm gonna love you night and day
You know my lovin' won't fade away
You know my lovin' won't fade away
My love is bigger than a Cadillac
I try to show you but you drive me back
Your love for me has got to be real
For you to know just how I feel
A love for real, not fade away
I'm gonna tell you how it's gonna be
You're gonna give your love to me
A love to last more than one day
A love that's love and not fade away
A love that's love and not fade away
R H Draney
>
>R F wrote:
>> It's always seemed to me that an awful lot of popular music songs
>> contain the expression "fade away" in their lyrics, far more
>> often than one might expect given the current use of "fade away", and
>> certainly "fade away" remains a popular and actively used phrase.
>
Same here, followed by "Fade Away and Radiate" by Blondie, circa 1980:
Oooo baby, I hear how you spend night time
Wrapped like candy in a blue, blue neon glow
Fade away and radiate
Oooo baby, watchful lines
Vibrate soft in brainwave time
Silver pictures move so slow
Golden tubes faintly glow
Electric faces seem to merge
Hidden voices mock your words
Fade away and radiate
The beams become my dream
My dream is on the screen
Dusty frames that still arrive
Die in 1955
Fade away and radiate
The beams become my dream
My dream is on the screen
Fade away and radiate
(Apparently Mr Springsteen has a song called simply "Fade Away", which I'm
guessing is of a similar vintage; I don't recognize it)....r
Don Aitken
wrote:
>In article <SBydnX0ASLI...@comcast.com>, "Jack says...
>>
>>R F wrote:
>>> It's always seemed to me that an awful lot of popular music songs
>>> contain the expression "fade away" in their lyrics, far more
>>> often than one might expect given the current use of "fade away", and
>>> certainly "fade away" remains a popular and actively used phrase.
>>
>>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>
>Same here, followed by "Fade Away and Radiate" by Blondie, circa 1980:
>
And, between the two, "My Generation" by The Who, which gives the
phrase a definite double meaning:
People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Just because we get around (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
This is my generation
This is my generation, baby
Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
And don't try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my generation)
I'm not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin' 'bout my
generation)
--
Don Aitken
Dave Kenworthy
"R H Draney" <dado...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:bdscq...@drn.newsguy.com...
>
> Same here, followed by "Fade Away and Radiate" by Blondie, circa 1980:
>
"Enola Gay" for me...
--
Dave Kenworthy
-----------------------------
Changes aren't permanent - but change is!
M. J. Powell
writes
Diminuendo?
Mike
--
M.J.Powell
Bob Stahl
"Fade away!" (go away) is cited by Partridge as 1910s
slang, and to "do a fade" (disappear, take a powder) as
1920s carney slang. "Fade away" was used by Tennyson and
Keats, not to mention Douglas MacArthur, and "The earth
mourneth and fadeth away" is from the Book of Isaiah (KJV).
NY Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson became known for his
"fadeaway" c.1900, a pitch that evolved into the
"screwball" in the hands of Carl Hubbell in the 1930s.
And, "fadeaway" is used for a slow, disappearing ending
in 20th C. music and film, so, especially in light of the
music video, it may loom large as a self-referential
end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it (and-I-feel-fine) lyric
for baseball-loving, military-historian singer-songwriters
fond of the 19th C. English poets.
Like, Mother Love Bone.
--
Bob Stahl
Ross Howard
wrote:
>On 1 Jul 2003 09:28:04 -0700, R H Draney <dado...@earthlink.net>
>wrote:
>
>>In article <SBydnX0ASLI...@comcast.com>, "Jack says...
>>>
>>>R F wrote:
>>>> It's always seemed to me that an awful lot of popular music songs
>>>> contain the expression "fade away" in their lyrics, far more
>>>> often than one might expect given the current use of "fade away", and
>>>> certainly "fade away" remains a popular and actively used phrase.
>>>
>>>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>>
>>Same here, followed by "Fade Away and Radiate" by Blondie, circa 1980:
>>
>And, between the two, "My Generation" by The Who, which gives the
>phrase a definite double meaning:
[snip lurks]
From *Salon*, five years ago:
"My Generation" may have been an anthem for kids who were
coming of age circa 1965, but it has more layers of complexity
than most anthems: Townshend wrote, "Why don't you all fade
away?" as a way of ordering his elders to step aside. Yet even
as one of the fresh new voices of his era, he's borrowing
(perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not) their words to make his
statement. Nearly a decade before, Buddy Holly had sung about
not fading away -- he was talking about keeping a love affair
alive, but his followers took the song to heart as a pledge to
keep rock 'n' roll thriving, past the stage of being a fad.
(http://www.salon.com/bc/1998/11/17bc2.html)
R H Draney
>
>"Fade away!" (go away) is cited by Partridge as 1910s
>slang, and to "do a fade" (disappear, take a powder) as
>1920s carney slang. "Fade away" was used by Tennyson and
>Keats, not to mention Douglas MacArthur, and "The earth
>mourneth and fadeth away" is from the Book of Isaiah (KJV).
>
>NY Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson became known for his
>"fadeaway" c.1900, a pitch that evolved into the
>"screwball" in the hands of Carl Hubbell in the 1930s.
>
>And, "fadeaway" is used for a slow, disappearing ending
>in 20th C. music and film, so, especially in light of the
>music video, it may loom large as a self-referential
>end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it (and-I-feel-fine) lyric
>for baseball-loving, military-historian singer-songwriters
>fond of the 19th C. English poets.
I call that a "fade out"...one of the nuns I took guitar from remarked on the
"fade coda" indicated in all the sheet music I brought to practice; within a
couple of weeks it had become a set phrase: "then let's go back for the last
verse and finish with the fade coda"....
The one I've never been able to make sense of is "you're faded" to indicate that
a proposed bet has been accepted by another party....r
Steve Hayes
<jackgavi...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Questions: Am I just imagining this, or is there really some
>> noticeable use of "fade away" in post-Suez song lyrics (perhaps
>> especially those in the "rock and roll" idiom), perhaps especially
>> during the 'Sixties, though there are also many contemporary examples?
>> If so, why?
>
>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
As did I. And I couldn't think of any more.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Dr Robin Bignall
>On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 11:58:32 -0400, "Jack Gavin"
><jackgavi...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>>> Questions: Am I just imagining this, or is there really some
>>> noticeable use of "fade away" in post-Suez song lyrics (perhaps
>>> especially those in the "rock and roll" idiom), perhaps especially
>>> during the 'Sixties, though there are also many contemporary examples?
>>> If so, why?
>>
>>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>
>As did I. And I couldn't think of any more.
Me, too. I used to sing that song and play the guitar in 1956 or 7. I still
have the Holly vinyls I collected then.
--
wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Quiet part of Hertfordshire
England
Muriel Areno
jackgavi...@comcast.net wrote on 7/1/03 8:58am:
> I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
Mmmm. No Bruce fans around here?
The first song I thought of was Springsteen's Fade Away, from The River
album, 1980.
Fade Away
Bruce Springsteen
Well now you say you've found another man who does things to you that I
can't
And that no matter what I do it's all over now
between me and you girl
But I can't believe what you say
No I can't believe what you say
'cause baby
(Chorus)
I don't wanna fade away
Oh I don't wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darlin' I don't wanna fade away
Well now you say that you've made up your mind
it's been such a long, long time since it's been good with us
And that somewhere back along the line you lost your love and I lost your
trust
Now rooms that once were so bright are filled with the coming night, darlin'
(Chorus)
You say it's not easy for you
And that you've been so lonely
While other girls go out doing what they want to do
You say that you miss the nights whe we'd go out dancing
The days when you and I walked as two
Well girl I miss them too
Oh I swear that I do
Oh girl
Now baby I don't wanna be just another useless memory holding you tight
Or just some other ghost out on the street to whom you stop and politely
speak
when you pass on by vanishing into the night
left to vanish into the night
No baby
(Chorus)
Muriel
--
Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
André Gide
Ross Howard
wrote:
>in article SBydnX0ASLI...@comcast.com, Jack Gavin at
>jackgavi...@comcast.net wrote on 7/1/03 8:58am:
>
>> I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>
>Mmmm. No Bruce fans around here?
Yep. *Darkness* tour. Five nights straight.
>The first song I thought of was Springsteen's Fade Away, from The River
>album, 1980.
>
>Fade Away
>Bruce Springsteen
Ahem.
[Snip stomach-churning demonstration of why Springsteen songs should
he heard and not read]
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 19:07:15 GMT, haye...@yahoo.com (Steve Hayes) wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 11:58:32 -0400, "Jack Gavin"
>><jackgavi...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>>> Questions: Am I just imagining this, or is there really some
>>>> noticeable use of "fade away" in post-Suez song lyrics (perhaps
>>>> especially those in the "rock and roll" idiom), perhaps especially
>>>> during the 'Sixties, though there are also many contemporary examples?
>>>> If so, why?
>>>
>>>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>>
>>As did I. And I couldn't think of any more.
>
>Me, too. I used to sing that song and play the guitar in 1956 or 7. I still
>have the Holly vinyls I collected then.
I didn't even have it on vinyl, but on shellac. It's since got broken, and in
any case my current gramophone won't play 78s.
But it was the flip side of "Oh boy!"
Dr Robin Bignall
>On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 22:14:08 +0100, Dr Robin Bignall <docr...@ntlworld.com>
>wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 01 Jul 2003 19:07:15 GMT, haye...@yahoo.com (Steve Hayes) wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 11:58:32 -0400, "Jack Gavin"
>>><jackgavi...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> Questions: Am I just imagining this, or is there really some
>>>>> noticeable use of "fade away" in post-Suez song lyrics (perhaps
>>>>> especially those in the "rock and roll" idiom), perhaps especially
>>>>> during the 'Sixties, though there are also many contemporary examples?
>>>>> If so, why?
>>>>
>>>>I first thought of "Not Fade Away" by Buddy Holly, who died in 1959.
>>>
>>>As did I. And I couldn't think of any more.
>>
>>Me, too. I used to sing that song and play the guitar in 1956 or 7. I still
>>have the Holly vinyls I collected then.
>
>I didn't even have it on vinyl, but on shellac. It's since got broken, and in
>any case my current gramophone won't play 78s.
>
>But it was the flip side of "Oh boy!"
I'll check later, but these were either 33.3 rpm LPs or 45 rpm EPs, not
single plays, in vinyl. At the time of his death, I scanned the catalogs
and bought sufficient of each to have all of his released songs. They
issued others after, that I didn't get.
I guess I was a fan.
Maria Conlon
>
>........ "Fade away" was used by Tennyson and
> Keats, not to mention Douglas MacArthur, [...]
My first thought on seeing the "Fade away" subject line was of "old
soldiers."
Maria Conlon