Can You Be True: a duet? (spoilers)

Pretty self-explanatory
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And No Coffee Table
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Can You Be True: a duet? (spoilers)

Post by And No Coffee Table »

SPOILER WARNING: Those who have not heard "North" may prefer not to read this thread.

It seems to me that the final verse in "Can You Be True" and the final line in particular ("I'll answer 'My Darling, you may be my man'") make a whole lot more sense if they're sung by a woman, while the first verse is unambiguously sung by a man.

Anyone agree? Disagree?

Actually, the whole thing could also be sung from the point of view of a gay man...

Note that John Everingham's site gets the final line wrong.
selfmademug

Re: Can You Be True: a duet? (spoilers)

Post by selfmademug »

And No Coffee Table wrote:...the final line in particular ("I'll answer 'My Darling, you may be my man'") make a whole lot more sense if they're sung by a woman, while the first verse is unambiguously sung by a man.
Actually it goes "I'll answer, 'My darling I may be your man.'" That ambiguous use of "may" (permission vs. possibility) is one of the great things about this lyric. And the tune's so beautiful. Solidly my favorite NORTH track.. for now!

Signed,

Can-be-true-Mug
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And No Coffee Table
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Re: Can You Be True: a duet? (spoilers)

Post by And No Coffee Table »

selfmademug wrote:
And No Coffee Table wrote:...the final line in particular ("I'll answer 'My Darling, you may be my man'") make a whole lot more sense if they're sung by a woman, while the first verse is unambiguously sung by a man.
Actually it goes "I'll answer, 'My darling I may be your man.'"
No no no! It says "you may be my man." Listen again! Perhaps it should say "I may be your man," but it most certainly does not!
selfmademug

Post by selfmademug »

Coffee-table-less person: not sure who you are, but you either have a different version or are on some very potent drugs. Not worth pursuing further; just silly how obvious this is.
Sour Milk Cow
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WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post by Sour Milk Cow »

selfmademug wrote:Coffee-table-less person: not sure who you are, but you either have a different version or are on some very potent drugs. Not worth pursuing further; just silly how obvious this is.
Selfmade mug, you are the one who is wrong. I'll emphasize that: WRONG, WRONG, WRONG -- LISTEN to the ALBUM VERSION of "Can You Be True"-- it ends with the lyric:

"And I'll Answer: "My darling you may be my man.""

No drugs, no different version-- this is the STUDIO version of the song. Perhaps you have a mysterious live bootleg where he sings this with lyrics that make more sense, but I have the official studio recording by Elvis Costello. And it ends with this weird lyric.

Perhaps you should listen to the album before you give "And No Coffee Table" a dressing down. Go and listen to the Elvis Costello version of the song, and then come back and post your mea culpa! :)
selfmademug

Re: WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post by selfmademug »

Sour Milk Cow wrote: Perhaps you should listen to the album before you give "And No Coffee Table" a dressing down.
Ahh-- good idea, cause it's been so tough posting all these comments about NORTH without having heard it!! Thanks for the brilliant advice. Expect my mea culpa the day after heck freezes over. But this is silly; really, I'm done with this...
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Post by pip_52 »

In the lyrics printed on John E's site it does have the last verse as


"My Darling, you make everything seem right"
And then I'll hear you calling in my name
And I'll answer
"My Darling, I may be your man"



Which makes infinitely more sense. But then on the album he sings it the other way around. I wonder if he changed the lyrics purposefully or accidently or if they just got printed wrong.

But anyways, in that way, youre both right . . . more or less.
selfmademug

Post by selfmademug »

Okay, if my lovely pal Pip says she hears it that way, I believe her. HOWEVER, I have listened to this song at least a hundred times (honest!) and I just made my friend listen to it with me, and we hear it clearly, and the lyric is sung precisely as the John E site lists it, and as I wrote above. I don't know what else to say; the words are as clear as day.

Is it possible there are two versions? I can't imagine, but I'm starting to wonder. Bizarre.
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Post by Sour Milk Cow »

selfmademug wrote:Okay, if my lovely pal Pip says she hears it that way, I believe her. HOWEVER, I have listened to this song at least a hundred times (honest!) and I just made my friend listen to it with me, and we hear it clearly, and the lyric is sung precisely as the John E site lists it, and as I wrote above. I don't know what else to say; the words are as clear as day.

Is it possible there are two versions? I can't imagine, but I'm starting to wonder. Bizarre.
This is a mystery, then. I really do hope that when the CD arrives in shops that it sounds the way the version you have sounds. Because then the song would make sense. But the version I have now has the gender confusion at the end. I wonder what the deal is with this. I agree. Very Strange.
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Post by pip_52 »

He sings pretty clearly throughout the album, and since the record hasnt even been released yet, I guess it wouldnt be impossible for there to be two different versions. He could have recorded it one way and then gone back and done it the other way . . .

I guess thats what we get for jumping the gun and downloading it before its release :oops:
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Post by johnfoyle »

After listening to North , here are some corrections to the lyrics printed on John E.`s site back in June. These are based on a print of I made of them back then - they may have been corrected since.

They are , in the main , minor. However some do
change emphasis` of the song , IMHO.

Track One - You Left Me In The Dark
The line `Nothing I do can make you stay`
is sung
`Nothing I`ll do will make you stay`

Track Three - When Did I Stop Dreaming
The lines `This is my nightmare/
Was this one dream too deep`
is sung
`This was my nightmare/
Was that one dream too deep`

Track Seven - Still
The line `To a marvellous girl covered up
with my coat`
is sung
`To a marvellous girl covered up in my coat`

Track Eight - Let Me Tell You About Her
In the fourth verse the line `But when I start
to sing they run for miles`
is sung
` But when I start to speak they run for miles`

Track nine - Can You Be True
The line `And then I`ll hear you calling in my
name`
is sung
`And then I`ll hear you calling my name`

Track Eleven - I`m In The Mood Again
The line `Along the fine windows of shameless
and plunder`
is sung
`Along past the fine windows of shameless and
plunder`

The extra track - Impatience
The line `Before I can tell you the things I`ve
been wanting to say`
is sung
`Before I can tell you the things that I`ve
been wanting to say`
The line ` But I`d probably best
blame...impatience`
is sung
`But I`ll probably...
The line `And the tears that I spilled`
is sung
`And the tears that were spilled`
The line `I took no heed so a word might as
well be deed`
is sung
`I took no heed so a word might as well be a
deed`
The line `Pausing a moment or two just
mention`
is sung
`Pausing a moment or two just to mention`

Extra track - Say What You Do
The line `That sky is much to blue`
is sung
`That guy is much to blue`
The line starting `You`d think..`
is sung
`You think...`
The printed `He says` is not sung.
The line `The birds in the branches may
whistle..
is sung
`....will whistle`
The line `There may be bend in the track`
is sung `....a bend...
The line `I`ll be waiting patiently here`
is sung
`I`ll be waiting patiently dear`
The following line `And if you believe that
then I fear`
is sung
`And if you belive that then it`s clear`

The final three lines
` By humming a tragic refrain
He says he`s in love with a beautiful girl
But he doesn`t know her name`

are totally changed when Elvis sings
`Humming a tragic refrain
Who says he`s in love with a beautiful girl
But she doesn`t know his name `

The extra track - North
The line `The East has that Englishman`
is sung`...the Englishman`
`For all it`s worth`
is sung
`For what it`s worth`
The lines `I`m going/ North`
are sung
`I`m heading/ North`
Similarly the second verse is concluded by
the lines `Let me go / North ` not the printed `Time
to go/ North` .
The same error happens at the end of verse three.

The line `You gave me a starry flag`
is sung
`They`ll give you a starry flag`
The line `And some of them..`
is sung
`Some of them..`
The line ` And though we are..
is sung `Though we are...
Finally , the line `It`s something I will..
is sung `It`s somewhere`...
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And No Coffee Table
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Post by And No Coffee Table »

Indeed, it turns out there are two versions of the song. The official release says "I may be your man," while the advance release (the one I have, anyway) says, "you may be my man."

Strange!
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Post by noiseradio »

I just listened to both the advance copy and the official release. The line on the advance copy, UNQUESTIONABLY is:

"you may be my man"

On the official release, the line UNQUESTIONABLY is:

"I may be your man"


These are two different vocal takes. Obviously between the advance release and the official release, Elvis either changed his mind or screwed up the first time. In answer to the original post in this thread, I think this is just a screw up. Lyrically, the two versions are identical except for the last line. But look here. The first verse ends like this:

" I long to hear you whisper my name
'Til you tell me
"My Darling, you may be my man."'

And the last verse of the official release ends like this:

"And then I'll hear you calling in my name
And I'll answer
"My Darling, I may be your man"'

The last line of each verse have the same melody. I think it's pretty clear that Elvis sang the words of the last line of the first verse accidentally at the end of the third verse. It was spotted, and they fixed it between the release of the advance copy and the final version. There's not a bit of logic otherwise.

This wouldn't be the first time he bungled a lyric in a recording. Most famously, the line in "I Want You" that goes "I know, I know I'll feel this way until you kill it" on the recording. In the liner notes, and in every official release of the lyrics, it's "I know I'm going to feel this way until you kill it," which makes more sense. But clearly, he made one tiny (in this case really unimportant) error in an otherwise stunning vocal take, so why change it? In the case of the North track, I think the vocal take on the official release is superior to the advance (a good reason to buy it). But I'm keeping my advance copy for posterity sake, since there's a significant difference.

Anyway, I hope this helps explain the disagreement. Self-Made Mug is quite right, as is And No Coffee Table, though they are listening to rwo different recordings. Sour Milk Cow is, however, WRONG WRONG WRONG. LISTEN to the ALBUM VERSION (not the advance) of "Can You Be True"-- it ends with the lyric:

"And I'll Answer: "My darling I may be my man.""

No drugs, a different version-- this is the STUDIO version of the song. Perhaps you have a downloaded bootleg copy of the advance release where he sings this with lyrics that make less sense, but I have the official studio recording by Elvis Costello. And it ends with this perfectly sensible lyric.

Perhaps you should listen to the album before you give "Self Made Mug" a dressing down. Go and listen to the Elvis Costello version of the song, and then come back and post your mea culpa! :)
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--William Shakespeare
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Post by Jackson Doofster »

As an aside.....am I the only person who thinks that he sings "my darling..." as if he's about to launch into 'My Darling Clementine' or some tune from Nigh Noon. i'm not sure i like that...it's a little too cliched for me.
"But they can't hold a candle to the reciprical war crimes which have plagued our policy of foriegn affairs."
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Post by noiseradio »

I never saw Nigh Noon. Was Nary Cooper in that one with Nrace Kelly?
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Post by spooky girlfriend »

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by Sour Milk Cow »

noiseradio wrote:Anyway, I hope this helps explain the disagreement. Self-Made Mug is quite right, as is And No Coffee Table, though they are listening to rwo different recordings. Sour Milk Cow is, however, WRONG WRONG WRONG.
Why can't we ALL be wrong? I already SAID that it sounded like we had 2 different versions out there! I already agreed. I was just defending the honor of And No Coffee Table! I agreed with Self-Made Mug, and Pip, and And No Coffee Table that we had a mystery on our hands.

Now I am being attacked as the only one who is wrong! WHY? WHY??? :D :D :D
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Post by Jackson Doofster »

No...it was Gene Nelly.
"But they can't hold a candle to the reciprical war crimes which have plagued our policy of foriegn affairs."
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Post by noiseradio »

Not the only one who was wrong, just the only one to climb out on the end of a limb and jump up and down in a loud, uninformed voice that Selfmade Mug should offer a mea culpa for being uninformed (when she in fact had the official release you scolded her for not listening to). The mind reels with how much you deserved some comeupance on that one.

I'm now going to pretend that my dressing down was all ironic humor by adding a smiley.

:)
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--William Shakespeare
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Post by Jackson Doofster »

Love it when this board gets this way....livens it up a bit

It's been a bit dreary recently. :(
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A full investigation

Post by A rope leash »

Geez man, it was just a little misunderstanding I mean come one now no reason to get exicted it's just shit you know man so just lay off it man we don't need this shit man cause somebody's gonna call the dog and maybe Jackson's right and there just ain't enough real action on this here board everythings been all peaceful like and nobody's been slappin each other around and like that how it used to be I was noticing that the other day anyway we don't need no dog gettin wind of anything like this do we that sucker can bite.
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Post by laughingcrow »

That's strange, 'cos on my UK CD version it ends..

"And I'll answer, My darling, I may be your transvestite"

Weird eh?

:D :D :D :D :D
selfmademug

Post by selfmademug »

I knew what I had, and I knew what I heard. And I didn't knew who this coffee table person was.

Sillies.
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Post by Sour Milk Cow »

noiseradio wrote:Not the only one who was wrong, just the only one to climb out on the end of a limb and jump up and down in a loud, uninformed voice that Selfmade Mug should offer a mea culpa for being uninformed (when she in fact had the official release you scolded her for not listening to). The mind reels with how much you deserved some comeupance on that one.
Yes, perhaps I was too bold. But like selfmade says, I heard what I heard. As soon as it became clear that we were dealing with two-- count them-- TWO different studio recordings of Elvis singing the song, with pronoun trouble and gender confusion, I gently climbed back from the edge of the limb and behaved like a perfect gentleman. All parties involved were surprised to realize that all of our ears were telling us the truth!

Surely all is forgiven by now? Minds, stop reeling! :D

Edited to add a little bit more acting nice and being a gentleman!!!!
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Post by noiseradio »

Sour Milk Cow wrote:
As soon as it became clear that we were dealing with two-- count them-- TWO different studio recordings of Elvis singing the song...
one, ....

One,.....wait. what comes next...?
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
--William Shakespeare
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