from the fantastic patterns of dreams to the surrealistic behaving of reality

written in Dinglish (that's Germanic English)

N�rnberg, Mittelfranken, 2006-05-01 - 4:08 a.m.

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30 years later..

One of the english songtext riddles of me youth solved 30 years later

u know - in my youth I partly learned englisch by the texts of mainly british & partly american rythm & rock music. From Rolling Stones to Beatles, Who, Small Faces, Kinks, Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, Hollies, Traffic, Procol Harum, Cream.. - whatever was in the charts in about 1967 in Swinging London. - I rembember that I shocked my old English teacher, while I brought the texts of "Sympathy for the Devil" & "Street Fighting Man" by the Stones in the class as an refreshening aid for the English lessons. - I had copied the texts for all class mates & had brought even a record player from the school's administration office. - Hesitatingly but somehow caught out by surprise he let us translate it & even listen to half of the first song, before interrupting it. - But afterwards he said: "Never again - he won't let his lessons be misused to preach for the devil & anyway 'cops are not criminals' - but I told him - that was not preaching for the devil & the song did not say, that every cop was a criminal - it was conditional - if this is so, then that is so..
the sentence was: "Just as every cop is a criminal - And all the sinners saints - As heads is tails - just call me lucifer - 'cause I'm in need of some restraint" -
you see: '.. as heads is tails..' & we all know that heads is not tails - but my English teacher didn't understand my arguments. -
Well from today's view it probably was a bit provocative - why just these songs? - but I was pretty 17 by then, provocative maybe sometimes , but never rude & of course I didn't let a chance slip to make a good joke or nice gag in the class, when I saw an opportunity.


But back to this song text riddle - I knew all the texts of my fave Rock'n'Roll heroes songs by heart, but there were still some seldom phrases in some songs I could never understand & never could find out what it ment.

There was this 'nitty-gritty' by the Rolling Stones -I asked an american soldier for the meaning of nitty-gritty - he tried to explain it by pointing one finger to his skin on his arm - hmm - I didn't understand in the least what he tried to explain.
As much as I understood it means it comes down to a very low point or lever or sthg. like that - why did he point to his skin??? - maybe sometime someone will tell me the really meaning.

So just now - I saw an oldies beat broadcasting from the sixties - & there this Turtles song - & again I couldn't understand what 'tastadice' ment -

but blessed as we are living in a time of internet searching machines very about every (except the meaning of life) theme is close at hand.

so I searched for 'turtles "happy together" lyrics' & a 30 years long hidden riddle was solved - the sentence was: "No matter how the toss the dice" - toss the dice instead of tastadice - well I'm somehow disspointed - couldn't 'tastadice' have been a new excentric English word with a total special meaning? - I would have prefered that, I really would!

Anyway - what does nitty gritty mean - I'll never know..

So - I just searched in www.odge.de:
'to get down to the nitty-gritty' - means in German 'Zur Sache kommen' -(to come down to the 'point' or the 'real thing' or something like that.) - But no-one can tell me what nitty-gritty means without the 'to get down to the' - & why did the GI once always point to his skin (or arm) to explain it - Dear readers - could you please find out who was that American soldier once in about 1970 stationed in Schwabach, Germany & one evening together with us young German youths on Cellastrasse 30 on one early summer evening - please ask him why he pointed to his skin while trying to explain what 'nitty-gritty' means - I'd really like'd to know..


& forever who is interested - here the lyrics of "Sympathy for the devil" by Jagger/Richards (not that I mean to preach for the devil of course..):

Please allow me to introduce myself
I�m a man of wealth and taste
I�ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man�s soul and faith
And I was �round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what�s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general�s rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what�s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I�m a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what�s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what�s confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
�cause I�m in need of some restraint
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I�ll lay your soul to waste, um yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what�s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
Tell me baby, what�s my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what�s my name
I tell you one time, you�re to blame
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah
What�s me name
Tell me, baby, what�s my name
Tell me, sweetie, what�s my name
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah

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