The Beatles' most "dated" songs | Page 5 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Ooh good thread. Beatles lyrics have done remarkably well after 50 years (despite the views of a certain late scottish critic), but there are a number of phrases and words that may potentially need translation.

Some phrases are borderline: Sunday driver and Day Tripper come to mind. A line like all the girls around her say she’s got it coming but she gets it while she can will confuse people one day.

A Day In The Life – I’d love to turn you on this has already lost one of its specific 60’s slang meanings, to introduce someone to something, particularly drugs. We’d now say ‘put someone onto something’ but that wouldn’t scan! While we’re here dovetail joint had an entirely secondary meaning that was a slang joke when it was written.

Back In The USSR – Honey disconnect the phone I can’t believe this got missed Even waiting by the phone is still relevant.

Come Together – this is so full of deliberate and fake jargon it already requires a pamphlet for the younger folk to sort out which is which. Flatttop, holy roller are real for instance.

Doctor Robert national health a specifically British reference that the Tories are only too keen to make a thing of the past If I was a really cynical person I’d apply Taxman in the same vein.

That’s enough to get started.

parlance said
Haha, I used Sunday driver yesterday. My family always used it for people who drive slow on the weekends, as if that’s the only time they take the car for a spin.

parlnace

Yeah that’s its meaning alright I also wanted to point out that perhaps the reason Beatles lyrics are almost jargon-free is that they were probably conscious that jargon has a distancing effect and they were looking for the simplest language to use. That’s why it amuses me that MacDonald ranted about how opaque their lyrics were, considering how difficult jazz lyrics have turned out. They didn’t go all out with moon – june stuff; although I did find twice as many uses of the word blue as an emotion versus a colour (nerd alert! nerd alert!).

Found another dated phone reference: You Won’t See Me When I call you up your line’s engaged That’s a thought, will we need residential phonebooks in the future? Because then You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) will be baffling

edit: and there’s another thought, phones and cars and planes are the only obvious references to technology I can think of off the top of my head in Beatles songs.