29 Mar 2008
Can you hear Talvin Singh?
Blood on the Quad sounds like a class rant but it’s really not apparently. A great two-minute thrash which I’m sure would go down well at a Cambridge May Ball. Half Man Half Biscuit played one of them once, by the way. I haven’t seen that documented widely, but I do have a mate who claims to have been there.
See lyrics to Blood on the Quad
24 Letters Sent:
Bernard Matthews
‘Well it may be through goose rule; it may be through God’
Possibly?
See the highlighted portions here
Apr 14th, 2008
chris
That’s certainly what it sounds like, but even by Half Man Half Biscuit standards that’s an obscure reference! Let’s stick with it then.
Apr 14th, 2008
Sanchez
For years I thought he said ‘sounds like a Clash rant’.
May 9th, 2008
gary
I always thought it was gooch rule, as in graham gooch but i don’t know enough about cricket or quads to know if that makes any sense.
May 14th, 2008
Paul
I’m with Sanchez, I thought it was “Clash rant”.
Jul 4th, 2008
Charles Exford
‘Well it may be through goose rule; it may be through God’
These are certainly the words, and that’s an excellent bit of googling there Bernie, about the ‘Glancing Goose Rule’ in obscure US law, but I’m more inclined to think this is some sort of literary reference, with ‘goose rule’ most likely being a saying originating in the Game of Goose, one of the most popular board games of centuries gone by across all of Europe, and a game of total chance, in which for example, if your dice throw lands you on THE DEATH SQUARE you go back to the start. The rules were sometimes known as the ‘goose rules’. I have found literary references (e.g. a massively famous poem by Goldsmith in the 18th Century) which refers to these rules, but not yet anything about “By goose rule or by god”. I’ll keep looking.
Jan 29th, 2009
Jon Brassey
“Well it may be through goose rule”
I’m pretty sure it says something like ‘Well I may be too guttural’
It fits in with the above lines of the song asking him to speak. And, Scouse (although they are from the Wirral, they still have a Scouse accent – esp. in Birkenhead (I’m from down the road)) is guttural in nature e.g.
“…..though they are able to intimdate people through shouting at them with a guttural accent that….”
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?page=4&term=scouser
Jun 2nd, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
That could be a stroke of genius. OK, it would have to be pronounced “gootrall”, and it still sounds to me like “it may be”, not “I may be”, but it’s a distinct possibility. Let’s call up the regulars. What d’ya think guys?
Jun 2nd, 2009
Charles Exford
OK I’ve had an open-minded listen and a think and a listen again, but
(i) Never ever heard it pronounced like that, on Wirral, Merseyside, or anywhere.
(ii) If it was ‘guttural’ then ‘or it may be by God’ would seem a non-sequitur.
(iii) apart from /k/ often pronounced like German ‘ch’, Scouse is not a particularly guttural accent; it is far more nasal. NB’s softer non-Scouse Merseyside accent does not usually contain that particularly guttural vowel, nor in his songs does he tend to adopt the persona of someone with that accent.
(iv) That link you posted above is pretty offensive, as the writer claims to be capable of doing “a decent unbiased job” and then has a nasty, stereotype-perpetuating swipe in every single paragraph. And he thinks the Scouse persecution complex is unjustified ?
Jun 2nd, 2009
Jon Brassey
In response to Charles, I’m not claiming it was true – guttural, it was just a suggestion. Surely not wayward enough to incur such a bombastic response.
Non-sequitur, HMHB lyrics are full of them. Also, as for finding the link offensive – surely not. A HMHB with such a thin-skin….
Jun 19th, 2009
Charles Exford
Normally I tend to ignore the really far-off suggestions on here but Chris asked us what we thought of yours, on which you & he did actually seem rather keen (“pretty sure” and “a distinct possibility”). So I thought about it with an open mind and then I stated my views.
I then also stated my views on the undeniably offensive anti-Scouse bigotry in that link. I don’t think it’s an example a thin skin, as I am not Scouse, but it is I admit something I feel hugely strongly about.
Jun 20th, 2009
Jon
One follow-up to my initial response and something that aggrieved Charles was my link to some anti-Scouse sentiments. I was not linking to that article because I believed it (I don’t tend to take those sites particularly seriously) it simply supported my viewpoint that Scouse was/is guttural.
Jul 15th, 2009
Sera_6969
Always thought the fourth line “It may be through goose rule, it may be through God” referred to goose step and martial law. For example, it may be through political indoctrination, it may be through religious indoctrination…
Awesome site btw
Jul 16th, 2009
Adam Colenso
The Game of Goose is referred to in a footnote by the mad narrator/commentator Kinbote in Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabakov when it is compared with Starover Blue. Have a look here: http://nabokovs-butterfly.blogspot.com/2009/10/royal-game-of-goose.html
Jon, play nicely.
Mar 11th, 2010
Poolio
I don’t think that you can deny that it’s…
…now they’re going to drop their kecks…
I love finding one; that’s made this post-stag do Monday somewhat bearable – hurrah for me… can I get a seconder?
I too always thought “Clash rant”, but it’s definitely class…
Oct 4th, 2010
Charles Exford
Seconded. It’s definitely “they’re” (not “they’ve”) and either “going to” or “gone to”, the former seeming more likely.
I forgot to add back in the springtime that NB57 did confirm the “it may be through goose rule” line, but couldn’t recall what its origin or inspiration was.
Oct 5th, 2010
Neil G
Thirded. I hadn’t noticed that. Well spotted. Definitely ‘they’re going to …’
Oct 5th, 2010
Chris The Siteowner
Cheers all.
Oct 5th, 2010
Fredorrarci
I’ve always imagined the “goose rule” bit to be about some kind of future avian uprising owing to repeated foie gras-related abuse, meself.
Nov 3rd, 2010
Chigley Skin
It doesn’t seem to have been mentioned on here previously, so I’m not sure if it’s considered common knowledge, but the melody for this one is filched (with considerable irony) from Woody Guthrie’s “Miss Pavlichenko”, a tribute to a prolific Soviet sniper of the Second World War. Which I’ve always considered a minor bit of genius on NB57′s part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHKjOl9ocR0
Jul 26th, 2011
Charles Exford
Definite Golden Biscuit 2011 contender this brilliant info from CS.
Chapeau.
Jul 29th, 2011
Tonto's Expanding Waist Band
Apparently, “Goose Rule” is a NASA stipulation that fighter pilots must have a second pilot on stand-by in the back seat when flying during goose migration season… seems that a lone T-38 pilot crashed and was killed when a goose smashed into his cockpit during flight… but yez knew that already, right?!!!
Oct 3rd, 2011
John Burscough
Hence ‘Goose’ in Top Gun, presumably.
Oct 3rd, 2011
Gareth in Canada
Sounds like ‘gutteral’ to me. It makes a lot more sense, given the ‘ they didn’t let me into Oxbridge, after they asked me to speak’ message. Bit of a class rant on their part.
Dec 10th, 2011
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