27 Feb 2009
Exceptions for the likes of REO Speedwagon
There are some HMHB songs which largely defy explanation, and Numanoid Hang-glide is one of them. If we waited around for someone in REO Speedwagon to die before doing this one, we might be here a long time – they’ve been going for over 40 years and have been mentioned in an HMHB song …without any early demises, as far as I can see. Gazza, Mozzer and indeed, Numan himself may well go first. Dif Juz may well have had a 4AD3DCD. Thanks to Jon F and gNick
See lyrics to Numanoid Hang-glide
12 Letters Sent:
simon smith
I’ve always believed that the start of the second verse proper commences with a drawn out ‘where’ before ‘once you’. I think it makes more sense that way or perhaps not.
Feb 28th, 2009
Murray Meikle
Phonetically it doesn’t make a great difference but I think I think it should be “howay cemetery gates” as in “howay the lads”, from the Blaydon Races and other Newcastle United chants etc. Actually there is an argument for it being “cemetry gates” given that is the (incorrect) spelling given on the Queen is Dead track listing. I’m having difficulty getting to sleep.
Mar 1st, 2009
gary s
Agree with drawn out “where” and howay cemetery gates. Also i think it’s dehydration on a long jog.
Mar 1st, 2009
John Anderson
I have always heard it as jog rather than job. There’s a greater irony and it fits in better with the previous line’s references to “in our road” and “on the run.”
Maybe Nigel was alludiung to the fact that the man who popularised jogging in the 1970s died of a heart attack while out jogging.
,
Mar 1st, 2009
Petrovic
I’m guessing that the title is a reference to the Bonzos’ track Humanoid Boogie?
Mar 1st, 2009
Charles Exford
Agree with all of the above. As soon as I saw it I assumed that “job” was a typo as I notice “G” is right there by “B” on my keyboard.
There isn’t just a “Where”, there’s a magnificicent “Whe-e-ere” that owes debts of thanks to Lulu (and arguably those from Motown she was imitating, and those from Gospel that they were).
Personally I’d spell Mozza as Mozza – maybe you’ve already applied the google test to that one, but it seems to be the standard spelling in the media and goes better with Gazza.
Talking of Mozza, did you consider a rakishly-angled accent on “grazèd” in the manner of a self-consciously romantic sonnet ?
Anyway it all makes perfect sense to me.
Keep up the good work! Toodle-pip!
Mar 2nd, 2009
Charles Exford
Oh by the way, the Jesus stock reply/REO Speedwagon thing seems a lot less random (nothing is random) when you know that they asked the same question, sort of, in the pathetic – in both senses of the word – lyrics to “I do Wanna Know”:
You have said as much as you can say
Your heart is just about to overflow
Must be something more I can do
Some new plateau
I’m listening to you
Dying to know
Everything that you’re feeling
Every change you undergo
Just don’t tell me that you love me
Because I do’ wanna know
I do’ wanna know how much you love me
I do’ wanna know how much you care
I do’ wanna, I do’ wanna, I do’ wanna know
I do’ wanna do what I’m supposed to
I do’ wanna wear what I’m supposed to wear
I do’ wanna, I do’ wanna, I do’ wanna know
You are gonna do what you must do
You are gonna go where you want to go
You are gonna hear what you hear
Fear what you fear
Don’t say a word
Don’t let it show
You will be what you will be
You will reap everything you sow
Just don’t tell me that you love me
Because I do’ wanna know
To me it seems to fit in thematically with the image of the mother figure who has exhausted her ability to care and is now hanging with the least human cult imaginible – the Numanoids, the Replicants… nothing is random.
Oh and if you’ve ever had cause to think about how much reference there is in the Collected Works of NB to emotional/developmental ‘conditions’ which medical professionals might locate somewhere on the Autistic Spectrum, it’s a nice coincidence that in 2001, several years after this song of course, Gary Numan told the world he had Asperger’s (Google it and you’ll probably just find an article from the Independent mainly focusing on a suicide in the Bacharach family which mentions Numan further down).
Mar 2nd, 2009
Bill Stow
On a point of information – why the ‘metal ten seconds’ addition to the title of Numanoid Hang-glide?
Mar 2nd, 2009
Poolio
Hmmm,
I’m feeling grammatically inferior to one or two on here, so ’tis with trepidation I ask: should “Is that a stock reply” be in speech marks too?
I know it’s thought, but it feels like a spoken question to me…
Mar 3rd, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
I’m tending (when I remember) to not put the singer’s quotes or thoughts in speech marks, or else it’s hard to know when to stop (in this case, we’d need to put the rest of the song in speech marks, probably).
Mar 3rd, 2009
Matt Lee
Mozza, surely?
Aug 6th, 2010
dagenham dave
‘Mozzer’ rather than ‘Mozza’ which sounds like some sort of cheese.
Aug 7th, 2010
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