27 Apr 2008
Not Sally, Carrie Anne or Peggy Sue
Ode To Joyce is rather sweet, unless there are some dark undertones which have gone over my head. And hey, why not “Joyce” indeed? What happened to them all? Thanks to Ian
See lyrics to Ode To Joyce
Ode To Joyce is rather sweet, unless there are some dark undertones which have gone over my head. And hey, why not “Joyce” indeed? What happened to them all? Thanks to Ian
See lyrics to Ode To Joyce
Note: the first three Half Man Half Biscuit albums have some crossover of tracks - see here for details
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22 Letters Sent:
Martin
Not T-Bay, but ‘Tebay’
It’s an M6 service station in Cumbria, so ties up quite nicely with Ambleside too
Apr 27th, 2008
chris
Aha, but T-Bay is “Ireland’s Surf and Wildlife Centre”, so it could equally well be that. But the Ambleside bit is a clincher, so we’ll go with the more prosaic option. Thanks!
Apr 27th, 2008
Stuart
Just a tiddler but on the 9th line it should read ‘girl called Joyce’…
May 30th, 2008
chris p
surely it’s “when the BAD gets worse”, not BACK. (brilliant site by the way, superb work)
Jun 1st, 2008
Neil
Perhaps the title is alluding to Beethovens 9th Symphony aka “Ode to Joy”
Jun 19th, 2008
Neil B
“I was busy with trellising the yard”
surely “I was busy with trellis IN the yard” ?
Aug 2nd, 2008
ian
I always thought it was “when the band gets worse”, but it does sound like “bad” listening back. I like mine better. I wrote the rest too.
Aug 15th, 2008
Neil G
I have to go along with Neil B with regard to ‘busy with trellis in the yard’. I have never heard ‘trellis’ used as a verb, but I’m pretty sure you would only be able to ‘trellis’ a plant, i.e. provide a plant with trellis. I don’t think you could ‘trellis’ a yard. Yards tend not to climb.
Aug 16th, 2008
Max Williams
i’d also vote for “trellis in the yard” and “when the back gets worse” – no question imo.
Aug 27th, 2008
Dave F.
I hear “when the bad gets worse”
I also hear “Gonna lose myself in a thrall of a girl called Joyce”
But I see no reason why it shouldn’t be the.
Just after, NB57 shouts three words from the back of the room… Can’t quite work out what though…
Love, love, love. maybe?
I’m going with trellising as a verb.
There are many times nouns become verbs, for instance once the trellis is erected you have to creosote it!
And nowadays doesn’t everyone Google.
I assume the last line is a reference to the Hendrix song The Wind Cries Mary
Dec 30th, 2008
Neil G
I have to disagree with Dave F. regarding ‘trellising’. I accept that trellis can be used as a verb but its meaning, according to http://www.yourdictionary.com/trellis is
1. to furnish with or train on a trellis
2. to cross or interweave like a trellis.
Since you cannot train a yard or interweave a yard, I’m sticking with ‘trellis in the yard’.
Dec 31st, 2008
Tom
If it was ‘trellising’ there wouldn’t be a ‘with’, surely?
“I was busy trellising the yard” would be ok, but “busy WITH trellising the yard” seems a bit awkward grammatically. Another vote for “trellis IN the yard” from me.
Apr 11th, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
Listened to it again, and “with” still sounds right to me – and “busy with” + verb is pretty standard, at least where I come from (which is much nearer Chatteris than NB57′s house, it’s true).
Apr 11th, 2009
John Anderson
I’m sure it’s “busy with trellis in the yard” Not sure why there’s no a or the. I would also go with “bad gets worse” rather than “back gets worse.”
Maybe Nigel wouldn’t have written the song if he’d checked out “After Bathing At Baxter’s” by Jefferson Airplane, which includes a splendid track called Rejoyce,
Apr 12th, 2009
Swanaldo
I prefer the “When the back gets worse” argument, conjuring up a matronly physiotherapist by the name of Joyce.
Aug 30th, 2009
chesneywold
isnt it ‘their’ glade. It belongs to the fauns like. Man what a beautiful song it is. As dense and fecund as i imagine the glade to be. i hate the arctic monkeys, make me sick.
Sep 3rd, 2009
Swanaldo
Their glade.
Trellis in.
Undecided on the ‘bad gets worse’/'back gets worse’ argument now. (Yes, I’m backing down)
Great song though, and makes it onto a lot of my ‘in the car’ CDs, along with ‘Restless Legs’
Sep 3rd, 2009
simon smith
Just a doff of the cap to NB’s google-proof genius for the Ronnie Boyce line. My wife asked if Ronnie, being a 60-s/early 70-s footballer, was in the thrall of hallucinogenics. I informed her it was a cute reference to Boyce retorting to a lacklustre (if still forty yard long) goalkick from the hands of Man City’s ogre/lummox Joe Corrigan with an insouciant volley straight back into the middle of the goal that Joltin’ Joe was still five yards to the right from. It may even be on YouTube.
It is. It’s here at 0:36-0:43. Quite far out.
Feb 6th, 2010
Neil G
My goodness. I’d forgotten that they used to play football in mud baths. All that’s missing there is a dog on the pitch.
Feb 6th, 2010
simon smith
Trouble is….
There was one,but it`s been Photoshopped out any case they lose sponsorship.
Feb 6th, 2010
Andrew
There’s actually a Lou Courtney funk soul track “Hey Joyce”, made famous as a break by the DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist ‘Brainfreeze’ compilation. So not only is at an ode but it has the affirmative refrain ‘Hey Joyce, you’re my choice’ as the chorus.
(it’s all over the net if you want to check it out)
Feb 2nd, 2011
Gregg Z
Being American, thus culturally deficient, it took me until just a minute ago (thanks to a YouTube visit) to suss out the line “though you’re not as far out as Ronnie Boyce”.
Though I still know fuck-all about English football, this line is staggeringly funny.
Jul 8th, 2011
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