She’s In Broadstairs just about completes Cammell Laird Social Club* but there are a couple of lines which are big queries, so all suggestions gratefully appreciated in the comments below. It’s not often Nigel’s references go south-east of London (Kent, Rye and the South Downs are the only other ones on Stuart’s map), so it’s a rarity. Thanks to gNick, Sarah, Max, Steve and Neil.
See lyrics to She’s In Broadstairs
Note from Chris The Siteowner:
I tend to act on lyric corrections usually only when somebody backs up an initial suggestion. If a correction doesn't get a seconder, I usually let it go (unless it's so obviously the right thing to do). However, if you feel strongly that I shouldn't have ignored a suggestion, feel free to re-post your comment and ask for some support!
Note: the first three Half Man Half Biscuit albums have some crossover of tracks - see here for details
Design: Grid Focus by Derek Punsalan, 5thirtyone.com
22 Letters Sent:
Ben
She prized it rather highly
It saved her once in Filey
Thanks for that, I’d been struggling with the first 4 words in each line for years.
I thought it was something “Civic Emulator” whatever one of those is.
Broadstairs Facts
The running on the beach shot in Chariots of Fire was filmed there. Although strangely this isn’t recorded on an extensive list of filming around Broadstairs on it’s wikipedia site – perhaps I’m wrong, though I’m sure I’ve read that a few times.
The most nervous person I’ve ever met came from Broadstairs, girl with big mop of blonde hair, can’t remember her name – I worked with her in a call centre for a couple of years – I have no recollection of her conversing with anyone except to whipser to a colleague who started on the same day as her.
May 21st, 2009
Daryl
One of my all time favourites, for what it’s worth. It rocks mightily.
Unfortunately I can offer no help on the missing lines, although when I first heard the chorus I thought it went:
Broadstairs
She’s in Broadstairs
She’s in Broadstairs
Eva Braun-stairs.
Which I still think is pretty good…
May 21st, 2009
Alex
I hear ‘civic regulator’, though I can’t be certain. It’s been bothering me for a some time.
May 22nd, 2009
Alex
By which I of course meant ‘for some time’. Amateur.
May 22nd, 2009
Charles Exford
I always assumed he sang:
Apparently she’s seeing
A bloke who used to be an
(he’s deliberately twisted it virtually to ‘in’ to rhyme]
An acidity regulator
[cos that'd be a good joke - financial, energy, telecoms regulators, etc]
From nearer the equator [= quite an amusing way of saying down South, e.g. Kent]
However, it clearly isn’t ‘acidity’, it sounds more like ‘acidic’.
Acidic regulator ? I think so.
But is it a joke about a daft job title, after ‘an’, or a band nam, after ‘in’ ?
I dunno.
May 22nd, 2009
Fredorrarci
I’m hearing “defibrillator”. Actually, I’m hearing “defribulator”, which I think is a common mispronunciation (common enough that if you search Wikipedia for “Defribulator”, as I just did, it brings you to the entry for “Defibrillation”). I don’t know what the bit before it would be, if this is the case, or how it would fit in with “From nearer the equator”.
May 22nd, 2009
Blue Badge Abuser
The comment above about Broadstairs is incorrect.
The scene from Chariots of Fire was captioned “Broadstairs, Kent” but was filmed at St Andrews in Scotland.
Are we allowed to be pedantic about other pedants’ pedantry?
May 22nd, 2009
Paul F
Allowed? I would have thought it was compulsory.
May 22nd, 2009
Charles Exford
Yes please BBA, since the film had 2 locations within a couple of miles of Prenton ! Some of us were in the Stade Colombes crowd scenes, filmed at Bebington Oval. The cross-Channel ferry in the film departed from Woodside (Birkenhead Ferry).
Nice apostrophe work by the way – a lot of people get St. Andrews wrong. As a top pedant yourself, what do you think of “goalkeepers’ gloves” in “Paradise Lost” ?
May 22nd, 2009
Mr Larrington
@Charles Exford:
You are right. Surely the subject of the song would only have been tossed the gloves of a single goalkeeper?
And whilewe’re at it, how would Mr Whatisname’s on!ons have fared better if he’d spent a fortnight in Dorset than if he’d spent the same length of time in Cuba?
May 22nd, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
Hmmm, I’m not so sure. These are the type of gloves which all goalkeepers use, therefore “goalkeepers’ gloves”, surely? Of course, the song could be referring to the gloves (of any kind) belonging to one particular goalkeeper, in which case it would be the “goalkeeper’s gloves”, but to me it sounds like the object of the song is being tossed any old pair of “goalkeepers’ gloves”.
And how did we start talking about a totally different song on this page anyway?
May 22nd, 2009
Blue Badge Abuser
I think if it were any old pair of gloves it still wouldn’t be “goalkeepers’ gloves”. That specifically means the gloves belonging to multiple goalkeepers. I think it would be singular.
I remember a very good debate in Private Eye wondering whether it should be called “Pedant’s Corner”, “Pedants’ Corner” or “Pedants Corner”. Not as obvious as you’d think.
While we’re talking about Broadstairs and Chariots of Fire, the red brick building into which they run is actually Hamilton Hall, one of the university’s halls of residence. And that’s about the moment where the film’s executive director is listed on the credits, one Dodi Fayed. And famously, the scene in Trinity College Cambridge was actually filmed at Eton after Trinity refused them permission.
Interesting points about the Stade de Colombes and the ferry – thanks!
May 22nd, 2009
Charles Exford
Pedantically speaking, how can I be right if I only asked the question ?
Anyway, I only half changed the subject. Larrington did it twice, Sir, it was him Sir.
And I suspect his Mr. Galbraith reference is a deliberate reminder to me of my most shameful act of pedantry ever, when I actually interrupted the gig to ask NB that very question…. Never again.
May 22nd, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
The outcome of the Private Eye debate (until it was amusingly closed with the declaration that “Ped’ants Corner” was correct) seemed to be that “Pedants’ Corner” was the safest option. The only persuasive argument against this seemed to be that as the corner did not belong to the pedants, there should be no apostrophe. And in this case, it could be argued that “goalkeepers gloves” are a type of glove, rather than belonging to either a single goalkeeper, or the whole species. So I’d accept the argument for “goalkeepers gloves” over “goalkeepers’ gloves”, but I’d put “goalkeeper’s gloves” a distant third. Unless – as I’ve said – the song is referring to the gloves of a particular goalkeeper. Which it may well be.
If someone wants to write me a Wordpress plugin which will rotate the possibilities on an hourly basis, that’d be great.
May 23rd, 2009
DAVE G
Has anyone else noticed the similarity between Broadstairs and Squeeze’s “Up The Junction”? Try singing the lyrics of Up The Junction to Broadstairs – or the other way round, even – and they fit perfectly (apart from Junction having an extra syllable in the first two lines). It’s almost as if verses from Up The Junction were used as the template to Broadstairs……
May 25th, 2009
Blue Badge Abuser
I still think it’s “goalkeeper’s gloves” meaning “the gloves of an (unspecified) goalkeeper”.
“Goalkeepers’ gloves” is a distant third for me, meaning specifically “the gloves of several goalkeepers” and therefore not a meaning that would crop up except in an unlikely scenario where both goalies threw their gloves to the same spot.
It’s an interesting comparison to “Pedants’ Corner” but in that case it was indeed “the corner belonging to more than one pedant”.
Still, the referee’s decision is final.
Or is that “referees’ decision”? Does “the referee’s decision” refer to the main referee or does it include the other officials? Heh heh.
May 26th, 2009
Chris H
For ‘She’s in Broadstairs’ I was hearing ‘Senior Regulator’. Senior Regulators work for the International Atomic Energy Agency – what do you reckon?
May 27th, 2009
Chris The Siteowner
That’s the best suggestion yet, but I still don’t think it’s right, especially as it seems to follow “A bloke who used to be in“…
May 27th, 2009
Charles Exford
What sounds like “in” may well be “in”, but knowing how much NB likes a challenge and/or a laugh rhyme-wise it could easily be “an”.
For example keep saying something like “I used to be an acrobat” very fast, and /bi:jin/ is certainly one way to pronounce “be an”.
Anyway, it’s more or less exactly the same thing he’s done to make “listen” rhyme with “kissing”, making both sounds into /in/.
Whatever the former job, band, etc is, the word before the word which seems to be ‘regulator’ doesn’t end in a vowel sound like ’senior’, and seems to end in a hard /k/ …or just possibly a /g/ or /ŋ / pronounced with less ‘voice’, as they sometimes are in a final position.
And shouldn’t the ‘best suggestion’ for whatever it is be … a bit, well.. potentially …._funny_ ?
@ BBA – as I have a correction to make to ‘Paradise Lost’, shall we take this elsewhere ?
May 27th, 2009
a_p
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/31/isle-of-thanet-holiday-margate
“…Thanet’s three neighbouring towns are satisfyingly different, too: Broadstairs, with its curving bay and cute jetty, is the classic seaside haunt…”
‘haunt’ being the operative word I fear, but that’s another story…
Jun 1st, 2009
Tom F
I agree with Dave G about the Squeeze similarity.
Dec 3rd, 2009
garisson
one of my favourite HMHB songs the desperation and obsessiveness of it all just blow me away
Dec 20th, 2009
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