--- James Leahy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I've lately been analyzing these lyrics from Otis > and Marlena: > > Watching three rings in the sun > The golden dive, the fatted flake > And sizzle in the [their?] mink oil > > In the DJRD songbook there is a period after 'sun.' > The vinyl fold-out > does not include a period; nor does the Complete > Poems & Lyrics. At one > point I thought that the three grammatical > constructions after 'three > rings' were 'dive', 'flake', and 'sizzle' and that > they were all nouns > and that they were all examples of the 'rings'. But > now I think they are > three verbs with two subjects: > > the golden [suntanned people] dive [into pools] > the fatted [old people] flake [from sunburn] and > sizzle in their mink > oil [while suntanning]
That's the way it always sounded to me. I wouldn't be relying too heavily on the punctuation in any case for a couple of reasons - 1) there are often mistakes in the lyrics in any case (a prime example? boy winds! so the addition or omission of a period would be small potatoes) and 2) if it's poetry, esp. modern poetry, punctuation is sometimes minimal or not even there - which enhances ambiguity sometimes, and deliberately so. I think the three-rings representing a circus is right on. ______________________________________________________________________ Web-hosting solutions for home and business! http://website.yahoo.ca
