Kev Hunter
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The only difference between a rut and a groove is the depth
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Post by Kev Hunter on Sept 30, 2014 21:10:25 GMT
Somewhat random yet prompted by the thread about the drama "Cilla", I wonder if anyone saw the real Cilla perform a sanitised version of "Liverpool Lullaby" some months ago on a TV show? Having been used to hearing the comparitively gritty original many years ago on her own series, I was surprised to hear the new rendition in which the line "You'll get a belt from your dad" was replaced by a frankly pathetic "You'll get told off by your dad."
Now what the firkin firk was that all about?
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Post by John Green on Sept 30, 2014 21:36:36 GMT
Hmmm.I remember when this was premiered.I think there was a concession made,in people's minds,because it was (sort of like) a folk song.Is it actually 'trad.'? Added: Well,the tune is... www.feniks.com/skb/music/lull12.html |
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Post by Stephen Doran on Oct 1, 2014 12:19:13 GMT
Thought she said your Da trying to sound as if she was Irish?
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 1, 2014 16:30:52 GMT
it's a Liverpudlian take - 'yer ger a belt from ya Da...' is how she sings it back in 1969
Stan Kelly's lyrics in the song are 'sung in character' by a poor mother and sounds rather a bit old fashioned going on about the girl (the older sister or daughter I think) who is 'working at the loom'
it's a lament as much as anything (more than any 'lullaby' as such) re the hard times etc, but with a nostalgic tinge for a bygone age, a bit like some early Gilbert O'Sullivan tracks such as 'Permissive Twit' on his debut album 'Himself' and Cilla sang it well - I believe 'Liverpool Lullaby' is one of her personal fav songs
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Kev Hunter
Member
The only difference between a rut and a groove is the depth
Posts: 625
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Post by Kev Hunter on Oct 1, 2014 18:21:02 GMT
Thanks, Stephen and Patrick, but you're missing the point I was attempting to make (maybe I didn't make it clearly enough): I was just wondering whether the change from "getting a belt from.." to the gentler "get told off by.." was a fairly recent development, given that she used to sing the child-beating reference and no-one ever thought twice about it. Surely our moral guardians (or call them what you will) haven't intervened again in the attempt to re-write social history?
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Post by Tony Walshaw on Oct 2, 2014 8:02:02 GMT
Kev - yes, I think it is a concession to current attitudes.
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Post by johnmce on Oct 2, 2014 8:21:13 GMT
The first (and only) time I heard the new lyrics was on the ITV tribute show about a year ago, hosted by Paul O'Grady, where she sung it at the end. Being fairly familiar with the song over the years, the new PC lyrics stuck out like a sore thumb. I'd love to know whether they were Cilla's idea, or the production team. Either way the decision was ludicrous, and completely ruined the song.
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Post by Patrick Coles on Oct 4, 2014 17:01:40 GMT
I didn't miss any point at all just was explaining how Stan Kelly wrote the song 'in character' of Livepudlians of past days
- obviously it's been 'PC Cleaned up' (not by Cilla I would think but by modern TV producers terrified of complaints) for today's ultra sensitive (on the surface) society's attitude
sadly I don't doubt 'beltings' from 'ya Da' (or 'step Da' or 'Ma') ARE still very much with us as Stan Kelly was duly 'commenting on' when writing the lyrics back then, only now we must pretend it doesn't happen....
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Post by tombeveridge on Oct 4, 2014 18:33:42 GMT
I didn't miss any point at all just was explaining how Stan Kelly wrote the song 'in character' of Livepudlians of past days - obviously it's been 'PC Cleaned up' (not by Cilla I would think but by modern TV producers terrified of complaints) for today's ultra sensitive (on the surface) society's attitude sadly I don't doubt 'beltings' from 'ya Da' (or 'step Da' or 'Ma') ARE still very much with us as Stan Kelly was duly 'commenting on' when writing the lyrics back then, only now we must pretend it doesn't happen.... Patrick, You're right on target. I doubt very much that the child-beating behaviour of drunked-up dads (in Liverpool or anywhere else) has been modified much since Stan Kelly wrote his song in the late 1950s. In fact, I'd venture to suggest that turning a blind eye and sanitising the lyrics, instead of confronting the issue head on, is a shameful chicken-hearted cop-out by the PC brigade. Surely this problem deserves more exposure rather than less. Cilla Black's position in this is invidious--should she take a stand? As an "entertainer" (our own Gracie Fields?), pandering to her modern audience, perhaps "No", but, given her strength within the establishment, I feel let down that she didn't stick to her guns. I think it was Cole Porter who said to Frank Sinatra, "If you don't like the way I wrote the song, don't sing it!" Cilla, sing it as written, or not at all! ...just my 2 cents worth! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2014 20:34:20 GMT
This is what was said about the decision to change it back in October 2013.
Cilla Black has dropped a reference to child beating from one of her famous songs, calling it ‘inappropriate’ for modern audiences.
The former Blind Date host changed the line in Liverpool Lullaby during a performance on a ‘family friendly’ ITV tribute show broadcast last week.
Cilla, 70, who has been performing the number since the late 1960s, sang the altered version at the end of Wednesday’s The One And Only Cilla Black, celebrating her 50 years in showbusiness.
Liverpool Lullaby is about a working-class mother struggling to bring up a child in the back streets of the city. The desperate mum warns her ‘mucky kid’ that unless he behaves, he will ‘gerra belt from your dad’ when he returns from a night in the pub.
But in the version she sang on Wednesday, Liverpudlian Cilla replaced the line, which normally appears in three verses, with: ‘You’ll get told off by your dad.’
The change was thought necessary even though the 90-minute programme didn’t start until 9pm.
The star’s agent and manager, her son Robert Willis, last night defended the new version, which he said was about ensuring the show stayed ‘family-friendly’.
He said: ‘Cilla loves the song and she thought it was an evocative and appropriate ending for the show. We changed the line about belting because we thought it was important to bring the lyrics up to date.
No one advocates people taking a belt to their children today, obviously. It is just not appropriate. It may have been acceptable when the song first came out but it isn’t today.’
Cilla released the folk song as the B-side to her 1969 hit Conversations. But many fans, particularly in her native Liverpool, preferred the track to the A-side and the singer has embraced it ever since.
A spokesman for ITV last night said the star and the broadcaster had agreed to amend the song.
‘Cilla felt some of the sentiment could have been made more relevant for today,’ he said. ‘She discussed it with everyone and there was a feeling it was the right way to go.’
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Kev Hunter
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The only difference between a rut and a groove is the depth
Posts: 625
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Post by Kev Hunter on Oct 4, 2014 21:24:52 GMT
The change was thought necessary even though the 90-minute programme didn’t start until 9pm. The star’s agent and manager, her son Robert Willis, last night defended the new version, which he said was about ensuring the show stayed ‘family-friendly’. I think this is a cop-out. Surely no-one takes songs like this at face value? Please credit us with a bit more sense to differentiate between something that's said in an historical social context. What other changes can we reasonably expect now to keep things family-friendly? Maybe next time Tom Jones sings "Delilah" the lyrics will go something like "She stood there laughing.. I felt the knife in my hand and made her a sandwich." |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 4, 2014 22:33:19 GMT
I always thought the expression "You'll get a belt from your da" as sung in the song was more like getting a clip round the ear rather than an actual belting anyway!
Utterly ridiculous to feel the need to change it...
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Post by Tony Walshaw on Oct 6, 2014 8:13:12 GMT
To update it to modern sensibilities, why not change 'gerra belt from your dad'.... to 'get no apps on your I-Pad'.... Just a thought....  |
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Post by robchapman on Oct 6, 2014 10:33:00 GMT
[[/quote]I think this is a cop-out. Maybe next time Tom Jones sings "Delilah" the lyrics will go something like "She stood there laughing.. I felt the knife in my hand and made her a sandwich."[/quote]
LMAO.
"Hey Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand..............I'm going down to the sheriff's office to hand it in. There's an amnesty on."
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Kev Hunter
Member
The only difference between a rut and a groove is the depth
Posts: 625
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Post by Kev Hunter on Oct 6, 2014 10:52:31 GMT
Superb, Tony and Rob! Might explain why I hadn't heard "Hey Joe" on the radio for a while. And no wonder we never hear Cat Stevens' "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun" either..
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