(no subject)

[morwen]

You may have seen recent news coverage of allegations that an armed police officer inserted song titles into the evidence he gave to an inquest. Prompted by this revelation, I wondered if other people have been doing this. Possibly even public figures? So I analysed David Cameron's speech to the Conservative Party Conference last month. In the first half of the speech he drops in mentions of the following song titles:

*"I Want To Tell You" by the Beatles
*"Remember" by John Lennon
*"Stood Up" by Ricky Nelson
*"Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin
*"Tribute" - Tenacious D
*"Dividing Lines" - Citizen Fish
*"Give & Take" - Kina
*"Respect" - Aretha Franklin
*"Bloody Sunday" - Stiff Little Fingers
*"Stronger Together" - Rockmelons

I'm shocked to have discovered many song titles in it. Presumably there would be more in the second half. Further, I found, like the Law of Fives, that the harder I looked for song titles in the speech, the more I found. Next up, I suggest we try the same thing in Shakespeare, to see how many songs he was referencing. Also that Bible book I've heard about.

Comments

[deborah_c]

I did wonder about that as well, until I read that the evidence had included "Fuck My Old Boots", which is maybe something less likely to turn up in normal conversation, and less still in formal evidence, I suspect. On the other hand, maybe it's an everyday expression that I've just failed to notice.

Mind you, the song has entirely escaped my notice, so had it not been pointed out I'd have had nothing to wonder about!

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd heard it before, but it's a genuine exclamation. Definition from "A dictionary of slang and unconventional English" by Partridge&Beale is as follows:

fuck my old boots! A c.p. connoting astonishment: Londoners' (C.20), hence RAF (1918 onwards), then gen. A humorously euph. var is seduce my ancient footwear!