(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

[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!