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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Last Edit: davei2000 03:01 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| Posted by: davei2000 02:55 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - wizrdofoz27 02:13 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I've always thought the "Look..." indicates the speaker is harried, and maybe a touch indifferent, rather than hostile. The "service will explain" that I'm not at home, and thus not near my phone, because I've been called away - an audition, a business trip. It's certainly possible that it's a lie. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 06:17 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - davei2000 02:55 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I've never thought of it as a lie, more of a comment on the lazy disconnected modern society who scurries around without regard for obligation or planning and lets it be enough for a machine or an operator to explain to the person they had plans with why they couldn't get there or answer the phone. To me the emphasis is on the lack of personal responsibility and connection. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Last Edit: davei2000 07:51 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| Posted by: davei2000 07:49 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chazwaza 06:17 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I don't think it's a lie either, just trying not to completely rule out what the OP was saying, but the lazy or irresponsible thing would be not to do anything. This promise to give a message through the service, because you won't be near a phone, is kind of sad in its maybe doomed effort not to fall out of touch. I used to say the new line should be I'll call you in the morning if there's service on the train...(Or plane...Do people actually use onboard phones in flight? I know you can't use your own...) Maybe better would be, I'll call you in the morning or my intern will explain... |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 07:43 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:41 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chazwaza 06:17 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| As AlanScott alludes to above, I don't really think "lazy" is part of this. The opening vamp of the show (i.e. the vamp that begins the song "Company" - the rhythm of which continues throughout the entire song in various ways) is meant to be a musical imitation of a busy signal - and of course on the original recording this is made literally clear. When Marta asks Bobby what he thinks the pulse of the city is, he responds "a busy signal?" And, of course you have the busy, restless feeling of the accompaniment to "Another 100 People" to boot. Not lazy - busy. Too busy to even answer the phone call. Which is why the service is there to pick it up. ;-) |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 10:30 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chromolume 07:41 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Yes, agreed. I meant more emotionally lazy, lazy with regard to prioritizing the personal touch. But yes busy says it regardless. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: gcarl44 04:30 pm EST 12/18/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chazwaza 10:30 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Yes, in agreement with you both. I have been reading through this thread, and it seems like most folks are focusing in on an attitude Bobby may have about his one-nite-stands and commitment. People seem to have forgotten that the line is in the song "Another 100 People", which is about the increasingly impersonal nature of a huge, buzzing, busy metropolis and the difficulty of connecting with another person. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Last Edit: jeffef 04:23 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| Posted by: jeffef 04:13 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - davei2000 02:55 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| The way I see it, being from that era, it’s like saying these days, I’ll have my people call your people. It’s a bit of a deflection indicative of Bobby’s aversion to commitment. Today he would have said I’ll look for you on Facebook or text you in the morning. Here’s my instagram or whatever, still it’s a deflection. “Service” was replaced by voicemail, unless you a personal secretary or assistant (ha ha) and your outgoing message could say, “i’m sorry, I’m in Tahiti, please leave a message.” But we know you’re not in Tahiti. |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: garyd 01:21 am EST 12/18/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - jeffef 04:13 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| The song has little,specifically, to do with Bobby. it is a cultural reference. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Thom915 04:08 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - davei2000 02:55 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| Having worked for three different answering services when I first moved to New York back in the seventies, your answer comes the closest to the way an answering service would operate. The answering services very rarely made phone calls on behalf of the client though we would occasionally make telephone calls to the client at a number different than theirs. (Those would be logged and the client would be charged extra per call. Therefore it is conceivable Bobby could have the service call Marta and offer some excuse. More likely it was just that Bobby would leave a message for Marta that he was unavailable. (haha, no lie there) The message could have been left that if any woman called for him they were to be told he was unavailable or some such other excuse. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: gcarl44 04:32 pm EST 12/18/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Thom915 04:08 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| The line is not about Bobby, but rather the impersonal nature of a large, bustling metropolis and the ability to connect with people. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 04:50 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Thom915 04:08 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I agree with the general idea - but I'm not sure that there's meant to be any direct connection here (no pun intended) to Bobby in the lyric. I don't think the song is about HIM in any direct way - it's Marta's impressions of the crazy/busy life in Manhattan for sure, but it seems to me that the subject of this section of the song is the more general "they" she keeps mentioning ("they meet at parties" etc) rather than Bobby specifically. Bobby can and would certainly be one member of the "they," of course - but it's not just about him. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Thom915 09:33 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chromolume 04:50 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| You are quite correct. I don't know why I tried to equate that with Bobby. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: jeffef 05:04 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Chromolume 04:50 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I’m getting a kick out of these yunguns not understanding the concept of a service. See: Bells are Rining. How many times has someone said I’ll call and not really mean it. Ha ha | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: Ann 05:32 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - jeffef 05:04 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I'm old enough to understand answering services, but I don't think the lyric makes sense, if you think about it. I still love it, though. | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: bobby2 10:20 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - Ann 05:32 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I think it is just part of the fragmented frenzy of chatter the character perceives city life to be: "I'll meet you there, no I'll pick you up, no we'll let it go" | |
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| re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company | |
| Posted by: portenopete 03:18 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
| In reply to: re: “Look I’ll call you in the morning or my service will explain” from Company - davei2000 02:55 pm EST 12/15/17 | |
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| I've always thought that, rather than it being a hostile comment, it was delivered blithely and pleasantly and that it demonstrated the shallowness of the friendship that Marta is a part of.I doubt anyone would have deputized an answering service to end a friendship. (I don't know whether Susansaphone was a very honest depiction of answering service companies.) | |
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