Threaded Order Chronological Order
| re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - tmdonahue 10:37 am EST 02/17/19 | |
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| There's no more answering service; the song mentions texting instead. Which to me is an entirely different take on the lyric, and an inferior one, even if penned by the master. In the original, the choice was to talk directly or to skirt the issue by using the more impersonal answering service, which ties right into the frantic "city of strangers" idea in the song. But "or I'll text you to explain" just isn't the same, because it seems to me a lot of people prefer texting as a direct communication method anyway. There isn't quite the same stigma there, and less people would feel texting is impersonal at all. |
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| the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:34 am EST 02/18/19 | |
| In reply to: re: COMPANY (Mild Spoilers) - Chromolume 07:44 pm EST 02/17/19 | |
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| And I blame both Sondheim and Elliott for letting it go. If memory serves, he sang "text me in the morning or I'll call you to explain". If anything it SHOULD be the reverse - "call me in the morning or I'll text you to explain." Maybe better "and i'll" or even other variations like "call me if you want to but i'll text you to explain" or "look I'll text you in the morning if you need me to explain" ... there are many ways to go if you really want to try to rethink/update the song for current phone culture. The point is that no one today would rather call... the whole thing is to avoid speaking directly and in real time to the person. We youths joke about how calling someone is an act of social terrorism or assault. A young person today, and by young I mean under 35 or even 40, usually avoids direct calling whenever possible, especially if you're explaining why you didn't show up somewhere. And this is a theme/metaphor that works stunningly well for Company as it is written and conceived, it fits right in. So this was really sad to me that they missed this easy part of the update. Made it clear to me, among many other examples, that Ms. Elliott is not the person to be overseeing a modern update of Company. |
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| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Last Edit: Ann 09:27 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| Posted by: Ann 09:26 am EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Chazwaza 11:34 am EST 02/18/19 | |
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| On the recording, it sounds like he signs, "I'll text you in the morning or I'll call you and explain." So, he just doesn't know if it's something that he wants to type into a text. The young people in my life still occasionally call, if it's going to take a lot of talking/explaining. I'm just now listening to the recording now ... so many new lyrics (plus an "oh, shit!"), it's jarring to the mind. |
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| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 12:39 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Ann 09:26 am EST 02/19/19 | |
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| But again, that doesn't ring true to me. The text in the morning would be the explanation, or at least if you're giving an explanation it would be in text message. Yes, sure, he might be the type who would call to explain something rather than text. But if we're updating for modern culture, that is just not very common among people under 30 especially, which I think Marta (i forget the male version's name - Martin I assume) is meant to be. But even under 35. And yes young people may call if it's going to take a lot of explaining, but I don't think this scenario would... it's a simple explanation, made less awkward to not have to answer for yourself live on the phone. That's often why people avoid calling. But again, it's just as much about the logic of the scenario he's laying out to me as it is about the lyric having a chance to represent modern phone culture. And it doesn't. |
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| re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 10:54 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
| In reply to: re: the "texting" lyric change shows a fundamental lack of understanding of text culture - Chazwaza 12:39 pm EST 02/19/19 | |
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| Also, I tend to read "I'll call you in the morning" as actually meaning the more tacitly understood "I *won't* call you, but I'll say that I will - and if you call me, my service will pick up." The whole sense of the lyric to me is in the LACK of committment/connection. Haven't we all been on first dates, etc, where we know the obligatory "I'll call you" is just something you say to be polite, lol? So really, one wouldn't really be expecting even a text conversation, let alone a call. |
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