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AcostaFulano View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Aisle of pleny Lyrics!
    Posted: December 10 2006 at 20:26
Anyone has any idea of the actual words at the end of this song?

I read somewhere they were a list of groceries or something??

Has anyone been able to understand any of em?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2006 at 20:41
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2006 at 20:42
LOL oh they sound so bizarre I didn't even took the time to check out the lyrics online hehehe :P

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 10 2006 at 20:45
LOL!  Those are top quality thoughts
My favorite pasty faced British pal.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 03:39
There are some puns hidden in there, but I'm not sure if I recognise all of them. For example, 'Safeway' and 'Tesco' are British supermarket chains.

I've never heard of 'Peek freans', but 'Fairy' (washing up liquid), 'Anchor butter' and 'Birds eye' products are still available in the U.K.

Any other clues?
   
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 04:37
P.S. Of course the title of the song is in itself a pun.

An 'aisle' is the space where shoppers walk up and down, between the shelves of a supermarket.

And then there's the idea of an 'isle of plenty'. If you google this term, you'll find some examples of this phrase popping up.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 05:30
Originally posted by fuxi fuxi wrote:

There are some puns hidden in there, but I'm not sure if I recognise all of them. For example, 'Safeway' and 'Tesco' are British supermarket chains.

I've never heard of 'Peek freans', but 'Fairy' (washing up liquid), 'Anchor butter' and 'Birds eye' products are still available in the U.K.

Any other clues?
   


Safeway is an American chain... I suppose it could be international but I always thought it was strictly state-side.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 08:00

Safeway was indeed a UK supermarket at the time, as was Fine Fare (as in "thankful for her fine fair discount). Not sure what happened to them but Safeways got taken over by Morrisons.

Peek Freans are biscuits.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 16:53
Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Safeway was indeed a UK supermarket at the time, as was Fine Fare (as in "thankful for her fine fair discount). Not sure what happened to them but Safeways got taken over by Morrisons.


Peek Freans are biscuits.



Thank you for that! I just knew 'fine fair' was supposed to mean something.

But Peek Freans - what do they taste like? Are they still available?

Hard to imagine the 'Aisle of Plenty' Gabriel must have been thinking of, back in 1973!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 17:43
Wikipedia sums it up pretty nicely - sometimes these guys get it right I guess Wink

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisle_of_Plenty


ISKC Rock Radio
I stopped blogging and reviewing - so won't be handling requests. Promo's for ariplay can be sent to [email protected]
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 11 2006 at 18:23
Originally posted by fuxi fuxi wrote:

There are some puns hidden in there, but I'm not sure if I recognise all of them. For example, 'Safeway' and 'Tesco' are British supermarket chains.

I've never heard of 'Peek freans', but 'Fairy' (washing up liquid), 'Anchor butter' and 'Birds eye' products are still available in the U.K.

Any other clues?
   
Peek Freans  are a brand of cookie. "Family assorted" would be a variety pack.
 
Yes, the "aisle" in question is a supermarket/grocery store aisle. That's a clever, joking reference to the old mythological concept of an isle (island) of wealth and natural abundance (plenty), and to Britain itself.
 
Other Brit grocery chains referenced are, I believe, Co-op, Fine Fare & Safeway.
 
Gabriel is basically singing a grocery advert -- products, prices and markdowns, for a light-hearted end to a heavy song, and also a reference to the album's title and the degradation of English society via consumer capitalism and materialism.Smile
 
 


Edited by Peter Rideout - December 11 2006 at 18:24
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 12 2006 at 04:08
A full-colour Peek Freans advert - now this is incredible! Next thing you'll be showing Harold Demure firing acorns out of his sling...

By the way, do you think there's any special meaning in the phrase: 'Still alone in o-hell-o'? Is Gabriel simply saying that supermarkets are hell? The theme seemed to fascinate him; cf. 'A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World' from PG II. And then there's the theme of people themselves becoming merchandise, as in 'The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging', which I've always found a very powerful track.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: December 18 2006 at 10:45
Originally posted by fuxi fuxi wrote:

A full-colour Peek Freans advert - now this is incredible! Next thing you'll be showing Harold Demure firing acorns out of his sling...

Sorry -- this is the closest match I could find, and you'll have to colour it yourself:
 
 
 
Big smile
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
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