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THEM OR US

 Be In My Video

Notes and Comments
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Be in my video,
Darling, every night
I will rent a cage for you
And mi-j-i-nits dressed in white
(teeny-little-tiny-little...)
From: dukeoprunz@ibm.net
  Definitely a reference to Peter Gabriel's video for "Shock the Monkey", which was played to death on the early MTV -- Gabriel's sitting at a desk, undergoes some weird transformations, and eventually is attacked by a swarm of midgets in white suits.
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Twirl around in a lap dissolve
Pretend to sing the words
I'll rent a gleaming limousine;
Release a flock of
Ber-herna-herna-herna-herna-her-nerds
  Bill Lantz <lantz@primenet.com> Birds. With the accent on herna-herna-herna. I swear this line is lifted from something - just can't place it.
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Wear a leather collar
(Wear a leather collar...)
And a dagger in your...
(A dagger in your ear)
I will make you smell the glove
And try to look sincere, then we'll
From: Paul Hinrichs wrote:
  Which came first? The fictitious "black album" in This Is Spinal Tap or the Them Or Us lyrical incarnation in "Be In My Video"? Both are from 1984...
From: Biffyshrew <biffyshrew@aol.com>
  You mean "Smell The Glove." Zappa's use of the phrase was definitely a reference to This Is Spinal Tap, with a sidelong glance at Michael Jackson (don't forget the oven mitt photo on the back of the LP--another Wacko Jacko/glove reference was the lyrical mutation of "Oh No" on the 1984 tour: "You say glove is all you need, you say with your glove you can change..." etc.).
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  Well maybe, maybe it really smells a little bit of Spinal Tap and Michael Jackson but in fact the lyrics of the song is undoubtedly parody on David Bowie's 1983 smashing hit Let's Dance. And on the front cover of LP with the same name and the song that shook both sides of the Atlantis in it you could see good old Dawied-dood in yes! boxers gloves! He's ready to fight, very menacing looking, no shit!
From: couw@my-dejanews.com
  I remember a boxing film of some sort (no not rocky!!) where the one mean guy tells the other mean guy to 'smell glove' and then punches him in the face, hard!
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Dance the blues
(Oh yes)
Let's dance the blues
(We'll dance the blues)
Let's dance the blues
(We'll dance them very much)
Under the megawatt moonlight
  Well, here is David Bowie 1983 hit material. The stuff is fuckin' hot!!!
LET'S DANCE

Lyrics and music by David Bowie.

Let's dance
Let's dance

Let's dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues
Let's dance, to the song they're playin' on the radio

Let's sway, while colour lights up your face
Let's sway, sway through the crowd to an empty space

If you say run, I'll run with you
And if you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall
Into my arms
And tremble like a flower

Let's dance
Let's dance

Let's dance, for fear your grace should fall
Let's dance, for fear tonight is all

Let's sway, you could look into my eyes
Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight

And if you say run, I'll run with you
And if you say hide, we'll hide
Because my love for you
Would break my heart in two
If you should fall
Into my arms
And tremble like a flower

Let's dance
Let's dance

Let's dance, put on your red shoes and dance the blues
Let's dance, to the song we're playing
Let's sway
Let's sway, under the moonlight, this serious moonlight
Let's dance
Let's
Let's
Let's
Let's sway
Let's
Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance
Let's dance
Let's sway
Let's sway
Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance Let's dance
Let's dance
Let's dance
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Pretend to be Chinese,
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(One-hung-low)
I'll make you wear red shoes
  John Scialli <scialli@primenet.com> One-Hung-Low is an attempt to say something sounding like a Chinese name ("Won Hong Lo" I suppose is how it might be visualized) and make a sexual reference to someone's balls, one (usually on the left, medically speaking) lower than the other.
  Also
From: couw@my-dejanews.com
  my little china girl by Bowie
From: Vladimir Sovetov <sova@kpbank.ru>
  Yep, looks like reference
LET'S DANCE
SIDE 1
Modern Love (Bowie)
China Girl (Bowie, Pop)
Let's Dance (Bowie)
Without You (Bowie)
SIDE 2
Ricochet (Bowie)
Criminal World (Peter Goodwin, Duncan Browne, Sean Lyons)
Cat People (Moroder, Bowie)
Shake It (Bowie)
RELEASED: April 1983 (UK)
(EMI AML 3029 - LP)

RELEASED SINGLES:
Let's Dance (edit) / Cat People (1983 versio
n)
China Girl / Shake It
Modern Love / Modern Love (live)
[ singles page ]
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There's a cheesy atom bomb explosion
All the big groups use
From: ron@mk.bfd.rules (Ron Spiegelhalter)
  Note that there is a VERY cheesy atom-bomb explosion in the Let's Dance video.
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Atomic light will shine
(Will shine)
Through an old venetian blind
(Venetian blind)
Making patterns on your face,
(On your face)
Then it cuts to outer space

With its billions & billions &
Billions & billions and
From: "Bossk (R)" <wikberg@mbox301.swipnet.se>
  Maybe we could add that the "millions and millions" part points to Carl Sagan, who was a scientist who used to be on TV a lot (for a scientist). There was a popular belief that he used to say "millions and millions of stars", but there has been some controversy about whether he actually did. I think he himself claimed that he didn't use the phrase at all until everyone was already sure that he used it all the time, at which point he used it in a book title or something.
From: Konrad <konradfs@netcom.com>
  That was "Billions and Billions" wasn't it? Something about the way he pronounced the 'b' sound made it easy for everyone to parody him. He was an astronomer / TV personality in the US.
From: biffyshrew@aol.com (Biffyshrew)
  Right, and Sagan never said it at any time in his "Cosmos" TV series, which is what he was best known for.
From: Michael Pierry <stilliving@home.com>
  I swear to God I remember sitting in 9th grade science class and watching Carl Sagan videos, and listening to him drone on about "bill-yuns and bill-yuns of STARS". I remember it very clearly, because I used to make fun of him, and my teacher, Mrs. Dix (imagine the fun we junior high kids had with that name) would glare at me to shut me up.
From: Konrad <konradfs@netcom.com>
  This is either a good example of why "recovered memory" is so discredited (if Michael's wrong) or why "repressed memory" is so credited (if Sagan was).
From: biffyshrew@aol.com (Biffyshrew)
  I have the complete _Cosmos_ series on video. I can assure you, Sagan doesn't utter the phrase "billions and billions" once. It's like watching _Casablanca_ and waiting for Bogart to say "Play it again, Sam."
From: culrich@istar.ca (Charles Ulrich)
  Does that mean he *did* say "millions and millions"?
  In the case of Casablanca, Bogart really said (if I recall correctly) "Play it, Sam" and "Play it again". So what did Sagan really say?
From: "Lewis Saul" <lsaul@azstarnet.com>
  I bet he did other videos where he did say it. I read that he never said it.
  Sounds like something Johnny Carson came up with during one of Sagan's 243 Tonight Show appearances...
  Sagan: Johnny, there are literally billions of stars in the universe.
  Carson: (reaching for a cigarette) Billions, you say?
  Sagan: That's right, Johnny -- billions of stars.
  Carson: (fumbling to get the cigarette lit in time to avoid any dead air): Mmmffffppphhh.....*&# -- billions and billions of stars, huh Carl? Sagan: That's right, Johnny.
From: paulhinr@mindspring.com (Paul Hinrichs)
  Johnny Carson used the expression in parodies of Sagan.
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