Discworld Annotations - SOUL MUSIC - part 2

Continued from last issue

- [p. 126/95] "'Hello, hello, hello, what is all this... then?' he
said [...]"

Stereotypical British policeman's phrase. See the annotation for
p. 60/55 of Guards! Guards!.

- [p. 127/95] "'He can't stop us. We're on a mission from Glod.'"

"We're on a mission from God" is perhaps the most famous quote
from the Blues Brothers movie.

- [p. 131/98] "'As soon as he saw the duck, Elmer knew it was
going to be a bad day.'"

A nice double reference. To begin with, the cartoons Terry is
referring to here are Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons (which I can
highly recommend. Just try to avoid the collections published
after 1990 or so.  They're not that bad, but the earlier ones are
significantly better).

Second, there are the eternal cartoon conflicts between Elmer
Fudd, hunter, and Daffy Duck, duck. Usually, when Elmer meets
Daffy, it *will* turn out to be a bad day for him.

- [p. 134/101] "Along the Ankh with Bow, Rod and Staff with a Knob
on the End"

This title certainly *sounds* as if it is a reference to
something, but Terry says it is only so in general terms. There
used to be dozens of travel books with names like "Along the [fill
in river] with [gun and camera, rod and line, etc]", usually
written by retired Victorian army men.

- [p. 135/101] "'Blert Wheedown's Guitar Primer,' he read."


Blert Wheedown puns on Bert Weedon, famous for his many "play in a
day" guitar primers, which are mainly bought by doting but
slightly out of touch grandmothers for grandsons who'd rather have
"The Death Metal book of three chords using less than three
fingers".

- [p. 140/105] "[...] when Mr Hong opened his takeaway fish bar on
the site of the old temple in Dagon street?"

For a full explanation of Mr Hong's tragic fate, see the
annotation for p. 197/149 of Men at Arms.

- [p. 142/107] "'We call him Beau Nidle, sir.'"

Beau Nidle = Beau Geste + bone idle.

- [p. 146/110] "There was a path, though. It led across the fields
for half a mile or so, then disappeared abruptly."


This would be a good description of Wheatfield with Crows by Van
Gogh, who took his own life shortly after finishing this painting.

- [p. 151/114] "Her mother's favourite dish had been Genocide by
Chocolate."

'Death by Chocolate' is an existing dish, as well as a chain of
restaurants in New Zealand and Australia.

- [p. 152/114] "MORPHIC RESONANCE, he said, [...]"

Another reference to Rupert Sheldrake's theories. See the
annotation for p. 54/45 of Mort.

- [p. 161/121] "The next table was occupied by Satchelmouth Lemon
[...]"

Louis Armstrong's nickname was Satchmo, which was short for
Satchelmouth.  The 'Lemon' part of the name also ties in with

black artists by way of the legendary bluesman Blind Lemon
Jefferson.

- [p. 162/122] "She was quite attractive in a skinny way, Ridcully
thought.  What was the tomboy word? Gammon, or something."

Gammon is the lower end of a side of bacon. What Ridcully is
thinking of is the word 'gamine', which does have the same meaning
as tomboy.

- [p. 163/123] "'It looks like a spike at the front and a duck's
arse, excuse my Klatchian, at the back.'"

"Duck's arse" is, in fact, the correct name for this type of
fifties' rock 'n roll haircut.

"Excuse my French" is a euphemism, said after swearing.

- [p. 169/127] "'A song about Great Fiery Balls. [...] Couldn't
really make out the words, the reason bein', the piano exploded.'"

Jerry Lee Lewis used to set fire to his piano using gasoline while
playing his immortal 'Great Balls of Fire'.

- [p. 173/130] "[...] much later on, on the day when the music
died, [...]"

The day of the infamous plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the
Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens all in one go is commonly referred
to as "the day the music died". Years later, Don McLean would
immortalise the phrase even further in his song 'American Pie',
but that song is definitely *not* the original source.

- [p. 173/130] "Ridcully was going to say, oh, you're a rebel, are
you, what are you rebelling against, and he'd say... he'd say
something pretty damn memorable, that's what he'd do!"

In the 1954 movie The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando as Johnny,
the following exchange occurs:

Girl in a bar: So Johnny, what're you rebelling against?  Johnny:
What've you got?

- [p. 173/130] "'mumblemumblemumble', said the Dean defiantly, a
rebel without a pause."

The name of the classic movie is Rebel Without A Cause.  Starring
James... Dean.

- [p. 174/131] Song Titles.

'Don't Tread On My New Blue Boots' is Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede
Shoes', 'Good Gracious Miss Polly' is Little Richard's 'Good Golly
Miss Molly' and 'Sto Helit Lace' is the Big Bopper's 'Chantilly
Lace'.

- [p. 174/131] "'That bit where you said "hello, baby",' he said.
'Why'd you do that?'"


'Chantilly Lace' begins with The Big Bopper treating us to his
half of a telephone conversation with the young lady in question.
It starts: Helll- (then drop about an octave) -lllllo (then up a
little bit) ba- (huge glissando up the scale, beyond where he
started) aaaaaaaaaaybeeeee!

- [p. 183/138] [...] LIVE FATS DIE YO GNU [...]

After James Dean's legendary motto: "Live fast, die young, leave a
good looking corpse."

- [p. 184/139] "'Adrian Turnipseed, Archchancellor.'"

This is probably just a coincidence, but Donald Turnupseed was the
driver of the car that collided with James Dean in the crash that
killed him.  Donald was only slightly hurt.

- [p. 188/141] "It took him and Gibbsson, the apprentice, [...]"

That's of course Gibson, of guitar-building fame.

- [p. 190/144] "'I'll throw in the space between the strings for
free, OK?'"

Another Blues Brothers reference. When Elwood and Jake are buying
their instruments from 'Ray's Music Exchange', Ray Charles makes
the comment about the electric piano that he'll "throw in the
black notes for free".

- [p. 192/144] "'[...] if anyone comes in and tries to play [...]
Pathway to Paradise [...] he's to pull their head off."

'Pathway to Paradise' is the Discworld version of Led Zeppelin's
rock anthem 'Stairway to Heaven'.

The song's characteristic guitar riff is so often played in music
shops that the patrons get really fed up with it, so it's quite
common to see "No Stairway" signs, or in the case of one
particular shop in Denmark Street, London, a sign saying:  "Anyone
who uses the instruments here to play 'Stairway To Heaven',
'Paranoid' or 'Smoke On The Water' should seriously consider
whether they have a future in rock and roll."

- [p. 193/145] "'They say there's a background noise to the
universe? A sort of echo of some sound? [...] It wouldn't have to
be very loud. It'd just have to be everywhere, all at once.'"

What Ponder tries to describe corresponds to our universe's cosmic
blackbody microwave radiation, which is indeed a uniform
background radiation, spanning all frequencies and coming with the
same intensity from every part of the sky at every time of the day
in every season. The explanation for this phenomenon is that it is
radiation originating with the Big Bang that started our universe.

- [p. 196/147] "*This* scene took place in Crash's father's coach
house, but it was an echo of a scene evolving all around the
city."

Placing them in the coach house is a reference to the "garage
band" phenomenon.

- [p. 198/149] "'The Cavern!'"

The Cavern was the name of the night club in Liverpool where the
Beatles played their first performance. It is worth noting that in
The Streets of Ankh-Morpork we can see that The Cavern is located
on Quarry Lane.  This not only recalls 'Penny Lane', but before
the Beatles became the Beatles, they called themselves the
Quarrymen.

- [p. 198/149] "Gorlick and Hammerjug were songwriters, [...]"

A reference to the musical composers Rogers and Hammerstein, who
wrote the songs for The Sound of Music (amongst many other musical
scores).

Note also that 'stein' is a word the English (not the Germans) use
for 'jug'.

- [p. 198/150] "Except the one about Hiho."

The Hiho song is first mentioned in Moving Pictures; see the
annotation for p. 88/73 of that book.

- [p. 199/150] "'And me an' my friends can walk towards you with
our hats on backwards in a menacing way, Yo!'"

Rat music = rap music.

- [p. 200/151] "Troll gambling is even simpler than Australian
gambling.  One of the most popular games is One Up, [...]"

Two-up is an Australian form of gambling played extensively by
Australian soldiers during both World Wars. Although generally
illegal outside of licensed casinos, it can now be played in
country towns during some local festivals.

Professional games are controlled by at least one 'boxer', who
collects a 'rake-off' or commission from all winners. Bets may be
placed either between players, or to cover the 'centre',
representing the 'spinner's' stake. The spinner must back heads,
and other players must back tails.  Side bets may back either.

Two coins are placed on a 'kip' (a flat piece of wood), and the
spinner tosses them in the air. If the coins don't spin properly
or if they land one head and one tail, it is classed a 'no-throw'
and all bets stand. If both coins land heads or both tails, bets
are resolved. Players take turns as spinner and may continue to
throw so long as they show heads.  The spinner begins to collect
winnings only after throwing three heads; subsequently, he may
retire or place more bets. However, if the spinner 'dooks them' by
throwing three *successive* heads, the boxer takes a percentage
(usually about 10%).

There are a bunch of other conventions, such as calling "Come in,
spinner" before each throw, and variations in the betting between
casinos. I'm told that although the odds favour the house (as
usual), the spinner's odds are better than other players'.

- [p. 201/152] "'I hired you a helper. [...] Meet Asphalt.'"

In the music scene, the person performing the same tasks for a
band as Asphalt does is called a roadie. His name is therefore
quite appropriate.

- [p. 205/154] "'Bee There Orr Bee A Rectangular Thyng', said
Cliff."

The phrase is, of course: Be There Or Be Square.

- [p. 207/156] "''S called Insanity,' said Asphalt."

Puns on the name of the British pop group Madness.

- [p. 208/157] "'It says BORN TO RUNE,' said Crash, [...]"

A combination of the 'Born to Rule' slogan, and Bruce
Springsteen's anthem 'Born to Run'.

- [p. 209/157] "'That's a bodacious audience,' said Jimbo."

This may well be a reference to the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent
Adventure, where the two protagonists use this word repeatedly.
Later on, Crash also says 'Excellent!', another catchphrase from
the movie.

- [p. 219/165] "'[...] would they remember some felonious monk or
shout for Glod Glodsson?'"

One of my favourite Pratchett puns ever. Thelonious Monk is one of
our world's most highly regarded jazz musicians (though he played
the piano, not the horn -- you'd want Miles Davis for that).

- [p. 220/166] "'Cavern Deep, Mountain High?' said Glod."

'River Deep Mountain High', by many considered Phil Spector's last
Great Production, for Ike and Tina Turner.

- [p. 222/167] "'It's the Gritz for *you*!'"

That's the Ritz in our world.

- [p. 233/175] "Si non confectus, non reficiat."

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." See the annotation for the
Discworld mottos in The Discworld Companion.

- [p. 235/177] "[...] a small, greyish-brown mongrel dog [...] sat
peering into the box for a while."

A reference to the famous 'His Master's Voice' logo for the RCA
records.  The dog is probably Gaspode.

- [p. 237/178] "'You tellin' me ants can count?' 'Oh, no. Not
individual ants...'"

An excellent explanation of the anthill as a metaphor for
intelligence can be found in Douglas R. Hofstadter's Goedel,
Escher, Bach.

- [p. 239/180] "'I know a golem. Mr Dorfl down in Long Hogmeat.'"

See the annotation for p. 234/204 of Reaper Man.  Incidentally,
'long pig' is a name for human meat (we are supposed to taste like
pork).

Dorfl will turn up later in Feet of Clay.

- [p. 242/182] "'Are you the Watch?' Glod bowed. 'No, ma'am.
We're musicians.'"

The Blues Brothers again. See the annotation for p. 122/107 of
Witches Abroad.

- [p. 243/183] "'And this one?' he said. 'It'll make the world end
and the sky fall on me if I give it a tootle, will it?'
'Interesting you should say that,' said the old lady'."

In other words, the untarnished trumpet is actually the biblical
last trump, which signals the end of the world.

- [p. 245/184] "'There were eight of them, led by... um...
Cantaloupe.'"

That's Calliope. A cantaloupe is a kind of melon. Note that in our
world's classical mythology there were *nine* muses. On the
Discworld, this of course becomes eight. For another example of
this mechanism in action, see the annotation for p. 122/101 of
Eric.

To be concluded next issue








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