Things you were shockingly old when you learned

Yes, but Scots isn't just English with an accent, right?

no they have a common ancestry, I'm just coming at it from speaking boring old English

I'm just being a bit picky because Scottish English and Scots are two different things - hardly anyone actually speaks Scots anymore, outside of a Burns' Supper.

tbf I'm Scottish myself and don't know enough about Scots, which is why it took me so long to make the laird-lord connection as no one I've ever known would pronounce lord that way. I do have distant relatives up Inverness/Elgin way though, maybe one of those might get close!

I wonder how James is getting on with his Scots...

Scottish Gaelic, Scots an aw

You rang?

Somebody must speak Scots, I have a few dictionaries and a grammar book to prove it. Anyway, I will take it over to the other thread.

Ok so I knew that Toni Basil had been a reasonably prominent dancer and choreographer.

I don't think I knew she'd worked with Bowie on "Diamond Dogs."

I definitely didn't know she is my mother's age (born 1943) which would make her about 31 in 1974 and 38 in 1981.

And finding out that "Mickey" is actually a cover was also a surprise.

Carry on, make of that what you will.

She was also in Easy Rider.

and Five Easy Pieces

and Head

None of these pieces of information would have made much impression on 11-year-old me, and I confess I didn't give her much thought in the intervening 40 years.

She was also in Elvis' Viva Las Vegas (1964), and "...she was assistant choreographer and a dancer on the 1964 concert film The T.A.M.I. Show (Teen-Age Music International) choreographed by David Winters,[8] which featured fellow dancer and friend Teri Garr."

Only found out Garr was in that just now when I googled Basil.

Woulda liked a version by The Sweet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3JxiB4FLjU

Rock critic Robert Christgau commented on the perceived 'obscene' content of the lyric "So come on and give it to me / Any way you can / Any way you want to do it / I'll take it like a man". Christgau wrote in a review at the time that Basil "was the only woman ever to offer to take it up the ass on Top 40 radio." However, Basil adamantly denies this: "NO! That's ridiculous. People read shit into everything. It's not about anything dirty. You change the name from boy to girl" — i.e., from "Mickey" to "Kitty" — "and they read anything they want into it! When it's a guy singing about a girl, it's a sweet line. But when a girl sings it, it must mean butt-fucking! This is how the wrong foot gets cut off when the doc wheels you into the E.R. Then it's Micky Dolenz and butt-fucking."

1. Davey
2. Mickey
3. Peter
4. Mike

featured fellow dancer and friend Teri Garr."

I think Garr was in like nine Elvis movies

Yeah, I read that too after posting, when I followed the wiki link for her.

this is more "term i recently heard that now i use all the time": "tripper trap". good if burner culture is in your backyard.

Woulda liked a version by The Sweet

I am shockingly old to be learning this was a Chinnichap song.

Rock critic Robert Christgau commented on the perceived 'obscene' content of the lyric "So come on and give it to me / Any way you can / Any way you want to do it / I'll take it like a man". Christgau wrote in a review at the time that Basil "was the only woman ever to offer to take it up the ass on Top 40 radio." However, Basil adamantly denies this: "NO! That's ridiculous. People read shit into everything. It's not about anything dirty. You change the name from boy to girl" — i.e., from "Mickey" to "Kitty" — "and they read anything they want into it! When it's a guy singing about a girl, it's a sweet line. But when a girl sings it, it must mean butt-fucking! This is how the wrong foot gets cut off when the doc wheels you into the E.R. Then it's Micky Dolenz and butt-fucking."
― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), woensdag 15 maart 2023 17:49

actually think the line is much eh... racier in the male "Kitty" version.

either way, this is as racy as Racey came: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmSW3CuhZyc

Toni's protestation is not convincing. Literally everyone I knew understood that line at the time as an offer of anal sex.

i have never had that thought in my life, nor heard of it being a thing before these posts...

nor I, but the Racey version has the same lyric except it’s “any time you wanna do it, I’ll take it like a man” which Basil’s version changes to “any way”, so …

"Any way you want to do it?" C'mon, man.

Does Steve Perry get these letters?

All night, every night

this is Tom Breihan's Number Ones column about "Mickey": https://www.stereogum.com/2088588/the-number-ones-toni-basils-mickey/columns/the-number-ones/

he describes it as "a chirpy, revved-up novelty that a whole lot of people assumed was about anal sex" right in the opening paragraph. later on he writes: "There were, in fact, further theories that “Mickey” was a song about a straight woman attempting to seduce a gay man." (the song is from way before Breihan's time, I might add, but he tends to do his homework, although he doesn't expand on it or name sources). all of this comes as a surprise (and even shock) to many (though not all) of the (often knowledgeable) commenters.

I can't say I remember this tidbit from its (not all that impressive) Dutch chart run either, not that that means much, but it would definitely be just the kind of thing kids in high school might pick (up) on.

I don't have an opinion on buttsex, just wanted to say the music vid is one of my favs of all time. The choreo plus it screams 80s

recently learned that 'anal' should be pronounced like 'banal'

"Denis" (rhymes with "penis")

"Mickey" was the first record I ever begged my mom to buy for me (I was like 6?) and to THIS VERY DAY it never occurred to me it was about anything but a heartbreaker named Mickey

Now I feel gross :(

Gross because I was 6 -- not a commentary on varieties of sexual activity

briefly looking at the lyrics, it's mostly chorus and the bay city rollers chanting, very little going on in the verse except the sodomy reference

this verse is slightly intriguing:

Hey Mickey
Now when you take me by the, who's ever gonna know
Every time you move, I let a little more show
There's something you can use, so don't say no, Mickey

definitely some boner reference there

yeah it's conclusively a gay sex anthem

oiling up your chain and pumping up your tires makes riding a bike much much much much easier

i mean i knew a was supposed to do those things, intellectually, like in a maintenance kind of way, but it only very recently came home to me how much more effort you need to put into a ride when those things haven’t been done

that's quite the juxtaposition.

is your saddle the proper height? riding with it high enough so your legs aren't bent the whole time also makes a world of difference.

yeah that’s fine

some nice continuity w previous posts it’s true

oiling up my chain rn tbrr

Yeah keeping things oiled, greased and properly tightened very useful.torqued even.

Putting on new handlegrips

I have an old Raleigh 3-speed and it's true, if I keep the chain & hub oiled up and the tires fully inflated, it's a joy to ride... if I don't, it's a workout

i mean I know it sounds completely obvious but I honestly did not realise the magnitude of the difference

"magnitude" keeping this week's theme going

pop pop!

Hearing horror stories about lack of recognition of basic bike maintenance for teh last few months. NOt going to have to face it over a protracted period. But basic basic standards appear to not be kept.
THis apparently also includes people power washing bikes and not replacing grease they've washed off. & not greasing places where aluminium and steel are in close contact and bond due to lack of grease preventing them from doing so.
& using WD40 on brake systems if they do actually try to clean things. Rendering them useless.

Need to ensure points where there is going to be friction will have grease to prevent wear/bonding etc.

Air in innertube acts to stop you feeling the road as bad as you might. & there are punctures that you can get from having tyres at too low pressure where bits that would be kept apart if there was enough air in there are n contact so can both be spolit through contact with kerb etc. Works as suspension to some extent also, aids ride.

& making sure your break blocks have enough block present helps you stop bike. Having a wheel trued also helpful

I struggle with gears though.

What you say is true, but a key benefit of tire inflation is saving you work. A tire that is flat is deforming on every rotation; it takes more energy (from your legs) to keep it going efficiently