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Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Path: snake27.cs.wisc.edu!halfen
From: halfen@snake27.cs.wisc.edu (Mark Halfen)
Subject: Re: houdini
Message-ID: <1993Feb27.074920.332@daffy.cs.wisc.edu>
Sender: halfen@whipple.cs.wisc.edu
Organization: UW-Madison -- CS Dept.
References: <930226205831_555063.0_CHL78-1@CompuServe.COM>
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1993 07:49:20 GMT

In article <930226205831_555063.0_CHL78-1@CompuServe.COM> MJM@ZYLAB.MHS.CompuServe.COM (Mike Mendelson) writes:
>                    Houdini
>                    _______

	(bunch of lines deleted)...

>
>                     I'd catch the cues,
                                    ^^^
   It's been a while since I actually looked at the lyrics for this song, but
   I always got the impression that the word was "queues", as in lines of
   people.  Pardon my ignorance if this is incorrect.  

>                     Watching you,
>                     Hoping you'd do something wrong.
>
>This is where I start to
>lose it.  What is she referring
>to here?  The cues of Houdini
>as he is about to perform a trick?
>Well, why would she hope something
>go wrong?  Or has she started to refer
>to the medium in second person, suddenly,
>thus hoping that *he*'d do something
>wrong?  I'm a little puzzled.  Help.
  
  You see, I always thought that this verse was about the people who came to 
  see Houdini perform his magic, and Mrs. H. was referring to how many of
  them were secretly excited by the idea of Houdini screwing up somehow and
  getting hurt.  After all, if you go to see Houdini do his thing, a lot of 
  the excitement is in wondering whether he can actually pull it off.  
>
>                     Everybody thinks you'll never make it,
>                     But every time,
>                     You escape!
>
>Sure, everyone else is the
>skeptic... but Mrs.H. knows he
>will succeed... or does she?
>
>                     Rosabel believe,
>                     Not even eternity
>                     Can hold Houdini!
>
>At least a double entendre
>here: 1) Rosabel (Mrs.H.)
>believe that H is boss, or
>2) Ford uttering "Rosabel
>believe", the mantra that
>proves he has contacted H,
>whom no one can hold back.
>
>                               "Rosabel, believe!"
>
>                          Through the glass
>                          I'd watch you breathe.
>                          Bound and drowned,
>                          And paler than you've ever been.
>
>                          With your life
>                          The only thing in my mind--
>                          We pull you from the water!
>
>I guess Mrs.H. is apprehensive when
>Houdini does his stunts, even though
>she knows the trick.
  
  This is basically consistent with the ideas I stated above.  Mrs. Houdini 
  can't help but be affected by the possibility of a mistake or an accident.
  She knows that PROBABLY everything will be all right, but the small element
  of uncertainty is quite troublesome to her.

>OK.  All help is hereby solicited and accepted.
>Thanks.

  Thank YOU.  I had often wondered about most of the lyrics in this song, which
  tended to be pretty mysterious since I didn't know anything about the medium,
  or who in the world this "Rosabel" person was.

>
>ObKate:  Hey, this whole post was about Kate!  Remember her,
>she wrote the dumb song!
               ^^^^  
		     Ahem.  DUMB!!???  Cough.  Sorry. I know you didn't
		     really mean that.   :-)
>
>-lowercasepalindromemanmjm (mike mendelson)

Mark Halfen