Re: TRS Peeve & Cocteau Twins Review

[wolff@sizzlean.berkeley.edu (Hew Wolff)]

In article <9403071900.AA00843@mollybloom.msfc.nasa.gov>,
Mike Gallaher <Mike.Gallaher@msfc.nasa.gov> wrote:
>	Is anyone else bothered by the opening lyrics to "The Red Shoes?"
>Kate supposedly takes such time and care with lyrice, so why does she atypically
>bend grammar in such an inappropriate manner?  "Oh she move like a diva do..."
>Like there's not enough words that rhyme with "you?" that she has to
>use an incorrect tense?  But even more embarassing for her, she
>apparently didn't bother to look up "diva."  This line makes as much
>sense as  "Oh she move like a Ph.D. do" or "Oh she move like an Admiral do"
>or "Oh she move like a CEO do" or "Oh she move like a Valadictorian do"
>or... well, you get the idea: a diva is a good singer, not a good 
>dancer.

This is interesting. First, I too am a bit embarrassed by the grammar.
But Kate's been known to bend grammar when she feels like it. I can't
think of any examples right away, but Peter Gabriel periodically does
it too:
        Intruder's happy in the dark
        Intruder come and he leave his mark ("Intruder", from
_Security_(?)). I can see why, too. If she had sung "moves", the sound
of it wouldn't flow quite as well, for one thing.  And it gives the
line kind of a "primitive" feel; it suggests the rough,
unsophisticated peasant girl of the original fairy tale, dazzled by a
kind of beauty like nothing she's ever seen.

    Also, maybe I'm reaching here, but the word "diva" certainly
reminds me of "divine", and I think the words might be related. (Can
someone back me up here?) It has some of the force of "goddess", which
is certainly relevant here.

    What do people think?                                    -- Hew