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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004the wrigley building and the union stockyard
As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than regret it. Well, my question is, what does "the wrigley building" and "the union stockyard" means in Sinatra's song "my kind of town". The verse is: And each time I leave, chicago is Tuggin my sleeve, chicago is The wrigley building, chicago is The union stockyard, chicago is One town that won't let you down It's my kind of town -- Saludos cordiales Javi Mood conjugation: I am an artist You are a Bohemian He forgot to shave this morning (Craig Brown) > As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to > Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > One town that won't let you down > It's my kind of town See: http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story_building.asp http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/stockyard.html  SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) www.geocities.com/opus731/ >As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to >Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than regret [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >One town that won't let you down >It's my kind of town A bit of capitalisation would have helped. The Wrigley Building has its own website - http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story_building.asp For the Union Stockyard, see http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/U/UnionStock.html SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the addresses given in the headers is no longer being read. To mail me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com". Don Aitken escribió : >> As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to >> Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > A bit of capitalisation would have helped. Surely. I had a similar problem with another Sinatra's song. I hope that I will learn for the next time: lyrics in the WWW are not properly capitalized. > The Wrigley Building has > its own website - > http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story_building.asp > > For the Union Stockyard, see > http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/U/UnionStock.html So, they are buildings' names. I looked at M-W but could nod find "wrigley" nor did I find a reasonable meaning for "union stockyard", although I found other words and expressions that I did not know and that appears in that Sinatra's song, as "razzmatazz" and "tuggin my sleeve". Thank you, Don and Skitt, for your answers. SignatureSaludos cordiales Javi Mood conjugation: I am an artist You are a Bohemian He forgot to shave this morning (Craig Brown) >Don Aitken escribió : > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >will learn for the next time: lyrics in the WWW are not properly >capitalized. The Wrigley Building is a Chicago landmark. It houses (housed?) the corporate headquarters for the Wrigley company that makes chewing gum. The brands are Juicy Fruit, Wrigley's Spearmint, Wrigley's Double Mint and many more. The Chicago Cubs baseball team plays in another Chicago landmark: Wrigley Field. The Union Stockyards were not "a" building, but a group of buildings. Carl Sandburg's poem "The Right to Grief" is about a stockyard worker. In his more famous poem, "Chicago", the first verse is: "HOG Butcher for the World, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler; Stormy, husky, brawling, City of the Big Shoulders" >> The Wrigley Building has >> its own website - [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >other words and expressions that I did not know and that appears in that >Sinatra's song, as "razzmatazz" and "tuggin my sleeve". > The Union Stockyards were not "a" building, but a group of buildings. The stockyards closed in 1971, but I'm pretty sure you could still smell them a few years later. Interesting bit of trivia: when the City reversed the flow of the Chicago River in 1900, it was largely to keep the Stockyards' enormous volume of waste products from flowing into Lake Michigan. http://www.wttw.com/chicagostories/stockyards.html That's right. They reversed the flow of the river as an enormous sanitation project. http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/chiriver.html SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |It's not coherent, it's merely 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |focused. Palo Alto, CA 94304 | Keith Moore kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ >> The Union Stockyards were not "a" building, but a group of buildings. > >The stockyards closed in 1971, but I'm pretty sure you could still >smell them a few years later. I can get along without the stockyards, but I'd like to go back to the Stockyards Inn for steak. Or, George Diamond's where I first had London Broil. > Surely. I had a similar problem with another Sinatra's song. I hope that I > will learn for the next time: lyrics in the WWW are not properly > capitalized. That's not the worst of it. According to Fontana's Law, every reproduction of lyrics on the Web contains at least one substantive error. See also Manfre's Corollary. R F escribió : >> Surely. I had a similar problem with another Sinatra's song. I hope >> that I will learn for the next time: lyrics in the WWW are not [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > reproduction of lyrics on the Web contains at least one substantive > error. Indeed. The site where I looked at has this verse: And each time I roam, chicago is Calling me home, chicago is Why I just brim like a cload It's my kind of town My non-native ear hears "grim like a clown", anyone here knows what Sinatra says in that verse? >See also Manfre's Corollary. I've never heard about it. Is it interesting? SignatureSaludos cordiales Javi Mood conjugation: I am an artist You are a Bohemian He forgot to shave this morning (Craig Brown) >And each time I roam, chicago is >Calling me home, chicago is [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >My non-native ear hears "grim like a clown", anyone here >knows what Sinatra says in that verse? "Why I just grin like a clown"? Is the lineation right? "home" wants to rhyme with "roam." Btw, that "just" (if it's really in the original) may be mindless filler, inserted to help the rhythm: you can get the same effect, albeit 350 years out of date, with "Why I do grin like a clown." > >And each time I roam, chicago is > >Calling me home, chicago is [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > inserted to help the rhythm: you can get the same effect, albeit 350 years out > of date, with "Why I do grin like a clown." Poetry requires scansion. Or did before free verse became the standard, and songs ceased to be poetry. Those extra syllables are not mindless filler. They're placeholders. Jon "I don't mind" Miller J. W. Love escribió : >> And each time I roam, chicago is >> Calling me home, chicago is [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > "Why I just grin like a clown"? My mistake. Yes, it is "grin". > Is the lineation right? "home" wants to rhyme with "roam." I copied and pasted it, so the lineage is as it appears in the site. I guess that you are right and it should be And each time I roam, Chicago is calling me home, Chicago is why I just grin like a clown, it's my kind of town. > Btw, that "just" (if it's really in the original) It is: I can hear it clearly in the song. > may be mindless > filler, inserted to help the rhythm: you can get the same effect, > albeit 350 years out of date, with "Why I do grin like a clown." I also believe that "do" is better than "just" in that sentence. SignatureSaludos cordiales Javi Mood conjugation: I am an artist You are a Bohemian He forgot to shave this morning (Craig Brown) > J. W. Love escribió : > > >> And each time I roam, chicago is > >> Calling me home, chicago is > >> Why I just brim like a cload > >> It's my kind of town > > Is the lineation right? "home" wants to rhyme with "roam." > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > why I just grin like a clown, > it's my kind of town. The meter is essentially 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 + 3 + 4 each time I | roam, Chi-ca - go is - call-ing me | home, Chi-ca - go is with the accent falling on the first beat of the second measure. It feels like it's part of the preceding line. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |To find the end of Middle English, 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |you discover the exact date and Palo Alto, CA 94304 |time the Great Vowel Shift took |place (the morning of May 5, 1450, kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |at some time between neenuh fiftehn (650)857-7572 |and nahyn twenty-fahyv). | Kevin Wald http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ Evan Kirshenbaum escribió : >> J. W. Love escribió : >> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > with the accent falling on the first beat of the second measure. But, the first beat is missing in the second line. I have tried to measure the verse as a combination of lines of five and seven beats, quite common a verse in other languages as Japanese and Spanish, and the result is And each time I roam, (5 beats) Chicago is | calling me home, (7 beats, caesura after the third) Chicago is (3 beats) why I just | grin like a clown, (7 beats, caesura after the third) it's my kind of town. (5 beats) It is symmetrical: 5-7-3-7-5, rhyming A-A-X-B-B. SignatureSaludos cordiales Javi Mood conjugation: I enjoy a drop You never say no He is an alcoholic (Craig Brown) > Evan Kirshenbaum escribió : > [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > > > with the accent falling on the first beat of the second measure. you mispledded "two-and-a-halfth" (or possibly forgot "second part of" before second): roam, Chi-ca'-go is. A good introduction to syncopation? > But, the first beat is missing in the second line. No it's not. It's a rest (space) in the lyrics (not in the harmony, at least in most versions -- I don't know about the Sinatra recording). > I have tried to measure the verse as a combination of lines of five and > seven beats, quite common a verse in other languages as Japanese and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > why I just | grin like a clown, (7 beats, caesura after the third) > it's my kind of town. (5 beats) Maybe if you're reading it as a poem, but the *song* is a straight 4. Jon Miller > > Evan Kirshenbaum escribió : > > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > of" before second): roam, Chi-ca'-go is. A good introduction to > syncopation? I was treating the accent to be on "roam" and "home", the rhyming words. There's a secondary stress on the second syllable in Chicago, but the primary stress is on one. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |A handgun is like a Lawyer. You 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |don't want it lying around where Palo Alto, CA 94304 |the children might be exposed to |it, but when you need one, you need kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |it RIGHT NOW, and nothing else will (650)857-7572 |do. | Bill McNutt http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ > I was treating the accent to be on "roam" and "home", the rhyming > words. There's a secondary stress on the second syllable in Chicago, > but the primary stress is on one. I think I've heard it both ways, one with a primary accent on the first beat of the second measure (roam) and a secondary on the second syllable of Chicago, and the other with Chicago overaccentuated, which (in my opinion, but one shared by many musicians) detracts from the musicality, turning the song into a joke. Almost as bad as the stereotypical (overloud, overaccented and barely tuneful) "God', bless' A-mer'-i-ka". Jon Miller > R F escribió : > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > My non-native ear hears "grim like a clown", anyone here knows what > Sinatra says in that verse? I've not heard it, but would suggest "...*grin* like a clown". m. > Surely. I had a similar problem with another Sinatra's song. ObAUE: "another Sinatra song" or "another (one) of Sinatra's songs" Adrian >As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to >Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than regret >it. > >Well, my question is, what does "the wrigley building" and "the union >stockyard" means in Sinatra's song "my kind of town". Those are two well known landmarks easily identified with Chicago (I believe the stockyards are now gone). It's like saying New York is Times Square, or Barcelona is The Ramblas. These are things that quickly give you an overall impression of the particular city. Brian Wickham > As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to > Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than regret > it. I like Sinatra more as I get older, too. Rock and roll doesn't age well, sometimes you want something mellow to listen to as you eat dinner. tomcatpolka@yaNOSPAMhoo.com filted: >> As i am getting old, I have, surprisingly, found myself listening to >> Sinatra's songs. I had never expected this, but better accept it than regret >> it. > >I like Sinatra more as I get older, too. Rock and roll doesn't age well, >sometimes you want something mellow to listen to as you eat dinner. Some kind of weird synchronicity at work this week...I was listening to a Sinatra CD myself earlier today, one that included a rendition of "Route 66", as well as "Saturday in the Park" and "Hotel California".... Not Frank though...Nancy....r |
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