At any rate, the lyric sheet always seemed to be the ultimate authority for figuring out the words and perhaps figuring out what the song meant--not to mention knowing who played what, as band members and session musicians were often listed song by song with the lyrics. It never dawned on me to question the lyric sheet; after all, wasn't it official, right from the horse's mouth via the record company? On Sunday, "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" by Electric Light Orchestra came on my iPod for the upteenth time. It was their first top 40 hit, back in 1975, and though it doesn't get as much oldies airplay as songs like "Mr. Blue Sky" or "Don't Bring Me Down," it's still one of my favorites.The first lines in the song, according to the lyric sheet that comes with the album Eldorado, are as follows: "Midnight on the water/I saw the ocean's daughter/Walking on a wave chicane/Staring as she called my name." I remember as a teenager wondering, what the hell is a '"wave chicane"? I looked it up in several dictionaries and never found it. I decided that it was some part of a wave and let it go--what else could it be, since the lyric sheet must be right. Plus, it kinda sounded mysteriously cool. On Sunday, however, I realized I was singing, "Walking on a wave she came..." That makes more sense, and "came" is a more precise rhyme for "name." But still, the official lyric sheet says, "chicane." Would the InterTubes be able to solve this dilemma for me?
The short answer is, no. Almost every day of my life lately, I am moved to mutter to myself, "Geez, I love the Internet." But it hasn't been much help here. Typically, the Internet is a wonderful place to find song lyrics, but one must always be on the watch for sloppy transcriptions, typos, or just plain wrong guesses that are posted as authoritative lyrics. Some sites say "wave chicane"; some say "on a wave she came"; one site says "wave's chicane." An entry about the song at the Jeff Lynne Song Database makes the dubious claim that a chicane is "the frothy tip of a cresting wave," which is kinda what I had decided when I was 18, but as I did some surface digging, I found no other source, authoritative or otherwise, that gives this definition. The most common meaning of the word ties it to "chicanery," which is "deception by artful subterfuge." I'm sure Lynne (pictured) didn't mean that the wave was being sneaky.So where does that leave me? My universe is slipping its moorings; I can no longer automatically trust in the Lyric Sheet, and the Internet has let me down (though it is thanks to the Net that I know I'm not the only person in the world who has wondered about this lyric fragment). I suspect that Lynne is singing "on a wave she came," but part of me would like to believe that there is some strange arcanity to that line that will never be be made clear.
42 comments:
There's a line in a Michael Jackson song (early on one of the CDs I bought in the wake of his death) that sounds like "I'm a vegetable." But since I only listen to the CD in the car, and it's early on in the CD, I never remember to look up the lyrics until I am listening to the song once more.
(oh, this is @suzigurl, btw.)
Actually, it is "You're a vegetable." It's from "Wanna Be Startin' Something" and I had no idea what he was singing there until after his death when the music was everywhere and I was looking up lyrics, yep, on the Internet!
Isn't "chicane" also a term from formula one racing, referring to a quick left-then-right set of turns in the course? That might make a kind of twisted sense?
Tom,
1) yes, it is
2) no, it doesn't
I remember having the same question back in the early eighties(my teenage years). I looked up the word chicane in some dictionary and(possibly the library) it gave me the wave definition you found. So I stuck with that. Either way it's academic.
I mean, if you could walk on a wave, about the only place you could do it is at the frothy top, right?
Chicane is a feature of a roadway that forces a driver to slow down and make a turn. It is intended to encourage a driver to slow down and not speed through an area (i.e residential).
My understanding of a WAVE CHICANE is that it is a breakwater structure intended to slow down and calm large ocean waves.
Some call these seawalls, and the ancient vikings built them, and called it a molo. This seems to fit the song, as an ocean's daughter walking on a seawall at midnight would be quite the sight!
Interesting, I wouln't trust the lyrics enclosed with albums. I've seen many instances of them being just plain wrong.
When the record companies did the artwork I expect they just got someone to listen to the songs and write down the words. I doubt very much whether they actually asked the artist to check them. Completely sifferent department.
I've got a CD by "Pat Banatar" - that's how well they check the artwork!
If you watch this video (although not live) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrffDM3hHk8 you will notice when he sings the lyric in question that he doesn't close his lips as you would to say "came." This leads me to believe that he is indeed saying "chicane" as you do not need to close your lips to make the "m" sound like you do for came. What do you think?
Further comment on the word "chicane" and its cousin "chicanery".
Chicanery is found in Scandinavian languages as the verb "sjikanere". It denotes interrupting, harassing or disturbing someone who is going about their business.
So, I believe, the WAVE CHICANE is an interruption of natural action of the ocean wave so it cannot apply its full force against a shore or a harbour.
The image is of powerful waves exploding against the chicane wall, and mist, spray and foam being generated.
In this damp sparkling backdrop the "Ocean's Daughter" is a haunting figure in the darkness, as the song-writer is consumed with the mysticism of this image.
You guys are all geniuses in your own wacky way. Here’s to Michael from Ohio and all o’ y’all responsive blogsters: you've reassured me that I'm not the only freaky loner on earth who agonizes about rock lyrics to the point of obsession.
In 1977, when the double-album "Love You Live" was released, my friends and I [then in our older teens] felt compelled to replay it umpteen times on our turntables and re-listen like true fans ("fanatics"), all because Mick Jagger had suddenly dispensed with any and all consonants. It was a total vowel-fest by Mick. What it did, ultimately, was permanently cement the overall Stones mystique in our hearts and minds. The biggest pastime in town became haggling with friends over exactly what Jagger and Richards et al. were trying to say.
Cutting back abruptly now to 2012: Michael, why don't you (or perhaps that prolific guy Robert Porter who runs the site jefflynnesongs.com with such precision and devotion) devise some mechanism to simply ASK JEFF LYNNE if it is “chicane” or not?
Bottom line: he either answers us or he doesn’t. Perhaps the request could come via an agent, publicist or official website or fan club. He might surprise us by stating, flat-out, “she came” or “chicane.”
On the other hand, if my hunch is right about the crucial role of keeping alive one’s mystique, famous folks like Lynne and Jagger might opt to remain willfully coy. Carly Simon has never fessed up on the identity of her ex-lover in “You’re So Vain” and Don McLean refuses (on principle, he says) to analyze in detail the many rock-history references in “American Pie.”
If I were a famous person, I am 99 percent sure I’d have mercy upon the common folk who just need some bloody information. I’d be the type to spill all, probably on my official website.
~ The Twill
P.S. I referred to www.elo.biz but found no link to ‘official’ lyrics.
I know the record companies don't always proof this stuff anyway- my
best friend's brother had a vinyl copy of a Willy Nelson album where they had transposed a word in two different songs. The song title "Angel Flying Too Close To The Night" almost sounded plausible. But the giveaway was the title of a very famous song, "Help Me Make It Through The Ground". Obviously the last word of these two songs were switched from one to another.
I'm definitely on the "she came" side... you might think, for instance, that record companies might care to get the title of an album right, but ELO's debut album in the US came with "No Answer" printed on it because of the label's sloppiness. So no, I don't trust the lyric sheet one bit, especially given that Lynne's songwriting is not noted for dwelling in the obscure! http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/noanswer.asp
She's a surfer chick ridin the curve.
9 yrs later, this is still the most earthly translation.
I watch the live video of them performing this in the studio and there was a close up on Jeff Lynne as he saying that line. He does NOT close his lips for the word "came" and I am convinced he does say chicane. But "she came" rhymes and makes more sense. But hey he's the one that wrote it, so...
I just read a comment from a guy on another site who claims the record company made a misprint with the word 'chicane' and he has a signed copy of the original lyric sheet, signed by Jeff Lynne noting that it's supposed to be "...walking on a wave she came...staring as she called my name..." no wonder that makes more sense! It's the correct line!
I just watched the documentary of the reunion tour in Wembly. He clearly said, "She came". Look for yourself. It's available on Showtie on demand.
Thank you to Bleach and Charles for clearing this up! This has been driving me crazy as I'm planning on making a lyric video of this song and I could not find the real scoop on whether he sings the word chicane or not. Now I know it's really supposed to be "she came". Thanks so much guys!
I distinctly remember them printing the lyrics to Ode to Billy Joe, whereby they bought a house in two below (me thinking it must have been a cold winter). As I found out years later it was Tupelo. Someone was really bad at transposing lyrics but still funny to this day.
Seems an awfully odd mistake if it was someone listening to the song and writing down what they thought they heard. Wouldn't 99 percent of English speakers think they heard "she came"? Or was someone pulling the legs of thousands of ELO fans? I always accepted "chicane" since it was on the inner sleeve that way lol.
Fact: you have to close your lips to make the "m" sound at the end of the word "came". Fact: on the 1975 promotional video for "Can't Get It Out of My Head" Jeff Lynne - sans sunglasses - is shown in intense closeup singing the line "walking on a wave..." and on the next two syllables his mouth remains open at the end with his tongue clearly behind his teeth enunciating an "n" at the end. It would be impossible for him to be singing "came" because his lips don't close. But he's lip syncing. Fact: on the collection of live performances called "The Early Years" a 1974 live performance of "Can't Get It Out of My Head" shows his lips compressing at the end of the line and you can both see and hear him singing "came". Fact: the same thing occurs on different concert performances in the 2010s. On the ones where his mouth isn't blocked by the mic, you can clearly see him doing the same two things in different concert appearances. He switches it up. Sometimes he sings "she came" and sometimes he sings "chicane". Either he's playing with us (likely) or he hasn't decided which line he likes better. And, as someone pointed out elsewhere, he always sings "wave" and never "wave's" or "waves". There is never an "s" sound at the end of wave, not even on the record. That can be absolutely heard and distinguished as singular "wave". The next two syllables on the record are too close for the human ear to distinguish between "chicane" and "she came". That's all.
P.S. He's either singing "walking on a wave she came" or "walking on a wave chicane'. In either case, the lyric sheet on the album is wrong!
This song has always fascinated me, and as I've gotten older, it has become one of my all time favorites. I love the thought of chicane being the lyric, as it adds to the haunting beauty of the song for me. I love even more that we may never know.
In all reason, since he says "...staring as called my NAME," it's a fair bet to assume he said, "...walking on a wave, she CAME..." since he's talking about 'the Ocean's Daughter' walking on the ocean (at midnight)
'Midnight, on the water'
I saw the Ocean's Daughter...
Walking on a wave, she came--
Staring as she called my name...
Jeff Lynne is a songwriter, lyricist, etc. It goes to figure he wrote 'she came' as this is a natural rhyme is 'name' and not 'chicane'
And I don't see his lips 'not' form the 'm' in name, either.
"chicane" doesn't work; even a loose implementation, with def. #3 doesn't cut it, even for the most oddball lyricist.
Dictionary
chi·cane
/SHəˈkān/
Learn to pronounce
See definitions in:
all
motor racing
cards · dated
crime
noun
noun: chicane; plural noun: chicanes
1.
an artificial narrowing or turn on a road or auto-racing course.
"the Austrian's car flew out of control and spun across the chicane"
2.
dated
(in card games) a hand without cards of one particular suit; a void.
3.
archaic
chicanery.
verbarchaic
verb: chicane; 3rd person present: chicanes; past tense: chicaned; past participle: chicaned; gerund or present participle: chicaning
employ trickery or chicanery.
"he spends more time chicaning on texts than invoking principles"
Is a lyric sheet definitive? Would a record company make that sort of error? Well… Bruce Springsteen’s management have just announced that future editions of Born To Run will correct a notorious misprint on that album’s lyric sheet. But what about ELO? In their case it’s worth remembering that even the names of their albums might not be definitive! In the US their first album is called “No Answer”. Everywhere else in the world it’s simply “The Electric Light Orchestra”. How come? A clerical error. An American record company secretary was asked by their bid to check the album name with the London office so the album could go to press. They phoned London to check but with the time difference everyone had gone home for the evening so no one picked up the phone. The message left on the boss’s desk by the secretary? “ Electric Light Orchestra - No answer” …and so the US pressing plants went into production!
So is stay in the “she came” camp, lyric sheet or not!
I know,lets just ask the great jeff lynne if its chicane or she came lol all the comments here are incredibly intelligent!! ELO , they are legends! Every concert they have ever played is fantastical!! To say the least! Me, from the first time I heard this song and sang it alone lol) its walking on a wave she came. But thats just me. God Bless you all.
Walking on a wave she came I agree! Makes more sense to me?? But what ever Jeff Lynne is saying hes a legend, a genius! ELO fagetaboutit �� fantastical! They put on one hell of a show let me tell ya!!! They pack em in by the thousands! God Bless n peaceout.
A chicane is narrowing as happens in race tracks
I saw this exact discussion on a Facebook ELO Fan page. A lady posted a picture of the handwritten lyrics written with Jeff's penmanship "Walking on a wave chicane." I believe she said these handwritten notes were at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I believe there was even a small mention of what it meant to Jeff when he penned it.
This put the discussion to bed for me.
To those who saw Jeff sing live, "Walking on a wave she came." It wouldn't the first time he changed a lyric in a live performance to do what the fans are singing. Jeff has told the story many times about Down Bring Me Down. About how he actually wrote, "Don't bring me down, groos. But the fans are all singing BRUCE! So he said "F@#* it, I'm singing it 'Bruce' too!" There have been performances in NY where Jeff and the whole crowd serenaded Bruce Willis, which he loved.
So it's a long way of saying to those thinking you saw Jeff singing, "Walking on a wave she came." You are probably right!
I would love to see that page of hand-written lyrics. I'll believe when I see it.
Switching it up DOES seem like something he would do! He probably enjoys people like us, fretting over that line! 😆
This, in all likelihood, is what probably happened when he wrote the song. The natural rhyme for name of course is "came", in this instance. Lynne, when writing the song surely came up with "...walking on a wave she came," but then later on he probably even got inquiries from people that he's close to asking what he actually sings there, perhaps some even guessing 'chicane'. He probably got a kick out of the controversy and the confusion and the widespread speculation about the lyrics that later ensued and most likely decided to alternate between the two just whenever he felt like it so as to perpetuate the speculation.
I wrote that previous comment. I wanted to add that 'chicane' can't possibly apply to any aspect of the water. The line says "...I saw the ocean's daughter. Walking on a wave she came staring as she called my name" In this context 'she' of course is referring to the ocean's daughter and how she's staring at him while she calls his name. That is the only thing that makes sense and surely Jeff Lynne as intelligent as he is and experienced with lyrics would not have thought to use chicane when initially writing the lyrics. The videos that you see of him where he appears to be singing 'chicane' are probably an afterthought again to perpetuate, with delight, the speculation.
Robert Earl Keen. 'some Marlboro lights' ,or 'some more Burl Ives' ? I play guitar and have always sung and thought it was some Marlboro lights. Have recently seen lyric sites as more Burl Ives. Both make sense in the songs context. Just thought I would throw that one out there.
So if chicane is incorrect, and that "she came" is the natural, common rhyming line to use, how in the heck did some record label hack, just listening to the music, land on "wave chicane" when the word chicane was almost completely out of usage existence at the time, and at best wave chicane is the most esoteric, pushing the boundary of not even real, word comb?
Correction, word combo.
A chicane is a twist or curve in the road and Lynn used it to refer to the twist or curve of the wave
It makes more lyrical sense for an angelic, lithe figure, "ocean's daughter" to be lightly walking along the frothy top of an ocean wave as the wave's chicane.
Dunno which one it is, but I prefer the mystique of chicane. I have connections with motor sports and at one race I attended where my young son was racing, another father humorously and mockingly referred to his own son, who was struggling to keep pace and getting lapped, as a "moving chicane". Chicane comes from chicanery and something tricky to handle. The Ocean's Daughter could have chosen to walk on the water, something generally calmer than a wave. Walking on a wave is a much trickier maneuver. Compared to the sea, the wave represents a chicane in itself. In this sense, "wave" denotes the kind of chicane she was walking on, a "wave chicane". By the way, Jeff Lynn did have motor sport interests where "chicane" can take on a broader meaning. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmnIo5PSR3k
I 100% always thought that ‘no answer’ was because of the line in telephone line: “Okay, so no one's answering“ if not that’s a weird coincidence that it happened because no one answered.
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