Talk:Boat Of Car

Bass

Am I alone here in thinking that the Johnny Cash sample is "Daddy Sang Bass" not "Daddy'll Sing Bass"? - Stiddy

I've always heard "Daddy'll sing bass". - FrankEinstein

Well, if you trust this website, then I think it is "Daddy Sang"...I just wanted some clearance before changing the lyrics. And actually, now that I've just heard the version of this song they did on "Studio 360", it's definately "Daddy Sang Bass".- Stiddy

Pretty sure on the album version it is "Daddy'll sing bass." It would be from the last chorus of the Cash song where he looks forward to what will happen in heaven. -User:Tisher

I just listened to the Cash song, and to me, it sounds like he uses the past tense even when he's referring to what will happen in heaven. - Stiddy

No. He's absolutely changing it. And if you listen to "Boat of Car" it's clearly "sing" and not "sang". I remember when I first heard the Johnny Cash song already familiar with the TMBG song I was confused as to where the sample could have come from until the final chorus when I was finally unconfused. -User:Tisher

Before I saw the lyrics I thought it was "Daniel Sing Bass" so I'd say "Daddy'l' Sing Bass." Unless it's "Daddy'll Sang Bass", which doesn't make much sense.

I really don't understand what I'm missing when I'm trying to hear the "Daddy'll Sing"...even if the arguement is against my favor 4:1....I still think its "Daddy Sang"...why couldn't TMBG have put this on the lyric sheets?!?:) And I REALLY can't hear the "i" in "Sing", I just hear "Sang". - Stiddy

I always heard "Daddy sing bass", but of course that doesn't make sense. It's gotta be "Daddy'll sing bass". - Doctor Masonstein

Alright. Either I'm the only one who can hear this or my ears are just broken. Probably the latter. But I didn't mean to split the TMBG camps into...everyone vs. me. :) I won't stop enjoying this song if I turn out to be wrong, but I SWEAR its "Daddy Sang". My primary reason for starting this was that I NEVER can hear the "'ll" at all. There only seems to be four syllables in the sample. I'm not trying to be stubborn or anything...really, I could care less whether it was "Daddy'll Sing" or "Daddy Sang"...as long as we all know that, when it came to singing, Daddy's vocals were of the bass variety. - Stiddy

Okay, it's time to jump in here and say my opinion. I have always heard "Daddy sang bass," just like Stiddy, only, well, not. I agree with him that it's very difficult to jam five syllables into a time period meant for four syllables. Since TMBG doesn't normally try to cram in more stuff than will fit (they work around that very creatively), it doesn't really make sense to say "Daddy'll sing bass." I also think it's "Daddy sang bass" very clearly on the Mini-Brass version. Unfortunately, I cannot check this on the Clock Radio, as my Flash player is malfunctioning and playing three songs at once, while it is supposed to be playing Purple Toupee, though that is, ironically, not one of the three songs playing. Oh, wait, there it goes, boosting it to four songs at once. It's oberburdening itself. My Flash player is apparently following in my footsteps.

The sample is taken from the Johnny Cash song 'Daddy Sang Bass', which went Daddy sang bass (mama sang tenor). Me and little brother would join right in there.' Though admittedly, I haven't listened to the song for about 2 years now, so I'm not suprised if that 3rd line is wrong, but still, the second line is 'Mama sang tenor', as well as the title 'Daddy Sang Bass' so it makes no sense to have 'Daddy'll sing bass' as the first line. If you don't believe me, search '"Daddy Sang Bass" Lyrics' on Google. Oh, and sorry I haven't been around recently. - MooseBlaster

---

Flux writes: Um, no hard feelings here, but I ran a search on Google for [Johnny Cash "Daddy'll sing"] and came up with 71 hits. These are just a few of the sites which show the lyrics changing to future tense in the final verse:

• cowboylyrics.com
• metrolyrics.com
• allsonglyrics.net
• marvellyrics.com
• songlyrics.com
• lyricsdir.com
• gospel.boltblue.net
• lyricsdownload.com
• tabcountry.com

This only shows that both versions are out there. Still, mistakes tend to overlook differences and make things similar, so it's easy to see how the chorus would be listed "sang" all three times on some websites. It's harder to imagine people accidentally changing the third chorus to make it incorrectly different. But all that aside, the sample could still have been taken from the first chorus. It's cool that I finally found something geeky enough to distract me from thoughts of charming myself. So geeky it's cool. Wait, I've heard that somewhere before...

By the way, we're not the first fans to quibble over this. Here's a copy of Frequently Asked Question #24 from the FAQ at http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/faq/. Note that the editors at tmbg.org lean toward "Daddy sang bass" from the first chorus, but that they acknowledge those who hear something else (like me):

FAQ#24. What is the sample at the beginning of "Boat of Car"?

Johnny Cash, sampled from the chorus of the song "Daddy Sang Bass" (not the fish). We think he was sampled from the first line of the chorus, but others are not so sure. Those people believe it's the line "Daddy'll sing bass".

Andrew Russell Mutchler writes: The name of the song is "Daddy Sang Bass" (words & music by Carl Perkins), which is also the first line of the chorus. Yes, I know that's not "Daddy'll sing bass," but the entire chorus is as follows:

   Daddy sang bass, Mama sang tenor,
   Me and little brother would join right in there.
   Singin' seems to help a troubled soul.
   One of these days and it won't be long,
   I'll rejoin them in a song.
   I'm gonna join the fam'ly circle at the throne.
   No, the circle won't be broken
   Bye and bye, Lord, bye and bye.
   Daddy'll sing bass, Mama'll sing tenor,
   Me and little brother will join right in there
   In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

---

Well, I wasn't ever trying to NOT acknoweledge (GOD, that is one ugly word...) you...but I agree, it was fun to argue over something this geeky! :) Maybe we should just put both versions on the lyrics page? - Stiddy

---

I can see where there is room for argument, because the inflection is so very subtle. My extended family is all from Georgia and I've lived with two distinct varieties of a Southern accent all my life. The Southern drawl has its greatest effect on vowels. For example, in central Georgia, the word "on" sounds more like "own" rather than "ahn". "Kill" almost rhymes with "teal". And "sing" most definitely sounds like "sang" -- but if you're used to the accent then the "a" in "sang" has a distinct sound (and most of the time it would be "sung" anyway).

Even then I still would have sworn up and down that it was "daddy sang bass". But after reading the discussion here I just had to listen to a short clip of "Boat of Car" over and over again about a dozen times, just to see. The contraction of "daddy" and "will" is an odd one to begin with and therefore, since it's very unexpected, people don't listen for it. Without any vowel support between it and the "s" in "sing", the "l" sound (soft to begin with) becomes so soft as to be almost unnoticeable. It is there! And, if you listen to the sample expecting a country twang, then the word in there is definitely "sing" and not "sang". You just don't expect that drawl in a song by They Might Be from New York.  :)

---

I added some sample extracts and analysis at Daddy Sang Bass. --SR

---

SR: Sweeeeeet! How did you slow down the one sample? Nice! --Flux

Yeah, I'd be really interested in what program you were using to get those samples. - Stiddy

21-may-2004

I used TotalRecorder (http://www.highcriteria.com) to convert iTunes and MP3 files to WAV. I used CoolEdit to process and edit the samples. --SR

"Ha" ain't just for demos!

Most people are aware of the point in the BoC demo at 8 seconds where a small, only slightly audible "Ha" sound is heard. It was thought that that sound was removed from the demo and not on the final album version, but I recently noticed that's it's still in the song, just in another point. At 50 seconds into the final on TMBG(album) you can hear, even quiter than the demo, the "Ha" sound. It's barely audible, but it's there. It's not a big deal, but it's kind of interesting, I doubt anyone else (save the Johns and procuction crew...um, just Bill Kruass) has heard it before. Maybe this sound is significant to the John's but they wanted to conceal it in an even "cleverer" way. I dunno, I just thought it was worth pointing out. --Luke 01:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Pronunciation Breakdown

Okay, so, as we all know different people will say the same words using different sounds. It's our brains ability to abstract that allows us to hear "Ch'yow'dah" as "chowder" when coming from a Bostonite's mouth. Thus, much of the confusion could come from the literal sounds coming off this track vs how we interpret their meaning. I have listened hard and I believe I can come to a definitive pronunciation of the words:

D'a'dee s'yaing b'ay'ss*e

The second "d" in "D'a'dee" is much softer, almost an "n" sound. The tongue, when making a "d", presses against the roof of the mouth. With an "n", it presses against the back of the teeth. This appears to be pronounced somewhere in between. Also, there is a soft glottal stop at the end of "D'a'dee" (denoted by the two apostrophes) which could be what many are mistaking for an "l" sound.

In "s'yaing" there is a "y" sound which crescendos up to an "ain" sound, much like "ain't" in most parts of the USA. It is very likely that this is the future tense, especially if this recording is of Johnny Cash or if it is intended to mimic Johnny Cash, as the American South accent is often characterized by the addition of vowels into words. However, the nature of this accent also makes it hard to determine the exact nature of this word, as the pronunciation difference between the past and future tense in the Southern accent is not emphasized.

However, as it seems that the end of the word "D'a'dee" ends in a glottal stop and not a true "l" sound, the most likely situation is that the person (Cash or Linnell) who said it intended for that word to be "Daddy", and not "Daddy'll". And while I believe it is most likely that the second is in fact "sing", it still might be "sang". --Bijhan 22:11, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Seriously?

The Holy Land lists the song as "Daddy Sang Bass". Why would Johnny sing the title some other way? -- Jason DeLima - ♥! - 03:25, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

If you listen to [1], at like :53, he definitely sings daddy'll, and that part of the chorus is in future tense. 'daddy sang bass' is in the song too, though. --Valerie 03:59, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Boat of Car

Boat of Car is in my Top 10 Giants songs ever. Walking that left field tightrope, it doesn't fall, but is brilliant. A surreal mood piece invoking paranoia and angst is a classic. Flans at his best. (Mr Tuck)

I completely agree. I’m going to make an even bolder move, this album is my favorite album of tmbg’s. Better than Lincoln. Better than flood. Maybe not production-wise, but this is their most innovative album. SorryForHittingYourEye (talk)

Just a random thought that popped into my head

This is exactly why I love early tmbg. Their straight up weirdness somehow works perfectly. Their humor, their production style, and the power couple (JOKE) that is John and John all make the pink album my favorite tmbg album. SorryForHittingYourEye (talk)