Music Review: Tom Tom Club "Wordy Rappinghood"
Tom Tom Club
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Wordy Rappinghood
Album: Tom Tom Club
Year: 1981
Tina Weymouth delves into her love of language in the original "Wordy Rappinghood."
Weymouth starts with the chorus. She wonders how valuable words are.
The tapping of a keyboard opens the single. An intellectual keyboard beat follows, setting a creative tone. the first verse, she notes that a vocabulary exists for newspapers. It's tighter and precise. Words exist to create hundreds of pages of a book. They are spoken. There are also negative connotations. Guilty and steal are reserved for crooks. I will be with you are said to convey comfort. Surrender and truce can stop war. Stop, go, can't express permission. Words build relationships, form bonds, and employment. Weymouth advises people to dine on the finest conversations and stimulate their minds. Swears are junk foods and leave people feeling unsatsified. For Weymouth, words have left her with nothing to say.
The pre-chorus is a bunch of nonsense words jumbled together.
The chorus is then said. She mentions that words like adjectives can function to describe a gradual change. Jargon denotes knowledge in a particular field. Love and beautiful can make someone giddy. Slang like humps and bling are dumb and will be forgotten about. But zog, swank, and posh are amusing to say. While words like confess and did can cause someone to leave the country. Words can be said in another dialect yet still have the same meaning. A rough translation from Altavista is included.
The pre-chorus is sung again.
The chorus is sung again.
Weymouth says words are continously changing and people always need to keep up.
Paris, the Mona Lisa, and Tom Cruise immediately indicate while truth and justice lead to debate. Words like starfish and pineapple are misleading. Their origins are puzzling. The words "I didn't do it" could be a lie. Folk art could mean different things to many people. Words are needed to deliver the bad news of a family member or friend's death. Lord, God, Jesus, and Buddha start prayers. Words are able to get to the heart of a thorny issue. Runcation is not even said anymore and become archaic. However, ass and damn are used commonly. Great and excellent indicate praise. But adding not or no could change the tone right away.
In the third verse, she says that not checking a box on a tax form could lead to debt. Fuck and shit are words she is not allowed to say in public. Certain funny words have different meanings. For example, toilet is also means to dress. The same word could be said loudly and could cause fear. At other times, the meaning may not be obvious. Words can inspire people to do good while others incite heated discussions. Words exist everywhere and can't be avoided. It takes more than cheap talk to solve the world's problems. A single word said on a game show could make someone a millionaire. Words are hypocritical. She adds that words are like rapping.
Weymouth tells people to talk all the time. She adds she's said too much and went on longer than she should've.
The pre-chorus is sung once.
The chorus is sung four times.
A tropical drum solo follows.
Weymouth frantically assures people the drum solo will end soon.
"Wordy Rappinghood" discusses the importance of communication. People are talking even if they don't realize it. It's an inate thing to do and something that's taken for granted. Without language, people would struggle to relate to each other. Words define people and express their personalities.
In the pre-chorus, Weymouth makes the point that even nonsense has a function. For the single, it creates excitement and helps keep the tone light. Each lyric in the song is necessary and connects to the next with ease. The Old McDonald reference is done in a high-pitched chipmunk voice which is sounds as modern as rap record today.
Album: Tom Tom Club
Year: 1981
Tina Weymouth delves into her love of language in the original "Wordy Rappinghood."
Weymouth starts with the chorus. She wonders how valuable words are.
"What are words worth?/What are words worth?/Words."
The tapping of a keyboard opens the single. An intellectual keyboard beat follows, setting a creative tone. the first verse, she notes that a vocabulary exists for newspapers. It's tighter and precise. Words exist to create hundreds of pages of a book. They are spoken. There are also negative connotations. Guilty and steal are reserved for crooks. I will be with you are said to convey comfort. Surrender and truce can stop war. Stop, go, can't express permission. Words build relationships, form bonds, and employment. Weymouth advises people to dine on the finest conversations and stimulate their minds. Swears are junk foods and leave people feeling unsatsified. For Weymouth, words have left her with nothing to say.
"Words in papers, words in books/Words on TV, words for crooks/Words of comfort, words of peace/Words to make the fighting cease/Words to tell you what to do/Words are working hard for you/
Eat your words but don't go hungry/Words have always nearly hung me."
The pre-chorus is a bunch of nonsense words jumbled together.
The chorus is then said. She mentions that words like adjectives can function to describe a gradual change. Jargon denotes knowledge in a particular field. Love and beautiful can make someone giddy. Slang like humps and bling are dumb and will be forgotten about. But zog, swank, and posh are amusing to say. While words like confess and did can cause someone to leave the country. Words can be said in another dialect yet still have the same meaning. A rough translation from Altavista is included.
"Words of nuance, words of skill/And words of romance are a thrill/Words are stupid, words are fun/Words can put you on the run/Mots pressés, mots sensés, (pressed words, judicious words)/Mots qui disent la vérité (words which say the truth)/Mots maudits, mots mentis, (cursed words, lied words)/Mots qui manquent le fruit d'esprit (words which miss the fruit of the spirit)."
The pre-chorus is sung again.
The chorus is sung again.
Weymouth says words are continously changing and people always need to keep up.
Paris, the Mona Lisa, and Tom Cruise immediately indicate while truth and justice lead to debate. Words like starfish and pineapple are misleading. Their origins are puzzling. The words "I didn't do it" could be a lie. Folk art could mean different things to many people. Words are needed to deliver the bad news of a family member or friend's death. Lord, God, Jesus, and Buddha start prayers. Words are able to get to the heart of a thorny issue. Runcation is not even said anymore and become archaic. However, ass and damn are used commonly. Great and excellent indicate praise. But adding not or no could change the tone right away.
"It's a rap race, with a fast pace/Concrete words, abstract words/Crazy words and lying words/Hazy words and dying words/Words of faith and tell me straight/Rare words and swear words/
Good words and bad words."
In the third verse, she says that not checking a box on a tax form could lead to debt. Fuck and shit are words she is not allowed to say in public. Certain funny words have different meanings. For example, toilet is also means to dress. The same word could be said loudly and could cause fear. At other times, the meaning may not be obvious. Words can inspire people to do good while others incite heated discussions. Words exist everywhere and can't be avoided. It takes more than cheap talk to solve the world's problems. A single word said on a game show could make someone a millionaire. Words are hypocritical. She adds that words are like rapping.
"Words can make you pay and pay/Four-letter words I cannot say/Panty, toilet, dirty devil/Words are trouble, words are subtle/Words of anger, words of hate/Words over here, words out there/In the air and everywhere/Words of wisdom, words of strife/Words that write the book I like/Words won't find no right solution/To the planet earth's pollution/Say the right word, make a million/Words are like a certain person/Who can't say what they mean/Don't mean what they say/With a rap rap here and a rap rap there/Here a rap, there a rap/Everywhere a rap rap."
Weymouth tells people to talk all the time. She adds she's said too much and went on longer than she should've.
"Rap it up for the common good/Let us enlist the neighbourhood/It's okay, I've overstood/This is a wordy rappinghood, okay, bye."
The pre-chorus is sung once.
The chorus is sung four times.
A tropical drum solo follows.
Weymouth frantically assures people the drum solo will end soon.
"He'll stop/Don't stop/Stop/He'll stop/Don't stop/Stop/He'll stop/Don't stop/Stop//He'll stop/Don't stop/Stop."
"Wordy Rappinghood" discusses the importance of communication. People are talking even if they don't realize it. It's an inate thing to do and something that's taken for granted. Without language, people would struggle to relate to each other. Words define people and express their personalities.
In the pre-chorus, Weymouth makes the point that even nonsense has a function. For the single, it creates excitement and helps keep the tone light. Each lyric in the song is necessary and connects to the next with ease. The Old McDonald reference is done in a high-pitched chipmunk voice which is sounds as modern as rap record today.