Comments on: "Ee-pa-ro"? What does that mean?

Question: "Ee-pa-ro"? What does that mean?

concrete — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:04:49 -0800

A question about lyrics in "Birdland" by Weather Report.

At around 2:44 in the song, somebody (I think it's the drummer or percussionist) sings something that sounds like "Ee-pa-ro". Does anybody know what he's actually singing and what it means?

By: numinous

numinous — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:24:56 -0800

At first reading of your question I thought perhaps you had the version of the song confused (as Weather Report don't sing during their rendition), so I re-listened to it.

ALAS! You are right, he is singing something close to Ee-pa-ro (or perhaps Keep 'em off?)! I would have never caught this strange element. The singer repeats the same words around 2:48 in the song, as well.

I'm sorry I can't offer you a definitive answer, but thank you for posting this question! It motivated me to listen to a song with which I had long lost touch (and I love me some Jaco Pastorius!).

By: rossination

rossination — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:37:18 -0800

I've always thought this was some sort of intentionally mixed-in vocal. I'll ask my audio tech buddy tomorrow.

I too thought you were thinking of a different album at first - thought you were talking about the (terrible, IMHO) Manhattan Transfer recording of it. But I digress.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 21:39:15 -0800

Whatever it is, there's a keyboard in unison with it. On the Manhattan Transfer version of the song, they just do it once with a piano - no vocal - so they must have been aware of it too. Same with the Weather Report live version I have: right there they just do it once as a descending triad with the keys, no vocal. (Miles skips this particular break, as far as I can tell.)

To my ear, it sounds most like the Spanish word hígado, "liver," except it's more like "híparo," which isn't a word as far as I know. He sings it three times.

How did you find this? I've listened to this song dozens of times and never heard it.

By: danb

danb — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:13:38 -0800

I've noticed it before, but I always thought it was "people." Now I'm not so sure...

By: ob

ob — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 08:02:02 -0800

Yeah I always thought it was "people" too...

By: Songdog

Songdog — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 09:11:29 -0800

I've heard it and sung along phonetically for about fifteen years but I have no idea what the word is. Is this where it turns out Alex Acuña and Manolo Badrena are Mefites and they straighten us out?

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 10:04:32 -0800

I can't locate my copy of the album at the moment (could someone post a clip with the words?), but could it be y paro 'and I stop' (or 'and stoppage')? Probably not, but I just thought I'd toss that out there. It may not be one word, is all I'm saying.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:04:40 -0800

I always assumed it was "people".

By: sgass

sgass — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:46:10 -0800

It's always sounded like "Ee-pa-Lo" to me, which I guess could make it something like "People-Oh" ... but I've always assumed that it was just scat-like vocal sounds rather than specific words.

By: Songdog

Songdog — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 18:51:23 -0800

I've clipped this part of the track; any suggestions where to post it?

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 02:54:56 -0800

Having spent far, far too much time thinking about this, I'm convinced languagehat is right.