Tears for Fears Pharaohs "lyrics"?
July 27, 2005 11:24 PM   Subscribe

Tears for Fears has a "b-side" instrumental song called Pharaohs. Does anyone know what the narrator is saying or reading from?
posted by edjusted to Media & Arts (7 answers total)
 
Best answer: Shipping Forecast ? From wikipedia:

Other popular artists who have used samples of the Shipping Forecast include Andy White who added the forecast to the track "The Whole Love Story" to create a very nostalgic, cosy and soporific sound, highly evocative of the British Isles, and Tears for Fears, whose track "Pharaohs" (a play on the name of the sea area "Faeroes") is a setting of the forecast to a mixture of mellow music and sound effects.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 11:56 PM on July 27, 2005


I recall reading somewhere recently that this very report was to end soon, but can't find proof. As a radio geek and a TFF fan, I'd love to know more. edjusted, no e-mail in ya profile - if I find something, please adjust - no pun intended.
posted by OneOliveShort at 1:22 AM on July 28, 2005


I believe the report was that it'd end on VHF/FM and be on AM only. Again, I can't find evidence of this, but here's the shipping forecast site. Personally I think this is a splendid idea, as AM is more available at sea itself, and it's not really relevant to the Radio 4 mandate anyway.
posted by wackybrit at 4:02 AM on July 28, 2005


It's the shipping forecast, aye, and IIRC they are cutting down the times it's played on FM, not dropping it entirely. God, the outcry if they stopped playing Sailing By at bedtime (the little intro theme song) would be immense. It's like a national lullaby.


There are few things as simultaneously cosy and unsettling as lying snug in bed, listening to "Gale force 8, rising sharply" and thinking of some poor fellow holding on the wheel on storm-tossed seas.
posted by bonaldi at 2:22 PM on July 28, 2005


The BBC has come up with two pieces of ongoing concrete poetry. One is the shipping forecast, the other the football results on a Saturday afternoon. (Do they still do that? I just realise I haven't actually seen it since the late 70s)

Glasgow Rangers.... One .... Queen of the South.... .... Nil
posted by Grangousier at 3:30 PM on July 28, 2005


Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Kate Fox has something on this.
posted by terrortubby at 3:52 PM on July 28, 2005


Response by poster: Wow...I would've never ever guessed...I always thought it was some sort of history text...part of it sounds like "viking forces plodded forward"...thank you all! I've been wondering about this literally for years, ever since I heard this song on the b-side of the *record* single...you know...those black round things that spin...
posted by edjusted at 12:03 AM on July 29, 2005


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