Help convince me Mars bars aren't actually getting smaller!

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:53 pm

OK, let me explain what I mean by that title. I've recently started a new free podcast where a friend and I take a not-altogether-serious slant on all things project-studio (http://www.projectstudioteabreak.com). For our latest recording, I mentioned that, although I don't normally agree with the "music was better in the 70s/60s/baroque/whateverpastperiod" point of view I sometimes hear from people of my age, I've begun to worry I might be starting to become such a curmudgeon myself...

You see, as I was reclining by the pool on holiday a couple of weeks ago, I heard ABBA's 'Lay All Your Love On Me', which contains the fabulous couplet "I used to think I was sensible / It makes the truth even more incomprehensible", with its six-syllable final word. So I started trying to think if there were any similarly long words in recent chart hits. And I couldn't come up with any!

Five-syllable words used to be commonplace ("Unforgettable" "You irreplaceable you" "Congratulations"...) and The Carpenters managed a whopping seven syllables in "Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" (a song which includes another 5-syllable and four 4-syllable words too). But the most recent six-syllable word I could find was "institutionalized" in So Solid Crew's "Broken Silence" back in 2003, and even five-syllable ones seem pretty scarce -- there's "opportunity" in Eminem's "Lose Yourself", for instance, but that's 2002.

So, please -- somebody! -- name me a hit song within the last 10 years that has at least a 5-syllable word in it, and preferably a 7-syllable one to stop The Carpenters looking so smug (a herculean labour, I know). Otherwise, I'm afraid I shall have to concede that Mars bars really are getting smaller, that policemen are getting younger, and that young people really don't show any respect for their elders any more. In my day, etc., etc., ...

:roll:

by **The Bunk** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 7:07 pm

Dang!! I thought I had a couple of belters and then re-read the post and picked up the "last 10 years" line. So I'll refrain but if we do open up into "last 40 years", I'll be back....

by **wireman** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 7:47 pm

International Love
E.T.

by **blinddrew** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 8:34 pm

Don't think i can top the syllable count but there's plenty of clever lyric writing from the likes of Frank Turner, David Ford and Tom McRae.
But i guess that doesn't make the charts.

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:00 pm

wireman wrote:International Love
E.T.

Wow -- who'd have thought we'd have Pitbull and Katy Perry fighting the good fight.

:D

OK. So we have a 5-syllable from 2011 and a 6-syllable from 2010. Do I hear a raise on 6-syllable? Or something more recent?
:round1:

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:02 pm

blinddrew wrote:Don't think i can top the syllable count but there's plenty of clever lyric writing from the likes of Frank Turner, David Ford and Tom McRae.
But i guess that doesn't make the charts.

Yeah. That's the problem. Hell, DieNasty Records, the San Diego hip-hop collective used pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis in 2008 and 2010, but I'd hardly call that mainstream...

by **tomas** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:05 pm

...except, as any serious prog heads should know, “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" was written and originally recorded by Klaatu for their 1977 album Hope, which includes many other gems like “We’re Off You Know”, “Around the Universe in 80 Days” and “Anus of Uranus”... ;) I like the album a lot since way back then, and I honestly only found out here and now that the Carpenters made a cover of Calling!

From Ambrose Akinmusire there’s “Ceaseless Inexhaustible Child” released just four years ago, but not quite a chart topper...

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:07 pm

tomas wrote:...except, as any serious prog heads should know, “Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft" was written and originally recorded by Klaatu for their 1977 album Hope

Cool! Didn't realise that!

by **Logarhythm** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:13 pm

It appears that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was released as a single that made the charts in the US, so that's the Carpenters pipped for you ;)

Whilst I'm embarrassed to admit that I can remember this, I believe Eminem got "antidisestablishmentarianism" into a song that Google claims is from an album in 2010.

N.B. Mars Bars are getting smaller. Music peaked in 1825 :mrgreen:

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:25 pm

Logarhythm wrote:Music peaked in 1825 :mrgreen:

That late?

by **Mike Senior** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 9:28 pm

Logarhythm wrote:It appears that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was released as a single that made the charts in the US, so that's the Carpenters pipped for you ;)

It only entered the OED well after that, though... :)

Whilst I'm embarrassed to admit that I can remember this, I believe Eminem got "antidisestablishmentarianism" into a song that Google claims is from an album in 2010.

Hah -- yes, you're right. It's in Almost Famous off Recovery. Wasn't a hit, though... Dang!

by **Matt Houghton** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:16 pm

Outside your time limit but RHCP's Californication includes 'civilisation'... which is 5 or arguably 6 syllables. Mars bars were clearly longer back then.

by **blinddrew** » Fri Sep 14, 2018 10:33 pm

Florence and the machine, sky full of hope (this year) scores a 6 with unimaginable.
Fairly mainstream.

by **BJG145** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 7:24 am

...and "Interplanetary" is only 6 too...

by **ConcertinaChap** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 7:55 am

[non sequitur] Did you know that Mars bars were invented in Slough? [/non sequitur]

CC

by **Mike Senior** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:32 am

BJG145 wrote:...and "Interplanetary" is only 6 too...

D'oh! :headbang: It's my attention to detail that really sets me apart... :roll:

It's not that policemen are getting younger, it's just that I've forgotten how to count!

by **Mike Senior** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:37 am

blinddrew wrote:Florence and the machine, sky full of hope (this year) scores a 6 with unimaginable.
Fairly mainstream.

Number two album, admittedly, but that single still only hit number 81 in the UK charts. We're getting warmer, though! :)

by **Mike Senior** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 8:38 am

ConcertinaChap wrote:[non sequitur] Did you know that Mars bars were invented in Slough? [/non sequitur]

CC

Absolutely -- I grew up within smelling distance of the Mars factory, in fact.

by **BJG145** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:29 am

Mike Senior wrote:
ConcertinaChap wrote:Did you know that Mars bars were invented in Slough?

Absolutely -- I grew up within smelling distance of the Mars factory, in fact.

...oh, that just reminds me of the smell of chocolate that used to hang over Norwich in bygone years. We produced the first Rolo, you know.

by **blinddrew** » Sat Sep 15, 2018 9:52 am

BJG145 wrote:
Mike Senior wrote:
ConcertinaChap wrote:Did you know that Mars bars were invented in Slough?

Absolutely -- I grew up within smelling distance of the Mars factory, in fact.

...oh, that just reminds me of the smell of chocolate that used to hang over Norwich in bygone years. We produced the first Rolo, you know.

I remember that, we still get it in York.

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Help convince me Mars bars aren't actually getting smaller!