Difference between revisions of "118: 50 Ways"
m (fixed grammatical errors) |
m (Reverted edits by Explain xkcd server admin (talk) to last revision by Theusaf) |
||
(27 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{comic | {{comic | ||
| number = 118 | | number = 118 | ||
− | | date = | + | | date = June 21, 2006 |
| title = 50 Ways | | title = 50 Ways | ||
| image = 50_ways.png | | image = 50_ways.png | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | The comic provides alternate lyrics to the chorus of the 1975 song "{{w|50 Ways to Leave Your Lover}}" ([ | + | The comic provides alternate lyrics to the chorus of the 1975 song "{{w|50 Ways to Leave Your Lover}}" ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABXtWqmArUU Video]) by American artist {{w|Paul Simon}}. Both the original and alternate lyrics provide a textual hook because the name at the end of the line is rhymed with the word before it (back/Jack, plan/Stan, go/Joe). |
− | [[Randall]], we learn from the | + | [[Randall]], we learn from the title text, heard Simon's song during a '70s hit marathon, went to sleep, and while being sleepy replaced "lover" by "hover" while writing the last line of the song's chorus. Thus changing this line from ''to leave your lover'' into ''to learn to hover''. Clearly, this amused him so much that he decided to create a comic where people learn how to hover, rather than leave their lover. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
:Gotta levitate, Kate | :Gotta levitate, Kate | ||
:There must be 50 ways | :There must be 50 ways | ||
− | : | + | :To learn to hover. |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} |
Latest revision as of 02:54, 21 May 2022
Explanation[edit]
The comic provides alternate lyrics to the chorus of the 1975 song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (Video) by American artist Paul Simon. Both the original and alternate lyrics provide a textual hook because the name at the end of the line is rhymed with the word before it (back/Jack, plan/Stan, go/Joe).
Randall, we learn from the title text, heard Simon's song during a '70s hit marathon, went to sleep, and while being sleepy replaced "lover" by "hover" while writing the last line of the song's chorus. Thus changing this line from to leave your lover into to learn to hover. Clearly, this amused him so much that he decided to create a comic where people learn how to hover, rather than leave their lover.
Transcript[edit]
- [Two figures stand around a levitating person.]
- You gotta let go, Joe
- Just rise off your feet, Pete
- Just stay in the air, Claire
- Gotta levitate, Kate
- There must be 50 ways
- To learn to hover.
Discussion
Might there also be a cultural reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? In the books, characters can learn to hover or fly by perfecting the art of managing to miss the ground when falling. Gleyshon (talk) 01:04, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
- You are so right, perhaps the key is 42, lets try to use it to figure out ultimate questions around us, such as what doesn't make since to us as society as a whole? - 98.211.199.84 13:58, 3 March 2013 (UTC)
The date of this one seems to be wrong. 141.101.80.120 12:01, 6 May 2016 (UTC)