Alice Cooper unfathomable lyric wanted

[Graham Conisborough]

Can anyone please help me with "Mr. and Miss Demeanour" from the "Easy
Action" album?

Around "who put all of this in motion".....

If one were to look on the Internet, several sites say something
like:-

Landscapes an' laws agoshin'

Huh? It's nonsense! Utter gibberish! Unless of course, "agoshin" is
after all a known word (in which case I stand corrected), but I've
studied language for 50 years, and never seen it, so.......

Alternatively, does anyone have Alice's email address or phone
number?!?!

Thanks for reading.

[lugnut]

Post by Graham Conisborough
Can anyone please help me with "Mr. and Miss Demeanour" from the "Easy
Action" album?
Around "who put all of this in motion".....
If one were to look on the Internet, several sites say something
like:-
Landscapes an' laws agoshin'
Huh? It's nonsense! Utter gibberish! Unless of course, "agoshin" is
after all a known word (in which case I stand corrected), but I've
studied language for 50 years, and never seen it, so.......
Alternatively, does anyone have Alice's email address or phone
number?!?!
Thanks for reading.

Well, I haven't come any closer to figuring out the "agoshin" than
you, but I do think the "landcapes an' laws" might actually be "land
sakes alive," a sort of quaint expression of surprise. By that logic
I was thinking maybe "a-goshin" was a similar old-timey bastardization
of "gosh," but the way he pronounces it with a long O sound sorta
blows that idea out of the water.



-lugnut

[lugnut]

Post by lugnut

Post by Graham Conisborough
Can anyone please help me with "Mr. and Miss Demeanour" from the "Easy
Action" album?
Around "who put all of this in motion".....
If one were to look on the Internet, several sites say something
like:-
Landscapes an' laws agoshin'
Huh? It's nonsense! Utter gibberish! Unless of course, "agoshin" is
after all a known word (in which case I stand corrected), but I've
studied language for 50 years, and never seen it, so.......
Alternatively, does anyone have Alice's email address or phone
number?!?!
Thanks for reading.

Well, I haven't come any closer to figuring out the "agoshin" than
you, but I do think the "landcapes an' laws" might actually be "land
sakes alive," a sort of quaint expression of surprise. By that logic
I was thinking maybe "a-goshin" was a similar old-timey bastardization
of "gosh," but the way he pronounces it with a long O sound sorta
blows that idea out of the water.

Well, it was bugging me, so I wound up asking the Alice fans over at
kissfaq.com about it, and "Homer Simpson" provided this from Alice's
notes in the "Life and Crimes" boxset:

"At the time, I was trying really hard to write lyrics with as much
wordplay as i could. The line, "Parked beside the ocean, Landscapes
alive agoshin', Who put all of this in motion" was written right after
a big Los Angeles earthquake that we had just lived through. The five
of us were also having scary dreams about tidal waves...."

So, Alice says it's "agoshin'." Still have no idea what that means,
but hey, there ya go.



-lugnut

[Michael]

Post by lugnut

Post by lugnut

Post by Graham Conisborough
Can anyone please help me with "Mr. and Miss Demeanour" from the "Easy
Action" album?
Around "who put all of this in motion".....
If one were to look on the Internet, several sites say something
like:-
Landscapes an' laws agoshin'
Huh? It's nonsense! Utter gibberish! Unless of course, "agoshin" is
after all a known word (in which case I stand corrected), but I've
studied language for 50 years, and never seen it, so.......
Alternatively, does anyone have Alice's email address or phone
number?!?!
Thanks for reading.

Well, I haven't come any closer to figuring out the "agoshin" than
you, but I do think the "landcapes an' laws" might actually be "land
sakes alive," a sort of quaint expression of surprise. By that logic
I was thinking maybe "a-goshin" was a similar old-timey bastardization
of "gosh," but the way he pronounces it with a long O sound sorta
blows that idea out of the water.

Well, it was bugging me, so I wound up asking the Alice fans over at
kissfaq.com about it, and "Homer Simpson" provided this from Alice's
"At the time, I was trying really hard to write lyrics with as much
wordplay as i could. The line, "Parked beside the ocean, Landscapes
alive agoshin', Who put all of this in motion" was written right after
a big Los Angeles earthquake that we had just lived through. The five
of us were also having scary dreams about tidal waves...."
So, Alice says it's "agoshin'." Still have no idea what that means,
but hey, there ya go.
-lugnut

Sounds like your first reading was the right one: they are sitting there
saying, "gosh - who put all this in motion?" I think he over-emphasised
the "o" in "agoshin" to better rhyme with "motion". Otheriwse he'd have
to pronounce the latter "mosh-un". Just a thought.


M
http://www.a-lyric.com/

[Graham Conisborough]

Wow! Thanks for your efforts lugnut - REALLY appreciated!

I had no idea he had commented on lyrics, let alone THE lyric in
question, in the box set. I didn't actually buy that item, but just
got a friend to copy me the handful of new/rare tracks (some of which
I had anyway). That'll teach me right?!?! Hmm, may invest......

Anyway, thanks again for solving that decades-old mystery for me, and
yes, it still makes no sense, but at least I know what I'm singing
along with!

Cheers
Graham

[Harold Groot]

Post by Graham Conisborough
Wow! Thanks for your efforts lugnut - REALLY appreciated!
I had no idea he had commented on lyrics, let alone THE lyric in
question, in the box set. I didn't actually buy that item, but just
got a friend to copy me the handful of new/rare tracks (some of which
I had anyway). That'll teach me right?!?! Hmm, may invest......
Anyway, thanks again for solving that decades-old mystery for me, and
yes, it still makes no sense, but at least I know what I'm singing
along with!
Cheers
Graham

If I might hazard a guess about all this.

Post by Graham Conisborough
Well, it was bugging me, so I wound up asking the Alice fans over at
kissfaq.com about it, and "Homer Simpson" provided this from Alice's
"At the time, I was trying really hard to write lyrics with as much
wordplay as i could. The line, "Parked beside the ocean, Landscapes
alive agoshin', Who put all of this in motion" was written right after
a big Los Angeles earthquake that we had just lived through. The five
of us were also having scary dreams about tidal waves...."

I would guess that this might be something that Alice misheard (or
deliberately twisted) from the phrase "Land of Goshen", more
frequently pronounced "Land o' Goshen" or "Land a-Goshen".

If memory serves this originally comes from the Old Testament (the
story of Joseph), being a place of peace and plenty in Egypt - for a
while, anywhay. At one point there was a new Pharoh and God was
smiting nearby cities with hail but spared the land of Goshen where
the Isreaites lived (before the Exodus), so it might have an "Well,
I'll be blessed..." connotation to it. In more modern usage it tends
to just be an expression of surprise, like "Sakes alive!" or "I'll be
darned!"

I would generally associate it with rural speech patterns the Southern
part of the USA, though it might be equally common in any of the Bible
Belt states.

Again, all this is just a guess for you to consider.