Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
one white duck on the wall
English answer:
couple has broken up (one is left)
Added to glossary by
RHELLER
Jun 15, 2003 16:28
21 yrs ago
English term
one white duck on the wall
English
Art/Literary
this is from an old jethro tull song--i was wondering what the white duck might mean in this context. any suggestions? thanks in advance, and here's the verse:
*
There's a haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way.
And there's a note on the telephone --- some roses on a
tray.
And the motorway's stretching right out to us all,
as I pull on my old wings --- one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
I'll catch a ride on your violin --- strung upon your bow.
And I'll float on your melody --- sing your chorus soft
and low.
There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.
You can see from the fireplace, one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
*
There's a haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way.
And there's a note on the telephone --- some roses on a
tray.
And the motorway's stretching right out to us all,
as I pull on my old wings --- one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
I'll catch a ride on your violin --- strung upon your bow.
And I'll float on your melody --- sing your chorus soft
and low.
There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.
You can see from the fireplace, one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
Responses
| 1 +7 | marriage has broken up |
RHELLER
|
| 4 +4 | 1950's flying ducks on the wall |
jerrie
|
| 4 | one white duck |
virgotra
|
| 4 -1 | a catch or a trophy |
Fuad Yahya
|
| 1 +1 | I agree with trophy, but... |
J. Leo (X)
|
Responses
+7
27 mins
Selected
marriage has broken up
one vs two ducks (see below)
A traditional wall ornament in northern England is/was a set of three porcelain flying ducks, each smaller than the last. They tend to signify a well-established, settled household. If only one remains, "one white duck on your wall", the suggestion is that the household or marriage is has broken up; hence this song. Whether the white duck is the only duck left, or the pale outline where a duck has been removed from the wall, is something to consider.
* Neil R.Thomason
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 17:30:25 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Requiem
· By the time this album was recorded Ian was going through divorce. He and his first wife Jennie broke up.
One White Duck / 0/10 = Nothing At All
· The song continues the sentiments of the previous one. If Anderson is a minstrel, he\'s a wandering minstrel. In the first half of the piece he describes his inability to settle down. Indeed the first line sees him leaving: \"There\'s is haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way\". He cannot settle down because he needs to continue his art which requires him to be away from home: \"And the motorway\'s stretching right out to us all...\". His wife is left with a postcard: \"There\'s a picture-view postcard to say that I called\". The second half of the song starts a trend of self-deprecating lyrics. He cannot live up to his wife\'s expectations and promises made since \"the long restless rustle of high heel boots calls\" and he is \"probably bound to deceive\" her after all. Anderson seems to blame himself for the dissolution of his marriage: \"and my zero to your power of ten equals nothing at all\".
* Jan Voorbij, John Benninghouse
A traditional wall ornament in northern England is/was a set of three porcelain flying ducks, each smaller than the last. They tend to signify a well-established, settled household. If only one remains, "one white duck on your wall", the suggestion is that the household or marriage is has broken up; hence this song. Whether the white duck is the only duck left, or the pale outline where a duck has been removed from the wall, is something to consider.
* Neil R.Thomason
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 17:30:25 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Requiem
· By the time this album was recorded Ian was going through divorce. He and his first wife Jennie broke up.
One White Duck / 0/10 = Nothing At All
· The song continues the sentiments of the previous one. If Anderson is a minstrel, he\'s a wandering minstrel. In the first half of the piece he describes his inability to settle down. Indeed the first line sees him leaving: \"There\'s is haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way\". He cannot settle down because he needs to continue his art which requires him to be away from home: \"And the motorway\'s stretching right out to us all...\". His wife is left with a postcard: \"There\'s a picture-view postcard to say that I called\". The second half of the song starts a trend of self-deprecating lyrics. He cannot live up to his wife\'s expectations and promises made since \"the long restless rustle of high heel boots calls\" and he is \"probably bound to deceive\" her after all. Anderson seems to blame himself for the dissolution of his marriage: \"and my zero to your power of ten equals nothing at all\".
* Jan Voorbij, John Benninghouse
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Derek Smith
: Excellent research
41 mins
|
|
thanks Derek!
|
|
| agree |
Ino66 (X)
3 hrs
|
|
thank you!
|
|
| agree |
Tony M
: Yes, and as china ducks were usualy coloured, I think the white duck' is as you suggested, the empty (clean!) space left when his duck was removed
3 hrs
|
| agree |
J. Leo (X)
: couldn't have said it better and did not do so. I never did replace my old JT, LP's.
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Сергей Лузан
: w/Derek Smith
13 hrs
|
| agree |
maffy (X)
16 hrs
|
| agree |
Bin Zhang
3 days 10 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "thank you all so very much for your help and suggestions! i believe Rita's research pretty much covers the meaning of this. :) "
-1
3 mins
a catch or a trophy
a bird you caught in your hunting days. It is on your wall like a trophy.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 18:21:39 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Zmejka,
Thanks for taking note of my note. The lines you posted do show more care than typical pop lyrics, so I apologize for implying that this was just a cheap rhyming trick.
One point I have made many times before on KudoZ pages is that metaphors, even successful ones, are never supposed to be precise codes, like those used in computer programming. They are evocative hints at meanings that are best not directly named. Successful metaphors usually lead with ease and grace to their intended meaning, which, when garasped, is found to be larger than a direct name can encompass, and therin lies the \"poetry\" of the metaphor. Otherwise, the direct name would be more appropriate.
The metaphor in question may allude to a decorative item . In fact, the second instance of it (\"You can see from the fireplace, one white duck on your wall\") seems to allude to something like a wall decoration. But I would hope that the poet intended even that wall decoration itself to be a metaphor for a further meaning, one that is more closely related to the first person\'s state of mind.
Rita Heller has dug up additional information which may bring us even closer to the intended meaing. The speaker may feel, upon parting, like turning into a series of mementos, seen from the fireplace. I don\'t think \"trophy\" is too far, but if it gives the impression of a \"stuffed\" duck, I withdraw it. No stuffed duck!
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 18:21:39 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Dear Zmejka,
Thanks for taking note of my note. The lines you posted do show more care than typical pop lyrics, so I apologize for implying that this was just a cheap rhyming trick.
One point I have made many times before on KudoZ pages is that metaphors, even successful ones, are never supposed to be precise codes, like those used in computer programming. They are evocative hints at meanings that are best not directly named. Successful metaphors usually lead with ease and grace to their intended meaning, which, when garasped, is found to be larger than a direct name can encompass, and therin lies the \"poetry\" of the metaphor. Otherwise, the direct name would be more appropriate.
The metaphor in question may allude to a decorative item . In fact, the second instance of it (\"You can see from the fireplace, one white duck on your wall\") seems to allude to something like a wall decoration. But I would hope that the poet intended even that wall decoration itself to be a metaphor for a further meaning, one that is more closely related to the first person\'s state of mind.
Rita Heller has dug up additional information which may bring us even closer to the intended meaing. The speaker may feel, upon parting, like turning into a series of mementos, seen from the fireplace. I don\'t think \"trophy\" is too far, but if it gives the impression of a \"stuffed\" duck, I withdraw it. No stuffed duck!
Peer comment(s):
| disagree |
virgotra
: I don't think people put stuffed ducks on the wall!
7 mins
|
|
Not a very successful metaphor, is it? If it were, it would not have triggered a question. But it rhymes with "all," and that is enough to sell a song, unfortunately.
|
|
| neutral |
Therese Nichols
: Not stuffed ducks; it rhymes and without thinking any further that's all!! "only a whte duck on the wall which may be a figment of the teller's imagination!i
1 hr
|
8 mins
one white duck
I think it is a china duck of the sort that was popular in the Sixties - one of three of different sizes flying on the wall (flat!)...for what it's worth!
+4
10 mins
1950's flying ducks on the wall
50's in the UK the must have lounge accessory - 3 flying ducks on the wall.
They are now the ultimate in Kitsch & Kool!
Maybe a reference to this!
They are now the ultimate in Kitsch & Kool!
Maybe a reference to this!
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Nancy Arrowsmith
4 mins
|
| agree |
virgotra
: Just what I thought!
9 mins
|
| agree |
Ino66 (X)
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Bin Zhang
3 days 10 hrs
|
+1
24 mins
I agree with trophy, but...
I wanted to comment about the logic. I'm not sure if that was implied in the other answer. This is also just my interpretation of the song.
I think he's been 'jilted' or in love with someone who's not reciprocated it and is leaving, the note (postcard) on the telephone, the roses. He's somehow feeling the way women do, just another notch in his belt (it was just for sex).
A white duck collection (stuffed or picures), just like a notched belt (collection).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 20:22:51 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Correct answer below.
I think he's been 'jilted' or in love with someone who's not reciprocated it and is leaving, the note (postcard) on the telephone, the roses. He's somehow feeling the way women do, just another notch in his belt (it was just for sex).
A white duck collection (stuffed or picures), just like a notched belt (collection).
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-06-15 20:22:51 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Correct answer below.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Ino66 (X)
3 hrs
|
Discussion
And there's a note on the telephone --- some roses on a
tray.
And the motorway's stretching right out to us all,
as I pull on my old wings --- one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
I'll catch a ride on your violin --- strung upon your bow.
And I'll float on your melody --- sing your chorus soft
and low.
There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.
You can see from the fireplace, one white duck
on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real?
So fly away Peter and fly away Paul --- from the
finger-tip ledge of contentment.
The long restless rustle of high-heeled boots calls.
And I'm probably bound to deceive you after all.
Something must be wrong with me and my brain ---
if I'm so patently unrewarding.
But my dreams are for dreaming and best left that
way --- and my zero to your power of ten equals
nothing at all.
There's no double-lock defense; there's no chain on my door.
I'm available for consultation,
But remember your way in is also my way out, and
love's four-letter word is no compensation.
Well, I'm the Black Ace dog-handler: I'm a waiter on
skates --- so don't you jump to your foreskin conclusion.
Because I'm up to my deaf ears in cold breakfast trays ---
to be cleared before I can dine on your sweet Sunday
lunch confusion.