Curious Phrase

[AlexCuse]

Hello All,

One of my favorite bands has a song that includes the phrase "Gluing tinsel to your crown". Does anyone know where this comes from? Google gives me nothing but the song lyrics. This has bothered me for some time, but my ipod broke and I only have four cd's in my car, so it is all the more prominent in my head these days.

Can any of you linguists and grammatical guru's shed any light on this?

Alex

A wise man once said
"The only thing normal about database guys is their tables".

 

[CajunCenturion]

It sounds to me like a personal criticism, in the vein of someone making themself appear to be better than they really are.

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[SilentAiche]

That's a new one Alex, but CC's probably on the right track as usual.

Can you give the rest of the verse for the sake of context?

Alternative: the king glues tinsel (the common man's glitter) to his crown to appear closer to the people. It doesn't work, by the way.

Thanks,
Tim

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[PaulTEG]

methinks the band were deriding the target, ... but in a way they could exercise, rather than exorcise ...

Paul
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[ascotta]

As in gilding the lilly!!

[blue] A perspective from the other side!![/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[AlexCuse]

I think you guys are on the right track. In the context of the song, teh actual verse is

'you told us of your new life there
you've got someone coming round,
gluing tinsel to your crown,
he's got you talking pretty loud

I have been interpreting that as 'you've got someone new in your life, they are treating you like royalty and pumping up your ego'.

So they could be deriding the target, but in a way that is only about 90% obvious...

Thanks for the feedback guys, good to know it's not a common phrase that I should've known.

A wise man once said
"The only thing normal about database guys is their tables".

 

[Grenage]

Google gives me nothing but the song lyrics

Is it not more likely that this is because it's not a phrase that's actually used, but something just created for the song?


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[AlexCuse]

It is, but I wanted to find out for sure. It seemed like a rather odd choice of words for something just made up, and I was wondering if there was a similar phrase that it could be based off of.

A wise man once said
"The only thing normal about database guys is their tables".

 

[KenCunningham]

I think Scott's Gilding the Lily is as close as it gets, making something overly ornate when it is as beautiful as can be in the first place.

I don't mind people who aren't what they seem. I just wish they'd make their mind up.

 

[Remou]

How about 'paint the lily' and 'gild refined gold'?

[tt]Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. [/tt]
2 IV,2,1744 Salisbury.

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.or...es.php?CharID=Pembroke&WorkID=kingjohn&cues=1