Radio Disney, Missed Lyrics, Shakespeare and Galileo

Good morning everyone!

Riding to and from school with Kayla the last couple of weeks has led to my reacquaintance with Radio Disney, which plays music that appeals to tweens. You know you have been listening to Radio Disney  too much  a lot when you feel a great sense of accomplishment upon deciphering the lyrics to Bella Thorne’s song “TTYLXOX”.

TTYLXOX Title Cover, from www.disneydreaming.com

The song’s refrain is the following:

Be, be, be my bff,
Cause IDK what’s coming next,
LMHO with the rest,
so TTYLXOX.

Texting

The first challenge was recognizing that “Be, be, be” was not the acronym “BBB”.  That accomplished, the acronyms remained to be deciphered.  This was difficult, as the acronyms come from the texting world, which I am not a comfortable part of.  After too much thought on the matter, and surprisingly without the use of the Internet, I have deduced that “bff” stands for “best friends forever”, “IDK” is “I don’t know” and “LMHO” is “laughing my head off”.  FN.

The Kind of Cell Phone Kayla Would Want, from http://www.letsgomobile.org

Kayla, who has never texted officially in her life due to her parents’ cruel decision not to let a 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10-year-old have a cell phone, informed me the first time we heard the song that “TTYLXOX” stands for “talk to you later, hugs and kisses.” I didn’t ask how she knew that; there are some things that a parent is better off not knowing.

There are even songs I like on the channel that she doesn’t! Our practice is to turn the radio down when a song is on that we both don’t like, but if either one of us likes a song, the radio stays on.

William Shakespeare

One new song that she doesn’t like but that (I think) I do is by Gotye and called “Someone that I Used to Know.” To the American mind, the name of the singer would be read as “got ye”, which I assumed was the Shakespearean version of “got you.”  I was disappointed to find that no Shakespearean references were intended.  According to the DJ,  the name is pronounced “go-tee-a”, with the emphasis on the first syllable, and the “a” being the long “a” sound in “hay” and “May.” It’s not a particularly uplifting song, but it has an interesting accompaniment.

The singer, Gotye

I suffered the same disappointment last year with a song  by Taio Cruz called “Dynamite.”  I thought it contained the words “Hey-o, Galileo” which, even though they didn’t really make sense, was pretty cool to me because it mentioned one of the pre-eminent scientists in history.  Alas, I learned later, to the giggles of my daughter and the laughter of my husband, that the lyrics were “Hey-0, Gotta let go.”

Galileo Galilei

Kayla and I both had a good giggle when the DJ referred to the fact that “Justin Bieber’s boyfriend is coming up next.” No, Justin Bieber (a tween singer) does not have a boyfriend; Justin Bieber has a song named “Boyfriend.”

The Cover for Justin Bieber’s Single, Boyfriend

I am getting even with her, though, for the imposition of Radio Disney on my life.  I have a number of lecture recordings through The Teaching Company that cover many different topics.  The current set I am listening to is called “The Great Concertos” by Professor Robert Greenberg. If I haven’t finished a lecture CD by the time I pick her up, she has to listen to the remaining part of the lecture.  This means she has the opportunity to listen to discussion of and excerpts from the works of such composers as Vivaldi, Bach, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, as well as information about each of their lives.  Strangely, these lecture portions don’t appeal to her as much as Radio Disney does.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Have a great day!

Nancy

FN.  If you listen to the song, it sounds like Ms. Thorne is singing “I TK” instead of “IDK.”  No worries; I have an interpretation for that acronym also.  “I TK” would stand for “I totally know.”