We just have to come to grips with the fact that, sometimes, there's nothing to do but bite the bullet, take your medicine, pay the piper, look him square in the eye, then face his music.
The R&B vocal group Chairmen of the Board had a hit in the early 1970s with "Pay To The Piper" which evokes the phrase in its chorus ("If you dance to the music/you got to pay to the piper") as a metaphor for the singer to try to get his girl to make love to him in exchange for taking her out.
I'm familiar with the comedic attempts at word-play on a couple of these, anyway, Andrew: Phase the music might be used by a producer or engineer, and "Faze the Nation" has been used by somebody as a "Face the Nation" news parody. So, I'm guessing some music critic somewhere has twisted "Faze the Music" into a negative album review!
Which reminds me of a negative CREEM album review of a Tom Waits album, once, where the headline was, "Tom Waits For No One." That's an example (I've discovered and forgotten many examples over the decades) of the idea driving the creation....or, the title, in that case, driving the narrative for the review, however true or accurate that reviewer's feelings on the music might have been! I mean, if you think of that, how can you just let it "go to waste"?!? Holy moral dilemma, Batman!
Oh yeah, sometimes I'll have a title and not much else, and that's more than enough to write something! The title can take on a life of its own, and I know what you mean about bending over backwards so I can keep making the clever joke I wanted to originally!
Not sure which came first....the drive and a need for the format, or the "lane" title: Audio Autopsy (speaking of alliteration), but once it hit my head, that's when I stepped on the gas!
Those are good ones. I've been lapped by "all the things" and "I can't even", but I've been able to integrate "you do you" into my language habits. And, of course, we used "take it to the next level" all the time in the 80s!
I use "you do you" sometimes. I've always been curious about where the heck new things come from - language and otherwise. Who starts all of the TikTok trends that sweep the country? So many new phrases sound so weird at first, but then they become the norm.
OMG. Who said that the first time instead of "oh my god"? I still remember the first time I heard someone say it. I didn't know what he was saying. LOL
You bring up an interesting observation/category: those words that start out as online only (OMG, LOL) and made the leap to people actually saying them out loud as a part of normal speech. I might also include TL;DR there.
And when did it become trendy to not pronounce the T in the middle of many words like kitten, mitten, and forgotten. People seem to be replacing the T sound with a D sound. Drives me crazy. Who did it first? Why/how did it catch on?
These are fun questions! And, we can find answers to them today, which I find mind-blowing.
One audiobook I really enjoyed about this sort of thing (it's even possible that the T to D drift was explained) was "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English." I think this might really be a good one for you if you have the bandwidth.
The TL;DR is (as far as I can tell): people are generally lazy, and we will tend to move our tongues around less whenever we can get away with it and still be understood.
Very interesting! The connotation of "pay the piper" here is different from what I've associated it with. I've always heard it used as part of the longer phrase, "he who pays the piper calls the tune". One connotation is that if you're not the one paying (in whatever form), you don't have the right to complain about what's on offer. The other implication is that if you want to know who's in control of something, look to where the money's coming from.
It's often used in that sense in politics. For example, there's a general election coming up in the UK soon. I did a quick search for the phrase in news media, and among the top hits is a quote from former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, on X: "For any of the parties to have accepted any money from fossil fuel interests is unacceptable. For the governing party to have taken 8.4m is obscene. He who pays the piper calls the tune – is it any wonder the Govt has been propping up the planet-wrecking fossil fuel industry?"
This is the way in which I've most often seen it used, I think. I wonder whether that's a cultural / linguistic difference between the US and UK?
That's so interesting, and I think you've zeroed in on a really neat thing to consider: those subtle differences in meaning from across the pond. I bet we could come up with a pretty good list of these!
Thanks for writing this! One thing that still puzzles me: Why would facing the band be considered a punishment? Did the band suck? Did they play the "You're a bad soldier" song?
Well, they did if you were being disciplined and kicked out of the military. I think it's more owning up to what you've done than a punishment as such, but I might be splitting hairs here.
Interesting choices! Both are very specific versions of "face the music", I think. One of 'em means you have to face the music on something you said, and another means you're gonna die.
A conductor puts their back to the audience, right? Or does the conductor face the audience, and the band is facing away from them? Pardon my lack of culture!
Ah, of course. Do you think the conductor's role may have something to do with the saying? I hand't really considered that aspect, but it could be important.
Another relative to “face the music”: “Come to Jesus.” It’s probably the variant I use most despite being culturally Jewish.
Great example!
We just have to come to grips with the fact that, sometimes, there's nothing to do but bite the bullet, take your medicine, pay the piper, look him square in the eye, then face his music.
We need a real "come to Jesus" moment, as Rudy might say.
The R&B vocal group Chairmen of the Board had a hit in the early 1970s with "Pay To The Piper" which evokes the phrase in its chorus ("If you dance to the music/you got to pay to the piper") as a metaphor for the singer to try to get his girl to make love to him in exchange for taking her out.
I'm familiar with the comedic attempts at word-play on a couple of these, anyway, Andrew: Phase the music might be used by a producer or engineer, and "Faze the Nation" has been used by somebody as a "Face the Nation" news parody. So, I'm guessing some music critic somewhere has twisted "Faze the Music" into a negative album review!
Which reminds me of a negative CREEM album review of a Tom Waits album, once, where the headline was, "Tom Waits For No One." That's an example (I've discovered and forgotten many examples over the decades) of the idea driving the creation....or, the title, in that case, driving the narrative for the review, however true or accurate that reviewer's feelings on the music might have been! I mean, if you think of that, how can you just let it "go to waste"?!? Holy moral dilemma, Batman!
Oh yeah, sometimes I'll have a title and not much else, and that's more than enough to write something! The title can take on a life of its own, and I know what you mean about bending over backwards so I can keep making the clever joke I wanted to originally!
Not sure which came first....the drive and a need for the format, or the "lane" title: Audio Autopsy (speaking of alliteration), but once it hit my head, that's when I stepped on the gas!
No pain at all. 🙂
I always wonder about new, trendy phrases and where they came from. (As well as where the heck new dances and fashion trends come from.)
I can't EVEN.
Take it to the next level. (An old one.)
All the things.
You do you.
I try to resist adopting these trendy phrases, but I am not always successful. I'll think of more.
Those are good ones. I've been lapped by "all the things" and "I can't even", but I've been able to integrate "you do you" into my language habits. And, of course, we used "take it to the next level" all the time in the 80s!
I use "you do you" sometimes. I've always been curious about where the heck new things come from - language and otherwise. Who starts all of the TikTok trends that sweep the country? So many new phrases sound so weird at first, but then they become the norm.
OMG. Who said that the first time instead of "oh my god"? I still remember the first time I heard someone say it. I didn't know what he was saying. LOL
You bring up an interesting observation/category: those words that start out as online only (OMG, LOL) and made the leap to people actually saying them out loud as a part of normal speech. I might also include TL;DR there.
And when did it become trendy to not pronounce the T in the middle of many words like kitten, mitten, and forgotten. People seem to be replacing the T sound with a D sound. Drives me crazy. Who did it first? Why/how did it catch on?
These are fun questions! And, we can find answers to them today, which I find mind-blowing.
One audiobook I really enjoyed about this sort of thing (it's even possible that the T to D drift was explained) was "Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English." I think this might really be a good one for you if you have the bandwidth.
The TL;DR is (as far as I can tell): people are generally lazy, and we will tend to move our tongues around less whenever we can get away with it and still be understood.
The title of the audiobook is funny because I often refer to "the further bastardization of the English language." LOL
I didn't know what TL;DR meant, so I googled it. One of the results referred to it as an acronym. Arrrgggg!
Very interesting! The connotation of "pay the piper" here is different from what I've associated it with. I've always heard it used as part of the longer phrase, "he who pays the piper calls the tune". One connotation is that if you're not the one paying (in whatever form), you don't have the right to complain about what's on offer. The other implication is that if you want to know who's in control of something, look to where the money's coming from.
It's often used in that sense in politics. For example, there's a general election coming up in the UK soon. I did a quick search for the phrase in news media, and among the top hits is a quote from former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, on X: "For any of the parties to have accepted any money from fossil fuel interests is unacceptable. For the governing party to have taken 8.4m is obscene. He who pays the piper calls the tune – is it any wonder the Govt has been propping up the planet-wrecking fossil fuel industry?"
This is the way in which I've most often seen it used, I think. I wonder whether that's a cultural / linguistic difference between the US and UK?
That's so interesting, and I think you've zeroed in on a really neat thing to consider: those subtle differences in meaning from across the pond. I bet we could come up with a pretty good list of these!
Thanks for writing this! One thing that still puzzles me: Why would facing the band be considered a punishment? Did the band suck? Did they play the "You're a bad soldier" song?
Well, they did if you were being disciplined and kicked out of the military. I think it's more owning up to what you've done than a punishment as such, but I might be splitting hairs here.
Glad you enjoyed the piece!
My favorites are Eat Crow and Meet Your Maker.
Interesting choices! Both are very specific versions of "face the music", I think. One of 'em means you have to face the music on something you said, and another means you're gonna die.
Eat Crow is humiliated by admitting to being proven wrong after taking a strong position.
I have used "Meet Your Maker" in non-human contexts, such as "My oven is finally dead and going to meet its maker."
The face the music has a different take in the band era - you are putting you back to the audience. One-two-three-four and a blues riff from the band.
Like a conductor?
Conductor is different - a conductor never faces away where a singer does.
A conductor puts their back to the audience, right? Or does the conductor face the audience, and the band is facing away from them? Pardon my lack of culture!
The conductor always faces the music. Think of it as delayed execution.
Ah, of course. Do you think the conductor's role may have something to do with the saying? I hand't really considered that aspect, but it could be important.
The conductor speaks with God. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/classical-music-jokes/classical-music-jokes/
Hum the tune, store the ammo, heal the other, invest in music…maybe