Talk:Get Away (Georgie Fame song)

One word or two?

I'm surprised at the claim that original issues of the record used one word - "Getaway" - rather than two - "Get Away". The discography cited admittedly uses both - but this label shot - which it is reasonable to assume is of the original UK release, unless anyone says differently - clearly uses two words. Any explanation welcome. Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:09, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

• Greetings Ghmyrtle. Have moved the page to "Get Away", which is, as your label shot clearly shows, the title of the original release (actually, it's "Get away", but as an article title, this'll have to do). The fact that successive web pages (probably copying from each other) mispell it is not a justification for Wikipedia to do so. A useful analogy: Nineteen_Eighty-Four. Regards, --Technopat (talk) 07:51, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

I'd completely forgotten I'd raised this, and now I look at it again I find it's not that simple. Basically, I can see no consistency in whether it should be two words or one. If you look here, there are copies of original UK Columbia labels with both spellings, and the rather unhelpful comment: "Some pressings show the A-side title as two words rather than one." This sheet music shows it as one word, as does BMI here as the "legal title". So, I was probably a bit too definitive in my 2011 comment. What do you think, Martin? (I'm sure he'll turn up here!) Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:56, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Goodness me. The "legal title" seems to be all in capitals! How bad can it get. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:03, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Seven minutes! What kept you? Ghmyrtle (talk) 12:08, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

two three plays of the song, naturally! Martinevans123 (talk) 12:31, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Well, mine looks like this one [1] so quite happy to see it stay like this. But some labels would have been printed and issued first, I guess, and they should take precedence? But how do we tell? Martinevans123 (talk) 12:36, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

(outdent) Wow! I see that I've managed to - as is so often the case here at Wikipedia :) - unintentionally stir up the proverbial hornets' nest. Even at the risk of converting this talkpage into a forum, I reckon it's justified... if only to approach consensus on a title. Unfortunately, as the excellent links you've both provided do nothing to solve the dilemma, "legal title" notwithstanding, maybe we can resort to a nit-picking grammatical and/or speech analysis. The term "getaway", at least in British English, is a noun that has a primary meaning of "leaving a place quickly, especially after committing a crime or when trying to avoid someone" and a secondary meaning of "a short holiday" (Collins English Dictionary). The term has a clear word stress on the first syllable: getaway. It could be argued that the lyrics refer to the latter ("Gotta go, I hope you're ready 'cause - Take a look outside - Don't mind the weather girl - Let's take a ride" or, further on, "I know a little place - Not far from town - Gotta go, a kind of pretty place"). Hardly the talk of someone on the run.

However, GF's intonation clearly uses it as a verb, "get away" (with a clear word stress on the last syllable: away - even taking into consideration the normal distortion of language when sung), and later uses that same verb in the past tense: "Got away - Get away - Gotta go - Get away". I rest my case. BTW, why do so many sources spell it "Getaway"? My working hypothesis is that way back in the back of their minds they're associating it with GF's "Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde" :) even if neither the chronology nor the lyrics fit. Cheers!--Technopat (talk) 00:32, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

I think the lyrics are inconclusive. The reason some sources give the title as one word is surely that it was written as one word on some original labels, and maybe in information supplied by the record company, back in 1966. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:26, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Blatant WP:OR! and very convincing. I think Ghm has a good point - the lyrics seem to show both. And that' not surprising, as it would certainly be expected for Fame to enjoy a little word play, i.e. maybe it means both. Don't forget Bonnie and Clyde did not appear until the following year. Also, it's quite difficult to sing those three ascending notes in the song's chorus without putting the stress on the final syllable! I see that the title of the US album was very definitely two words: [2], but maybe that's a different kettle of bigger fried fish! Martinevans123 (talk) 11:32, 17 June 2013 (UTC)