Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Viscous... / Viscose...

Ever since I bought MM on vinyl 27 (!) years ago, I've always thought the lyric in "He's A Liquid" to be :

"In those viscose clothes
His watch hand glows
He's a liquid."

I know that it says "viscous" in the lyric-sheet, and it makes sense in the "liquid" context, but when John sings it, it sure does sound like "viscose"; logical in itself, from a clothing POV.

Wha'dya reckon?

Im sure Dadge and i talked about this on a thread that went missing over at torque point.But yes its difficult to say if 'viscous' is right or not, as either word fits the context of the lyric. Hope its right though just from the point that the cd booklets are correct.

*searches for thesauruos...thesa..thee..Errmm,something that will tell poor Will the difference between the two!!*

1.a viscous solution prepared by treating cellulose with caustic soda and carbon bisulfide: used in manufacturing regenerated cellulose fibers, sheets, or tubes, as rayon or cellophane.
2.viscose rayon.
–adjective
3.of, pertaining to, or made from viscose.
4.viscous.

I prefer viscose as well!

aw what?

Surely it's "viscose",
lyrics sheet must be wrong!

Isn't this all about how you pronounce the word??

viscous - "viss cuss" (sticky liquid)

viscose - "viss kose" (material compound thing)

Yes, I've always thought it could be either, as John Foxx often seems to 'play' with words.

'Viscous' (normally pronounced "viss kuss") would be the correct SPELLING because the word describes the 'sticky' white shirt and tie
but with his pronounciation being "viss kose" (to rhyme with 'clothes') he introduces this contra-interpretation

viscous: 1.having relatively high resistance to flow 2. viscid*


* viscid: 1. thick and adhesive. used of a fluid

The problem is both words sound similar, but even though they have different meaning, they both fit with either the 'liquid' in the title or the 'clothes' in that sentence. Hence the reason i gave up trying to choose one word, back in the torque point days. Yours still confused.

He definitely sings "viscose", creating the lovely rhyme with "clothes", though obviously there is a semi-pun on "viscous" because that word fits the theme of the song.

yeah I guess it's a pun... but a rather obtuse one, as for it to work as a pun, he'd need to sing "viscous", not "viscose"!

Clothes can indeed often be made of viscose, but they cannot be vicscous... but then again, a man cannot usually be a liquid...

Reminds me of some of the wierd pronunciations Hugh Cornwell would also sing...