Hi everybody's


As a non-native english guy, I'd really never get the meanin' of 999.
I've read somewhere, that it (was) or still is the phone number for "New Scotland Yard". "999" is also the reverse of "666" the satanic numbers.
So could it be a joke from Keith for his past troubles with the Police and/or his satanic past or just a whore's story and nothing more...


(Making it), making it, doesn't matter how many
(Taking it), taking it
Well, I can't shake it
Off a my back, damn monkey
It's either too tight, or too slack

(Ninety nine), that's all it is, oooh
(Ninety nine)
How much, (ninety nine)
Now, ninety nine
You better hack it, baby (ninety nine)

Yeah, my time exploded, space blew up
Need something in my dixie cup
Whoa, let me get it right
There's the best pair of lips I've kissed all night

How much,(ninety nine), give it to me
I'll pay you later
999, (Ninety nine)
Got a pocket calculator, (ninety nine)
Yeah wake up, it don't make no sense
Nickles and dimes
999, (Ninety nine)

Yeah, the lion and lamb are locked in an embrace
You won't get it 'till it's in your face
Oooh, I got me out of deeper red
Don't panic, (999)
(Ninety nine), ah, it's where I want to be
Yeah, oh (ninety nine)
A useful member of society, huh (999)

(Ninety nine), I need a little love and old money
Gimme (ninety nine), ninety nine (gimme, gimme)
(999) Well, I can't shake it off a my back
God damn monkey
Yeah, it's too tight or it's too slack
(999), Some things never change
Price of bullets remains the same
Here we go

Hand over fist, slap on the wrist
Ummm, ninety nine, (ninety nine)
That's all I'm asking for, (ninety nine)
How much, (999)
How much do you want to give
Yeah, just a little bit
Nine ninety, (nine ninety nine)
Yeah, they operate
Look at the state of my baby
Will it cost twenty grand? Pitiful
Yeah, that's a nine
Put your money where your mouth is, (ninety nine)
Cough it up, (999)
Oh, nickle and dimes
Yeah, huh, oooh, (ninety nine)

HMN

Casino Boogie part.II? That is a free-form collage of bits of sentences?
(great song though).

Perhaps Keith just shares John Lennon's fascination with the number 9.

Its a paen to the 'cost of living' (ie, £9.99 or $9.99)

I never knew what it was until a year or two ago, I read (where?) that it had to do with the purity of heroin (99.9%).

P.S. Hearing Keith say he has a pocket calculator has always been one of my fave lines, right up there with how it's a struggle to make ends meet and how he can't be seen with someone because she's married anyway (awww, shit!).

>> the purity of heroin (99.9%) <<

sorry, i know you read that somewhere an no offence, but: that's just silly, as is the "upside down satanic" notion.
the lyric is a word collage, and the numbers associate (as Gazza noted) with a price ($9.99 or £9.99)
and the phone number for emergencies: in the UK it's 999, as opposed to 911 in the US

Trying to go legit after a stretch in the pen.
Realizing its more expensive to live legally than illegally.

Living morally rather than the cheaper and easier immorally...

Apart from the lyrics: great start (first minute),
gets boring and at the end it´s 2 minutes too long.

Thanks Gazza and Sssoul

I'd never thought that it was for the cost of living , didn't knew also for the 99,9 % of heroin.
So Police , Satanism and Heroin are the wrong answers
and now, I'm satisfied it's not every day
and of course I like this song, I recall when I've seen the Winos in Paris in 1992,
it was the opening, I like these kind of opening.

HMN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-30 17:31 by Honestman.

Still love the song musically. Lyrically, be sure to catch Keith punning on "It doesn't make sense" vs. "It doesn't make cents" followed by "Nickels and dimes." Similar to the same punning in "Eileen" on the same album. Nothing profound, just wanted to make sure it was caught.

Yeah Thank you Rocky, now I got it, didn't noticed
I'm pitiful

HMN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-30 17:36 by Honestman.

Most of Keith's word-plays are so subtly simple that it takes a long time before you even start to notice them. "Infamy" is the most obvious one. None of it is profound, it just seems to amuse him.

"it had to do with the purity of heroin (99.9%)"

If you take heroin that's 99;9% pure I guarantee you'll see Jimi Janis and Brian soon.
Street heroin is 8-to-10% pure.

It was the price of the CD.

Or did Keith foresee the price of "Life" paperback edition?

Absolutley great song. I think 999 means nothing more than the emergency number. Although I like the urban legend or folklore that it creates. Use your imagination... that's the best art.

.......well 'cause 1000 just don't work .....


How much,(one thousand), give it to me
I'll pay you later
1000, (one thousand)
Got a pocket calculator, (one thousand)



ROCKMAN

MAIN OFFENDER needs a remaster Keith. We need more "in the face" sound

"we know it's a bit late but we hope you don't mind if we stay"

Quote
TooTough
Apart from the lyrics: great start (first minute),
gets boring and at the end it´s 2 minutes too long.

who's counting? Great track.

Quote
Rockman
.......well 'cause 1000 just don't work .....


How much,(one thousand), give it to me
I'll pay you later
1000, (one thousand)
Got a pocket calculator, (one thousand)

><

A good one Rockeee

HMN

Quote
redsock
I never knew what it was until a year or two ago, I read (where?) that it had to do with the purity of heroin (99.9%).

P.S. Hearing Keith say he has a pocket calculator has always been one of my fave lines, right up there with how it's a struggle to make ends meet and how he can't be seen with someone because she's married anyway (awww, shit!).

My 'cost of living' explanation is basically the one that Keith gave.

It probably isn't the UK emergency number - that's always said "nine-nine-nine" not "nine-ninety-nine". Sounds to me like a price, $9.99 - for some kind of cheap rubbish.

i recall in a radio interview, at the time this album was released, Keith saying it had something to do with money, and that everything ends in a x.99 amount - i don't remember completely what he said (i still have that taped on cassette so i'll have to try & dig it out). anyway, if it was about heroin then it is likely he would have invented a different meaning (i.e. money) on a talk radio program rather than admit the truth, so i suppose it doesn't mean much.

as noted above, it's not even remotely plausible that it's about heroin.
i'd take Keith's word for what it's about.

Quote
dcba
"it had to do with the purity of heroin (99.9%)"

If you take heroin that's 99;9% pure I guarantee you'll see Jimi Janis and Brian soon.
Street heroin is 8-to-10% pure.

Well, in my town it's more than 30%. But 99.9 would put you surly right beside ol Jimi . .

And just how does one measure the percentage of heroin down to a silly little one hundreth or tenth or whatever? I call bullshit on that one.

Yes, the emergency number in England is what I've always heard.

Oh and 666 is not the "number of the devil" or whatever. It was made that but that is not it. So it's nothing to do with that.