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Post by steelmonkey on Sept 27, 2008 0:54:12 GMT
Backstage, amongst Tull band members, crew and management, average fans, the kind Brits call 'punters' and Americans might call 'the unwashed masses' or 'ordinary Joes' are called 'Billies', as in 'what time do they let the billies in' or, wondering about someone hanging out backstage 'oh, he's a billy, Kenny let him in' etc etc. Anyone know or care to guess the entomology of 'Billies' for Tull fans?
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Post by bluehare on Sept 27, 2008 4:41:27 GMT
Hmmmm......well course, first place I go is "hillbillies" but that's probably too obvious.
How about billies as in paying customers? It's a stretch, but it's all I could come up with......
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Post by nonrabbit on Sept 27, 2008 7:57:27 GMT
..........well only thing I can think is that Billie or Billy is short for William..... so was Tull's greatest ever fan called William or Wilhemina...........and are they on this Forum ?
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Post by steelmonkey on Sept 27, 2008 15:11:45 GMT
Hmmmm...it's a mystery.......my absolute wild guess harkens back to a time when german young people named 'wolfgang' or 'mattheus' or 'rudiger' etc would adopt a anglicized handle for their dealings with the rock and roll world...perhaps numerous german fans introduced themselves as 'Beeeleee' and it stuck, first to mean all german fans, then all fans...a very wild guess and I still hope someone knows the real story.
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Post by bluehare on Sept 30, 2008 17:03:46 GMT
Teaser! HA! ;D
I thought you knew the answer, and it was a little quiz!
You've got my curiosity up and running.....now I really wonder where it came from.....
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Post by steelmonkey on Sept 30, 2008 17:16:19 GMT
A couple boots from the Crest Tour, in Germany, have Ian saying, after the first couple songs : 'we're the Jethro Tull boys and you're the Billies!' I asked ian, via e-mail...doubt he'll answer...a local guy here in SF, Kurt Stenzel, in a band called 'six and violence' that got ian's attention, is in touch with james Duncan...I'll ask him to ask james D.....I heard him call fans 'billies' on an orchestra tour so he'll know...WE MUST FIND OUT!!!
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Post by admin on Sept 30, 2008 20:22:14 GMT
maybe it's just because we pay their bills!
There was also an instrumental piece on the Divinities tour called Dangle the Billies.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 3, 2008 3:46:07 GMT
Look peoples...I'm working on it..this is the mail I send Kurt....we'll get to the bottom of this billy bizness!!! Brother K...hope all is well with you and yers...aren't we due for another kidfest soon? Recent question on a Tull forum I'm in on...why do the Tull boys and their management call the fans 'billies'? do you know? is it just german fans or all fans? You've heard it, haven't you...fans as 'billies' what is the entomology...if you dunno would you ask james d...i've heard him use it too (LA a couple years ago) make me the smart guy of my tull forum....why 'billies' B
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Post by admin on Oct 3, 2008 9:13:44 GMT
Look peoples...I'm working on it..this is the mail I send Kurt....we'll get to the bottom of this billy bizness!!! Brother K...hope all is well with you and yers...aren't we due for another kidfest soon? Recent question on a Tull forum I'm in on...why do the Tull boys and their management call the fans 'billies'? do you know? is it just german fans or all fans? You've heard it, haven't you...fans as 'billies' what is the entomology...if you dunno would you ask james d...i've heard him use it too (LA a couple years ago) make me the smart guy of my tull forum....why 'billies' B Good stuff, 10 points for effort! Hopefully you'll get an answer, unless of course it turns out we are Billies for reasons we'd rather not know in which case hopefully not.
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 3, 2008 19:22:44 GMT
So, K. didn't know for sure but promised to ask James D....at some unspecified time in the future when they talk...in otherwords, not right away per my demand. BUT...he says that in old brit slang a billy is like a stag, here in the states...that is, an unattached male...and is used sort of derogatory like a lonely heart loser implication...a party might be all billies...and that would not be good. He also says that billy is brit slang for methamphetamine, from a cartoon called billy whiz...but maybe hyper-fans remind tull of billy whiz.... bottom line...he didn't know for sure....WE WILL FIND OUT THE TRUTH!!!
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Post by bluehare on Oct 3, 2008 19:44:16 GMT
You're like a rock and roll gumshoe, steelmonkey! No doubt you will get us that answer! At the very least, we now know all sorts of uses for the word, "billies" that we never knew before (I should only speak for myself...that I haven't heard before....).
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 3, 2008 22:06:21 GMT
better gum on my shoe than $h1t on my socks...right?
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 4, 2008 23:48:02 GMT
I have spent my work day productively...I sent e-mails to Doane, Peggy and Maart asking them to puh-leeze provide the answer to the 'why billies' query........updates to follow. I might still have Gerd Burkhardt's telephone # somewhere....if the e-mails don't help, I'll try find it (he lives in berlin).
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 5, 2008 1:45:42 GMT
RESULT (From Martin Allcock):
Hi Bernie
There was a schoolboy cartoon character called Billy Bunter, which is rhyming slang for punter, ie. customer or client, esp. member of an audience.
No sign of any US trips in the pipeline... Off to Saint Lucia in the morning with The Bad Shepherds
Maart Gatwick Airport
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Post by nonrabbit on Oct 5, 2008 9:38:13 GMT
WAY TO GO STEEL !! YOU ARE THE MAN ! ;D ;D ;D I think we should make you our undercover (rabbit costume - maybe ?) Tull reporter. I never thought about the Billy Bunter aka punter one! Now of course we are going to line up 100's of questions for you to find out New album ? meaning of life ? etc etc
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 5, 2008 13:30:41 GMT
Maybe i should quit while I'm ahead on the topic of indispensable Tull slang knowledge...there remains the prospect of other answers trickling in to either confirm or contradict our current, quite solid, explaination! Does Maart now become the Salmon Rushdie of the Tull world now that he is freely dispensing classified Tull lore?
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Post by steelmonkey on Oct 9, 2008 3:42:52 GMT
no surprise...pegg endorses maart response....maybe more responses will tricke in
Hi Bernie. Cockney rhyming slang. Billy Bunters rhymes with Punters. Billy Bunter was a comic english character. Hope we can come to usa again but am afraid we are economically challenged. have you got my bday cd with the 2 tull trax on? Check Fairport website for details. Cheers, Peggy.
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Post by admin on Oct 9, 2008 20:26:21 GMT
Way to go Steel, nice detective work. ;D Have yourself some well deserved karma for your trouble.
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Post by maddogfagin on Oct 10, 2008 7:33:49 GMT
You are now the official Sherlock Holmes of the forum steelmonkey
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