"Needle in a Haystack" lyrics question

[daviddesper]

Like many of you, I probably have this song on half a dozen or more collections, and I never get tired of hearing it. So after listening to it once recently, I realized that there is one lyric I have never been quite sure of.

It is very early in the song, when she is issuing her warning. I think the line in question goes "Girls those fellows are _______, _______, and _________. Don't you ever let them catch you looking starry-eyed."

So it is those three adjectives in there that I have not quite figured out. It sounds something like "sly, slick and shy," but of course that would be somewhat contradictory, because someone who was sly would not likely be shy also.

So even though it has been almost 50 years now, educate me!

[kenneth]

I agree, that doesn't make sense, but according to this web site, those are the lyrics. If someone has the sheet music, that would be the definitive proof.

http://www.srv.net/~roxtar/lyrics/velvelettes.html [[http://www.srv.net/%7Eroxtar/lyrics/velvelettes.html)

Needle In A Haystack
[[Mickey Stevenson/Norman Whitfield) [["Doo-da-lang" scat singing over first 2 lines):
Well well, I once believed all fellas were nice
But girls, listen to me, take my advice
Girls, you'd better get yourselves onto my track
'Cause findin' a good man, girls, is like findin' a
[[Needle in a haystack)
What did I say, girls? [[Needle in a haystack)
[[x2): [[She-doop, she-doop, la la)
Girls, those fellas are sly, slick & shy
So don't you ever let 'em get you starry-eyed
Well, you may think their love is true
But they'll walk right over you
Now girls, you should know these things right off the back
'Cause findin' a good man, girls, is like findin' a
[[Needle in a haystack)
What did I say, girls? [[Needle in a haystack)
[[x2): [[She-doop, she-doop, la la)
[[instrumental)
Now girls, I say I'm tellin' you the natural facts
'Cause findin' a good man, girls, is like findin' a
[[Needle in a haystack)
What did I say, girls? [[Needle in a haystack)
I'm tellin' you, girls, you'd better look before you leap
Still water sometimes runs very deep
You'll be sorry when you just jump
& do justice passed by love
Girls, you should know these things right off the back
'Cause findin' a good man, girls, is like findin' a
[[Needle in a haystack)
What did I say, girls? [[Needle in a haystack)
I say you'd better take heed [[needle in a haystack)
Listen to me [[needle in a haystack)
[["she-doop" scat singing over next 4 lines):
You'd better play hard to get
Or you're gonna regret
The day you were born, girl
When he leaves you alone, girl
Good guys are like findin' a [[needle in a haystack)
Girls, they're like findin' a [[needle in a haystack)
...& fade

[kenneth]

On second look...I wouldn't trust this web site's version. I mean, I know this song, and I've never heard:

"You'll be sorry when you just jump
& do justice passed by love."

I think this line is really

"You'll be sorry when you discover
That you're just his part time lover."

What the heck is "justice passed by love" anyway???

and...shouldn't

"Girls, you'd better get yourselves onto my track "

really be

"Girls, you'd better get yourselves on the right track...?"

Oh well...back to the drawing board, as they used to say in the cartoons.

[robb_k]

3743
Yes, "Sly, Slick and Shy" is correct. Not too many guys are sly and slick, and also shy. But, I guess they needed those words to rhyme with the next line. Those words always sounded VERY clearly enunciated, to me. I wouldn't have guessed that anyone couldn't hear them. There are certainly many other words in Motown songs that are much more difficult to understand.

[uptight]

Yep, I've always known it to be "sly, slick and Shy..." With mostly wrong lyrics posted on these websites, you have to wonder what version they were listening to, or what country they are originating from that doesn't quite understand American English.

"So don't you ever let 'em get you starry-eyed" should be "...catch you looking starry-eyed."
"& do justice passed by love" should be "...that you're just his pass-time lover"
"You should know these things right off the back" should be "...right off the bat."

There is a line from another Velvelettes track has been confusing me, though. In "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin," are the girls saying "Bop bop, sookie doo wah-dop" or "Whop whop, sookie doo wah-dop?" [[Or even "Hop-hop sookie...") I asked Bertha to clarify it years ago, and she wasn't sure herself at the time. Hopefully by now she knows. LOL

Oftentimes, even the publicized sheet music wasn't exactly right if the singer on the record ad-lib'd a line and the transcriber was mistaken about what they heard and would type it out in haste.

[splanky]

Forgive me if I'm being facetious, but didn't "shy" have more than one meaning once upon a time? I think the writer may have used it to mean either wary, noncommital or shady...
Anyway, they always sounded to me like they were having so much fun recording that song. You can hear the foot stomps and handclaps and Cal's vocals just bounce like a big volleyball...

[daviddesper]

Thanks for all the help and I am surprised that I had those three words right all along. It wasn't so much an enunciation issue as it was the fact that they just didn't seem to belong together. As for the "just his pastime lover," that one was always very clear to me.

And I would completely agree that they must have had great fun recording this track. That is in fact obvious on many of their records. I think Needle, along with the Elgins' Heaven Must Have Sent You" are the two classic Motown songs that should have been absolutely HUGE hits, but for some reason were not.

[uptight]

I meant to spell pastime lover. My bad.

Anyway, the lyrics are pretty clever.

[Jimi LaLumia]

being shy, as in an introvert not flashy, would not prevent someone from being devious[[sly and slick means crafty, and a shy person can still be crafty, take it from one who knows!!!...lol..doodle lang!)

[kenneth]

being shy, as in an introvert not flashy, would not prevent someone from being devious[[sly and slick means crafty, and a shy person can still be crafty, take it from one who knows!!!...lol..doodle lang!)

Ah, Jimi, you are indeed a rare one...!

[Jimi LaLumia]

thanks...I think!...lol

[RossHolloway]

One could definitely be "sly, slick and shy". They are not mutually exclusive peronality traits.

[mysterysinger]

Ok, a little off topic, but on a Karaoke DVD of Gerry & The Pacemakers Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying, Gerry's Scouse pronunciation of "stop your crying when the birds sing" became "stop your crying when the bed sinks". There are some crackers on those DVDs!

No wonder my telephone never rings anymore, and no on ever knocks on my door....

[randy_russi]

Lyrically, the song is talking about guys [[plural) and some are sly, slick, and shy! It is not meaning one guy is sly, slick, shy.
:)