Why does everyone sing it like THAT?

[@cringestella]

cod 🐟 in the meadow ☘️

[@Morbidt123]

Glad I'm not the only one hearing -that-. 0_0

[@actualizedanimal]

and i'm just a little big cod in the minnow try to keep growing but it's not that shrimple

[@excelente81]

The cog in the middle

[@2li678]

Turducken of the sea

[@huffenagle]

Cod in the meadow, Bass in the streams… Trout in the ocean, Carp in my dreams…

[@JustFlinx]

To summarize, the repetition of the phrase "caught in the middle" legitimized it, and thus we can conclude that repetition does, in fact, legitimize.

[@JackPeterBentley]

I never really agreed with this rule but...well...I heard it a bunch of times and...

[@smithjohn383]

You can say that again!

[@mooncalf191]

But if I repeat "repetition does not legitimize" enough times...

[@klaxoncow]

@@mooncalf191 Don't do that. It'll break the spacetime continuum.

[@TheJackawock]

I was waiting for this to be said and I’m uncomfortable being left high and dry.

[@akselkrystad]

omg!! I'm the guy showing the songs in the original Video! I don't think this is the way 16 year old me thought I would be featured in an Adam Neely video, but I'm here for it! Perfect analysis of our discovery🐟

[@Jaspertine]

It certainly is an entertaining observation.

[@Frranc1s]

Thank you for your service

[@gagageiro]

congratz

[@nuberiffic]

Clowns to left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am. Caught in the middle with you

[@codechartreuse]

stuck**

[@lucas_sg]

@@codechartreuse r/woosh

[@a-love-supreme]

balatro

[@vinh_em]

Cod and the minnow

[@Thedrummaman76]

Lmao I read that right as Hailey Williams sang it

[@EvdogMusic]

Alternatively, "cod in the meadow"

[@jacobjansson6679]

As a linguistics student and musician, I have never felt anything even close to what i felt in the beginning of this video.

[@WitchLuna7]

4:18 I think Björk singing in English in general it's a good example of prosodic dissonance. I once read (not sure if it's true) that she pretty much forces Icelandic rhythms into her English lyrics. I used to not like her singing much because of the weird way she distributes the syllables in her melodies. Nowadays I think it actually adds a lot of magic to her singing style, because it can break our expectations from normal speech.

[@juliuszkocinski7478]

I just can imagine the "DUDE, WAIT" when the first guy noticed that the first time

[@JeremyForTheWin]

Dactyl Trochee is my favorite Sungazer b-side

[@james.bartley]

Sungazer b-side is my favourite Dactyl Trochee

[@AlanStryman]

new "the lick"-esque meme

[@TheOriginalShredneck]

meme repetition legitimizes

[@MrHSkywalker]

the lick for radio music

[@Brindlebrother]

caught in the middle of a lick and a meme

[@johnsmith1474]

Punctuate to seem adult, even if you are not.

[@TrashHeapCustodian]

gotta sing "caught in the middle" to the notes of the lick now

[@davidsetton9093]

My first thought when you started playing the montage was “Dio didn’t sing it like that!” haha, was very glad when you pointed out that this phrasing is pretty recent. Super interesting stuff, looking forward to seeing you in Philly this January!

[@walterworthy7494]

I had the exact same reaction. Then I was perplexed after he played the cover by Rodney James Dio. Don't get me wrong, it was dead on perfection but, why haven't I heard of Rodney before and what else could I be missing out on? 🤔

[@trippyliquids]

@@walterworthy7494 lmaooo

[@toddramsey3799]

Literally thinking about Stealers Wheel and then you mentioned it.

[@LuvHrtZ]

Two friends of mine always sang 'And your friendly uncle Colin' for the line 'And your friends, they all come crawling'... hilarious.

[@zdoesgame]

I saw your comment on the reel where you said you might make a video about it and I've been anticipating this. Didn't think it would come so soon!

[@cleaningagent101]

Same! Impressively speedy!

[@jakobmorningstar]

This video makes me feel extremely captive to the median

[@baldrickthesphereofamusement]

One could describe you as trapped within the centre, even

[@alaa.mp3]

adam’s never beating the chronically online allegations

[@johnsmith1474]

Is that English?

[@carlostaffanelly418]

@@johnsmith1474 to put it simply, yes

[@doginsuit42]

It makes me so happy that you took Twelve Foot Ninja as an example! Damn shame they're gone!

[@AndrewANDKunaal]

TWELVE FOOT NINJA MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️

[@Chodorovski]

Adam Neely's been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking competition finding examples for this video

[@DEM94]

That caught me off guard! Was not expecting a TFN clip here!

[@cherrywyrm]

what do you mean gone?! why do i have to find this out here 😭

[@Hawking1969]

so glad you mention Dio and Yngvie

[@brendanshull2125]

just like the wayyyy you’ve always beeeeeen

[@Reksrat]

I said out loud at 1:28 “god dammit it’s like the scotch snap all over again, I’m gonna start seeing this everywhere” and then you compared the two at the end

[@conrage2002]

Great example of music letting you “feel thoughts”. Thanks for the video.

[@cioccolato2124]

the Janelle Monae "come" emphasis is pretty genius

[@Bohr2um]

I prefer the interpretation "Cod in the meadow"

[@jameschristiansson3137]

Can't breath.

[@StereoTyp0]

Lady Mondegreen is calling and she's caught in the meadow.

[@johnsmith1474]

You prefer.

[@LuvHrtZ]

Not quite on the same level as Hendrix singing "Scuze me while I kiss this guy" but still up there.

[@newzerokanata]

This came up on my Instagram, and I appreciate that you're covering this!

[@TanguyBlanchard]

Wasn't ready to hear Adam Neely talk about coompression today

[@avaanderson7679]

You’ve perfectly articulated what I have been suspecting about the relationship between linguistics and music, but was not able to describe it. Thank you!!!

[@miskerss]

Adam Neely posts and I'm here for it

[@jameschristiansson3137]

Tietosuojavastaava?

[@latheofheaven1017]

Joni Mitchell's Chinese Café (1982) opens with the line 'caught in the middle'. It's over beats three and four and is straight 8th notes for 'caught in the', the notes starting on the 3rd degree and dropping to the 1st. Another older exception.

[@Thrano]

Prosody to the left of me, scotch snaps to the right. Here I am, caught? No. Stuck in the middle with you.

[@Packbat]

The way prosody interacts with musical rhythmic structures is so magical. Thanks for the fun video!

[@jnm92]

That prosodic dissonance part was so interesting. It gives a name to something that I've noticed alot. Especially in music with English lyrics written by non native English speakers. For example the music of Final Fantasy XIV has lots of English lyrics full of 'prosodic dissonance'. Probably because it's written by Japanese writers and the way they match syllables to notes is way different.

[@iancarpick7966]

Linguist here. Japanese and English differ considerably in the way that stress works. In English, stressed syllables are longer, louder, higher in pitch, and contain more types of vowels compared to unstressed syllables. Meanwhile, Japanese is often cited as an example of a language which does not have stress. Rather, each syllable has either a high or low tone, and words can differ in the sequence of tones on syllables (e.g., all-low vs. low-high vs. high-low, etc.), but no syllable is obviously more prominent than any other. (By the way, this kind of system resembles tone systems found in West African languages much more closely than it resembles tone in Chinese languages.) As a consequence, prosodic dissonance in English is about misaligning musical and prosodic prominences, while prosodic dissonance in Japanese is probably about mismatching musical pitch changes and tonal pitch changes. It might be interesting to compare how prosodic dissonance is evaluated in languages where the primary correlate of stress is duration, loudness, pitch, and various combinations.

[@congealedbox7854]

"stuck in the middle with you" is also a pretty good example of the unsyncopated style you talked about

[@countjulu]

Watch the end of the video

[@CFW97]

You fool

[@Stephen_Lafferty]

Did you comment before watching to the end?

[@Hulavuta]

oh no

[@chrisdavis2161]

Pfffftttt

[@scottneuens5402]

“AsSES not ASSes! You put the wrong emPHAsis on wrong sylLABle!” 😂

[@JoeBleasdaleReal]

If you’re Biffy Clyro, this is the “Down by the river” rule

[@elenymm]

True! Omg. It's everywhere, like the Pachabel canon.

[@jaycielle]

I KNEW IT WAS FROM SOMETHING ELSE TOO, _THANK_ YOU! the price I now have to pay for that is that you just reawakened the part of my brain that tortures me by randomly going _"there's a girl there's a girl there's a girl there's a girl"_ at me and making me burst out with the next half of that line in public ffs

[@cgollimusic]

It's time to consider that baby is a sinner

[@KindredBrujah]

They are Scottish, though, so perhaps the Scotch Snap is more likely there?

[@jaycielle]

@@KindredBrujah I was about to say _"I don't think that's a very Scotch Snap-y song"_ but realised that the _first line_ ends with an iconic one (for me & my mates at least) 🤣 Plus it feels impossible not to sing that _"today"_ in Simon Neal's accent without it sounding off - has to be at least a little Scottish

[@carldmitch]

This is exactly the type of video I would love to see more of from you, I love it

[@txsphere]

This is so Adam Neely and we love it. 💕💕🎉

[@SkillTimO]

I wanted that Coldplay analysis. The word trouble follows the same cadence as middle, rhymes too. That's why it's the origin of this modern phenomenon. Year 2000 baby.

[@MrApetape]

Amazing Video haha! Saw the reel a couple of days ago and now you got this wholesome explanation. Loving it.

[@johncooper7923]

Everything I been thinking about over the past 5 years in one lil ole video. What a treasure. I’mma take it to the bank. Tanks. Thnx. Thanks.

[@thewardenduncan]

Dude, Conditions! Full of War was one of my favorite albums for a couple of years when it came out, cool to see such an unknown band that I have such a connection to featured on this channel.

[@discipulaaeterna4389]

I don't really know why is it in my recommendations but I watched it till the end while in bed. Great job!

[@le-protato-chan4432]

I feel like this video was a dare on quoting the most pop-songs without getting demontized.

[@keinname629]

demontized 😅

[@PortableCoincidenceMachine]

‘Trouble’ by Coldplay came out in 2000. It was impossible to be a person on Earth and not hear it. And then everyone stole the snippet of song.

[@alissa6380]

hi, I'm a person on earth, but i don't think I've ever heard that song (and i do listen to pop music, including from that era. maybe it's because I'm in Europe?)

[@slash196]

@@alissa6380 Yeah but you didn't write any of the songs in the video.

[@alissa6380]

@@slash196 fair point i guess

[@KindredBrujah]

@@alissa6380 Nice to be nice, but it isn't a fair point at all. It was a rubbish point. The OP didn't specify only songwriters, so you were totally correct to challenge it. I am somewhat surprised you hadn't heard it as Coldplay were very big globally around that time. (it's a very nice song, incidentally, as are most from their debut album).

[@FrederikAlkema]

I don't know where in Europe you live, but this song was all over the radio in Europe. It was a bigger hit in the EU than it was in the US. Which would makes since the then upcoming band is British 😉

[@ViceJupiter]

Wasn’t expecting to attend a masterclass with you & then watching the band perform afterwards. Evidently wasn’t on my bingo card this year but now I cannot wait.

[@flatridefanatic]

I've just begun the process of learning music theory so I really appreciate the inclusion of musical notation not only for clarity but also meaning I have the ability to try and guess what the rhythm of the phrases are going to be before I hear them using knowledge of note values. It's a nerdy little thing but I'm here for it.

[@Katrina_Helena]

Thank you for mentioning Stuck In The Middle by Four Year Strong - when I saw the thumbnail that was the song I immediately thought of, but I couldn't for the life of me remember who did it!

[@rxpt0rs]

I saw your comment on the original post! Didn't expect a video to come out so soon!

[@KeithCooper-Albuquerque]

Excellent discussion, Adam! I really learn so much from your content! Be safe on the road, and keep on jammin'!

[@shamefvl_4968]

really appreciate the mention of periphery here they're rarely brought up but they're fantastic song writers and this is the first thing I thought of when you mentioned this

[@Tritium21]

Did you say "*Rodney* James Dio"? You did.

[@purposefully.verbose]

I called him out too... these youngsters don't know better :)

[@trippyliquids]

oof I haven't heard it yet... brb edit: confirmed

[@plwadodveeefdv]

Slip of the d

[@lastchance000]

I got whiplash running to rewind that to check what I heard.

[@khaledelsayed5357]

Bloody hell…..the thumbnail sparked a song I can’t remember now, because of that lil compilation in the beginning….well played sir

[@hrrld]

I learned a lot, and then I kept learning more and more. Guacamolly - this is a particularly good video. Thank you!

[@ordinarychap1085]

I really love the all round analysis in the video. You touched on music theory, poetry device, socialogical/cultural relevances... Very thorough and considered. Well done. And thanks for uploading 👍 I found myself appreciating, even more, song compositions that might deal heavily with the trope 'caught in the middle' while (intelligently) never mentioning those words. For instance, "Crossfire", by SRV...

[@sophiamcl]

I LOVE these observational, down-to-the-nitty-gritty analyses!

[@petergarner]

What a fascinating video. As both a language and music nerd, it pushed all my buttons. Thanks!

[@SomeGuyWithAFace9]

in the age of all the good video essayists gradually releasing videos that are erring on 3+ hours, it is nice to see a quick simple 11 minute video explaining a cool thing in a detailed yet easy to understand way dont get me wrong i love my 4 hour long video essays as much as the next guy but its nice to be able to finish a video in a single lunch break

[@speckofdignity2487]

Exactly my thoughts when I saw this was uploaded at the beginning of my 30 minute break

[@Fraughtful]

Deepest Coldplay line: Cod in the Meadow

[@MarkFonts]

Saw him in the comments of the/an insta reel first! Turnaround is quick 💪

[@leeshawver]

Thanks for a killer show in Riga, LV!!

[@zachbowden1993]

Never thought I’d see Conditions on an Adam Neely vid 😅 absolutely incredible album!

[@eps3154]

You solve the most interesting musical mysteries. Love 🖤

[@mattiasivillica6576]

Literally the first song i thought of was Alex Turner's "stuck on the puzzle" (last chorus) it's sung in straight 8's and it came out in 2011! I was waiting for you to mention it as an exception (also it's probably a good example of prosadic dissonance since the stress is more on the last sillable). Btw great video as always!

[@joshuamessenger]

Thanks for always making me smarter.

[@mossworksmedia]

god i want to see you in portland with my gf but i just lost my job v_v sadness aside, in my short time writing lyrics (a few years) it just feels so natural to put “weak” words like “in” and “the” into smaller rhythmic clusters in a bar. it makes me think of how we skim over those words when reading them instead of giving them as much weight as a powerhouse word like…powerhouse anyways, great video as always and hope the shows go well!

[@AlexusDelphi]

Just saw the original video last night, so this was nice to see right away

[@brettwilliams660]

Please do a whole video on Ian Anderson’s “prosody”. (Or just another video about bizarro prosody in general.)

[@emptymeasure17]

Wow can never unhear this, thanks 👍🏻

[@FlynnTheRedhead]

I saw your comment on that short a few days ago and here we are, you actually made the video lol

[@ursa8772]

holy shit Seth Hills mentioned always love seeing EDM artists brought up in wider music discussions, and "The Middle" was my first thought for an example when I heard the trend

[@dot_execute-0]

"The One Who Gets To Cry" by Chrissy Chlapecka also has the phrase, it has the low note on "the" and resolves up, similar to the examples by Between You And Me and Seth Hills that you showed. Fun and interesting video as always, I love the intersection of music and language that necessarily happens on some level when you combine the two, and this was a perfect example to look at and dissect.

[@user-eh5mw8tm4n]

2:31 That's the song I thought of when I saw the title lol glad it was included

[@MattyandtheMusic]

Omg saw the reel that inspired this. It’s here!!!!

[@mjacton]

I was literally typing the "what about...?" comment when he mentioned it. How embarrassing.

[@eh_xx]

yep, it was royal blood who i remembered

[@TocsTheWanderer]

Except he already mentioned another song that uses "stuck in the middle" at 2:35. There's no reason he should count it as a "different thing entirely". He should have included it in the section of older songs that don't quite match the pattern.

[@CadoFox]

WOOO I saw the original Instagram comment that you were gonna make this one, excited to see you did haha

[@RTGOAT]

Thank you, Mr. Neely, for creating the best song ever. (Whiskey and Mes)

[@manuelbarros4898]

Your videos are always insightful are intriguing. Thank you so much!

[@petervanderwaart1138]

I refer to him as "the always interesting Adam Neely."

[@a.n.t.94]

Dio is a master of using pronunciation to evoke energy. Love to find him in one of your videos.

[@FlesHBoX]

Lol, I was sitting here the whole time wondering if you were going to mention Stuck In The Middle WIth You 🤣

[@zaxapitsa]

new album is NASTY well done guys

[@TomMarvan]

Another great video! It made me think about my thoughts. Thank you.

[@josephm.benoit9202]

Thank gawd someone is making videos like this as easy as they breathe. Ahhh

[@elucified]

ooh yes I love this new addition of Adam including kpop songs as examples

[@Sababuselik]

Here to feed the algorithm. I miss your music theory content so much and I know I'm not the only one. I know KZbin is not worth the effort anymore but honestly nothing is, apart from the nerdy feeling of fulfilment provided by music theory itself (and still no emoji for the licc)

[@linus.olofssonn]

I saw ur comment on the reel (or tiktok) nice how fast you came out with this video!

[@mm-yt8sf]

i remember thinking just the naturally saying "you never know" reminded me of the muppets "ma na ma na" it didn't seem to strange to me since in high school english i remember there were terms for the rhythm (like the dactyl and trochee) the natural way speaking can form iambic pentameter 🙂 i'm kinda surprised how many times the phrase appears since...i don't think i've used the phrase naturally for a long time..years maybe? but then i don't really have a social life where i might likely get caught in the middle

[@DirkDonerkebab]

this reminds me of One Ok Rock's Stuck in the Middle from their 2015 album 35xxxv - the cadence is much more like the older metal songs you used as examples but it's interesting since 1) this song came out less than 10 years ago and 2) english is the band's second language as opposed to their first - they're a japanese band. great vid tho now i can't unhear this lmao

[@tillyshaker]

It's nice to be reminded of the Scottish snap, but I doubt it's related. The rhythmic commonality we're looking at here is just the way the phrase would spoken most all of the time. I know that's what you said in the first place. Great video. I love roundups of things like this.

[@Drpickles81]

Bro really said Rodney James Dio

[@johnhmaloney]

Great video! I had no idea that the pronunciation of caught had drifted over the past couple of decades. I'm middle aged and from Jersey, so I really have no choice but to pronounce it 'cawt'. lol

[@saoirsedeltufo7436]

I was just about to comment about how you pronounce caught almost like "cut", which is very interesting to me, and then you mentioned the "caught-cot merger"!

[@eliasmg9144]

It's nice to see Coldplay was ahead of the curve on this one

[@Tim3.14]

Totally got me at the end. After all the repetitions of “Caught in the middle” I had totally forgotten that one was “stuck in the middle”

[@BlackIndigenousPosse]

Stoked to see Twelve Foot Ninja make a 1-second appearance here.

[@gabomandam7654]

You were true to your word when you said you are gonna make a video of this!

[@lot8113]

It may be worth pointing out that a phenomenon like the cot-caught merger doesn't only apply to the words used to describe it. They are just archetypical words that contain the relevant vowels and that exemplify the change in vowel quality. (Otherwise having this specific sound change be tied to this specific phrase, containing the exact right word, becoming more popular would a little too big of a coincidence)

[@atom_c]

Great to see Siobhan Miller in an Adam Neely video!

[@secretwpn]

Four year strong fuck yeah!

[@zamplify]

Cot in tha middo

[@umblapag]

Caught in the middle is the new lick

[@hammerth1421]

This stuff is used as a trick to write melodies in electronic music. Even though most of them lack a consistent non-chopped vocal, a number of tracks have a certain title because their melody is the natural melody of their title. Title drops in movies are a clichee with mostly negative connotation, but these tracks pretty much _are_ their title. For prosodic dissonance, just listen to Post Malone.

[@ZedEdge]

Dang dude, this was just so freakin interesting. 🤔 Wonderfully explained.

[@mooncalf191]

I was 100% gonna snark at you for forgetting the Dylan song that Stealer's Wheel covered. Glad I waited.

[@prdoyle]

Dylan song? I can't tell if you're trolling.