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What if we change the word order of "dancing queen"?

nekocat

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ABBA's Dancing Queen
Suppose we change the word order of "dancing queen" in the lyric and sing "queen dancing." How would you feel? Do you feel it's strange?

"Dig in the queen dancing."
"Queen dancing, feel the beat"
"You're the queen dancing, young and sweet"
 
Interesting question!
To me, "the dancing queen" is a great dancer while "the queen dancing" sounds like a real queen (from a royal family) who is dancing.
I'm looking forward to hearing what native speakers would say.
 
undrentide said:
Interesting question!
To me, "the dancing queen" is a great dancer while "the queen dancing" sounds like a real queen (from a royal family) who is dancing.
I'm looking forward to hearing what native speakers would say.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, undrentide san!

This is very much what the different lines suggest to me, too:

'the dancing queen' - she is in some sense the queen of dancing. She's not necessarily dancing now (but presumably she is, from the context of the rest of the lyrics? I also assume that Abba wouldn't have written a song about a dancing queen, say, cleaning the dishes!)

'the queen dancing' - she is a queen in another sense (real queen, prom queen etc) and she is dancing now.

made of samba
 
Weird thought ?

American slang has a "queen" being a gay male dressed as a woman as in "drag queen"?

Uncle Frank

☝
 
Context makes a big difference for me. Certain words tend to fall into an old familiar pattern, for instance, 'the dancing queen'. When I hear that phrase I think of ABBA and get a visual of a marionette dancing.

When you change the old familiar word order then context plays a significant role in determining the visual for me. Just like Uncle Frank, current American pop culture dictates a visual of a drag queen for 'the queen dancing', unless further references are included.

I could easily have thought of a children's fairytale if it had been in the following context, 'the queen dancing' all by herself in the wizard's hidden tower.

Also, capitalization is a part of the equation; if it had been capitalized I might have thought "royalty", '...the Queen dancing...'

In the context you have proposed:

"Dig in the queen dancing."
"Queen dancing, feel the beat"
"You're the queen dancing, young and sweet"

I feel at a loss for a visual. I do not find much meaning at all in the first one... could be about zombies eating a queen who was dancing...

The second one, hmm, could reference the music group Queen...

The third makes the most sense switching the word order.

All in all, it totally changes the feel of the song...

Hope I haven't confused you more...
 

I could be wrong here but, at a glance, I think its 'diggin', first of all, as in 'liking, taking an interest in, appreciating', however it's pronounced without the 'g' as 'diggin' when used casually.
 
undrentide said:
Interesting question!
To me, "the dancing queen" is a great dancer while "the queen dancing" sounds like a real queen (from a royal family) who is dancing.
I'm looking forward to hearing what native speakers would say.
Click to expand...
thats correct the word order changes what is modified. Unretide-san is absolutely correct from a proper English perspective. Of course im not up on modern slang.
 
Uncle Frank said:
American slang has a "queen" being a gay male dressed as a woman as in "drag queen"?
Uncle Frank
☝
Click to expand...
Well the text also goes:
Young and sweet, only 17,

I do not think that the swedish text writers thought about transvetites, rather: 'the queen of the ball'.

Wierd though: In the film 'Priscilla' or 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' one of the transvestites is crazy about ABBA. Maybe there is a connection after all????
 
I agree with the first couple of comments - "dancing queen" seems to mean someone who has the status of a queen when it comes to dancing. "Queen dancing" sounds like a real Queen who is dancing. It changes the meaning completely.
 
I may be out on a whim here, but "dancing queen" IMHO could be taken as "dancing" being an adjective, saying that the queen is a frequent dancer.

I think, depending on context, it could also be the same as, "queen dancing". For example: "Queen Elizabeth was enjoying her ball. When more people arrived, the dancing Queen greeted them." Sounds a little cheesy, I know, but I think in this sense it is the same as "queen dancing".
 
Full text

OK, here is the text. There is no way that this could be about a Queen dancing, and therefore it would make no sense to change the order of the words:

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen

Friday night and the lights are low
Looking out for the place to go
Where they play the right music, getting in the swing
You come in to look for a king
Anybody could be that guy
Night is young and the musics high
With a bit of rock music, everything is fine
Youre in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen

Youre a teaser, you turn em on
Leave them burning and then youre gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
Youre in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen
 
The official Abba site shows the lyrics as having Dancing Queen capitalised in every instance throughout the song, so it appears that the band themselves meant it to be a title.

The page (link here) also gives the lyric as 'dig in' - presumably an incorrect version of 'diggin'' as BK says...

mos
 
reply

to me, it feels kinda the same..... i mean, it sounds a bit weirder, but since i know a song wouldn't be of a queen dancing, i would figure it out to be just a weird slang
 
hurrah a fellow jew hath joined the forum!!!

or1 said:
to me, it feels kinda the same..... i mean, it sounds a bit weirder, but since i know a song wouldn't be of a queen dancing, i would figure it out to be just a weird slang
Click to expand...
Now as to your statement i agree it would probably be weird but with American songs these days you never know...
 
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And as far as I remember mos it went to the top of the UK singles chart
 
made of stone said:
It's a song by Swedes from more than thirty years ago
Click to expand...
☝☝
oh well i still wouldn't know i don't listen to much contemporary western music, except jazz.
But at this point i think we are way off topic. Nekocat asked if word order makes a difference and it absolutely does.
 
It did indeed EH!

In fact, it was very likely one of the very first songs I ever danced round to - I was about one when it hit the Top 40!!
 
It was very popular here when I was in high school (in the late '70s)!
 
pugtm said:
☝☝
oh well i still wouldn't know i don't listen to much contemporary western music, except jazz.
But at this point i think we are way off topic. Nekocat asked if word order makes a difference and it absolutely does.
Click to expand...

I think nekocat chan's question has already been answered pugtm san, so no need to worry, I dare say (unless we hear otherwise - and if I'm wrong on that apologies in advance!)

More importantly, though, I believe I read your last post wrong. You meant, I think now, that in modern American songs we can hear many strange or even ridiculous usages of English, rather than making the point I thought you were - that Dancing Queen is a modern American song. You are quite right, of course (and I'm sure the British acts murder our language just as much)!! And sorry for not following your point properly

braincells of stone
 
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yep thats pretty much what i meant.
 
reply


ha, guess we'll never know.
great movie, though.
 
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