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Dire Maker or D'yer Mak'er


Dancin'Days

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Sounds like Jamaica

This explination is from Wikipedia:

The name of the song is derived from a play on the words "Jamaica" and "Did you make her", based on an old joke ("My wife's gone to the West Indies." "Jamaica?" "No, she went of her own accord.") On July 21st, 2005, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant discussed the song during an interview with Mike Halloran, a DJ on radio station FM94/9 in San Diego. During the interview, he talked about the different interpretations and pronunciations of the name of the song (audio clip (help·info) from the interview, 841k OGG audio file, 1:39 in length; the original full-length interview is hosted on the FM94/9 website). The title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics, was chosen because it reflects the reggae flavour of the song. Plant has said that he finds it amusing when American fans completely ignore the apostrophes and pronounce it as "Dire Maker". (The song's most repeated and most familiar line is "oh(x6), you don't have to go....")

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I heard the joke before I heard the song. It was written in an old joke book. I'll reprint it here, exactly the way it appears in the book:

Man 1: My old woman just went off to the West Indies for vacation.

Man 2: Jamaica?*

Man 1: No, she went of her own accord, actually.

* Pronounced quickly: "D'yer Mak'er?" :huh:

That whole sequence, including the foot note, is in a British joke book that I got a long time ago. So, I knew what they meant by the spelling, although my friends all insisted I was pronouncing it wrong and that it was "Dire Maker". I think it's extremely funny and coincidental that it's spelled the exact same way in the book as it is on Houses!

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For years and years I thought it was 'dire maker' until a few years ago I was informed it's supposed to be like...'did ya make her' Oh well, we live, we learn. Great song, nonetheless.

:)

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Didn't Zeppelin take the "a" out of Lead for the American fans? Jeez, I wonder how many times they've had to explain the name of this song. I'll be the first to admit I might have pronounced it Leed Zeppelin, and as I said before I had no clue about the title of the song. I never heard the phrase "Lead ballon," beofore I was a fan, and I never heard that joke about Jamaica, either. But I know somebody else in here from the U.S. did, so.....whatever. Maybe it's a little before my time. Maybe I'm just clueless.

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:beer: The explanations given are correct.

jermaker it is, (or JAMAICA, due to the reggae theme).

the joke as mentioned, with the punchline "no, she went of her own accord" was featured a lot during the 40s in music hall acts.

Like what you said, but i would have written it as: Jir maker, but sounds the same. DJ's on local radio stations have called it that for years. I do sometimes call it Dire Maker, just because music-smiley-004.gif

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Well, since the darn joke doesn't work with an American accent, I just say "Jamaica" and ignore the oh-so-helpful phonetic spelling in the title. That way I don't have to say "Jerrrrmakerrrr" and sound like a damn yank, and it gets the point of the joke in there, too.

And yes, I did used to say "Dire Maker" when I first started listening to them. I knew I was saying it wrong because I kept reading interviews with Jonesy saying he was sick of people asking how it was pronounced, but I couldn't find an actual explanation! Thank god for this site; I finally got the answer here.

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Well, since the darn joke doesn't work with an American accent, I just say "Jamaica" and ignore the oh-so-helpful phonetic spelling in the title. That way I don't have to say "Jerrrrmakerrrr" and sound like a damn yank, and it gets the point of the joke in there, too.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't say it!

I usually just babble until somebody figures it out: "You know that song Dire Maker or Didjer Maker or you know the one that goes 'Oh oh oh oh oh, You don't have to go.' "

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  • 8 months later...
I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't say it!

I usually just babble until somebody figures it out: "You know that song Dire Maker or Didjer Maker or you know the one that goes 'Oh oh oh oh oh, You don't have to go.' "

That sounds famillar :)

I used to say it D-yer (almost like Do your), cause that's how DJs say it. But after I figured out how it's ment to be pronounced, I try to say it like 'Jermaker', but it doesn't work most of the time...

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That sounds famillar :)

I used to say it D-yer (almost like Do your), cause that's how DJs say it. But after I figured out how it's ment to be pronounced, I try to say it like 'Jermaker', but it doesn't work most of the time...

Funny thing just happened, as i got to this thread, my Windows Media Player started to play this song, i have it on shuffel so it is quite a coincidence.

If you try saying it like the reference it points too, "Jar Maka" you will pretty much get the Caribbean accent, in my opinion.

Regards, Danny

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