Dead Men Walking / Lame Ducks

[Dvorak]

The expression Dead Man Walking can be used to describe a song that is already well below #20 on the chart and has been on the chart more than 20 weeks.

This week's Dead Man Walking is Beyonce's "Single Ladies" . It is currently #28 on the chart and it has surpassed 20 weeks on the chart.

It is guaranteed to be off the next chart so it is a Dead Man Walking

[Az Paynter]

What're you talking about? ??? It's only just hitting 20 weeks now.

[Dvorak]

Eligible to go recurrent THIS week (4/19):
All-American Rejects
Beyonce ("Single Ladies")


Beyonce is a Dead Man Walking because although she is on the chart now at #28, she is guaranteed to fall off at Sunday's final update because that would be her 21st week.

[Az Paynter]

Yes, I made that post. Which means it's only just eligible to go recurrent NOW. I don't see how that makes it a 'Dead Man Walking' when it's going recurrent right when it's supposed to. If you want a real DMW you should look at Kevin Rudolf, 'Let It Rock', which stayed in the top 20 for 12 weeks after it reached eligibility for recurrency.

[Dvorak]

Let It Rock was not a Dead Man Walking until it fell below #20 on the daily charts....

If you look at the current daily chart, Beyonce is at #28 and is a goner as soon as Sunday night.

www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/insideradio/charts.asp?format=1&showyear=y&dpt=n

This is what I mean, it is a song that is sure to be a goner at this Sunday's final update

[Az Paynter]

Dead Man Walking, to my understanding, is someone (in this case thing aka. song) that survives past the point it should. IMO, Single Ladies is not a DMW because it's going right when it became eligible. Also IMO, Let It Rock was a DMW because it hung around for so long after it became eligible and refused to leave the top 20. A few weeks is understandable, but 12 weeks past the 20-week mark is just far too long for a song to be that high on the chart.

[Dvorak]

Dead Man Walking is a song that will be "dead" i.e.. off the chart within a matter of days...

Dead Man Walking is a person in prison that will be executed in a matter of moments...

[MaterialGirl]

???

[Dvorak]

Apr 17, 2009 11:14:52 GMT -5 Dvorak said:

Let It Rock was not a Dead Man Walking until it fell below #20 on the daily charts....

If you look at the current daily chart, Beyonce is at #28 and is a goner as soon as Sunday night.

www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/insideradio/charts.asp?format=1&showyear=y&dpt=n

This is what I mean, it is a song that is sure to be a goner at this Sunday's final update

And now Beyonce is dead...

[Juanca]

So, a Dead "Song" Walking would only exist in cases where the song managed to be below #20 before the weekend of recurrency... like Heartless this week.
I can see the point of emphasizing a song being "Dead" at that point.
In cases like Let It Rock or Just Dance, it would be hard to say they were/are dead, because they refused to DIE. You could even say they are the Ancients, Immortals, or simply Longevous, or whatever similar adjective you want to use. In fact in cases like those, it is not certain if the Dead is gonna come or not.
LIR was supposed to die for like 5 weeks in a row! LOL!
And now Gaga may even continue alive for one more week.

Not sure if I think the name is that useful or good, but I got the point of Dvorak.

[Battle601]

Now you can add Taylor Swift to the list of the "dead" as she's out of the Top 20 as of this morning.

I don't know - is there a better word that can be used? It's weird but all I picture in my mind are these artists in question moving slowly like zombies somewhere (while they wait for Sunday to come). And then when it finally comes, they either fall down or get shot and are dropped off to some place (to mark that they've been sent to recurrent status). Pretty creepy.

I had a good laugh upon reading about "Let It Rock". Yeah, that song was the equivalent of a monster that was impossible to stop. Especially looking back at the thread and the posts since November (around the time it was peaking) and through all the weeks it was eligible to go recurrent but still kept hanging in the Top 20, it was like everyone was wishing for it "to die" so to speak.

One of them posts that really made me laugh happened to come from you, JuanK:

Nov 26, 2008 2:33:59 GMT -5 Juanca said:

Kevin has the power of God with this song that never dies and keeps resurrecting when everyone thinks it is dead and buried with already 3 days of lifeless stinky bullet moves.

You pretty much said it best when describing the ridiculous longevity this song had.

And now everytime I hear that song, I always imagine people having that same reaction when it seems to be playing continuously on a loop (especially in cases where they edit out Lil Wayne's part). LOL

[Dvorak]

Now there are two Dead Men Walking:

Love Song - Taylor Swift
Heartless - Kanye West

[Matt4319]

I think "lame duck(s)" would be the better term.

[Dvorak]

Apr 20, 2009 9:58:33 GMT -5 Matt4319 said:

I think "lame duck(s)" would be the better term.

You're right! Lame Duck is even better than Dead Man Walking

[Juanca]

Well, I learned the meaning of 'lame duck' in January 09 thanks to this year's Bush transition to Obama... and I have been in the US for almost 4 years with a good previous knowledge of English, so my only comment would be: This is certainly a US term that few international members of this board would understand, as opposed to other phrases that are easily understandable from first read. I can foresee many posts asking what "lame duck" means besides a swimming animal that walks in a foolish manner
Bueno, esa seria mi unica critica al uso de la palabra "pato cojo", asi que si pueden encontrar una frase un poco mas universal seria mejor aun.
:)