"Sticks and Stones"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I just listened to Begin Here (with bonus tracks) because it's possible that it was released fifty years ago to-day.

Regardless of that, I found something interesting about "Sticks and Stones."  The version of Begin Here that I have includes an alternate take of "Sticks and Stones" as a bonus track, and - because I was working on transcribing the lyrics as I listened to it - I discovered that the alternate take has slightly different lyrics.  One of the verses is:

People talk about us breaking up
Scandalize my name
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But I'll never be the same

In the alternate take, this verse appears twice, but it's in the released version only once.  Where it occurs in the alternate take, it's replaced in the released version with:

People talk about us breaking up
Can't let us be
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But talk don’t bother me

So while both versions have only two verses, they're more evenly distributed in the alternate take.  The released version has the "scandalize" verse only once.