It's an obscure, archaic 19th-century word with a definition almost as strangely obvious and clear as what it describes isn't – poor, illegible handwriting, and bad spelling and grammar. While calligraphy might once have been a painstakingly important part of schooling, poor handwriting, like a returning infection, could well be on the increase again, partly because any kind of handwriting is someone most of us are doing a lot less, due to the universal expression of every word through a laptop or smartphone keyboard, or even voice-to-text software. Though the cliched doctor's illegible prescription has now been largely replaced by typed and printed versions to alleviate error. But despite, for because of technology, by replacing an understanding of rules by autocorrect or text speak, what it gives can also take away, so increasing the prevalence of bad spelling and grammar, part of uglyography. So while the word is defunct, its meaning remains universally relevant.
But where some uglyography occur in song contexts? There are many ways to approach this. Song lyrics are a rich breeding ground for grammatical uglyography. Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers might be a pedant's choice, but "ain't no" is as much a stylistic echo of speech, so let’s excuse that excellent song. Colloquialisms seem permissible, but where do you draw the line between what sounds like speech sounds write, but is incorrect. Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan, who is a rich source for the occasional uglyography, or should that be Lie Lady Lie? But how might that sound?
And how about "If I Was", that 80s hit by Midge Ure, who might have simply amended it to "If I Were".
By the same turn, perhaps he was inspired, and therefore partly excused by hearing Elvis Presley's Hound Dog, in which "When they said you was high class, well that was just a lie…’ It wasn't just a lie, though, if only it were also correct.
Live And Let Die by Wings is another great song and James Bond theme, but is there uglyography or not here, in the line, which is written correctly: "But if this ever-changing world in which we’re living”, but when sung by Paul, sounds suspiciously like a double-in mistake of “but if this ever-changing world in which we live in". Or could that be just an unfortunate mondegreen?
However, nothing can excuse Timbaland's The Way I Are, in which the artist's gear stick seems to be stuck in a rhyme scheme heading for "car":
Baby, if you strip, you can get a tip
'Cause I like you just the way you are
(I'm about to strip and I'm well equipped
Can you handle me the way I'm are?)
I don't need the G's or the car keys
Boy, I like you just the way you are
But what about the poor handwriting issue in lyrics? The word uglyography is hard to find, but there's not shortage of illegibility appearing. Here are a few examples. The Mountain Goats' Passaic 1975 from their 2019 album In League With Dragons, opens with an immediate reference:
Write something down in illegible script
As we're approaching the landing strip
New Gibson SG, inlaid with pearl
Tonight Passaic, tomorrow the world
Meanwhile Death Cab For Cutie, from The Photo Album of 2001, use uglyography as a deliberate form of evasiveness in their song Information Travels Faster:
I intentionally wrote it out to be an illegible mess
You wanted me to write you letters, but I'd rather lose your address
And forget that we'd ever met and what did or did not occur.
Sitting in the station, it's all a blur
Of dancehall hips, pretentious quips.
A boxers, bob and weave.
But some illegibility is due to the ravages of time and carelessness to maintain things, as Robyn Hitchcock sang with The Soft Boys in the fabulous Insanely Jealous from 1980's Underwater Moonlight album:
The damage that we do is just so powerfully strong
They call it love
And the damage that we do it just goes on and on and on
Not long enough
Paint is cracked and dry
The name is now illegible
And everything is lost upon the cracked and misted hull
Beneath a yellow sky
The lovers trip beside a ship
But all I hear when they embrace is just the kiss of skulls
But I'm insanely jealous of the people that you see
And I'm insanely jealous of the people that aren't me
There are many other examples of this, but let's finish with a song by the cleverly quirky, psychedelic (“quirkadelic”) American rock from band from Hampton Roads, Virginia, who mischievously named themselves after the word. Perhaps it all starts with the brain:
Uglyophraphy – My Brain
So then care to think of more written, or sung uglyography? Feel free to share any further examples in songs, instrumentals, on albums, film, art or other contexts in comments below.
Gig economy? Sign of the times?
You can also get in touch the contact page, and also visit us on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share. New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...