Very loosely. It’s more like it rhymes with the actual lyrics than represents them. Or maybe you’d think someone is singing the song if you heard it through a wall.
Come with me on a journey though old TV shows, communist and/or child.
For almost the entire 90’s there was a teen drama series on FOX called Beverly Hills 90210. It follows a group of teens as they come of age, among the alleged glitz and glamor of the affluent town of Beverly Hills, California, effectively a suburb of Los Angeles, not far from Hollywood. 90210, pronounced “nine-oh-two-one-oh”, is one of several ZIP codes of the town.
ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, it’s the post code scheme implemented in the mid-20th century by the United States Post Office, appended to a street address. ZIP codes really refer to the structure of the post office itself and indicate what exact region down to the individaul post office a piece of mail must be routed to, but the general public (incorrectly) treats them as geographic regions, in larger cities down to the neighborhood level. Because of the TV show, 90210 is the best-known ZIP code worldwide.
That is all of the relevance of Beverly Hills, the fact the TV show had a ZIP code in its title.
There was another teen drama TV show that ran from the late 90s to the early 2000s called Dawson’s Creek, set in a fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. This show used Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait” as a theme tune over the opening credits.
The phrase “I Don’t Want To Wait”, as sung by Paula Cole in an indistinct slightly slurred manner, sounds similar to how an American would pronounce the ZIP code 90108. “Nine Oh One Oh Eight”. The next line of the song is “For our lives to be over” again not pronounced very distinctly, similarly sounds like '4092304" “Four oh nine two three oh four”. Look up the song on Youtube read the numbers as you listen, you’ll hear it.
90108 IS a real ZIP code, one of many belonging to Los Angeles, apparently for PO Boxes used by the military, per my googling.
Further nerd snipe bullshit, 409-2304 is a valid (partial) US telephone number. In fact it’s several hundred of them; there could be :one of those per area code. Assuming that Capeside is near Cape Cod, the likely area code for that region would have been 508, though around that time the 744 overlay area code was being introduced.
So (508) 409-2304 might have been a valid phone number for a house/character on Dawson’s Creek. It’s also very likely someone’s real phone number in Attleboro, MA. Please don’t bother them.
If I were to assign the fictional town of Capeside a ZIP code, there are a few to choose from given there are unused gaps in the ZIP codes assigned to MA. I might go for 02605.
“word sound like number” that is made funny via understanding of 20+ year old TV shows and a functioning understanding of the inner workings of the United States Postal Service, yes.
Those digits said out loud, and with the right phrasing, loosely sounds like the lyrics from the Dawson’s Creek theme.
“I don’t want to wait for our lives to be over”
It…it does?
Like 15% there if you squint your ears really hard
Yes. I think it sounds very close. Here’s an attempt:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & I don wan a wait 1&2&3&4& 90108 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & For our Liiiiives to be oh verr 1&2&3&4&1&2&3&4& 40-9----23-0-4--You put a lot of work in to that, but it’s not helping me hear it. Thank you anyway; I appreciate your effort!
Haha. No problem. It wasn’t that much work. All the colors were unintentional
Maybe try mumbling heavily and sing the original, then sing the numbers with the same cadence.
Idonwanahwait
Nineohoneohait
I think its just supposed to be dumb and funny and similar. It’s not supposed to be “wow, that’s exactly the same”
You got me there, great explanation
“Nine Oh One Oh Eight” works when I say it…
The song in question isn’t annunciated clearly. It sounds like “annawannaoway! fo’ow lieeeee tobe ova”
No, it definitely does not.
90108 does. The other part doesn’t fit as well. “Oh four” works as “over” and that’s about it.
I wonder what accent you have…
I can’t get it to work with a Scottish accent.
Yes. It does.
Very loosely. It’s more like it rhymes with the actual lyrics than represents them. Or maybe you’d think someone is singing the song if you heard it through a wall.
Dunno how else “three” would become “be”.
Ok? What’s up with Beverly hills? Are the numbers significant or is this whole thing just “haha human mouth make finite syllables”
Come with me on a journey though old TV shows, communist and/or child.
For almost the entire 90’s there was a teen drama series on FOX called Beverly Hills 90210. It follows a group of teens as they come of age, among the alleged glitz and glamor of the affluent town of Beverly Hills, California, effectively a suburb of Los Angeles, not far from Hollywood. 90210, pronounced “nine-oh-two-one-oh”, is one of several ZIP codes of the town.
ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan, it’s the post code scheme implemented in the mid-20th century by the United States Post Office, appended to a street address. ZIP codes really refer to the structure of the post office itself and indicate what exact region down to the individaul post office a piece of mail must be routed to, but the general public (incorrectly) treats them as geographic regions, in larger cities down to the neighborhood level. Because of the TV show, 90210 is the best-known ZIP code worldwide.
That is all of the relevance of Beverly Hills, the fact the TV show had a ZIP code in its title.
There was another teen drama TV show that ran from the late 90s to the early 2000s called Dawson’s Creek, set in a fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina. This show used Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait” as a theme tune over the opening credits.
The phrase “I Don’t Want To Wait”, as sung by Paula Cole in an indistinct slightly slurred manner, sounds similar to how an American would pronounce the ZIP code 90108. “Nine Oh One Oh Eight”. The next line of the song is “For our lives to be over” again not pronounced very distinctly, similarly sounds like '4092304" “Four oh nine two three oh four”. Look up the song on Youtube read the numbers as you listen, you’ll hear it.
90108 IS a real ZIP code, one of many belonging to Los Angeles, apparently for PO Boxes used by the military, per my googling.
Further nerd snipe bullshit, 409-2304 is a valid (partial) US telephone number. In fact it’s several hundred of them; there could be :one of those per area code. Assuming that Capeside is near Cape Cod, the likely area code for that region would have been 508, though around that time the 744 overlay area code was being introduced.
So (508) 409-2304 might have been a valid phone number for a house/character on Dawson’s Creek. It’s also very likely someone’s real phone number in Attleboro, MA. Please don’t bother them.
If I were to assign the fictional town of Capeside a ZIP code, there are a few to choose from given there are unused gaps in the ZIP codes assigned to MA. I might go for 02605.
</nerdsnipe>
Superb write-up. Even though I got the joke, I still learned something 🍿
Ok so it is just “word sound like number”
“word sound like number” that is made funny via understanding of 20+ year old TV shows and a functioning understanding of the inner workings of the United States Postal Service, yes.
90’s TV Drama