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August 28

Lyrics to Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry"

I always thought one of the lines was "We all know that crap is king", as stated in our article, but according to several lyrics sites the line is "Kraft is king". Which is right ? If it is Kraft, does this mean the food conglomerate Kraft, as in "the sponsor is king" ? StuRat (talk) 02:41, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I'm fairly certain it's "crap," but the sheet music would be the best source, or the lyrics on the album sleeve itself if they are there. Someone here must have these handy, or you could ask on a wiki project talkpage. (I just Googled for the sheet music as an image search, but only turned up the first page). Newyorkbrad (talk) 02:58, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Just listened with nice headphones, and there's no way that "crap" is "craft" or "Kraft". Not to say salad dressing and white glue aren't bad for the clothes, but crap is far more universal to dirty laundry. Thematically, phonetically, it's always been crap. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:09, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Saying the "craft" (of journalism) is king is the opposite of the message of the song, and it seems to exclusively refer to the phrase "airing dirty laundry" metaphorically, not literally (although "dirty little fingers in everybody's pie" could conceivable lead to literal dirty laundry). StuRat (talk) 12:17, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, if you think he means journalism by "craft". More likely means a darker art, like bamboozlement. But he doesn't, because he says "crap", meaning all sorts of sexy horror and horrible sex you can't see on the radio. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:22, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Can't find any indication of Kraft sponsoring Henley, but here he is with Robert Kraft and a nude Kermit the Frog. That collaboration came twelve years after the laundry song, but anything's possible in hindsight. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:24, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Kraft Television Theatre started promoting cheese on TV the same summer Henley stopped slurping it through his umbilical cord. Coincidence? InedibleHulk (talk) 04:06, 28 August 2017 (UTC) [reply]

Lyrics sites are notoriously unreliable, and since they all steal from each other, it only takes the first one to screw up a lyric before it gets propagated to all. FWIW, Ultimate Guitar Archive uses "crap". --Jayron 32 10:54, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Also FWIW, I did an extensive image and text search for liner notes; I Can't Stand Still, the album on which it appeared, does not seem to have had a lyrics sheet or any other liner notes included with it. --Jayron 32 14:02, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I have the LP for that album. It does have a liner. It is black. It is solid (no hole in the middle like most liners). The front has some text. The back has a couple photos and more text. There are no lyrics on the liner and, of course, none on the cover. 71.85.51.150 (talk) 00:28, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

It is possible that they have heard a radio edit. Some stations in the UK have taken to scrambling out swear words, and "crap" may come under that heading. --TammyMoet (talk) 17:53, 30 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Discogs.com has images of the liner notes of the LP and CD. It says "We all know that Crap is King". jh51681 (talk) 00:43, 1 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Name-only unit

There are at least three production or communication companies (1, 2, 3) that Wikipedia labels as "Name-only unit" or " Active In-name-only unit". I can't find a definition; what specifically is that? 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E4D8:84DC:15BC:BD9C (talk) 22:52, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The Harvey one, at least, was changed by an IP address a year ago. The Tandem one has a more elaborate description as well as a source. I get the vibe that it's a "brand" which no longer produces anything. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:49, 28 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

That's my assumption too; would like to find an actual definition. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:E4D8:84DC:15BC:BD9C (talk) 00:18, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Have you looked at the source for that designation, in the Tandem article? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:12, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A brand name is an asset even if not currently being used. They could maintain possession of it in the hopes of selling it in the future to somebody who will resume production, or of resuming production themselves. StuRat (talk) 04:01, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

I can't find any formal definition for "name only unit", however per this one can make out a working definition. A name-only unit appears to be the film-studio equivalent of badge engineering. It's a brand name which does not actually signify a separate company. For example, as shown at Hanna-Barbera, it is a former animation studio that once had it's own facilities and employees. Today, it does not have any distinct identity; there is not a separate division of another company that can be identified as "Hanna-Barbera" nor are there facilities or employees that work for it. Instead, Hanna-Barbera is now just a brand name used by Warner Bros. Animation to market some of its properties. Those properties are not made at a distinct facility, under a distinct division, or by distinct employees who work for anything called "Hanna-Barbera" (like there used to be back in the 1960s-1980s). In other words, badge engineering. --Jayron 32 19:26, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, car companies such as GM have done that with car models for decades now. There's no "Cadillac" facility where they exclusively design them, for example. In 1984, they formed the BOC group to produce Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and Cadillacs (Olds are no longer made, of course). StuRat (talk) 21:14, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Baseball Bugs: That source doesn't use the term "Active in-name-only unit of Sony Pictures Television", instead it lists "Affiliated Companies (Consolidated Subsidiaries)". Also, Tandem Productions is not on the list, instead it has Tandem Licensing Corporation. — [Same OP, new IP]:2606:A000:4C0C:E200:302D:D14D:DE51:D6FA (talk) 23:17, 29 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

If the source is useless, then the language should probably be changed back to what it was a year ago. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:35, 30 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]