Dan Smith
Missing rhyme puzzle: "Cheek to Cheek"
I chose this one because it has so many words that all rhyme. It's not as easy to guess the words as in other that I've posted, so this time I am going to show how many letters there are, and I am going to show the part of the word that rhymes. Thus, if the word were freak I would show _ _eak.

In English, sometimes the ending -eak is pronounced to rhyme with -eek, as it does in the -eak words below. But in the words steak and break, which are not in the song, it is pronounced with a long "a." In fact, steak and stake are homophones: two completely different words with different meanings that are pronounced exactly the same way. So are break and brake.

This song is from 1935. "Dancing cheek to cheek" is a style of slow, ballroom dancing that was considered socially acceptable, but it is intimate because the dancers hold each other so closely that their faces touch, cheek against cheek.

Warning: cheek means the side of the face, but it can also mean each of the two buttocks, so when you hear the word used, be alert for jokes or double meanings. 

In the phrase "a river or a _ _eek," you are looking for a word that means a small river. A common word for this is "brook," so you can look for synonyms for "brook." The word is more commonly used in the U.S. than it is in the UK.

This is sung by Fred Astaire, part of the movie dance pair, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, famous in the 1930s and 40s, who are still remembered. Astaire was more famous than Rogers. Feminists are fond of saying "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did--except backwards and in high heels!" 


Heaven, I'm in Heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly _ _eak;
And I seem to find the happiness I _eek
When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven,
And the cares that hang around me through the _eek
Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky _ _ _eak,
When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek.

Oh! I love to climb a mountain,
And to reach the highest _eak,
But it doesn't thrill me half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek.

Oh! I love to go out fishing
In a river or a _ _eek,
But I don't enjoy it half as much
As dancing cheek to cheek.
26 août 2016 11:59
Commentaires · 4
2

Thank you, Dan for a lovely song again.I enjoyed and it made me feel nice and jubilant .

I got all the words in one go:)

Here are they--

1-Speak

2-Seek

3-Week

4-Streak

5-Peak

6-Creek(American one?)

Thank you:)

26 août 2016
1
Thank you, Dan for this interesting post :) I like such kind of rhyme puzzle. All answers have already been given by Sudeep...
26 août 2016

"Thanks for reminding me about the artist Max Raabe who has made a recording of it as well. Here someone has uploaded it to Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgIpFREIwJg"

Thanks! I've heard a few other recordings by Max Raabe and the "Palast Orchester" but I hadn't heard this one. It's very nice, and it has nice, very clear diction.

I like the Palast Orchester recordings because they are faithful to the original style of the 1930s. However, I don't like Max Raabe's singing so well, and I wonder how well he knows English. There's not a thing wrong with it. He has a slight but definite accent, a "charming accent." But he does not bring out the meanings of the words; it's as if he's listened to recordings and is trying to reproduce the sounds of the spoken English without actually understanding their meaning. It's quite different from Fred Astaire, even though both of them sing precisely in time with the music, in the style of the time.

26 août 2016
Thanks for reminding me about the artist Max Raabe who has made a recording of it as well. Here someone has uploaded it to Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgIpFREIwJg
26 août 2016
Dan Smith
Compétences linguistiques
Anglais, Portugais, Espagnol
Langue étudiée
Anglais, Portugais, Espagnol
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