banner.gif (3613 Byte)

Corner.gif 1x1.gif Corner.gif
1x1.gif You are at: Home - Discussion Forum 1x1.gif
Corner.gif 1x1.gif Corner.gif
      
round_corner_upleft.gif (837 Byte) 1x1.gif (807 Byte) round_corner_upright.gif (837 Byte)

Go Back   Gordon Lightfoot Forums > General Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 02-08-2009, 12:13 PM   #1
Peter Bro10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Illinois USA
Posts: 541
Default Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

This is one I've pondered a good long time, so I thought I'd put it out here for discussion.

One of my favorite Lightfoot tunes "If It Should Please You", has a repeating line that ends with a reference to a "flywheel". As noted in the copy below...

"So I'm itching to please you, with a topical song
And a few golden oldies and a little hoedown
And I think I know how to make you feel
We're one and the same now, like a big flywheel"

So, what do you suppose he means by "We're one and the same now, like a big flywheel" ?

I have something of an understanding of what a flywheel is/does, but I'm kind of at a loss as to what Gord means here....
__________________
Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness
Heaven can be yours just for now


Peter Bro10
Peter Bro10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2009, 05:21 PM   #2
Peter Bro10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Illinois USA
Posts: 541
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

From Microsoft's "Bookshelf"...

flywheel

flywheel (flì´hwêl´, -wêl´) noun
1. A heavy-rimmed rotating wheel used to minimize variations in angular velocity and revolutions per minute, as in a machine subject to fluctuation in drive and load.
2. An analogous device, especially one used to regulate the speed of clockwork.

++++++

I'll go with #2 difinition... but I still don't know exactly what he means!!!!
__________________
Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness
Heaven can be yours just for now


Peter Bro10
Peter Bro10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-17-2009, 08:25 PM   #3
New 12 String Mike
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Virginia USA
Posts: 216
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

Pete,

I'd go with the first definition. Another way of saying it, is that a flywheel sort of keeps everything in sync. So a flywheel attempts to keep things, "one and the same."
__________________
In my fashion, I have been a father...Here in my off again, on again smile.Mike
New 12 String Mike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-18-2009, 11:31 PM   #4
geodeticman.5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Eastern Slope urban corridor, Colo. USA
Posts: 1,007
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

yes i'm with both of ya - I was gonna say its the heavy gyro action in a car's flywheel -its in the drivetrain B4 the tranny - and its maybe a ft. in diameter on ole v8's - havn't scene a 4-bangers smaller flywheel - but here is a useful analogy - the gyro action while spinning on one 'plane' - like in geometry,

imagin if u ever took your bike wheel off as a kid, held the axle bolts, and have your friend spin it fast in your hands - you won't even be able to tilt it off-axis in three dimensions its very powerful - and when combined in 3 diifferent planes of rotation - thats what forms a gymbal-gyro in early rockets - to keep them on track straight. It id one demostration of conservation of momentum or anyway
__________________
~geo Steve . :"I will leave my footprints there to lie beneath the snow" ~gl
Quote to ponder: "A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed." ~ Henrik Ibsen
geodeticman.5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2009, 08:12 PM   #5
bjm7777
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 268
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

A smooth-running machine.......Gordon and his band like "playin' in tune, on time", and so reference to "a big flywheel" would just simply mean things running well.
bjm7777 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2009, 08:16 PM   #6
bjm7777
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
Posts: 268
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

Oh. Yeah. Then Dear Hubby had to explain a "dealing shoe"....[/QUOTE]


And as for me, I had to look it up...I'm not a card player or gambler, so I had no idea what a "dealing shoe was".......
bjm7777 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2009, 10:07 PM   #7
RWGuinn
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ft. Worth
Posts: 19
Send a message via AIM to RWGuinn
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

An important characteristic of a flywheel is that it stores a LOT of energy in the form of inertia.
It takes a lot of energy to change its motion, also.

Some deep symbolism there in the last line:
"I been around so long Lord, I guess I'm here to stay
We're one and the same now, let's take it away "

short take:
"I been this way a long time, and don't plan on changing..."
RWGuinn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2009, 07:37 AM   #8
Peter Bro10
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Illinois USA
Posts: 541
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

It just so happens I was at a 1984 show (Chicago, Mill Run Theater, Niles, IL to be exact, April 13... check it out on Wayne's site: http://www.lightfoot.ca/1984.htm
and I agree the absolute best show starter!

and I checked out "dealing shoe" as earlier mentioned and found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_(cards)
pretty much explains it all...

But the flywheel analogy still stumps me... and the "We're" part??? is that all of us or does "we" mean Gord and his band???

Dang, it's too earlier in the morning for such deep thoughts...

just another example of, to use Gords words..."And if you meet him you must be
The victim of his minstrelsy "...
__________________
Bless you all and keep you on the road to tenderness
Heaven can be yours just for now


Peter Bro10
Peter Bro10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2009, 09:19 AM   #9
jj
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: ontario, canada
Posts: 5,265
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

The flywheel stores up rotation energy during the power impulses of the engine. It releases this energy between power impulses, thus assuring less fluctuation in engine speed and smoother engine operation. The size of the flywheel will vary with the number of cylinders and the general construction of the engine. With the large number of cylinders and the consequent overlapping of power impulses, there is less need for a flywheel; consequently, the flywheel can be relatively small. The flywheel rim carries a ring gear, either integral with or shrunk on the flywheel, that meshes with the starter driving gear for cranking the engine.

...the above was pasted from some engine geek (no, not I) site

Last edited by jj; 03-09-2009 at 09:25 AM.
jj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2009, 09:24 AM   #10
jj
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: ontario, canada
Posts: 5,265
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

I think you've highlighted one of his more interesting similes.

My old plow tractor has had a problem with the starter driver gear meshing with the ring gear, mainly resulting in my having to manually plow more than usual this past winter.

It did not please me.
jj is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2009, 02:07 AM   #11
geodeticman.5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Eastern Slope urban corridor, Colo. USA
Posts: 1,007
Default Re: Flywheel? what do you suppose he means?

Peterbro10 - I know I have posted allready - spoke of angular momentum, smoothing out, but I know I think you are still searching for the analogy he was using in the lyrics - MistyMoppins had a good comment on those lines, and I would add: - key word - momentum - from the physics of the flywheel, and the analogy I think Gordmight have been playing on - the audience, the band, and Gord, all together when everything's tight, and we're all all spinnin' together with the clockwork precision AND the heavy common momentum - still I think the key word that ties it all together.

PeterBro10 - thats 2 times in 2 years now you've spoken of 'too deep a thought for so early in the morning" lol - and I was present for both, and will say again: some of the best thoughts occur early in the morning when the dew is on, and late at night when the cat stops yowling.
__________________
~geo Steve . :"I will leave my footprints there to lie beneath the snow" ~gl
Quote to ponder: "A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed." ~ Henrik Ibsen
geodeticman.5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Friday the 13th?! Ya know what that means! Borderstone General Discussion 17 06-19-2003 04:40 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:06 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
downleft 1x1.gif (807 Byte) downright