a song I can't understand

"This bottle of Henny" means "this bottle of Hennessy", which is a cognac brandy. No, there's no game involved. The word "wins" here refers to the alcohol being victorious over the drinker.

We refer to a disc jockey "spinning" the records, an expression going back to the days of vynil records, before CDs. Those records actually spun, i.e. turned on the runtable. "Spinning the records" is a common colloquial expression.

"Not having a deal" is a slangy expression meaning the singer has no bright outlook for the future. The word "deal" here is used in the sense of a business enterprise.

Thank you. You solved my problem. Still I can't help asking you what is a "runtable", as this word can't be found in my dictionary.

It's actually "turntable". I have never heard it referred to as a runtable before. The turntable is what you put a record on.

Thank you all. Finally I make it out. Or you make me out.

You're welcome, tranlatorcz. Welcome to A2K.

Thank you. And if any of you have any questions about Chinese. Please don't hesitate to post it here. I will try to help you, too.

Runtables are used in the world of rap and hip/hop music.
A runtable has two turntables on it, side by side. DJ's, discjockeys, using considerable skill, manipulate the speed of the turning records to make sounds and beats. That skill is called scratching. It takes a lot of practice to make a series of sounds occur over and over while a rap singer recites his verses. I will see if I can find a picture of one in use.

Joe

Look at the label of the record on this page Scratch you can see the dj working both records to make sounds.

J

Thank you. Joe. I, too, learned something new. Never heard the word 'runtable' before.

You'll probably never hear it again. Joe has a fertile imagination...

Here's an important phrase you should learn translator...it'll come in handy and make you a happenin guy like JB

Runway bioch: A stuck-up, snotty girl who thinks she is it.
Example: Look at that runway bioch, walkin like she owns the place.

Yes, fertile as the fields of cotton around San Angelo, Texas in 1969 wherein lay the studios and broadcasting tower of KWFR am-FM and down in what was known as the the BIG A, for studio A, were not one, but two runtables consisting of, not two, but three, turntables each. Now listen up, cowboys, for in those long ago days, we played not CDs, not tapes, not eight-tracks (except for commercials), not those huge 33 1/3 albums, but 45's. Yup. 45's. One song on a side, A and B, the A side, most times, was the hit side, the B seldom held a gem.

Those were busy days for a dj because the sides were only three minutes long or so, so you set up a run of records of your tables by cueing up each disk. (Oh, did I mention that the first thing you had to do on the early shift was to check and change the NEEDLES. You try using a little bitty screwdriver at 5:30am after staying up until two playing at Thee Coffe House behind the First Christian Church.) You had to get your own news together from the AP wire, find the stack of commercials that you were going to do live, find the stack of commercials that were already on the previously mentioned eight tracks and then find and stack the records you were going to play based on the playlist of the station.

Six records doesn't get you through an hour, so as each one plays, you change the one that just ran by, slapping on the new disk, putting the switch on the CUE side (if you don't, the folks out there hear something pretty weird) and run the record up to just about three seconds before it starts. Do this after every song, while making sure you have the copy on your stand for "McKeon's Sheep and Cattle Auction Bull Semen Sale" (Try saying that without laughing at 6:18am)

Here's to long ago days, to Uncle Gordie and the Whole in the Wall Gang, and may your runtables always spin true.

Joe (Live from the Big A) Nation