Heavy

[aleCcowaN]

I was remembering the lyrics of "I want you" by The Beatles, which is pretty much:

I want you
I want you so bad (babe)
It's driving me mad

She's so heavy!

I wonder, what does that "heavy" mean? What does it suggest to native speakers?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

I wonder, what does that "heavy" mean? What does it suggest to native speakers?

It's one of these modern words that has very little specific meaning: "He's not heavy, he's my brother". I have no conviction that trying to decipher lyrics of modern music is meaningful. Anyway: in that context, heavy to me means serious, threatening, difficult...

[poli]

The Beatles' lyric is a very unusual use which I assume was induced by hallucinagens. (It may mean she's heavy in his thoughts)

Heavy usually means pesado, but can mean the bad guy in a situation. It is often used in liturature or movies.

Example: He's tired playing a good guy all the time so he was happy to play the heavy for a change.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by poli

The Beatles' lyric is a very unusual use which I assume was induced by hallucinagens. (It may mean she's heavy in his thoughts)

Heavy usually means pesado, but can mean the bad guy in a situation. It is often used in liturature or movies.

Example: He's tired playing a good guy all the time so he was happy to play the heavy for a change.

I agree.

[wrholt]

As I recall, during the "hippie" era the word "heavy" had some slang usage here in the US. I don't know whether the word had similar slang meanings in Britain, but I think that the group had already spent a lot of time in the US, and being the icons of the hippie movement that they were, I think it's fairly safe to say that the band members knew and used the slang meanings.

As slang, I think that "heavy" meant something like "serious" or "depressing", depending on context. Sometimes it contrasted with "groovy".

"Heavy" also has other slang meanings in other contexts: for example, as a term associated with organized crime and other contexts, the "heavy" is a bodyguard or someone who handles any violence or threats that might be required.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you all.

The word suggested to me about -or on the lines of- what you had said, but I found it doesn't make much sense in the lyrics, or I can't get it. I was watching the film "Across the Universe" and this song is played in the context of one of the characters being enrolled to fight in Vietnam. Uncle Sam is who "wants him bad(ly)" and finally all the new recruits march carrying the Statue of Liberty while they crush palm trees under their feet singing "She's so heavy!" in a typical image of the late 60s. One of the interesting point of the film, which is to the Beatles as Mamma Mia is to ABBA, but a bit deeper, is the interesting use of lyrics and the contrast between the original interpretation and their narrative use there. The contrasting meaning in the movie is clear, but I still wonder about the original intention of the song.

[poli]

Here's a better definition Alec. In those years, there was a phrase that went something like: Wow man, that's heavy.

It meant astounding. It could be either good or bad. It was a product of the drug culture of the 1960's when the state of being astounded was most important. It didn't matter much whether the thing that astounded was gorgeous or horrible . This meaning is not used currently, but may be understood in context.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, poli.

So it worked like the local -to me- grosso. "Es muy grossa", which may mean heavy, difficult, important, impressive, godlike and a hundred more. The movie is plenty of language I supposed from the sixties. I'm particularly fond of "it'll be a gas" that sounds to me as démodé as that "tirame las agujas" (tell me what time is it) of my childhood.

[Don José]

Here, people say ¡qué fuerte! or ¡qué "jevy"!, meaning astounding, but usually as something bad.

[Cloudgazer]

Another interpretation that seems to fit the song is "heavy" meaning "deep", "profound", as in "deeply or profoundly beautiful".