BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Bart's Rooftop: "I've ... got ... you"

Magingus · September 23, 2015 11:54 am

This line, or more specifically how it was delivered, always stuck out to me. It seems pretty out of character for Sherlock. We know how he gloats - at no other time does he do so in a sing-song voice with a goofy look on his face.

Perhaps this is just how the actor chose to deliver that line - but it still seems a bit odd to me.

Did anyone else feel this way?

Vhanja · September 23, 2015 11:58 am

The sing-song is because the line is from a song. Or so I understood it. So it's a bit OOC seeing as cultural references isn't Sherlock's strongest point.

Dorothy83 · September 23, 2015 12:03 pm

From a song? Which song?

Magingus · September 23, 2015 12:12 pm

And also ... was this a song we heard in the episode (or a previous one)?

Vhanja · September 23, 2015 2:03 pm

I know I've heard the song before, but can't recall it right now. I just remember first time I saw that scene I immediately thought of a song. And no, it's not from the show.

Last edited by Vhanja (September 23, 2015 2:08 pm)

Magingus · September 23, 2015 2:22 pm

Hmm ... likely a lyric in quite a few songs. If it's not from something presented directly in the show itself, I don't think this satisfies my curiosity.

KeepersPrice · September 23, 2015 5:34 pm

It's from a Sonny and Cher song, "I've Go You, Babe"

Magingus · September 24, 2015 3:08 am

Thus might solve the mystery of what song Vhanja may or may not have have been thinking of...

But any thoughts on that particular scene?

Great, now you got me feeling like I'm in Groundhog Day...

Ivy · September 24, 2015 7:00 am

I can't remember that scene when he said "I've got you"? I even used Arianes transcript and could find it and I actually thought after all this time I know the dialogues by heart ;)

ukaunz · September 24, 2015 8:52 am

From part 4 of Ariane's transcript of The Reichenbach Fall:

(Sherlock hops down off the ledge and walks closer to him.)
SHERLOCK: “You’re not going to do it.” So the killers can be called off, then – there’s a recall code or a word or a number.
(Now he’s the one circling his prey.)
SHERLOCK: I don’t have to die ... (his voice becomes sing-song) ... if I’ve got you.
JIM: Oh! (He laughs in relieved delight.) You think you can make me stop the order? You think you can make me do that?
SHERLOCK (still circling him): Yes. So do you.

ukaunz · September 24, 2015 9:01 am

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm more inclined to think it's meant to be "I've Got You (Under My Skin)" by Frank Sinatra, actually...

Ivy · September 24, 2015 9:08 am

Oh yes, now I remember....I guess. The word "sing song" irritated me, I had a more musical like voice ( or like a countertenor) in my head and that doesn't match BC voice.
And I searched the wrong transcript part.

Thank you for that service.

nakahara · September 24, 2015 12:12 pm

Are you sure this has to be a part of the song? "I´ve got you" is such a common phrase.... and Sherlock could be mimicking Moriarty´s own sing-song voice during that part of the sentence.

Yitzock · September 24, 2015 1:08 pm

To me it would make sense that he'd me imitating Moriarty, but the way he does it (I just watched that part again because I didn't remember it), it's hard to tell whether it's that or whether it's actually from a song.

Magingus · September 24, 2015 4:47 pm

Mockery seems like a plausible explanation

That look on his face when he delivers the line just seems so odd to me. I can't recall him ever making such a face any other time throughout the entire show.

I guess the best explanation is that how BC chose to deliver the line.

KeepersPrice · September 24, 2015 5:17 pm

Well, to me, I immediately recognized the Sonny and Cher song in the way Sherlock intoned/sang those three words. If Moriarty could use a throw-back song from the 80's to explain himself then why not Sherlock mocking him with a throw-back song from the 60's. But then, I'm a product of the 60's and Ben is not, so I really don't know if he was thinking of that song when he made his choice. It's just that I can't hear it any other way now.

Yitzock · September 24, 2015 5:45 pm

It's a famous song, though (featured in movies, etc.), so he could still have been thinking of it. You're right, he could be using the song and mocking Moriarty, who also uses a classic song.

Magingus · September 24, 2015 5:50 pm

That's a very good possibility, actually.

I need to give that scene another listen now (I tried to watch it last night, but ended up watching ASiB instead).

Ariane DeVere · September 25, 2015 12:36 pm

Half the problem for me is that, if he is singing the Sonny & Cher song, he doesn't deliver the words "I've got you" in the same rhythm as the original. That's why I've never suggested in the transcripts that that's the song he's singing. The notes are barely accurate either, but the rhythm is way off. For ages I was convinced that it was another song which I didn't know, so I just kept quiet about making any kind of suggestion of what song he was 'quoting' from. Interestingly, perhaps, in the Comments below the transcript nobody has ever said anything about that line or suggested what he was singing.

Or maybe it's just because the "babe" is missing afterwards, and he also half-sings the word "if" beforehand which makes it sound like that word is part of the 'song,' which it isn't.

I'm not sure whether to 'blame' Benedict for not delivering that line very well, or Thompson for putting it into the script in the first place. Certainly after watching it many times, I get the feeling that Ben wasn't totally comfortable with the line.

ukaunz · September 25, 2015 12:46 pm

I finally found the relevant bit on YouTube

One commenter on the video mentions a song by Cheryl Cole called Parachute, with the lyrics "I don't need a parachute baby, if I've got you", and mentions a fall... how funny it would be if it was the song being referenced I don't think it is, though.

Last edited by ukaunz (September 25, 2015 12:49 pm)