While recording Beck's 1996 album of the same name, the then-unnamed track 'Lord Only Knows' was written down by the engineer as 'O-Del-Ay' based on his phoenetic understanding of the outro vocal. Beck is ACTUALLY singing "Ãrale", which is a common Hispanic term meaning:
1. affirmation that something is impressive, exclamatory
2. an agreement with a statement (similar to 'word')
3. alarm, surprise or danger
4. a simple greeting
5. "hurry up"
Beck liked the misspelling, naming the album after it. As such, the word carries a similar exclamatory function to it's Spanish pronunciation.
"Odelay, Odelay! Just passing through."
- Hey/Hi/What's Up/Word, just passing through!"
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