Spoke

A spoke is one of some number of rods radiating from the center of a wheel (the hub where the axle connects), connecting the hub with the round traction surface.

The term originally referred to portions of a log that had been split lengthwise into four or six sections. The radial members of a wagon wheel were made by carving a spoke (from a log) into their finished shape. A spokeshave is a tool originally developed for this purpose. Eventually, the term spoke was more commonly applied to the finished product of the wheelwright's work, than to the materials he used.

History

The spoked wheel was invented to allow the construction of lighter and swifter vehicles. The earliest known examples are in the context of the Andronovo culture, dating to ca. 2000 BC. Soon after this, horse cultures of the Caucasus region used horse-drawn spoked-wheel war chariots for the greater part of three centuries. They moved deep into the Greek peninsula where they joined with the existing Mediterranean peoples to give rise, eventually, to classical Greece after the breaking of Minoan dominance and consolidations led by pre-classical Sparta and Athens. Celtic chariots introduced an iron rim around the wheel in the 1st millennium BC. The spoked wheel was in continued use without major modification until the 1870s, when wire wheels and rubber tires were invented.

Spoke (disambiguation)

A spoke is a rod connecting the hub of a wheel with the traction surface.

Spoke or Spokes may also refer to:

See also

Spoke (album)

Spoke is the 1996 debut album of Calexico, an Americana/indie rock band from Arizona. It was initially released in Germany (Hausmusik label) under the group name Spoke.

Track listing

Personnel

Melt

Melt can refer to:

In music

People

See also

Melt! (Siouxsie and the Banshees song)

"Melt!" is a song by English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1982 by record label Polydor as a double A-sided single with the song "Il est né, le divin Enfant" and is the second and final single from the band's fifth studio album, A Kiss in the Dreamhouse ("Il est né, le divin Enfant" does not appear on that album).

Content

The sensual lyrics of "Melt!" compare an intense sexual interlude with a lover to dying. Its lyrics can also allude to a S&M encounter ("...Handcuffed in lace, blood and sperm / Swimming in poison / Gasping in the fragrance / Sweat carves a screenplay / Of discipline and devotion...").

Dave Morrison of Select observed that "The Baudelairean imagery of 'Melt' evokes claustrophobic scents of opium, sex and sickly flowers, and lapses into morbidity with lines like, 'You are the melting man and, as you melt, you are beheaded'".

"Il est né, le divin Enfant" was an adaptation of a traditional French Christmas carol. This track was exclusive to this single, and remained unreleased on album or CD for many years until the appearance of the Siouxsie and the Banshees box set Downside Up in 2004.

Melt (song)

"Melt" is a song by British singer-songwriter Melanie C. It was released as the fourth and final single from her second solo album, Reason (2003), as a double A-side with "Yeh Yeh Yeh". The original plan was to release "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as the next single, but on 11 September 2003, Chisholm injured her knee in the TV show The Games and couldn't promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt", being an easier song to promote with an injury, was added to the mix, resulting in the double single.

It was released on 10 November 2003 but there were numerous problems. On most CD1s of the set, the track listing was accidentally swapped so that "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was the first track on the CD. Because of this misprint, and following strong competition on the week in single release in UK, lack of promotion, and distribution problems, the single entered the UK Singles Chart at number twenty-seven, sealing Chisholm's fate with Virgin Records and further hindering any hope for the album's success. The single sold just 10,000 copies. Melanie C performed the song on Reason UK & Ireland Tour.