Same Old Song and Dance

Question

Hi!Just wondeirng. "The same old song and dance" means the same as the same old, same old, doesn't it? Is there any restriction to that in use?Why do another King Kong movie? it's been done so many times before. A monkey falls in love with a girl, the monkey dies. That's all that happens and I still don't understand why these people are going to see it. It's the same old song and dance. Visual stuff was great though, highly improved.Hiro/ Sendai, Japan

Pieanne · Accepted Answer

It's the same all story, that has been repeated many, many times; everybody knows it.

Wwwdotcom · Answer

"An elaborate story or effort to explain and justify something, or to deceive and mislead someone. For example, Do you really believe his song and dance about the alarm not going off, being stopped for speeding, and then the car breaking down? or At every annual meeting the chairman goes through the same song and dance about the company's great future plans. This term originally referred to a vaudeville act featuring song and dance. [Late 1800s]" - http://www.answers.com/topic/song-and-dance

This is how I see it as an English speaker from America:

It is similar to the idea of giving a person the "runaround". It can be a one time event or repeated to many people. Its use is more in times of stress or when a person isn't getting a problem/issue resolved. Perhaps, they were expecting a different response.

I would use runaround more so than "same old song and dance". In this context, I would use words like "cliche" and "unoriginal" instead.

Nona the brit · Answer

I see it more as making a fuss over nothing. 'He made a real song and dance over it' - he did something and made out that it was a massive effort, huge task, a big problem, wanting praise and appreciation for what was really nothing much.

Same Old Song and Dance

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