What does "idlewild" mean?

I often hear this phrase in pop music. There is even a band called "Idlewild".

Answers

Deleted user

18 Dec 2013

I'm sorry but I'm not what you mean. If you tell me the name of a song that has this phrase in, I could listen to myself and tell you then. :D

freybee

18 Dec 2013

English (UK)

Idle and Wild mean things separately, but they do not have a meaning together. Idlewild is the name of a band though.

regis

20 Dec 2013

Japanese

Thank you very much for your comment! The word, "Idlewild" is often used for a lot of things, but I don't know the meaning and the origin. Please check out the Wikipedia page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idlewild

regis

20 Dec 2013

Japanese

Thank you very much for your comment! Is it like a play on words? Idol and wild have the similar sound and rhyme each other. If this is correct, "Wildidol" or something would work too. but I've never heard this before lol

Deleted user

21 Dec 2013

I looked into it and it seems no one has a definite answer. It could have been a shortening of the two words " idyllic" and "wilds" and given this name by the European settlers. The oldest mentions of it that I could find were about a park in Pennsylvania, which started as a picnic grounds in 1878 and eventually became an amusement park and then Idlewild Golf Course, where JFK International Airport in Queens was built and took its earlier name.

The reason it might be included in songs is because Idlewild, Michigan was once a thriving community steeped in black American culture and entertainment. It was a symbol of newfound economic and social status for people of color during the 1920s through the mid-‘60s.It could also have links to the band Idlewild, which was founded in 95.

regis

22 Dec 2013

Japanese

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation about "Idlewild"! It's an interesting idea that Idlewild is stemmed from "idyllic and wilds".
I've never imagined the Scottish band, Idlewild has to do with Afro-American culture. Thanks to you, I now understand the image of Idlewild. Seemingly it doesn't literally mean as idle and wild.
Thank you very much!