Didja ever sing along with a song for years, thinking you
had the words right, only to find out years later that you were
had the words right, only to find out years later that you were
completely wrong? I've got two examples that I'd like to share
with you. I couldn't figure out how to inject them into the actual
video clip, so I'm hoping you get the picture. Here's the song.
It's a classic, so I trust you won't suffer through it.
(1:17) But I didn't, and I wonder why.
I feel like letting my Greek (Freak) flag fly
(2:19) It increases my paranoia,
like lookin' in my mirror and seein' a Polish guy
(Police car)
with you. I couldn't figure out how to inject them into the actual
video clip, so I'm hoping you get the picture. Here's the song.
It's a classic, so I trust you won't suffer through it.
(1:17) But I didn't, and I wonder why.
I feel like letting my Greek (Freak) flag fly
like lookin' in my mirror and seein' a Polish guy
(Police car)
Oh man, I can't be the only one who's gone through
life singing the wrong lyrics! Can anyone else contribute
to this list of mistaken lines? Surely there's someone.....
This still gets my vote for most misunderstood lyric of all time.
ReplyDeleteI confess I always heard "kiss this guy" instead of "kiss the sky" in Hendrix's Purple Haze, and apparently he was aware that so many of us did that he occasionally sang it deliberately that way in concert.
ReplyDeleteI'm with O Docker on this one...I always heard Manfred Mann's lyrics the wrong way. Now that I've just looked up what they should be I realise that I have got even more wrong than I suspected. Not only did I think it was "revved up like a douche"... but also "she was a rumor in the night." K
ReplyDeleteActually, this might be the worst/ most hilarious mis-interpretation of lyrics -
ReplyDelete"Ken Lee tulibu dibu douchoo"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVxIoj6U-HU
(ostensibly Mariah Carey's "Can't live if living is without you") K
how's this one, from Steve Miller Band:
ReplyDelete"I want to fry up an eagle"
cheers, my2fish
These things are called "Mondegreens," after the first recorded instance, "They hae slain the Earl O'Moray/And Lady Mondegreen" (real words: "And laid him on the green").
ReplyDeleteThen there's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," which apparently happened when one or more members of the band Iron Butterfly were too stoned to render "In the Garden of Eden" clearly.
I sailed by a ketch called Hulamae out of Key Largo today. I could have sworn the guy was David Crosby. Then I get home and read your post. I should have asked him about the lyrics.
ReplyDeletesteve
Steve: Mine is a ten-year-old's take on lyrics! One of the first three albums I ever owned (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young-Deja Vu.) I'm pretty sure it was a freak flag and police car!
ReplyDeleteBlew my mind when I actually read Collective Soul's December lyrics. I was way off.
ReplyDeletehttp://il.youtube.com/watch?v=6exsatE-DUk&feature=fvw
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/collectivesoul/december.html
This happens a bunch to me but far too much to name all the instances.
I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
ReplyDeleteTehachapi to Tonapah .
A good song to mumble to -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmuFjXXm6xI