misunderstood lyrics

[smg01]

Misunderstood song lyrics is one of my favorite topics and something that I was doing today reminded me of it. I've shared these in other fora, so some of you may wish to just roll your eyes and move on, but here are a couple of my own misunderstandings that I'm fond of.

1. For the longest time, I thought the first line of Van Morrison's Brown-eyed Girl was "Hey, Roderigo." That makes for a much different song. There's a later line about "going down the old mine, with a transister radio." Yeah, I thought that line was gunning down the old man with a transister radio.

It's not like it's all that unusual when lyrics don't make sense.

2. Not from the world of rock and roll, but rather from the world of patriotic music. I really like The Battle Hymn of the Republic. When I was a kid, I thought the first verse went like this:

My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the village where the grapes of wrath are stored
He hath loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible Swiss sword

When I heard that song as a little kid, a play would go on in my mind of a very big guy--like Michelangelos God on Sistine Chapel--tramping through an Alpine village, stomping things in a Godzilla-like way, while carrying a sword that would have lightning shooting out from the blade. I must admit, that picture still goes through my head when I hear that song.

3. I really like CCR, but I find John Fogerty's ennunciation leaves a little to be desired on a lot of the stuff he did at that time. I'm still not sure what all of the words to "Down on the Corner" are, but after considerable time and thought, I've decided that there's a person that "doubles on kazoo" rather than the "devil's on kazoo." Although the devil thing also leaves an interesting picture in my mind when listening to that song.


Anyone want to tell me about your own misunderstood lyrics?

Comments

[nailsie.livejournal.com]

Can't think of any of my own right now, but the classic one is Jimi's "Scuse me while I kiss this guy (http://www.kissthisguy.com/)" from Purple Haze.

Now go listen to the Firefly theme.
BYO subtext?

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

Hee!

And I see hours of entertainment ahead of me at that site. :)

[cosmicbob.livejournal.com]

There's a song by Jerry Garcia called "Might As Well", with a refrain of the same phrase. I've been known to sing along saying "mighty swell, mighty swell!"

[bitchygurl.livejournal.com]

oh, i love yours! love them!

The Beatles -- Days Like These
until i was about 20, i thought the lyrics were:
Nobody told me that bees ate black beans,
Nobody told me that bees ate black beans,
Strange days, indeed.

C'mon, it was The Beatles! Many of their lyrics were nonsensical, and it would be strange days if bees were eating black beans.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

That made me laugh out loud at my desk. :)

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

Actually solo John Lennon. ;)

[aurora-novarum.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do it all the time, but I think the one I remember best is the B-52s "Love Shack."

The final line is apparently: "tin roof rusted."

For probably ten years, I always thought it was "Henry, busted!" Like one of "Henry's girlfriends caught him in the love shack with another gal.

I strangely still think my version makes more sense. :-)

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

I think yours makes more sense too. I've never been able to figure out what "tin roof rusted" is all about.

[divalicious.livejournal.com]

I think it doesn't have any specific meaning but they just thought it sounded like a cool thing to yell. Or so I've read.

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I feel totally vindicated since there was a recent commercial about this, but:

"Rock the cashbox" instead of "Rock the Casbah." *g*

At the time, I didn't know what the heck he was talking about as far as the Shah and all that stuff either, because the words were all slurred together so I never even tried to make sense of them, so I had no clue at all what this song was about until many years later. Even the video didn't clue me in since I don't think I ever saw it when the song was popular and back then most videos often had nothing much to do with the song lyrics anyway.

More recently, there's a song by Three Days Grace called "Animal I Have Become" but even knowing that, it still sounds to me like he's saying "Shadow I have become..." *g* Even though I knew the name of the song, it didn't occur to me that's what he was saying in the song at first. *g*

Oh, and the song "Animal" by Def Leppard: I've loved this song for a long time, but only recently put together that he was actually saying "Animal" in the song. *g* The way he pronounces each syllable separately like that, well, it *still* sounds to me like he's saying: "And I want, and I need, and I love, anymore..." But what he's saying is: "And I want, and I need, and I love, animal." (But he does say: "an-NEE-mal." *g*)

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

I like that commercial. :)

I can hear the animal/anymore thing in my mind. It can get really confusing with rock lyrics, because even when I recognize that what I'm singing doesn't really make sense, a lot of times I just figure "well, hey, lots of lyrics are weird," or I figure there's some sort of slang going on that I'm just not hip enough to know.

[moppety.livejournal.com]

Heeeeeeeee! Now see, I hate that commercial. Drives me nuts. Cause he just downloaded that song, right? And "Rock the Casbah" is the name of that song, right? So how the frack does he download the song, by name, and not know that one. single. line?

My husband ducks when that commercial airs.

My favorite is the Santana "Oyo Como Va". I always sing "Gimme coco puffs..."

[datawhorevoyeur.livejournal.com]

Now see, I hate that commercial. Drives me nuts. Cause he just downloaded that song, right? And "Rock the Casbah" is the name of that song, right? So how the frack does he download the song, by name, and not know that one. single. line?

Brainshare! Seriously, that's exactly what I said. Or. You know. Shouted at the TV. Whilst flailing my arms. :-D

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

Hee! Yeah...but I have the Three Days Grace CD with the song "Animal I Have Become" and still thought the singer was saying "Shadow I have become..." Some of us are just stupid like that. *bg*

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I like that commercial. :)

Me too! I've only seen it once or twice, but I thought it was hysterical. (For the record, I also always thought he was saying "Shareee" and not "Shah, he.." LOL)

a lot of times I just figure "well, hey, lots of lyrics are weird," or I figure there's some sort of slang going on that I'm just not hip enough to know.

Me too. lol The lyrics for Come Together by the Beatles are a good example of lyrics that make no sense. I adore Alice in Chains, but I have no clue what they're singing about 90% of the time, except they're really passionate about it. That's even with the lyrics written out...I don't know what they mean. *g*

[jungleeyedgirl.livejournal.com]

My sister and I had a long-standing disagreement about "December 63" by the Four Seasons. The actual line is "As I recall it ended much too soon." but we were sure it sounded like it included either the words "juice tube" or "zoot suit." (Yes, I know.)

Then there's the lyrics we purposely changed. Like, "precious and few are the moments we Toucan Sam!"

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

The end of "Grace" by Jeff Buckley I alwyas heard wrong, but now that I know the real lyrics I can't remember what I thought they were.

I think it's "And the memory of her sighs say it's over" and I thought it was "and the memory of her sight satisfies" which was much less depressing. ;)

[rainbow.livejournal.com]

i did not know that is not the words to battlehymn! i just always wondered why swiss stuff is better, cause mama arlene and grampa and wayne and chris all had fancy swiss army knifes. i just went to look at the words. vintage? that does not make sense to me. why trample old things? is it like old barns or soemthing? swift sword makes more sense tho.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

It's an image from wine-making. Once upon a time you would tramp on grapes to get the juice to make a (vintage of) wine. The grapes of wrath are like a metaphor for righteous anger and the vintage is a metaphor for justice. The hymn was written by an anti-slavery activist.

That's my interpretation. Others may have a different understanding.

[heanie.livejournal.com]

I had never had any problems with "Pour Some Sugar on Me"... that was until the commercial about 2 years ago with the guy singing "Pour Some Shook Up Ramen!"

Now when I hear that song, Shook Up Ramen is all I hear.

[divalicious.livejournal.com]

There's that Nirvana song, and I can't tell if he's singing "Memoryyyyy" or "Mammmarrrry". At this point I'm still not sure.

I have no idea what the first part of Beck's Loser refrain is. "Soooo I don't look good to door? I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me."

Red Hot Chili Peppers "With the birds to shame it's a lonely view"

[datawhorevoyeur.livejournal.com]

Soy un perdedor = I'm a loser in Beck's version of Spanish. :-)