Being a music lover, I have spent many happy moments singing – usually in the car, but sometimes in a choir, in the shower, or while I’m mowing the lawn. Over the years, my husband and I have had many chuckles over the misunderstood lyrics of both our friends, and ourselves.
Most of the time, misunderstood lyrics are just a funny thing that we enjoy privately. Sometimes, however, we are embarrassed to find we’ve been singing words incorrectly, and singing them loudly and publicly.
My husband had a friend who loved to sing along with the Supremes. (Who doesn’t??). She didn’t mind singing along with others, and it caused a lot of chuckles when she belted out “Stop! In the neighborhood…” – because as we all know, the correct words are “Stop! In the name of love.”
Both of us had friends who loved to sing “Bad Moon Rising,” recorded by Credence Clearwater Revival. Both friends who sang this song, thought the lyrics were “There’s a bathroom on the right.” These words don’t make any sense at all, at least in the context of the rest of the lyrics, which are: “don’t go around tonight, well, it’s bound to take your life, there’s a bad moon on the rise.” The fact that the title includes the correct lyrics only makes it funnier.
Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta recorded a wonderful song from the movie “Grease” entitled “You’re the One that I Want.” The correct lyrics are: “I’ve got chills, they’re multiplyin’.” However, a college friend of mine sang, loudly and proudly, “I’ve got shoes, they’re made of plywood.” Seriously funny.
Also amusing are folks who sing “hold me close, Tony Danza” to Elton John’s recording of “Tiny Dancer.” Again, the words are in the title, so it’s doubly funny. It’s “hold me close, Tiny Dancer.”
Most often, folks argue about the lyrics of “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas and the Papas. The song is perfect for singing in the car or at a party. When you get to the second verse, the words are unclear. Is it “got down on my knees and I began to pray” or is it “got down on my knees and I pretend to pray”? I’ve never really known for certain, so I researched it a little.
It turns out, Denny Doherty sang the lead on this recording, and he sang “got down on my knees and I began to pray.” But the rest of the group, singing back up, sang “and I pretend to pray.” So we heard both words in the song and, in my opinion, this makes either one acceptable!
I have also misunderstood lyrics. The good news is that what I heard was at least a homophone for the real word, so no one knew I wasn’t getting the meaning correctly! The bad news is, it took me years to figure it out.
The Temptations recorded a song in 1972 called “Papa was a Rolling Stone.” The chorus of that song is “Papa was a rolling stone, wherever he laid his hat was his home, and when he died, all he us left was alone.”
I spent decades crooning this song, believing that they were singing “all he left us was a loan.” Either way, I guess, Papa died leaving them alone or in debt. Either or both are unhappy things, but I really think the writers missed the boat. If he was at home wherever he “laid his hat,” it implies he wasn’t around much. So leaving them alone didn’t make sense to me.
Oh, well, at least I didn’t give anyone a huge laugh at my expense. Just myself!
as usual rpety solid stuff here – not much to add – there are a couple of folks on dry Bar coemdy that do routines about missunderstoof lyrice – pretty funny stuff – the way you HEARD it is the way you can remember it! Often, the words I change make sense only
to ME, I guess – the one I do often is Frank Sinatra’s – My Way – the lyrics are fine, but the ending and title, for me, should be “I did it, GOD”S Way” since that is the only way things work out well for me!! love ya!