I’ve talked before about mondegreens — about mishearing the lyrics to a song (or just trying to understand what the hell ill-enuniciated words are supposed to be) — and while it’s true that:
- There’s a bedroom on the right (Credence Clearwater Revival)
- I’ll never leave your pizza burnin’ (Rolling Stones), and
- Carry a laser (Mr Mister)
are among the best not-actual lyrics ever…
I must admit that I have also misheard/misunderstood artist names. Which means I once thought Ceiling De-oun was an odd choice for the Titanic theme/title song vocals and that E.L.O. was Yellow.
It also means that the first time I heard this song…
…I was like, “What’s that got to do with driving?”1
Because, A Lotta Miles.
Alannah Miles.
Enjoy.
And if you’ve been {mis}hearing anything interesting lately, please let me know in the comments below. 😉
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The September Song Project is now at the end of its fifth round — I started this musically-inspired musings project in 2019 — and for five autumns it has been a lot of fun. I’m not sure yet what the future will bring where this meme is concerned, but I sincerely thank all of you who have been part of its past.
If you’ve posted for this project on your own blog and have not yet received a visit from me, please leave me a link so I can do so!
I will see you in October. Meanwhile:
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1Which I have been doing a helluva lot of lately — nearly 3,000 miles in three weeks — and holy cripes, gas prices are beyond terrible.
This is slightly off the track but is distantly related to musical mispronunciations. I know someone whose surname is Dion (pronounced Die On). She was trying to give her name over the phone. When she spelt it the person at the other end said, “Oh, you mean Dee On.” My friend was taken aback when told she couldn’t pronounce her own name.
Linda Curry recently posted…Z for Zealous
Gah!
*forehead smack*
Yes, I can see how that would rub wrong!
Linda: True story—-I once had an employee whose name on all her identifying documents read: ‘Titania’. (Which, to be honest, I thought was a damned cool name) There was no mistake in my reading of this as I checked and rechecked it several times. The reason I kept checking it was because all her friends and she herself would refer to her name as “Tatiana”. I confronted her one day so as to be precise and she assured me her name was indeed “Tatiana” and I was left with deciding whether to ignore the obvious and just say ‘OK, Tatiana it is’ or inform her that her parents were obviously too stupid to spell their own daughter’s name correctly.
A good chunk of why I prefer music either without words, or with lyrics sung with trained enunciation (classical, jazz, etc.) is that I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, can understand most lyrics and never could……not even in my youth. I think my best example of an old rock classic is ‘Blinded by the Light”. Other than those four words, the rest of the song sounds to me like a string of gibberish with an occasional, random word tossed in here and there. It’s not the only song that sounds this way to me, but it is probably the best example. Elton John’s “Daniel” is another example wherein I can understand every other line with the lines I can’t understand, making no sense in what I ‘think’ he’s singing. Whenever I look up lyrics to songs I don’t understand, I am amazed at what the actual lines are supposed to be. I think to myself, “If THAT’S what you were trying to say, I’m sorry to tell you……..you didn’t even come close!”
I also remember attending David Bowie’s popular “Glass Spider” tour and not understanding ANYTHING. After the money, travel, crowd-fighting, etc. I left the concert feeling like I had been subjected to nothing but white noise at a high decibel level. I could not even discern what song he was playing even though those around seemed to. It was not until I saw a broadcast of the tour on television that I actually heard what I had once bought tickets for.
Cut to a classical concert, or even a vocal group like The King’s Singers, and I can follow everything without issue and enjoy myself tremendously.
Wrapped up like a douche…
Lol. That’s what Blinded By The Light sounds like!
I can’t afford to go to concerts much anymore. I saw Pat Benatar in 2022 though and she was spectacular — clear vocals (she’s classically trained), small venue, not-overpowering sound system — but I’ve been to others that are just as you describe: a whole lotta “What…?”
How about “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” Hendrix
Wow, F. I’ve been out of the loop for a long time, and when I come back, there are only about six or eight bloggers that I followed that are still even posting anymore. You, of course, have always been one of my favorites, btw.
Most blogs don’t last more than five years, not unlike most small businesses.
I need to go back and read what you’ve posted while I was gone.
I’ve missed you.
“Sukhino Bhava (सुखिनोऽभव)”
Namasté ॐ
नमस्ते
Chazz Vincent
© 10/03/2023
I have been thinking about you recently. Is your book available in pdf? I was going to order it from Amazon but I don’t have an e-reader.
Yes, I have been feeling “the shrink” lately. Many bloggers have either stopped posting or have shut down entirely. Likewise, readers seem to have gone silent or disappeared. I definitely appreciate those who are still around but I do miss those who have gone.