Among the funniest category of mistakes are mis-heard song lyrics.
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| Took this photo of Smokey at Stern Grove, SF in 2014 |
The title of this blog is one. It's not particularly funny, but is from a Smokey Robinson song, Ooh, Baby, Baby:
The correct lyric is "Mistakes... I know I made a few. But I'm only human."
Click the link--it's worth another listen.
I also heard, "I'm tryin'", when the lyric is "I'm cryin'".
I've often wondered about the cause and effect. Did I mis-hear lyrics before or after I started attending rock concerts? Or do stoned singers slur their words?
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| image by Plmnjy via Wikimedia Commons |
When the Beatles' Hey, Jude came out, my brothers and I had a heated argument about what the song title was, since DJs were and are awful at telling listeners song titles and artists (which may explain the enormous popularity of streaming services. They tell you who did the song and its title).
My eldest brother was sure it was Hey, Judith, which kinda made sense since most Beatles songs are about a woman. What didn't make sense was what I read later, that Paul McCartney wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John Lennon's first, famously neglected son. I guess Paul felt that Hey, Jules just didn't sound right, and Hey, Julian was impossibly clumsy.
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| Not what the lady meant |
And the mistakes go on and on. Most recently, I swear Taylor Swift sang, "got some lovely Starbucks lovers" in Blank Space, but she said, more coherently, "got a long list of ex-lovers." She also sang, "new money, suit and tie," but I thought I heard "No money, student tie."
And then, there's the most famous one: "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy," from Jimi Hendrix' Purple Haze. No, wait--it's "'scuse me while I kiss the sky."
Wow. How could I forget that?
Must have been the reefer.
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| Puerto Vallarta, 2015. I'll kiss this sky anytime--just tell me how! |
