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Misheard Lyrics

posted 3 years ago by capuchin (2673)
11 replies | jump to latest

Yes, that old chestnut. They're fun.

In a rare nostalgic mood, I just listened to Cannonball by The Breeders. And remembered that for longer than I'd care to admit I thought the lyric was 'The bone in this rare, gay song'.

It's the way Kim Deal places the emphasis. It may well be an intentional pun. I don't know.

Anyway, it's 'The bong in this reggae song'. Cannonball demonstrably isn't a reggae song, so I don't blame myself too much for the confusion.

Anyway: what are yours?

[–] samoanjoes (51147) 3 years ago

"And there's a wino down the road". Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

"I'll never be your pizza burnin'!"

Mitch Jagger, Rolling Stones

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

this isn't quite the same thing, but...

i like quite a few shoegazer and drone-pop bands. my bloody valentine, cocteau twins, stereolab, stuff like that. and very often the lyrics from those bands are incomprehensible. can't understand a bloody thing they say. my bloody valentine's to here knows when is a good example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUkggdQW2xE&ab_channel=ThiagodaSilva

so i listened to these records for years and years, with no idea of what the words could be. once in a while, you'd be able to pick out a word or two or a phrase, but for the most part you'd just know that there was an indistinct vocal there, with no idea what the singer was singing.

but when the internet came along, all these fan sites began posting lyrics, or at least their interpretation of them, and i dutifully read them all, and now i have them all implanted in my head. and i've gotta say i wish i didn't. it kinda takes away from the fuzzy, gauzy feel of the overall track. i wish i could unhear those words.

[–] capuchin (2673) 3 years ago

Ah, you're talking my language here (as it were.) I find nothing more enjoyable than attempting to decipher the lyrics of Elizabeth Fraser. 'Why are you singing about a "walnut stick", Lizzie? Oh, you probably aren't. Why am I thinking of a walnut stick, Lizzie, in your aural Rorschach test?'

Of course, some of those Cocteau Twins songs have discernible lyrics ('At times I've seen you from the oriel / At times I've seen you from the flagstone' &c.) But my understanding is that throughout most of their career she was being deliberately opaque and often not singing real English words. At least that's what she repeatedly claimed.

I note in Martin Aston's book about 4AD, 'Facing the Other Way', Robin Guthrie belatedly denied this, saying 'Of course there are words. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to double-track her, would I?' But whether they are English words, words in another language or her own words, he doesn't elaborate.

The mystery goes on.

And with Laetitia Sadier, it's the joy of having English as a second language, isn't it? It allows her to mangle the syllables and the emphasis to fit her ends. On one song - I forget the title right now - she makes 'Two inevitables' sound like 'two eager little bulls'.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

transona 5! my second favourite stereolab song, in fact! (right behind jenny ondioline).

yeah, i've heard that about liz fraser claiming there were no words, just sounds. my impression is that this was something she might have said out of insecurity in their early days, as she might have been worried that her lyrics would have been judged harshly, perhaps?

[–] capuchin (2673) 3 years ago

Transona 5! Of course.

My own suspicion is Fraser may have given up singing real words for a while in the middle of the Cocteau Twins career. I can definitely hear words on Garlands and Head Over Heels (Snippets of lyrics were even printed on the sleeves on the vinyl, as memory serves) and possibly on Treasure. And then I definitely hear them on Heaven or Las Vegas onwards.

Not sure I can make out a single one on Victorialand and Blue Bell Knoll though.

But the rest is a combination of studio trickery to disguise them and her accent. I mean, Song to the Siren definitely has lyrics - but I'd challenge any one to get them all right from a single listen to the This Mortal Coil version.

But, yeah, I think you're mostly right: it's something she would say out of insecurity, because she didn't enjoy being scrutinised... Michael Stipe said something similar about early R.E.M. recordings - and that's demonstrably untrue. He was just a bit embarrassed about them.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

you may very well be onto something with treasure. you could very easily make the case that those are just sounds. i have to admit i only vaguely remember blue bell knoll, and can't comment on that one at all. it's an album that never quite clicked with me, and i never went back to it enough to get it set in my memory.

but outside of those two, i definitely feel like there are words there - partly because you can make them out sometimes - you can hear her say 'wax & wane' - but also because, even though you have no idea what they are, the sounds 'feel' like words.

that said, you can make sounds that feel 'english' without actually being english. have you ever heard 'Prisencolinensinainciusol?' gibberish lyrics by an italian comic who was trying to mimic a standard dylan style american vocal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g6YxkSqL20&ab_channel=007LVG

[–] capuchin (2673) 3 years ago

I think Treasure has SOME... 'Peep-oh, Peach blow, Pandora, Pompadour'... Whether they mean anything or are just being used as sounds is a different matter. But she definitely experimented somewhere in the middle of the 80s with being unintelligble. And I think largely because, as you say, she was insecure about being analysed.

There's one in a kind of cod-Latin too, where the rumour is she's just listing the scientific names of butterfly species. Or something along those lines.

Blue Bell Knoll? Can't make out anything at all on that one, as I recall. Haven't listened in a long while though.

And you probably don't remember it well because it's sort of a dry-run for the far superior Heaven or Las Vegas. Cocteaus Go Pop (Sort Of). Has some good stuff on it - Carolyn's Fingers is a standout - but is largely overshadowed by Heaven or Las Vegas, which as we all know is a completely perfect album in every detail. I will stand for no debate on this matter!

But, yeah, I love all three of the bands you mentioned in your first post. Happily, I've never looked up the MBV lyrics on the internet - because, with the Cocteaus the words feel cryptic, but with My Bloody Valentine they just sound... unimportant.

[–] nyctc7 (41359) 3 years ago

Runnin' down a drain (Runnin' down a dream) - Tom Petty
My heart's as big as tits (My heart's as big as Texas) - The Jackson 5 [kids can have such dirty minds]
Teacher's gonna show you how to get it in (Teacher's gonna show you how to to get an "A") - The Jackson 5

The most confused lyrics were this bit from Tin Man by America
Smoke glass stained bright colors
Image going down, down, down, down
Soapsud green like bubbles

Now that I have seen the lyrics, I can't quite recall what I thought they were over the years, but not even close.

Many more that I can't recall right now

[–] GlenEllyn (21118) 3 years ago

There are lots of songs where I mishear the lyrics. Well, actually it's more about not understanding more than a word here and there. I may figuire out the chorus eventually, but other than that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-cFVtPz4Uc

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

My parents were big country music fans and I’ve been told that when I was a small kid I used to sing along to the Charley Pride song ‘Crystal Chandeliers’ and there’s a line “the marble statuettes are standing stately in the hall” which I used to sing “the marbles that you eat are standing strangely in the hall”.