Mondegreens. (Now with Peter Gabriel!)

[hadespussercats]

So, I was singing "In Your Eyes" to the Sprog, and I realized I've never understood one line:

"Love...I get so lonesome, sometimes... ehhhhhhh????????... and this emptiness fills my heart..."

I asked J. "Honey, can you fill in the blank? Love, I get so lonesome, sometimes...?..."

"I don't even know what that is."

"What????" I sang it for him.

"Ohhh, yeah. No idea."

"But you know what song it is, right?"

"Oh, yeah."

" 'Cuz I was gonna say, it's kind of an anthem for our generation."

"Yeah, anthem was the word that was coming to mind. But he's English, so..."

"What, a clarion call for our generation, then?"

"No, I mean, trying to understand them when they sing is sort of a losing proposition."

"Ohhh. Yeah. I think I'll check the Interweb."

And you know, it turns out I don't know the lyrics to that song at all. Apparently he doesn't drive home in his car-- he's driving off.

And instead of "Won't you shelter me away, I commend to the things you are," it's "But whichever way I go, I come back to the place you are."

Which I have to admit, makes a lot more sense as something to do when you drive off in your car.

Actually, the lyrics I heard don't really make sense at all, but I thought, what with the doorway to a thousand churches, maybe he was riffing on ideas of sanctuary and "Into thy hands I commend my spirit," but in the context of romantic love...

Yeah.

Anyway, there's probably already a thread for this, but what are some of your favorites? Personal experience, please-- no "Bad Moon Rising... Bathroom on the Right." Or the like.

[Tero]

The website is Kissthisguy.

I always wondered what happened to the wino down the road:

And as we wino down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold

[Wumbologist]

Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche....

[hadespussercats]

My mom thought Phil Collins wrote a song called "Sushi Studio."

Which is at least understandable, since it's a nonsense word. But my sister thought "Invisible Touch" was "Deezeebahm batchka!"

And she owned the album.

[hadespussercats]

Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche....

Yeah, but he really IS saying douche. He can claim it's "deuce" all he wants-- that's not how you say that. Unless he has an injured tongue or something.

[Bella Fortuna]

Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche....

Yeah, but he really IS saying douche. He can claim it's "deuce" all he wants-- that's not how you say that. Unless he has an injured tongue or something.

I always assumed it was the first place I heard that word.

I still maintain that at the end of "Sister Golden Hair" the background singers are singing "Vinnie Barbarino"...

[apophenia]

Warm, smelly colitas. Get your warm, smelly colitas here!



A substantial part of my music is in languages I don't speak (or am not sufficiently fluent in), which could make this more or less of a problem, depending on your viewpoint.

And I dare anyone to tell what Fess is saying in later recordings of Tipitina. Given that a common lyrical trend is to use words as imagist tone poems rather than thematic content, it may be a relic of a long lost era to expect lyrics to make sense. (Listening to Kalmah's Rust Never Sleeps, and I can't even tell what language it's in.)