Misheard Lyrics

[Silent Mistwalker]

11 hours ago, Amina Sopwith said:

The lyrics I found when I looked them up weren't obscene at all, just about sailing a ship and missing a girl. But I found an article saying that the Kingsmen had recorded it with bad technique (instruments loud, singer not close enough to the mic), resulting in the absolute gibberish I heard in that one, and since then many people had heard much dirtier words in it. But surely the Kingsmen would have performed it live sometimes, they couldn't keep that up? I didn't spend too long on it, tbf.

The sailing ship and missing girl is the Jamacian one. The one originally recorded by Richard Berry and the Pharaohs in 1957.

The gibberish Kingsmen recording was nothing more than an accident. Ely was wearing dental braces and the mic, well, you can read the article if you want to know the rest of the story.

Quote

Ely never recorded another hit with the Kingsmen—he left the group while “Louie Louie” was still on the charts, in late 1963, after a dispute with Lynn Easton. It was Easton who was responsible for the sole actual obscenity on the Kingsmen’s recording, one which the F.B.I. never picked up upon. The song was recorded in a single live take. Fifty-six seconds in, Easton drops his drumstick. “FiretrUCK!” he yells. You can hear it, if you listen hard enough.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/jack-ely-louie-louie-the-dirtiest-song-of-the-sixties

Still, the Kingsmen version does seem quite appropriate for the Oregon state song. 🤭

Edited September 21, 2020 by Silent Mistwalker
left out quote

[Amina Sopwith]

I'd find it hard to muddle words when singing. I have a southern standard accent and it doesn't really lend itself to slurring or messing up words. Except for when I'm drunk, obviously. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

3 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

I'd find it hard to muddle words when singing. I have a southern standard accent and it doesn't really lend itself to slurring or messing up words. Except for when I'm drunk, obviously. 

The bad thing about that Southern drawl is, you can never completely get rid of it. It slips out when you least expect it. Then, years later, you start hearing "ya'll" being used more and more in the community. Just when you thought you were safe. 🤭

[Pussycat Catnap]

On 9/20/2020 at 11:35 AM, Amina Sopwith said:

I'd never really thought about it. Richard Berry is quite clear. The Kingsmen, can't understand a word. "Louie Louie, oh, reggaeton...?" Was he drunk? 

The real lyrics look pretty tame. Google suggests it's people hearing other things in the incomprehensible Kingsmen version...?

The Kingsmen version had a lot of mishaps during the recording, and one of them yells out a profanity when he dropped his drumsticks in mid recording. The incoherent singing is because the lead singer was a kid with braces on...

For some odd reason... somebody kept the recording and released it rather than trash it as was supposed to happen. And even odder still... of all the 1000 versions ever made of it, that is the version that went globally famous. After all, the original version was written by a guy in LA who heard a Jamaican on the radio while sitting on the toilet, grabbed a roll, and wrote the thing down before getting up.. yeah... because... reasons...

 

I've set this to start right at the story behind it:

But this video also has 9 other great stories about song often not understood or misheard. Almost equally famous is SpringSteen's "leftist antiwar song" Born in the USA - which most people don't realize they've got wrong.

I need to rewatch that and edit this based on what the mishap actually was...

 

It's actually a very tame song about a guy in a bar telling the bartender, who's name is Louie, that he hopes to sail home soon and see his girlfriend...

But so much went wrong with that recording that people thought something else was going on...

Edited September 21, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Pussycat Catnap]

On 9/20/2020 at 2:07 PM, Fritigern Gothly said:

Its history goes back even further, Pass the Kouchie (1982) was a cover too!
The original was an 1969 instrumental song by Sound Dimension, called Full Up.

In Jamaica this is referred to as a Riddim.

Riddims occur when singer all record their own songs to essentially the same music - which can often start as an instrumental. Some of them will make some changes to that music, some will just use new lyrics. The results can be dramatic either way.

It began as a way to reduce costs of studio musicians, but it's become something of a tradition and a great way for established artists to help lift up their junior peers. Put out a riddim album with some famous singers, and all the minor ones also get some boosted exposure, and some of those will eventually become established figures in their own right and then carry it forward.

 

[Pixie Kobichenko]

& somehow I forgot-  Reverend Bluejeans (forever in blue jeans- Neil Diamond)

 

[Sprout Evergarden]

'scuse me while i kiss this guy

 

[Maryanne Solo]

Second line actual: "They've got a robert palmer t-shirt in their travel bag"
Misheard lyric: "They've got a rubber politician in their travel bag"

and try and figure out the rest of the words! lol
My fave "the gardens full of furniture - the house is full of plants: lol

Edited September 22, 2020 by Maryanne Solo

[Lindal Kidd]

On 9/20/2020 at 4:20 PM, Cindy Evanier said:

My lyrics Informer younosohderendemnah.  I Lick your bum bum now

I hear it like you hear it!

[Amina Sopwith]

So...today I discovered that the second line of The Star Spangled Banner is not "what so proudly we held at the twilight's last glimmer", but "what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming". I didn't know enough of the lyrics to realise that "glimmer" wouldn't rhyme as required. I wonder how you'd get "strimmer" into the words if you needed to make it rhyme that way. It's not a tune that lends itself to the subject of weekend gardening.

Sorry, Americans, we don't hear it much over here and I don't think many of us know much of it past the first line. It's much better than our national anthem. What a load of rubbish that is.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Amina Sopwith

[Silent Mistwalker]

4 hours ago, Amina Sopwith said:

So...today I discovered that the second line of The Star Spangled Banner is not "what so proudly we held at the twilight's last glimmer", but "what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming". I didn't know enough of the lyrics to realise that "glimmer" wouldn't rhyme as required. I wonder how you'd get "strimmer" into the words if you needed to make it rhyme that way. It's not a tune that lends itself to the subject of weekend gardening.

Sorry, Americans, we don't hear it much over here and I don't think many of us know much of it past the first line. It's much better than our national anthem. What a load of rubbish that is.

It wasn't always known as The Star Spangled Banner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner#Francis_Scott_Key's_lyrics

I think all national anthems are a load of rubbish. 🥂

[Amina Sopwith]

17 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

It wasn't always known as The Star Spangled Banner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner#Francis_Scott_Key's_lyrics

I think all national anthems are a load of rubbish. 🥂

Discovering the real lyrics inspired me to watch various renditions of it. I never knew that about Roseanne Barr. Or Fergie, but I've always found her and her voice annoying anyway. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Amina Sopwith said:

Discovering the real lyrics inspired me to watch various renditions of it. I never knew that about Roseanne Barr. Or Fergie, but I've always found her and her voice annoying anyway. 

American history is rather, shall we say, interesting. 😁

[Sukubia Scarmon]

 

[Nikki Heron]

https://youtu.be/K0K46C82v9o

I always thought it was 

When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have BOOBIES

It is in fact 

When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have GROUPIES 😄😄

[PermaRuthed]

Misheard lyrics for Bon Jovi's Livin on a Prayer:

cheetah died of old age
working for the man
she brings home her paper loaf
for glove

Actual lyrics:
Gina works the diner all day.
Working for her man
She brings home her pay for love

[Arduenn Schwartzman]

I would have sworn they were singing about edge loops.

[Love Zhaoying]

31 minutes ago, Arduenn Schwartzman said:

I would have sworn they were singing about edge loops.

Some of my favorite videos are um.."edge loops".