Jeremiah's School of Levitation
Upsy-Daisy!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Well, of Course That's What They Said
Okay, I got to get to the bottom of some lyrics here. Ever since I could follow lyrics, I've been mystified about what some of my pop star heroes were trying to tell me. No, I wasn't pondering what the Beatles meant by "Newspaper taxies appear on the shores" or why Tull was singing about "aqualungs", as I figure that the meaning in these songs is debatable and I didn't wake up today wanting to debate. In fact, I never wake up wanting to debate. I actually wake up just wanting to utter obscene truths and then run away.
No, I'm talking about lyrics to popular, huge hit songs that entered my head all mangled and which I was too lazy to go figure out, so I spent the next three decades of my life mumbling made up lyrics at the unknown parts. We all do this, but how many of us work to cure ourselves and just find out what the heck the guy or girl was really saying? Well, I did! Thanks to the miracle some like to call the Internet, and which I like to call "How Was I Ever Able to Function Without This? I Pity My Neanderthalithic Pre-Net Existence!"
So, here we go:
"Lady Marmalade" by LaBelle
I just mumbled "oolay poopoo shay ah sayn-qua" at the chorus, for years, until I finally looked at the lyrics and realized that the mumblings actually say:
"Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir. Voulez vous coucher avec moi", which means, roughly: "Please lie down with me this evening. Want to lie down with me?" (Google translated that, not moi--I don't speak French, or even claim to be able to pronounce the words).
So, wow, if I'd only known, I could have wowed my 3rd grade classmates and, for a brief moment, diverted them from making fun of my horn-rimmed glasses, buck teeth, and beach ball-like shape.
"I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley
I had trouble with that part in the chorus where they sing "I'm not talking 'bout [something], and I don't want to change your life." Well, when I sang the song, that line went "I'm not talking 'bout MILLENIUM, and I don't want to change your life."
Yeah, I knew he wasn't talking about "millenium" but damned if I ever made an effort to find out what he was talking about, so I mumbled that line for nearly 30 years until, one morning, at about 3 am, I sat up straight in bed and said "I'm not talking 'bout MOVIN IN!" I listened to the song later and backed myself up with a little Internet research and, blammo, 30 years of agony in one particular brain cell got relieved.
"New Kid In Town" by the Eagles
My issue was in the second verse, where they say "You look in her eyes; the music begins to play. Hopeless [something], here we go again." When I sang the song, and I'm pretty embarrassed to say this, I actually sang:
"You look in her eyes; the music begins to play
Hopeless MO-MINUTES, here we go again..."
Jeez. I love that song, have sung it (to myself) about a thousand times, and, each time, I sang that goofy phrase. I finally crept to the Net to find out that, as I figured, it wasn't "hopeless mo-minutes" but rather the very nice line "hopeless ROMANTICS", which went perfectly with the song's subject matter, much more than "mo-minutes" did.
Jeez again.
Okay. I have others, but that's enough of me today. I gotta work.
No, I'm talking about lyrics to popular, huge hit songs that entered my head all mangled and which I was too lazy to go figure out, so I spent the next three decades of my life mumbling made up lyrics at the unknown parts. We all do this, but how many of us work to cure ourselves and just find out what the heck the guy or girl was really saying? Well, I did! Thanks to the miracle some like to call the Internet, and which I like to call "How Was I Ever Able to Function Without This? I Pity My Neanderthalithic Pre-Net Existence!"
So, here we go:
"Lady Marmalade" by LaBelle
I just mumbled "oolay poopoo shay ah sayn-qua" at the chorus, for years, until I finally looked at the lyrics and realized that the mumblings actually say:
"Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir. Voulez vous coucher avec moi", which means, roughly: "Please lie down with me this evening. Want to lie down with me?" (Google translated that, not moi--I don't speak French, or even claim to be able to pronounce the words).
So, wow, if I'd only known, I could have wowed my 3rd grade classmates and, for a brief moment, diverted them from making fun of my horn-rimmed glasses, buck teeth, and beach ball-like shape.
"I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley
I had trouble with that part in the chorus where they sing "I'm not talking 'bout [something], and I don't want to change your life." Well, when I sang the song, that line went "I'm not talking 'bout MILLENIUM, and I don't want to change your life."
Yeah, I knew he wasn't talking about "millenium" but damned if I ever made an effort to find out what he was talking about, so I mumbled that line for nearly 30 years until, one morning, at about 3 am, I sat up straight in bed and said "I'm not talking 'bout MOVIN IN!" I listened to the song later and backed myself up with a little Internet research and, blammo, 30 years of agony in one particular brain cell got relieved.
"New Kid In Town" by the Eagles
My issue was in the second verse, where they say "You look in her eyes; the music begins to play. Hopeless [something], here we go again." When I sang the song, and I'm pretty embarrassed to say this, I actually sang:
"You look in her eyes; the music begins to play
Hopeless MO-MINUTES, here we go again..."
Jeez. I love that song, have sung it (to myself) about a thousand times, and, each time, I sang that goofy phrase. I finally crept to the Net to find out that, as I figured, it wasn't "hopeless mo-minutes" but rather the very nice line "hopeless ROMANTICS", which went perfectly with the song's subject matter, much more than "mo-minutes" did.
Jeez again.
Okay. I have others, but that's enough of me today. I gotta work.
Elliot, 10:40 AM
3 Back at me:
When I first heard "I Wanna Sex You Up" I thought they were saying "I'm homo-sex-u-al" And I sat in my driveway listening to the song on the radio thinking to myself, "Wow. We're really getting bold in this country, aren't we?"
The one I'm most famous for among friends, black and white, is the song "Show and Tell" by Al Wilson I believe. It's a late 70s song and I hope you've heard it. He says
"Show and tell, just a game I play when I wanna say I love you..."
I used to sing (loudly) "Sho' as hell, just a game I play..." Like the brother was saying 'sure as hell' like only a brother can say it.
Sho as hell.
The one I'm most famous for among friends, black and white, is the song "Show and Tell" by Al Wilson I believe. It's a late 70s song and I hope you've heard it. He says
"Show and tell, just a game I play when I wanna say I love you..."
I used to sing (loudly) "Sho' as hell, just a game I play..." Like the brother was saying 'sure as hell' like only a brother can say it.
Sho as hell.
Cecil: Oh, just consider that brain cell free and ready for the next mission, like holding tight to the song "Rhinestone Cowboy".
SJ: Ha! That's great. Of course, now I'll never hear that song again without singing your version, and I just hope I don't sing that in front of my dad, who'll probably have a flashback to when I was 7 and he'll give me a whoopin for being disrespectful to a hard workin' brotha like Mr. Wilson.
SJ: Ha! That's great. Of course, now I'll never hear that song again without singing your version, and I just hope I don't sing that in front of my dad, who'll probably have a flashback to when I was 7 and he'll give me a whoopin for being disrespectful to a hard workin' brotha like Mr. Wilson.
The internet is my friend and bosom buddy (I just typed that 'bosom body' and realized, HUGE Freudian slip!). I think I looked up a Soul Coughing lyric the other day. And Hall & Oates. (Because I'm OLD.)
On a funny/sad note, we were watching 'The Amazing Race' the other night, and I think only two or three of the 8 teams knew how to pronounce the Italian city spelled "Palermo". WTF?
On yet another note, my word verification is "phonky". PHONKY!!! Hoooweeee!!!
On a funny/sad note, we were watching 'The Amazing Race' the other night, and I think only two or three of the 8 teams knew how to pronounce the Italian city spelled "Palermo". WTF?
On yet another note, my word verification is "phonky". PHONKY!!! Hoooweeee!!!
