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14 Feb 02 - 04:26 PM (#650194) Subject: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Desdemona I always listen to music in the car, and my kids are probably pretty inured to it at this point, but every so often they surprise me, especially my youngest. One day on the way home from school, with "Prince Heathen" on the CD player, he says, that's a weird song. "Why?" "I never get to be that dog", he replies,"What's that supposed to mean?" Now, this child has probably heard that song a million times in his 7 years, and all the time he thought those were the words....! I laughed heartily, but didn't disabuse him of the notion, as the real lyrics are far more disturbing! Anyone else have similar anecdotes? (NB---this thread IS about music!) D. |
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14 Feb 02 - 07:50 PM (#650402) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Dave Bryant There was an Irishman who used to be a regular at one venue where I sometimes sang. He kept on at me to sing a song about sailing around the coast of Ireland. I insisted that I didn't know such a song, but he said he'd heard me sing it. One day I sang a well known McColl song from "Singing the Fishing". Afterwards the Irishman said "That's the one I've been on at you for - The Shores of Erin". Doesn't say much for my diction, does it. |
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14 Feb 02 - 08:46 PM (#650463) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Janie 1. When my son was a toddler he asked who "little Lord Cheeses" was when he heard "Away in a Manger." 2. My sister--(Hope she doesn't read this, she'll kill me for telling) "Ebeneezer Brown, and the sky is gray/ I went for a walk/on a winter's day" (Mammas & Pappas) |
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14 Feb 02 - 09:55 PM (#650524) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Stilly River Sage I suppose these are best if we tell them on ourselves. As a child I heard my father frequently sing the Ezra Pound parody "Winter is Icummen In" and I always wondered why "egg, you hath my ham." Now that I have a master's in English, I've been set straight on the real words (and the professor of medieval stuff who told me nearly fell on the floor laughing at my Dr. Suessian version). SRS |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:04 PM (#650528) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Annie Or my girlfriend's favorite Jim Croce song back when we were kids - "If I Could Put Wine In A Bottle" - she was amazed when I told her what the lyrics really were - she said she just couldn't figure out why this guy couldn't put wine in a bottle! Annie |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:07 PM (#650531) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Justa Picker I was absolutely convinced for a long time that the Police tune "Canary In A Coal Mine" was in fact called "Canary In A Coma." |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:12 PM (#650533) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Lynn Koch This goes a bit beyond misheard lyrics and into the realm of unintelligibility (if there is such a word)...There was an old song by Manfred Mann called "Blinded by the light..." and where does the refrain go from there??? |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:27 PM (#650541) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Jeri "Wrapped up like a deuce, another runner in the night," which, I believe is not how Springstein wrote it, which might have been "cut loose like a deuce, another rumor in the night." Of course, now I'm confused, and I might have either or both versions wrong or mixed up. Help. |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:28 PM (#650543) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: michaelr "Wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night"??? Actually, Bruce Springsteen's lyric says "deuce" (maybe a gambling reference, or maybe hot-rod cars). Cheers, Michael |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:33 PM (#650546) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: michaelr BTW, misheard lyrics of this kind are known as "mondegreens", stemming from a Scots ballad someone misheard as saying, "They have slain the Earl of X and Lady Mondegreen", the actual words being "...and laid him on the green". There is a charming website about these; maybe someone can provide a link. Hours of fun... Michael |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:43 PM (#650551) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Jeri When a dead Earl is seen Who gets laid on the green It's a Murrey... |
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14 Feb 02 - 10:46 PM (#650553) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Jeri There's a Bathroom on the Right was another thread we had on the subject. There are a few links in there. |
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14 Feb 02 - 11:06 PM (#650558) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Anahootz I thought the springsteen lyric was "cut loose like a deuce, another roamer in the night". At any rate, John Prine's "greatest hits" has a song called "that's the way that the world goes 'round" which contains the chorus "...it's a half an inch of water and you think you're going to drown". While singing the song, he relates a story of a woman who asks him to sing the song about the happy enchilada. He says "I've never written a tune about an enchilada, much less a happy one", to which she replies "oh yes, you say 'it's a happy enchilada and you think you're going to drown'". Prine says "glad you liked the song, ma'am" |
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14 Feb 02 - 11:08 PM (#650559) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: technission When a / pun hits your thigh/ like a big beastly guy/ that's abhorrent ... I first saw the word Mondegreen on a >ahem< Neil Young site, I think it was Hyperrust. I had to do a bit of searching within that site to ferret out the explanation. I thought I had a number of mondegreen reference sites bookmarked, but all I can find right now is: http://www.goatview.com/august19mondegreens.htm Sorry, I've been waiting for serious boredom to learn how to make a clicky-thing. I think if you search Google with mondegreen you get enough hits to keep you busy for a while...... \8># michael |
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14 Feb 02 - 11:21 PM (#650573) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Pene Azul A few other threads: any new mondegreens? Misheard words Mistakes I Have Made When Listening To Songs Misspoken, misheard, but accepted. (some lyrics) Jeff |
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14 Feb 02 - 11:23 PM (#650575) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Stilly River Sage Here's the http://www.goatview.com/august19mondegreens.htm link from above. And here is the Google search. It came up with 1,240 hits. SRS |
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15 Feb 02 - 03:42 AM (#650660) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Boab A Glasgow favourite---"In past oor green he leadeth me, the quiet waters by---" And, Jeri---"They hae slain the Earl o' MORAY and laid him on the green...". Hope ye dinna mind Boab bein' "picky"---- |
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15 Feb 02 - 04:29 AM (#650671) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Bonnie Shaljean During a singalong of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers, a friend heard her little son earnestly intoning "Christ the royal master leans against the phone". Also (can't remember where I heard this) during the Pledge of Allegiance a teacher reported hearing a child recite "one naked individual with liberty & justice..." |
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15 Feb 02 - 07:46 AM (#650716) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: gnu Over Christmas, I babysat for friends. Upon reading, "Mares eat oats, and does eat oats..." I was amazed that, for forty years, I thought it was just the garble, "Marsey Dotes, and Dosey Dotes...". |
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15 Feb 02 - 08:36 AM (#650731) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Jerry Rasmussen I knew a kid when I was in high school who walked around singing, "So long, it's "Fingers" Gunnolia," instead of "So long, it's been good to know ya." I guess he thought it was a song about a mob wipeout. Had a nice ring to it, though.. Jerry |
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15 Feb 02 - 10:18 AM (#650798) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: mooman My daughter plays a Lighthouse Family track for which the chorus purports to contain: "I'm just a lost soul..." But I can only hear: "I'm just an arsehole..."! mooman |
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15 Feb 02 - 10:30 AM (#650804) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Jeri Boab, no, I don't mind you being picky. I thought it should have been "Moray" as well (and it goes better in that parody verse) but the DT has "Murrey." Someone once told me about playing a gig, when an audience member got quite offended and talked to him after the set. Seemed he'd called out the next tune "Athole" (Highlanders) and the audience member thought he was calling another band member something. |
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15 Feb 02 - 11:03 AM (#650836) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Lynn Koch For more such fun check out www.kissthisguy.com A professor of mine once told me he spent years wondering why we would pledge allegience "the the republic for Richard Stans." And what happened to that poor kid who thought, of Sweet Baby James, "Don't you let me go down that drain." (Sung, of course, in the bathtub). |
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15 Feb 02 - 11:52 AM (#650875) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Steve in Idaho A week or so ago on Paltalk I sang "The Great American Bum" and was told by a listener that the word "turd" was probably not appropriate in a "G" rated room. The actual words are "and I live like a royal Turk." Cracked me up!! Steve |
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15 Feb 02 - 01:04 PM (#650907) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Mrrzy From the chorus of Black and Tans, where the song goes "tell her how the IRa made you run like hell away" - one of my 6-year olds has a kid named Calloway in his class, and he thought this song was about him - you know, Made You Run Like Calloway. |
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15 Feb 02 - 03:02 PM (#650991) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Dead Horse Bob Copper of the Copper Family said that he thought the original lyrics to one of his best & most famous recordings was:- Here's a Jew, sweet lovely Nancy...... |
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15 Feb 02 - 03:21 PM (#651006) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Den at work I thought it was revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night. Of course there's always Slow talkin' Walter the fire engine guy. (smoke on the water) Den |
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16 Feb 02 - 02:21 AM (#651356) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Kaleea Someone actually wrote into the TV guide columnist about the hit TV show Mary Tyler Moore was on & asked why the theme song went: . . .and it's jew girl & you should know it . . ." when it was Rhoda who was jewish, not Mary. then there was the time that the minister was leading the singing & sang: " . . .consumate me now to thy service, Lord . . .(instead of "consecrate") and the time the torch singer sang ". . .I'll be feeling you in all the old familiar places . . .I'll be looking for some love, & I'll be feeling you."
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16 Feb 02 - 02:41 AM (#651362) Subject: RE: BS: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Genie Desdemona, what are the real [disturbing] words? Dave B., what is the real song title? BTW, another mondgreen website is "amiright.com" Genie
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06 Aug 05 - 11:39 AM (#1536424) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Azizi Apparently there have been a number of threads on misheard lyrics. I chose this because I liked the "Dept. of" designation. While visiting one of my favorite websites, daily kos I came across this exchange: digging the scene with gasoline freeway blues check out the San Bernardino boogie by 88kathy on Fri Aug 5th, 2005 at 11:31:40 PDT **** ROTFLMAO, I think... (completely off topic) Now that I can see through my tears of laughter I am going to guess that "digging the scene with gasoline" is a mishearing of the great early 70s song lyric from "Just be Thankful for What you Got" by William deVaughn, which is actually "digging (on) the scene with a gangsta lean" Gangsta lean is a way of driving while leaning sharply toward the passenger side of the car. It was considered a very cool, literally laid-back way to drive when cruising down the street with the point of being seen and admired and envied. It might have an origin from trying to drive down the street trying not to be seen, but I don't know. If I am right, I hope you will submit "digging the scene with gasoline" to kissthisguy.com, the archive of misheard lyrics. and I strongly recommend that website to everyone as the perfect pick me up when things look bad and you need a laugh. "Politics is like driving. To go backward, put it in R. To go forward, put it in D." by TrueBlueMajority on Fri Aug 5th, 2005 at 14:21:36 PDT -snip- The website that was recommended in that second post is HERE I visited that website and found some of the misheard lyrics rather funny, but I think it helps to know the song... So can someone tell me what song the misheard lyric "Kiss this guy" came from? |
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06 Aug 05 - 11:50 AM (#1536431) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,countess richard sans cookie Excuse me while I kiss this guy . . . is what someone thought Jimi Hendrix sang in Purple Haze. Interestingly, I just heard on a radio programme that he got himself discharged from the US army just in time to avoid Vietnam by telling his sergeant he was gay. |
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06 Aug 05 - 12:07 PM (#1536441) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Amergin A couple of years ago I was at the bar during a break at an Andy M. Stewart Concert....A woman went up to Andy and they were talking about a song he did during the first set...it was Gallant Murray....She asked him what the significance of the white rose...and he explained it was a symbol of the Jacobites....then she asked why would they wear them in their bottom? He looked at her stunned for a moment and then started laughing....and he explained the line is white rose in his BONNET. Needless to say he got a few good laughs when he went back on the stage. |
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06 Aug 05 - 12:12 PM (#1536445) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Azizi And btw, I don't want to open up a can of worms or anything, but is there any difference between 'folk etymology' and mondegreens? I suppose the folk process can be said to occur if someone consciously or unconsciously changes words or phrases in a song. And I suppose that mondegreen are words that are accidently misheard. Is that the difference-words changed on purpose vs words changed accidently and if so words changed on purpose wouldn't be called mondegreens, right? I'm confusing myself... Let me give you two examples from my favorite category of folk music: children's rhymes. One of the few African songs taught in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania public schools is the Ghanaian game song "Kye Kye Kule" {pronounced Chay Chay Koo-lay} The words to that call & response song are usually given soemthing like this: Che che kole che che kole Che che kofi sa Che che kofi sa Kofi sa langa Kofi sa langa langa shi langa langa shi langa Koom ma den day koom ma den day [often with the added Americanism "Hey!"} -snip- In the mid i990s, I collected this foot stomping cheer from my daughter's memory of African American girls [around 6-12 years old]chants in a Pittsburgh summer camp where she worked [in the early 1990s}: Soloist #1 Jay Jay Kukalay Group Jay Jay Kukalay Soloist #1 Salesah lahndah Group Salesah lahndah Soloist #1 Step back, Shalanda [or "back, back Shalonda"] Group Step back, Shalanda Soloist #1 Oosh, my lover boy! Group Oosh, my lover boy! Soloist #1 I'm callin on, I'm callin on I'm callin on Rhonda [substitute the name of next soloist, and repeat entire cheer] -snip- I also collected a version of this foot stomping cheer from a White woman in Pittsburgh who said this was from her memories of the late 1980s when she was growing up in a predominately Black neighborhood in Washington, DC. BTW, my 'informant' wrote the title of the cheer as "J.J. Cool Aid". IMO, since this is cheer comes from the oral tradition, it also could have been written "J.J. KoolAid"..and that spelling would have given it a different connotation. The words to "J.J. Cool Aid" as I was given them are: Soloist #1 J.J. Cool Aid Group J.J. Cool Aid Soloist #1 Teresa Londa Group Teresa Londa Soloist #1 Back, back Tuanda * Whose my lover boy? I said mmm my sweetie cakes I'm callin on I'm callin on I'm callin on Shakera * * I think "Tunada" is supposed to be a personal name like "Towanda". "Shakira" is a personal name and is probably the name of the next soloist. **** My question is this: Is Jay Jay Kukalay, and "J.J. Cool Aid" a mondegreen, an example of folk etymology, both, or something else-and what is this "something else"? Thanks in advance. Azizi Powell |
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06 Aug 05 - 12:18 PM (#1536447) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Azizi And yes, I know I have a few typos and grammatical errors in my last post...Sorry. And yes, I know that I promised to use the preview feature, but darn if I know why I just don't want to take the time to read what I write.. I think if I did, I wouldn't submit most of the posts I write.. which might be a good thing... |
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07 Aug 05 - 07:30 AM (#1536837) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Le Scaramouche First time I heard "Famous Flower of Serving Men" I thought Martin Carthy was singing "a fish shall do me deadly harm"!! |
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07 Aug 05 - 09:00 AM (#1536874) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Dave Hanson In All I Want Is A Room Somewhere, I always hear the line, ' Oh wooden tit be lovely ' eric |
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07 Aug 05 - 09:19 AM (#1536887) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Azizi I have to confess that I never have heard the Purple Haze song by Jimi Hendrix-or any other music by Jimi Hendrix. I know that's blasphemy but at least I'm being real and I'll remedy that post haste [not the being realness- I meant the not hearing Jimi Hendrix's music part]. Anyway, in case there might be a few others here who don't know the real lyrics to Hendrix's "Purple Haze", here they are from that kisstheguy.com website whose link I provided above [and that website is also mentioned earlier upthread by the way] Quoting from that site: The real lyrics were: 'Scuse me, while I kiss the sky But I misheard them as: 'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy. |
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07 Aug 05 - 09:24 AM (#1536890) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: JJ Bruce Springsteen's "deuce" is the same vehicle as the Beach Boys' "Little Deuce Coupe." I believe this is slang for a '32 Ford. |
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07 Aug 05 - 10:02 AM (#1536908) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Mo the caller As a child I used to wonder where Plicity was and what they did to mice there - "Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild.....Pity my simplicity" (well,yes). And my family always mock me by singing "chicken on the loose tonight" but I still dont know what the origional words mean ("shaking on the loose" is it? from some pop song from the a few years back) |
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07 Aug 05 - 10:36 AM (#1536926) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Flash Company This is probably thread creep, but in the same vein. Sheila and I were visiting a stately home in Norfolk (I Think), and the guide drew attention to a porcelain swan, manufactured by the Meissen factory. On the same table were two little , cheap, pottery figures of Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) and Speedy Gonzales. Someone asked about them, and the guide explained that the owner had found her small grand-daughter searching round the table one day, and when she asked what she was looking for, she said 'The Mice'. 'I heard Mrs Walker telling some visitors to make sure they saw the mice and swan. I can see the swan but where are the mice?' Naturally, they appeared the next day! FC |
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07 Aug 05 - 10:45 AM (#1536933) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Joe_F I may have mentioned this on another thread, but here is a curious case where I am still unsure whether the mishearing is mine or someone else's. On recordings, I had always heard the second stanza of Ewan MacColl's "Ballad of the Carpenter" as When Jesus was a little lad, The streets rang with his name, For he argued with the older men, And he put them all to shame. A few years ago I noticed that in _The Coffee House Song Book_ "older men" appeared as "aldermen". In MacColl's dialect the pronunciation is probably about the same, and I thought the substitution hilarious. (Hanging around City Hall at a tender age! No wonder he came to a bad end!) But then along came _The Essential Ewan MacColl Song Book_, edited by no less a person than Peggy Seeger, and it has "aldermen" too. It seems presumptuous to suspect her of mondegreening her husband. But I cannot find any definition in the OED that fits the story (Luke 2:46-49); the men he argued with are called "doctors" in the KJV, that is, teachers, that is (in context) rabbis. On the other hand, the OED has not caught up with the U.S. meaning of "alderman", so perhaps it is missing something else. I remain full of doubts. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: Eating beef is the second most overrated pleasure in America. :|| |
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07 Aug 05 - 11:05 AM (#1536942) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Le Scaramouche Don't see why aldermen won't work, Christ wasn't discoursing with nobodies in the Temple. They were the most learned men in the region, as well as being important figures in the community. |
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07 Aug 05 - 04:28 PM (#1537033) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,leeneia Not a lyric, but for years I thought that Steel Eye Span was the Steel Ice Band. Why not? |
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07 Aug 05 - 07:59 PM (#1537167) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: The Fooles Troupe Alder & Elder are almost the same if you look far back enough in English from an earlier period. |
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08 Aug 05 - 05:35 AM (#1537369) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Nick There is a line in Paul Simon's Graceland which has always sounded to me like "The way she brushed her hair and farted" the actual verse actually being: "She comes back to tell me she's gone As if I didn't know that As if I didn't know my own bed As if I'd never noticed The way she brushed her hair from her forehead" On paper it's nothing like it but on the record... At the risk of thread creeping there is a line in "The Town I Loved So Well" which I find hard to sing with a straight face - "There was music there in the derriere"... |
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08 Aug 05 - 02:16 PM (#1537763) Subject: RE: Misspoken, misheard, but accepted. From: Highlandman "Lost his airbrakes" makes no sense at all. A train's brakes are "deadman brakes"--that is, if you lose the air, the brakes come on; they are held off from application by the air. So unless you think that the application of brakes caused the accident, it wouldn't be "lost his airbrakes". Uncle DaveO, highway truck brakes are true deadman brakes - mechanically applied by a spring, released by air. Train brakes aren't. The brakes on a train (improved since the 1903 wreck of the '97 but still work about the same way) use air to apply the brakes and to release. There's an emergency reservoir that holds the air needed to apply the brake if the valve detects that the air pipe has broken. But if the engineer has overused the brakes, consuming more air than the compressor in the locomotive can replace, the whole system bleeds down and - for a while, until the system recovers - you don't get adequate braking force. No big deal unless you happen to be coming up too fast on a sharp curve... Another thing -- I had long wondered why on earth did he have his "hand on the throttle" if he was trying to slow down? It turns out that railroad people investigating the wreckage found that he had thrown the loco into full reverse, a desperation move that didn't work. "Lost his averages?" Man, that's really stretching the limits of the language. Someone's poetic license ought to have been revoked for that. Cheers -HM |
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08 Aug 05 - 02:52 PM (#1537794) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Tannywheeler As a widdle kid this happened to me: The Clancy Bros (at first just Paddy and Tom) were friends and sang a song about a guy named Kelly, who was a bold light-fixture. (We had a chandelier in the area of the living room where my mother had placed the formal dining table. I knew what that was.) I heard "...oh, me bold chandelier, wi' yer long-barreled guns of the sea...", so that's what I sang. It was a while before anyone explained about the place in Ireland, Chelmalye(sp?), and a Chelmalier being (in this case a rebel) from there. Tw |
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08 Aug 05 - 04:22 PM (#1537886) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: MissouriMud With respect to the Wreck of Old 97 - I agree that "Lost his airbrakes" is more likely than "Lost his average" - Trainmen do talk about "losing their air" in certain situations, although normally they have ways to recover it. The lyics were supposedly by a rairoad telegrapher who knew a little about Westinghouse train brake systems. Coming down a three mile grade an engineer trying to push the envelope could easily have made multiple brake applications and releases, without there being suffient time for the brake pressure to recover in between, resulting in what railroaders call "pissing away his air" - a situation where at a certain point the brake reservoir and brake lines no longer have enough air to permit a normal service application (or even to trigger the emergency reservoir, but I dont know if they had emergency reservoirs in 1903). "Lost his airbrakes" was probably more aceptable a lyric than "pissed away his air" and the writer may well have been trying to get across a concept that the public would understand rather than rely on technical railroad terminology in any event. Westinghouse patented the modern train airbrake in 1872 but it was not used universally in the US until 1900 when mandated by the federal Safety Appliance Act - and the systems were still pretty crude so as of 1903 many engineers were still not experts at all the ins and outs of what could go wrong with the systems . Having his hand on the throttle is an interesting concept - as the throttle is a lever that stays put once you have set it - supposedly he did throw the engine into reverse, but that is done with a different lever. So what was he trying to do with the throttle - throttle up or down? At any rate a lot of engineers keep a hand on the throttle as a "default position" in case an adjustment is needed - you got to put your hand somewhere. Most engineers involved in accidents try to find some sort of position of safety - not that there really is one - like on the floor, or take some sort of protective position , in the final seconds when it becomes apparant that no further action can change the situation. This may well be a little poetic license. The newspaper articles of the wreck while pretty graphic about the scalded to death part do not mention the throttle bit. About the most specific description of body positions was the statement in the Raleigh News and Observer that "the bodies of all those killed were found in the wreckage of the different cars to which they belonged". The writer may well have just been trying to make "Steve" (actually JA Broady) seem particularly heroic by having him maintaining his post to the bitter end, like the captain of the titanic if was portrayed as having his hand still on the wheel The song has plenty of factual inaccuracies that make for good drama - for example 90 miles an hour sounds a lot more exciting than the 30 to 35 mp reported by the eye witnesses. Interestingly although half the crew was killed and nearly all the freight was demolished, 6 crates of canaries were unharmed. |
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08 Aug 05 - 05:13 PM (#1537932) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Highlandman Great post, MMud. As to the throttle bit -- from what I recall of sitting in cabs of some museum queens, the reverse lever on a steam locomotive is completely separate from the throttle: to apply power in reverse requires you to throw the reverse lever AND open the throttle. So if he was pulling the desperation move of reversing power, as the investigators apparently were convinced, he would have had the throttle open. Not likely that he was still in position with his hand on the thing, though... I agree, a bit of heroic-sounding poetic license but with some basis in reality. -HM, fellow steam buff |
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08 Aug 05 - 05:22 PM (#1537939) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Folkiedave Shelmalier=cavalier (I think) Dave |
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08 Aug 05 - 08:05 PM (#1538052) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Snuffy Look on this thread Shelmalier ?? to find out where Shelmalier is |
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09 Aug 05 - 04:56 AM (#1538240) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST So as our overseas friends get the picture, the River Tees was one of those rivers in the North East of England ( which is definitely NOT noted for warm weather ) which, by the 1950's was heavily polluted from at least 100 years of uncontrolled steel and chemicals ndustrial usage . Vin Garbutt wrote a song " the Valley of Tees " . Harking back to when it must once have been a clean normal river with salmon he began " Pink dorsal fins swam in the clear crystal Tees ........" A good mate of his and mine, Plonk Inlgedew learned the song and on his first public rendition began " Pink dolphins once swam in the clear crystal Tees ........" Wow - we p8ssed ourselves laughing , but the unwitting Plonk needed to have it explained to him - and blamed Vins poor diction in the rendering of the song on his first LP. |
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09 Aug 05 - 04:46 PM (#1538769) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Mrr I always wondered what tweeping was - "and thou, false love, will tweep for me" - turns out I wasn't listening in Old Enough English, and thou, false love, wilt weep for me is more like it. And while it isn't a misheard lyric, when in The Rising Of The Moon "out of many a mud-walled cabin eyes were watching through the night" always brought up the visual of cabins covered in mud, with eyes in the cabin walls. Looking through the mud kind of like Rambo. |
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09 Aug 05 - 04:55 PM (#1538773) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Mrr OK, and one that happens to be in French: In Sarah Sarah, where the family is lamenting that the eldest daughter has gone away to the States and they are bereft, there is a verse where they are gathered around the table and her place is empty. But the first oh, 30 years I heard this song, I heard it as "tous accablés les soirs d'hiver, lorsqu'un par un Mamie nous sert" (all burdened on winter evenings as Mama serves us one by one" - then I got it on CD and it turns out to be "tous aTTablés" - all sitting around the table, not all burdened. In my visual, thanks to the rest of that line, I already had them sitting around the table, but they were all bowed down with their burden of grief. Now that I hear the correct line, they are all still around the table BUT they are sitting up straight! |
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10 Aug 05 - 09:07 AM (#1539368) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,Joe_F Also in French: I have heard tell of a request for Edith Piaf's song about the pink airplane (l'avion rose). --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: Dying isn't so bad. It's being buried that gets you down. :|| |
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10 Aug 05 - 09:43 AM (#1539401) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Le Scaramouche The Pink Airplane! See, she predates pyschedalia. |
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28 Dec 17 - 04:56 PM (#3896183) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Tony Rees I know this is an old thread, but I was recently tickled by hearing a lady on the radio saying that as a girl, she would ask her dad to sing the song about the ants. "You know: the ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind..." Seems she was not alone, see here: https://www.amazon.com/Ants-Are-Friends-Celebration-Linguistic/dp/B008SMO3T6 - Tony |
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29 Dec 17 - 01:13 PM (#3896345) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,trad junkie How about the young lad many years ago who sang Poor Ditching Boy with the chorus 'With her scheming idle ways she left me for an oaf!' Seeing him try to rhyme oaf and blood was frightening. happy days |
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29 Dec 17 - 03:26 PM (#3896362) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: keberoxu The first time I heard AC/DC sing "Dirty Deeds," I remember wondering what a Dundercheep was. Dirty Deeds and a Dundercheep . . . |
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29 Dec 17 - 03:35 PM (#3896365) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: Senoufou In the paper today, there's a letter from a granny who says her 6yr old granddaughter was singing Silent Night in the back seat of the car. She ended with the line, "Sleep in heaven, you pigs... Sleep in heaven you pigs." |
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30 Dec 17 - 08:12 PM (#3896538) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,gutcher Brother-inlaw and Wife had as a houseguest [ludger] a French girl doing her years residence over here in order to teach English on her return home---she returned home speaking our broad Ayrshire tongue--not much use for a teacher of English!. When settled in back in France she invited my relations over for a holiday. BiL bought a record on a visit to the town. They sat down to tea in the garden BiL placed record on an empty seat next to him--out comes young sister of their friend who then sat down on the record which of course broke with a loud noise. BiL in broad Ayrshire accent "It"s a peety" [it"s a pity] young girl turns bright red--older sister rolling on the grass laughing. When she recovered she explained that her sister thought he had said in French "Set a pi-pi" [excuse my French] "It"s a fart". Not a lyric but a true example of crossed wires. |
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01 Jan 18 - 06:01 PM (#3896820) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: oldhippie Sheryl Crow: "All I Wanna Do is Hooked on Phonics" |
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01 Jan 18 - 10:21 PM (#3896835) Subject: RE: Dept. of Misheard Lyrics From: GUEST,BrvHrt46 For ages, whenever I heard the line after "Long Tall Sally she's built for speed", I misheard it as "she's got everything that Arkansas need", instead of "she's got everything that Uncle John need". Hey, it could work! : ) |