Gig bloopers - did I sing that???

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 01:36 PM

I was singing "Cuando Calienta El Sol" at a senior center gig a couple years ago when I inadvertently changed the phrase "m'estramezco"* to "m'escremento."

At the time I wasn't sure that was an actual Spanish word, but it came out close enough to Latin and English that I was sure some in my audience would perceive it as I did -- that instead of singing "I tremble," I had sung "I crap." Anyway, as I started to giggle, my singing partner joined in laughing, which made it harder for me to stop.

It actually isn't a real word in Spanish, but it's pretty close.

I've several times done a similar thing with "O Tannenbaum," when the words "... auch im Winter venn es schneit ..." ("also in winter when it snows") come out as "... auch im Winter venn es scheit."   Actually, "when it shits" in German would be "venn es scheisst," but again it's close enough for that little slip of the tongue to be embarrassing.



*I think that's how you spell it

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mark Ross
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 02:46 PM

Utah Phillips used to do a bit where he would tell the audience that his real name was Zipper, but had to change it when he started playing music 'cause he couldn't see in the trade papers, "ZIPPER OPENS IN CHICAGO"(old vaudeville joke, or maybe it was burlesque). Anyway, one night he said that and unbeknownst to him, his fly was open!

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 03:13 PM

Which reminds me - two years ago, in a Yorkshire club, I decided to dash into the gents after my second set, while the "parish notices" were being read. Dashed back in time for the encore, and I treated everyone to "Sing to me Angelo" with my zipper down.... I don't think anyone noticed, but I won't forget it...

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Celtaddict
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 03:43 PM

Instead of 'lass' I once sang 'he'd found a brisk and bonny lad to take unto his bed.'

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: meself
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:48 PM

Was doing a concert for a college audience a couple of years ago ... introducing 'The Packet Amphatrite', I mentioned that it was about going 'round Cape Horn - which, in case there was a hole in their education, I remarked was the southern tip of Africa. About two seconds later, it occurred to me what I had just said - but it was so stupid that I couldn't believe I'd actually said it, so failed to correct myself. I asked some friends about it after the show; they reluctantly and rather sadly confirmed that I had indeed moved Cape Horn to Africa ...

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Ebbie
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:12 PM

Not at a gig but in a large jam that I was recording a friend sang one of his songs, a lovely one. However, at a certain point he stumbled and sang "sweet, friggin fraggin freeze". I couldn't believe my ears - I knew the line was "sweet fragrant breeze".

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:13 PM

At a sea song performance last week, at Eugene O'Neill National historic Site, I meant to say "captain," and ended up saying "craptain." I just forged ahead as if nothing was amiss, hoping nobody caught it, but there were a few smiles in the front row!

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: pavane
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 07:11 AM

Mrs Pavane has been known to alter the words quite often.

In Black Velevet, she once had them "Rolling in the Aisles" (not crying).

And she was singing "In the mood" (not many people know there are words to it), and sang "Humping" instead of, I think, Hugging.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Acorn4
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 03:27 PM

Then of course there was the gypsy fiddler, who suddenly re-appeared in front of schocked diners with his instrument but wearing no clothes. One of the diners turned to him and said:-

"Actually I said "Can you play "In the Mood"?"

Not a gig blooper this but an ex-flatmate of mine said he was a shepherd in a school Christmas production and the teacher had written this line for him to say:-

"Oh that I, such a humble shepherd , should live to see such a sight as this"

You can guess the rest!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:59 AM

When singing West gallery music there are numerous reasons to be careful of your pronunciation. Apart from "his honour roud about" coming out as "he's on a roundabout", there are multiple mentions of "our souls".

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 04:59 PM

I frequently play for nursing homes and assisted living residences, and a popular song with those folks in the US is "(The Bells Are Ringing) For Me And My Gal." One part of the lyrics goes:
"Everybody's been knowing
To a wedding they're going,
And for weeks they've been sewing,
Every Susie and Sal."

What's been known to come out of my mouth (when I don't quite catch myself in time) is:
"...
And for weeks she's been showing ... "

In fact I've sung that or almost sung that so many times that I'm tempted to go ahead and write the whole "shotgun wedding" parody of the original song (though I kind of doubt I should share it with my senior residential facility audiences.) ; D

G

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Tangledwood
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 05:37 PM

Go for it Genie! From what I've seen in these facilities the residents won't notice but the staff will enjoy the laugh.

Subject: For Me & My Gal (Shotgun wedding version)
From: Genie
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 06:04 PM

Well, it depends on whether it's a memory care unit or an assisted living facility. In the latter, most of the residents are well aware of the lyrics being sung and what they imply. Trouble is, if there's one resident in a group of 30 who will be really offended by a song or lyric, you're better off avoiding it.   (Activity directors have been known to drop a performer from their entertainer list because someone complained.)   
I do think, though, as our retirement home population and the baby boomer generation merge into each other, standards of "propriety" in entertainment are loosening more and more.

Not all that funny, but here's an off-the-cuff stab at it:

The bells are ringing for me and my gal!
Gossips are singing 'bout me & my gal.
Everybody's been knowing
That she's really been glowing
And for weeks she's been showing,
My ladyfriend, Sal.

They're congregating for me and my gal,
With shotgun waiting is her old man Hal.
And soon we
Will have to build ourselves home for three
(At least - or maybe more)
With nursery for me and my gal.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Tangledwood
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 06:25 PM

It would depend on the home, certainly. Nice work :)

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 03:09 PM

Yesterday being so close to Halloween, I was using "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" in my set list for nursing homes and retirement communities.
During one rendition of the song, when I got to the last verse, I began to sing:

"As the _____ rode on by him ..., and, in that instant it seemed odd to sing "riders," since the next word was "rode," so I second-guessed myself and the line came out:

"As the horses rode on by him, he heard one call his name:
'If you want to save your soul from Hell, a-ridin' on our range ... "

I guess if there can be ghost riders in the sky, there can be talking horses too, but ...

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 04:05 PM

Mr Ed?

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: meself
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 04:06 PM

He was a zebra. Really.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Howard Jones
Date: 01 Nov 09 - 08:55 AM

I used to sing the ballad "William Taylor". This is one of those songs where a young woman enlists in the army to find her true love, only to be discovered when her waistcoat falls open and shows her womanly charms. This is followed by the words:

"Then the sergeant stepped up to her
Asking what had brought her here"

Later, after she's discovered her true love with another woman and shot and killed them both, comes:

"Then the captain stepped up to her
Pleased well at what she'd done"

So of course, one night I sang, straight after she'd exposed her lily-white breast,

"Then the sergeant stepped up to her
Pleased well at what she'd done"

I'm sure he was, too.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 01:29 AM

Peter Sellers used to tell the story when he was playing Drums in a piano parlour duo in a hotel restaurant.
A well heeled Gent asked if they could play a psrticular song so that he could dance with his partner (it being their favourite).
"Of course. Which one?"
"Thats what you are".
Well the duo searched all their song books and couldn't find it, and apologetically told the customer.
"But it's famous, everybody knows it" came the reply.
"Could you sing us a bit to give us a clue?"
The chap duly obliged
"Unforgettable......That's what you are!!"

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: mandotim
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 03:27 AM

Larry Kearns of the Oldham Tinkers used to sing a song that started 'Come all you sons of toil'. Often came out as 'Come all you tons of soil'. My personal favourite is what is known in the local session as 'the Smoked Horse Song', aka Star of the County Down. The original line is 'No horse I'll rope, no pipe I'll smoke'. I'll leave it at that...

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Nick
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 03:57 AM

A line from Rosemary's Sister sometimes comes out as
"And when at last the darkness shits"

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: BobKnight
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 04:53 AM

As well as my "folky" side, I play in a band. One of the songs my brother sings, is Vince Gill's "Whenever You Come Around." Every time he sings the line "I'm standing here holding the biggest heartache in town, whenever you come around." I can't help but change it mentally to something entirely rude.

"I'm standing here holding the biggest hard** in town,
whenever you come around."

Likewise a few years back, we were doing an old Statler Brothers song where the lyrics went:

"But for too long you've kept it in,
And it burns a hole down deep inside."

At which point I made a very loud farting noise. He virtually collapsed across his drum kit with laughter. End of song, and he never sang it again.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Vic Smith
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 09:12 AM

The worst mistake I can remember making was when I was calling a dance - not singing, though I have cocked up words singing songs in my time.

I was instructing the dance The Cumberland Square Eight which, if you know the dance, has dance movements for the "Top & Bottom couples" which are then repeated by the "Side couples". I was getting on fine until I somehow managed to say "Now, back to the Top and Bollocks couples." which brought a stunned silence from the dancers but noisy hilarious laughter from the band.

Ben Paley, our fiddler, was so amused by this that he immediately texted a friend of his who he knew was also playing for a dance that evening...... He got a swift reply saying, "You think you've got problems - I'm sitting playing between..... and here he named two female musicians that it might be best not to name here ".....and they are both pissed out of their heads!"

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 03:59 PM

mandotim, that "ye tons of soil" blooper was one of the ones that made the Rev. Spooner (in)famous - and gave rise to the term "spoonerism."

Now, yesterday I finally did one that's been threatening to come out for years. Actually (thank goodness), I wasn't doing a gig - though I was singing into a mic on the platform in church - but it was in a congregational hymn. We were singing "All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name," and the rest of that first line goes,
"Let angels prostrate fall."
I can't sing that line without imagining the blooper or parody line
"Let Angel's prostate fall."
And it seems yesterday I tried so hard NOT to sing it that way, that that is exactly the way it came out of my mouth!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,David Coffin
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 06:37 PM

My daughter, 4 at the time, thought I recorded: "And we'll catch tiny fish for the pan".

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 21 Dec 09 - 07:15 PM

Well, Ely, that's kind of akin to my accidentally singing "How's about keepin' something up for me" instead of the actual lyric to Hank Williams's "Hey, Good Lookin'"   
It was at a memory care unit of a nursing home (maybe they thought I should be a resident?), and I'm not sure anyone noticed but me. (Let's hope not.)

Now, just last week I did a popular Hanukkah song and I THOUGHT I had caught myself before mixing up a lyric that goes:
"O Hanukkah, o hanukkah, come light the menorah.
Let's have a party, we'll all dance the hora."

But when I played back my video of the gig, sure enough, in one of the three times I sang those lines, it came out:
"O Hanukkah, o hanukkah, come dance the menorah!"

Oy!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 05:19 AM

Flash company my boys, like a great many more, If it hadn't been for flash company I'd never have been so sore!

Or the one I've managed to avoid so far but am convinced will find its way out one day; She sits on my countenance and smiles at my knees (Kind Friends and Companions)

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 07:35 AM

At the start of little pot stove " where the winter wizards blow" . A habit hard to get out of.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Vic Smith
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 07:49 AM

Calling a dance that I've called hundreds of times. "The Cumberland Square Eight" - it might not have mattered so much if it hadn't been the wedding of one of my daughter's classmates -

You know the set up - the top & bottom couples do something and then the side couples copy it. Fine; except that when I started to teach the dance these words came out.....
OK then, first the top and bollocks couples....
I sort of recovered hoping nobody had heard the slip, taught the dance as quickly as I could and then turned round to the band for them to play the introduction..... They were still all doubled up with laughter and couldn't start - the swines!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,Jon Heslop
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 09:12 AM

At a recent gathering in Wales a well known contributer to this forum was singing one of those "broken token" songs. The line should have been, "your lover was my comrade" - he got as far as,"your comrade was....." before realisation dawned and the room dissolved into hysterics.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 10:38 AM

I have a recording someone did of a live concert of Eric Bogle & John Munro singing this interesting version of "NOBODY'S MOGGY NOW" after a very funny intro: (Eric did the verses all by himself)


"Somebody's moggy by the side of the road
Somebody's pussy who forgot his highway code
Someone's favourite feline who ran clean out of luck
When he ran onto the road and tried to argue with a truck

Yesterday he burled and played in his pussy paradise
Decapitating tweety birds and masturbating ..masticating! mice" *loud giggles from audience*
"...masticating mice.."

etc....(he got the rest right)

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 01:15 PM

Not a song ,but I remember a teacher colleague of mine trying to say "stop fussing and mucking about".. What came out was "stop musing and f***ing about.it was met with shocked silence.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: JennieG
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 06:51 PM

Bill, Eric has been singing this variation since.....well, forever! Probably since the first time he recorded the song, perhaps - and he also does it live.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 07:50 PM

There's a Dorothy Hewett poem, Sailor Home From The Sea, set to music by Chris Kempster, very popular in the Australian folk clubs & festivals, starts out, O cock of the morning/With a dream in his hand, and you have to remember not to start, O dream of the morning, instead.

I once started singing a set of lyrics to the tune of a different song, realized what I was doing, but couldn't for the life of me remember how the correct tune went, so I sang the whole song through to the wrong tune.

I think it may have been Queen Elinor's Confession, to the tune of An Irish Song (by Ed McCurdy). Or maybe it was the other way around.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 13 - 09:01 PM

well, Jenny, I also have a copy of it done 'straight' as a commercial recording. It kinda bothers me to think he would use that 'trick' on a regular basis-- his lyrics are interesting enough in the original.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: JennieG
Date: 04 Dec 13 - 12:06 AM

Bill, perhaps that's the difference; the recording I have is with a live audience, so Eric must have been playing to the crowd - the same in the performance I saw. With a commercial studio recording there's probably not the same incentive to spark up an audience by being a little naughty.