Gig bloopers - did I sing that???

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 03:33 AM

some friends went to hear pavarotti sing at a concert.

afterwards they were telling us about it and one of our fiends said 'and he did Des & Norma too!'- [nessun dorma]

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: belfast
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 11:24 AM

At an informal singing session in Clare a woman I know was singing "Blackwaterside". She realized that she was repeating a verse and glanced around in mild panic for someone to give her a clue as to the next verse. The next verse begins, "Go home, go home to your father dear." A companion leaned across the table and whispered loudly, "Go home, go home." A fella at the bar, unaware of what was going on, shouted, "You leave her alone! She's f***ing brilliant!"

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 12:50 PM

LOL, belfast!

Mr Happy -- "Des & Norma!" Somebody's gotta write THAT parody! (Where is Allan Sherman when you need him?)

Joan, Gary, I'd love to hear that "Whiskey" parody ("stand on your liver for you are a gold retriever").

Genie

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Elektra
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 10:25 AM

While not nearly as spectacular as some of the aforementioned, at a gig a few weeks ago during "Star of the County Down" I sang "no pipe I'll yoke, no horse I'll smoke..." no one in the audience seemed to notice except my best friend, but I immedately squeezed my eyes shut to avoid making eye contact or I would have completely lost it. It was all I could do to finish the song without falling down from laughter/embarrassment. The visual was FAR too disturbing. ;-)

Of course every time I sing it now I have to concentrate REALLY hard 'cause it cracks me up & won't go away. D'oh!

*Eletra*

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Malveka
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 11:14 AM

At a Christmas party sing at work a few years ago we were using lyric sheets that had been hastily typed up the night before. We joyously sang out:

"Hark the herald, angels sin ..."

Now, of course, we sing it that way every year. For want of a letter, all meaning may change! There are some magnificient bloopers in this thread. Love the previous one. Restraint from smoking a horse would indeed seem wise, LOL!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 Oct 02 - 02:28 PM

In the Bold Fisherman i keep having the urge to sing 'He took her by her lily white hand which was his FOUL intent'.so far I have not succombed

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 03:59 AM

'no pipe i'll smoke, no hoarse, i'll choke'?

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: open mike
Date: 31 Oct 02 - 11:11 PM

my woopsie was with the Health to the Company
where in the second verse I found myself singing:
"as she sits on my countenance and smiles on my knee"
instead of the other way around--I am cardful on the
second verse fromnow on!@!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 01 Nov 02 - 04:18 PM

LOL, open mike!!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 12:52 AM

I just recently learned "Star Of The County Down," and, though I know the real lyrics, I find myself wanting to sing:

"...She looked so sweet from her two left feet to the sheen of her nut-brown hair ...  ." Haven't slipped up yet, but I'm sure I will one of these days.

G

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: open mike
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 02:19 AM

I always have to watch myself on the "Health to the Company"
where it says:"As she smiles on my countenance and she sits on my knee"
I am hoping i never slip up and sing "as she sits on my countenance.."

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: KJ
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 02:19 PM

'The sheep are in the meadow the cow's got the horn'....ooops
'Come all you gardners gay' is another one.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,celtaddict
Date: 26 Mar 03 - 06:52 PM

Maryrrf, I have always heard that line as "I'll gently rise and I'll softly fall," and supposed it was just my mind, though a friend and I do keep an ongoing list of Highly Suspect Lyrics.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Genie
Date: 06 Jul 03 - 07:44 AM

I was singing "Star Of The County Down" recently, and I THINK I was about to conclude the chorus, at one point, with:
"She's the cow of the starry down."

I don't really know, because all I got out was "...she's the cow of..." before I cracked up and couldn't finish the line!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Jul 03 - 10:51 AM

"I'll gently rise and softly fall" in the post that started this thread (last year) from The Parting Glass.

Actually I'd not be surprised if those were the original words. I've got a theory that it's a pre-hanging song anyway, by someone who is going to be strung up in the morning, in the morning, probably a highwayman or something like that. That's the image I get from the lines "Since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not".

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Ely
Date: 06 Jul 03 - 08:59 PM

My college band and I got onstage at a charity bluegrass concert one night; we were never known for our polish but we didn't usually embarrass ourselves this badly. First, our ordinarily mild-tempered fiddler dropped his bow and blurted out, "Sh*t!" into the microphone--in front of an audience of retirees, no less. We got through "Big Scioty" just fine, but when we went on to "Hell on the Wabash", which sounds nothing like "Big Scioty" all six of us at once forgot the B part and kept slipping back into "Big Scioty". Finally, after two restarts, we gave up, apologized to the audience, and switched to A.

We rarely sang or I'm sure we would have come up with some doozy spoonerisms, too.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: DonMeixner
Date: 06 Jul 03 - 10:42 PM

In The Broad Black Brimmer I've turned an "Old Trench Coat" into "Old French Toast"

In Weevily Wheat I've changed "Wheat in the Ear" to "Wheat in the Rear."

In Bold O'Donnahue we have changed "Squeeze her, Ach!" to "Squeeze her rack"

Some times its all too easy.

Don

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 07:20 AM

One Christmas week, we were all in the usual singaround session in a local pub.

Midway through doing the usual folk tunes & songs, the landlord asked could we do some carols & Xmas songs.

We were happy to oblige & had done some festive offerings, then one of our number began to sing 'Once in royal David's city', accompanying himself on 12 sting.

Some of us soon noticed that the tune wasn't the usual one yet it sounded familiar.

Unfortunately the singer didn't realise until he came to the line 'mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child' & then with a most complex expression on his face seemed compelled to sing 'Hark the herald angels sing!' to fit the rest of the tune!


MAAAAAAAHvellous!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Snuffy
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 09:21 AM

In 'Martinmas Time' I once sang:

She's took the ribbons from her legs
And the garters from her hair-o.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 09:48 AM

One time during Wind and Rain, Mister sang "dead on the water like a frozen swan" instead of "golden swan."

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 01:08 PM

Can't discuss where it came from but I got a message about a team using "exploding dogs" instead of explosive sniffing dogs. I fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Blowzabella
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 05:22 PM

This isn't a 'gig' blooper, but a brill one none the less, that I hope you'll agree is worth sharing. My husband is a lectuer at an agricultural college and he was in the staff room with a colleague who was looking at exam papers.

The question had clearly been something along the lines of 'How do you tell when a cow is in season and ready to take to the bull'.

The given answer by this, now immortalised student was 'Females on heat have red Volvos'!!!!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 06:21 PM

Oh boy! have I been there too. Usually no one notices 'till I giggle - they hear what they expect. I also always hear some alternate meanings too. I can't sing "Four Strong Winds" without wondering if he will ".... get there before the snow flies...." What if the snow-flies get there first I worry. And are they related to ice-worms?
re Hard Times, by the way, There was a Civil War parody called "Hard Tack Come Again no More" It's really just of intrest as a historical comment. Like most parodies it dated quickly.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 06:38 PM

And then there's the first lines of the Australian national anthem -
"Australians all eat ostriches."
Not a mistake I'm sure, although it supposedly comes from little school children. Makes the song much more singable and enjoyable when you can't get out of singing it.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Joybell
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 07:35 AM

And then there's High Noon with the line - "... sposin' I lose my fair-haired beauty .." I see a big handsome cowboy with a comb in his hand, in front of a mirror, worrying about his looks. What if he should get shot in the hair!!!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 07:55 AM

Blowzabella...

are you related to the group that i have the music books for?

Great stuff!

Robin

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Ely
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 07:30 PM

Not a gig blooper, but my best friend and I used to be big Everly Brothers fans. We were singing merrily along to "Rip it Up" one day, which starts out, "Saturday night, I just got paid . . . " and she accidentally substituted an "L" for the "P".

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: CraigS
Date: 28 Sep 03 - 09:10 PM

I used to be in a covers band with a vocalist who insisted on singing "I can see clearly now the rain has gone, I can see all testicles in my way" becauyse his wife had written out his lyrics that way.

His wife was a master of Malapropisms, her classic being "Look at all that compensation running down the window" one cold night!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: black walnut
Date: 29 Sep 03 - 10:48 AM

I drew a total blank in Another Train (Pete Morton). I sat there thinking and thinking about how to start a verse while strumming away. All of a sudden it came to me: "WE CRAWL IN THE DARK SOMETIMES AND THINK TOO MUCH"!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 04:39 AM

There's a guy comes to the many sessions round this area, & often sings 'Me & you & a dog named Boo'.

There's a line in it that sounds like, 'Another attack of gas, then I'm back on the road again'

Somehow I don't think thats quite right?

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Splott Man
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 05:06 AM

My favourite was from my good friend Rory Furlong While singing Green Fields Of France, he dried after the line
"..and for Willie McBride it's all happened again..."

For those unfamiliar with said song, the next line is
"...and again, and again, and again, and again."

In this instance EVEYONE noticed.

regards

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Naemanson
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 07:21 AM

I don't think this counts because it's deliberate but, depending on the audience I will add an 's to one line from South Australia. That makes it:

There's just one thing that grieves my mind,
Heave away, haul away,
To leave Miss Nancy Blair's behind...

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,hacksawbob
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 08:04 AM

Irish Rover
There was old Mickey Coot who played hard on his flute
when the the ladies lined up for the set he was tootling with skill to each sparkling quadrill though the dancers were flutered an bet
with his smart witty talk he was cock of the walk
and he rolled the dames under and over
you could tell at a glance when he TOOK OFF HIS PANTS!
that he sailed on the Irish Rover

I've left it in, much better than the original 'took up his stance.'

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: alanabit
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 10:59 AM

When I was at The Royal Hospital School, (a sort of hooligan factory for the sons of seamen) back in the sixties, seven hundred boys stood on parade one Sunday morning. The Chief Naval Instructor, Commander Lamb RN (rtd) addressed the assembled ranks with the words, "When you see me with my hands in your pockets, you can put your hands in mine!"
It was a rather unfortunate turn of phrase for one of the most senior members of staff at that institution, in which a beating was mandatory for any homosexual activity!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: synbyn
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 03:31 PM

Once in a very blue moon: first line from banjo Rob:
"I found your ladder in my mailbox today..."

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Forsh
Date: 02 Oct 03 - 03:46 PM

First time I heard someone singing John Prine's Illegal Smile, I thought they were singing 2and you may see me tonight, with a billy goat smile" .. seemed to fit in with the dope theme!
Dad Forsh used to dice with death on stage, by adding this verse to Hog's Eye Man: 'I'm not a pheasant Plucker I'm a pheasant Pluckers son and I'm only pluckin' feathers till the pheasant plucker comes' I have cocked this one up, too. As far as the 'Folk Process' is concerned, I am one of it's main exponents. I must've sang more wrong lines than anyone I know, I know that there are those who will say I should learn the right words, and I do, it's just I forget them, and anyways, sometimes 'my' words fit better!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Tyke
Date: 03 Oct 03 - 02:57 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 08:47 AM

When I've performed 'Weapon of Prayer' there's a repeated line

'While the boys so bravely stand
With their weapons made by hand'

which has sometimes drawn sniggers with the audients singing

'....With their weapons in their hands!'

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Jack Campin
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 09:43 AM

> From a noted local Scottish fiddler: She was singing in front of hundreds,
> on tour in her youth and got to part of a song about a lass disgusted with the
> men. Instead of singing," Before I'd have a man, I'd rather take a parrot",
> she sang,"Before I'd take a man, I'd rather take a carrot". it took a beat for
> all, including her to realize the implication.

You're thinking of "The Old Maid in the Garret". Both endings are traditional, but you more often hear "carrot" these days. If there was a mistake, it was just doing the wrong version for the occasion.

[The Parting Glass]
: I've got a theory that it's a pre-hanging song anyway, by someone who is going
: to be strung up in the morning

Sir Walter Scott thought it was exactly such a monologue, for the Border reiver Thomas Armstrong, hanged in Edinburgh in 1601. He didn't have any evidence for this that we know about.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mo the caller
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 09:48 AM

I'd quite like to sing the occassional song in sessions, I've practised 'The Next Market Day', but I always get tangled up with
"To sell for her Mammy three hanks of fine yarn"

I'm sure there shouldn't be any Yanks in that song.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 09:50 AM

I've always sung it as 'I'll gently rise and softly call ......

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mark Ross
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 10:33 AM

Thirty some years ago, I played at Democratic Socialist annual dinner , handing out their Eugene Debs-Norman Thomas award. At the end of the festivities I was asked to sing SOLIDARITY FOREVER to close the evening and reversed the opening line;
"When the workers inspiration through the union's blood shall run."

However, I don't think that that qualifies as a blooper, 'cause I did it on purpose! Boy were the Union pie cards in attendance pissed at me.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Peace
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:05 AM

Was part of the congregation one day in church. The hymn was "What a Friend we Have in Jesus". An old friend named Lindsay Cameron (now passed on) had given forth an alternate version one evening while we were trading songs, BSing and having a few(?) beer. Anyway, I conflated the two, and in a loud voice sang, "What a friend we have in Jesus, Christ Almighty what a pal". I was given more than a few looks. I 'slunk' away after the service.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Mr Happy
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:09 AM

LOL!

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:43 AM

While singing the Day of the Clipper from my new sea-songs CD (shameless plug!), I sang, "You'll know the CRIPPLE'S day has come again.

Twice! Couldn't help myself. Some folks noticed, but they thought I was being funny.

While doing The Band Played Waltzing Matilda one night, my mind went walkabout and I noticed the audience looking at me strangely.
I woke up and realized I was singing the same verse twice, so I just said to them, "Hey, I really like that verse, OK?"

Kinda spoiled the emotional impetus of the song, but I got a cheap laugh.

Seamus

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: Acorn4
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:53 AM

We do a trad song called "The Captain Cried" - we both, at the same time, turned "lamenting and sighing" into "cementing and lying"

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 11:55 AM

When I wrote "Lowestoft Rock" and played a rough recording to my (then 17-year old) daughter, as it got to the chorus she blushed to her ears and afterwards said all embarassed: "I don't understand, why do you talk about a large penis in the chorus?".

I explained to her that the lyrics said in fact "large beamers" (trawlers)... I was extra careful with this line on the final recording.

Subject: RE: Gig bloopers - did I sing that???
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 12:07 PM

Back in my earliest years of song, one of the staples (believe it or don't) was "Michael, Row The Boat." I was so sick of being asked to do it that once, while appearing very solumn and singing with great feeling, I perversed the verse, "River Jordan is deep and wide....clean rest rooms on the other side." Some appeared genuinely hurt, as if betrayed. Others roared, knowingly. I know it's not original, but sometimes it just works.

It wasn't singing, but when a famous golfer and his wife appeared on the Johnny Carson "Tonight" show years ago, the host asked the Mrs. how she wished her husband luck before a tournament. Her answer, "I kiss his balls."

One of my favorite "bloopers" was actually a costume malfunction that affected the preposterous prefrontal superstructure of Dolly Parton during a show in San Diego with Kenny Rogers some years back. With true "the show must go on" panache, she said, "Sorry, folks; I didn't mean to moon y'all," as she tucked herself back in and continued her song without a hitch.

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

The biggest audience reaction to a blooper that I've ever seen wasn't for a singer. A young married woman was giving a presentation for a household disinfectant, at a direct marketing seminar. There was a lag of a couple of seconds before everyone really processed the fact that she had just extolled the ability of the product to "kill all kinds of orgasms"; then the roof blew off. She spent some time with her face buried in her arms on the podium before she emerged red-faced to struggle on.

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

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