Musical phrases

Manfred Mann, but it's a misheard lyric from 'Blinded by the Light'.

The correct lyric is: "And little Early Pearly came by in his curly wurly and asked me if I needed a ride"

(not that I want to be all that...um...anal...about using the actual lyrics, but...)

Kind of like "Kiss the sky" was the real Hendrix lyric, not "kiss this guy."
 
There are people in the United States who do not want science teachers to use the name of the planet 'Uranus', even though it was named after a mythological deity the Greeks called Ouranos, not a body part called Your Anus.

But I digress.

Ouranos was the Ancient Greek deity of the sky. And we all know about the Ancient Greeks, right? Oh, c'mon, try not to laugh. Try really hard.

In English the transliteration was 'Uranus'.

Again, try not to laugh. Really. You're a grown-up.

I'm gonna say it:

This transliteration was a wonderful thing for Dad Joke and Middle School jokesters all over the English speaking world. This includes your humble poster, moi.

"Only douchebags say 'moi'."

"It's an actual word in France, OK?" :rolleyes:

"Are you in France?"

"Isn't Detroit based on French meaning, 'The Narrows' or 'The Straits', meaning a narrow point between two land masses separated by water?"

"Sure, but..."

"Then I might as well be in France so STFU."

"Well, Douche is also a French word."

"Touche." :rolleyes:

The operation that trapped the Germans at Stalingrad was called Operation Uranus (for real, look it up).

This is no small coincidence. My own guess is the Soviets figured they were really sticking it to the Nazis.

"Les, in Russian, the word is Уран, pronounced, 'ouran'. They weren't thinking about anuses."

"The hell they weren't!"
 
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LSchefman said:
There are people in the United States who do not want science teachers to use the name of the planet 'Uranus', even though it was named after a mythological deity the Greeks called Ouranos, not a body part called Your Anus.
Click to expand...

Uranus, Ouranus - as long as we share, what difference does it make?

Lots of French-named places around here, some of which have the French pronunciations (Duquesne), most of which do not. I live in North Versailles - it's one of the do nots. One of my favorite comedians, Craig Shoemaker, went to college around here, so he's very familiar w/the area. One time when we saw him, he said he had been driving around with the middle act, and they saw a sign for here. The middle guy said, "Hey, a place called North Ver-sigh." Shoemaker said, "No, it's pronounced 'Ver-sales'." They proceeded to dispute the pronunciation, and Shoemaker said, "Okay, knucklehead, I'll prove it to you." He said they pulled into the first business they passed, went inside to the counter, and he said to the guy behind the counter, "Would you please tell this dimwit where we're at? And please, say it slow so it will get past his thick skull." The guy behind the counter turned to the other guy and said, "Bur. Ger. King."
 
Decades ago, I was playing the record "Can't Explain" by The Who.
My dad comes into my room with the most confused look on his face and says "what are they singing? Cabbage Train?"

Got one more that's hilarious. Around that same time I was listening to "I'm So Glad" by Cream on the living room stereo.
Mom's in the kitchen and with a raised voice says "alright, I'm glad he's glad. Now shut it off!!!"
 
LSchefman said:
Manfred Mann, but it's a misheard lyric from 'Blinded by the Light'.

The correct lyric is: "And little Early Pearly came by in his curly wurly and asked me if I needed a ride"

(not that I want to be all that...um...anal...about using the actual lyrics, but...)

Kind of like "Kiss the sky" was the real Hendrix lyric, not "kiss this guy."
Click to expand...
I thought it was "Kiss this fly!!" Thanks Les...your innus indeed.
 
English IHMO is by far the most musical language, it best fits all genres; its balance between vowels and consonants makes it really easy to adapt it to the melody.

But the feature that the pronunciation does not correspond to the writing sometimes leads to mishearing the text.

This is not the first time I assist to a similar discussion, I remember one regarding Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet":
someone confused the verse "through the bars of rhyme" with "through the bars of Orion".
 
LSchefman said:
Has anyone ever figured out the lyrics to the Kingsmen's version of 'Louie Louie'?

I think not!
Click to expand...

The great folk singer Todd Snider has a song called "The Ballad Of The Kingsmen". In the spoken bit at the beginning of the song, he says, "Now, I don't know the words to that song, 'Louie Louie'. I'm pretty sure that the singer for the Kingsmen knew 'em either. If he did know 'em, he didn't get 'em right on the record."

 
Done dirt cheap vs Dunder Chief. Always thought that one would make a great band name and them some guys went and did it.
 
alantig said:
The great folk singer Todd Snider has a song called "The Ballad Of The Kingsmen". In the spoken bit at the beginning of the song, he says, "Now, I don't know the words to that song, 'Louie Louie'. I'm pretty sure that the singer for the Kingsmen knew 'em either. If he did know 'em, he didn't get 'em right on the record."

Click to expand...
There was the original 1950s version by the writer (Louis Berry) with the correct lyrics, but yeah, the Kingsmen kinda winged it.

In 1964, The Kingsmen did a gig at an outdoor theater called The Ponytail in Harbor Springs, MI, a resort town off Lake Michigan near Petoskey, Charlevoix, and Traverse City, I was a kid at summer camp that year, but our camp was in Charlevoix, and our counselor wanted to take us to do fun things.

So we went! Woohoo!

We were there to see our rock idols leave the tour bus looking pretty much like we did (preppy), then slick their hair back with some grease, come back off the bus in tight pants and iridescent jackets, and suddenly they were...The Kingsmen! The ultimate early '60s greaser band!

I should add that this was the first time I'd ever seen a big time band play to a HUGE crowd (yeah, there were maybe 300 people, it was a pretty small place, but rock and roll wasn't then what it later came to be ;)).

I was freaking MESMERIZED!

Players of my generation often say that their into to what was possible was the Ed Sullivan Show with the Beatles' first appearance. Well, that got to me for sure, but it didn't change my life. Why? I played piano.

Seeing The Kingsmen in 1964? The Rhodes piano intro? Suddenly I was in like Flynn.

Yessir/Yes Ma'am/Yes Other/Yes Alien Being. That was the moment where I said, "I have GOT to do this."

Somehow I also got up the nerve to ask a girl at the show I didn't know to dance. Because there weren't seats, there weren't tables, there were benches arranged around a dance floor. I asked the prettiest girl I saw.

People didn't stand around and watch the band. The mosh pit hadn't been invented. We danced. Yes, in our madras shirts and white Levis and Bass Weejuns, we were supposed to dance!

I almost passed out when the girl said, "Sure".

Really. Adolescence was different back then.

And the early '60s were...um...different than the way things are now. Also I only had brothers. The only girl I knew well was my mom. And she didn't count.

"I thought you were around 40 in 1964."

"My brothers say I was 40 at birth. So I don't really know how old I was."

"What gear were the Kingsmen using?"

"The guitarist and bass player used Sunn amps, and as a result Sunn amps were legends to me. The bass player had an SG bass. Guitar player had a Guild that looked a lot like a 335. The keyboard player had a Fender Rhodes, and the lead singer also played sax." I was focused in on that Rhodes like a laser. Like a freakin' LASER.

"What happened to the girl?"

"Beats me. I didn't have the brains to ask for her phone number. And I'd NEVER have had the nerve to call, anyway. Danced a few dances, that was the entire romance. Afterward, back to camp, baseball, and Lake Charlevoix.

"Ever get that Rhodes?"

"Nope. After I learned the solo in 'House of the Rising Sun' on the organ, I was no longer interested in pianos for a long time. But after that summer, a guy in my cabin who played drums, and a guy in another cabin who played bass formed our first band."
 
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After about 20 years a friend confessed she thought Radar Love was Red Hot Love!

One of These Days from Meddle is my favorite misheard lyrics song 'cos you can hear two different lyrics in the same phrase!
 
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