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Pointless lyric changes in cover versions

This is probably a little far fetched, but I can never understand why there are so many changes made by artists, once they get past the fifth day in the tune 12 Days of Christmas. Seems like one version has it at "10 drummers drumming", while another has it at "12 drummers drumming". Can we make up our minds please? ::)

R
 
Aaaaay, Fonz! (Oh yeah, like you've never heard that one before!) You're right: Haley changed some lines of Joe Turner's Shake Rattle & Roll but not the "one-eyed cat" line. A lot of 1950s r&b songs had thinly veiled sexual language and double entendres. Remember Bull Moose Jackson's Big Ten Inch Record? :eek:

Mister Bass, good ol' Wikipedia has an article about the different lyric variations of The Twelve Days Of Christmas. And don't forget Allan Sherman's The Twelve Gifts Of Christmas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Days_of_Christmas_(song)
 
LARadioRewind said:
A lot of 1950s r&b songs had thinly veiled sexual language and double entendres. Remember Bull Moose Jackson's Big Ten Inch Record?
Click to expand...

Let's not forget Elvis' cover of Smiley Lewis' "One Night of Sin", which morphed into "One Night With You."
 
I didn't forget---I mentioned it on page 1. But speaking of Elvis...have you heard his version of Are You Lonesome Tonight recorded live August 26, 1969 at the International Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas? When he got to the line "Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?", he instead sang "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?" Then he started laughing and couldn't finish the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhmn2i4DBU
 
Yes...I've heard Elvis' hilarious live version of "Lonesome". A classic. Apologies for overlooking your earlier "One Night" post.
 
Too bad there's no video to go along with that! :)

R
 
LARadioRewind said:
But speaking of Elvis...have you heard his version of Are You Lonesome Tonight recorded live August 26, 1969 at the International Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas? When he got to the line "Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?", he instead sang "Do you gaze at your bald head and wish you had hair?" Then he started laughing and couldn't finish the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhmn2i4DBU
Click to expand...

Legend has it that some guy in the front row lost his toupee.
 
EJM said:
...

That said, I actually liked the changes that Del Shannon made to "Runaway" when it was used as the theme to "Crime Story".
Click to expand...

How did he change it?

(I'm old, and like they say the first thing to go is...is...well, it's something that goes when you get old)
 
LARadioRewind said:
Elvis Presley sang "One night with you is what I'm now praying for" because there was no way that manager Tom Parker would have let him record the original Smiley Lewis lyrics, "One night of sin is what I'm now paying for."
Click to expand...

Actually, Elvis recorded the song both ways. The "one night of sin" version is on one of his compilation albums.
 
I recall watching a variety show in the '70s and some male vocalist who had been popular in the '40s or '50s was singing "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," and at the end he added a stupid verse that was like "now he's nice, nice, Leroy Brown..."

Then there was either Johnny Carver or Johnny Duncan who recorded "Country Party," a bastardization of Rick Nelson's "Garden Party." Nelson recorded his song as a somewhat scathing response to being invited to "oldies shows" that only wanted him to sing his hits and nothing else. This was lost, of course, in "Country Party."

Sample lyric:
"Someone opened up the closet door
and out stepped Johnny Cash,
Playing guitar like a ring of fire,
And June was singin' in the back (Jackson)..."
 
And then there's Dolly Parton's version of Stairway To Heaven where she sings "To be a rock and not a roll".
 
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