Song Titles or Lyrics that may be heard differently.....

[firepoint525]

And it was "blew out my flip-flop, stepped on a pop top, cut my heel, had to cruise on back home"

Correct. And the pop-top cans in both "Margaritaville" and "Pop a Top" were undoubtedly beer cans, not soda cans. However, they were called pop tops to distinguish them not from cans that needed an opener or key but from the first easy-opening beer/soda cans, the pull-tab cans. Those tabs came right off and could actually slice your heel when left on the beach. I believe Buffett sings "bruised my heel," which mans he had stepped on a whole, intact can rather than a sharp-sided tab.

Unitron has the lyric correct. Buffett stepped on a pop top, not the entire can. But a "pop top" (and I am referencing the pull tabs that were indeed on soda pop cans back in the '70s, and probably earlier) could have indeed cut your heel if you had stepped on one on the beach just the right way.

But my thinking that Buffett said that he stepped on a "pop-tart," while it doesn't make any sense (unless someone dropped one on the beach), fit with my line of thinking, since we pretty much called everything by its brand name. Sodas and colas were "Cokes," bandages were "band-aids," tissues were "Kleenexes," and drink mixes were "Kool-Aid," regardless of what actual brand name any of these products actually had. We referred to almost everything by its proper brand name, usually the best-known brand name.

 

[oldies76]

Sodas and colas were "Cokes," bandages were "band-aids," tissues were "Kleenexes," and drink mixes were "Kool-Aid," regardless of what actual brand name any of these products actually had. We referred to almost everything by its proper brand name, usually the best-known brand name.

I think you forgot the most common product.......good old "Scotch Tape". It may have even applied to the reel to reel & cassette tape brand too, not just adhesive tapes...

 

[firepoint525]

Listening to my old (and I mean OLD!) cassette tape of John "Cougar" Mellencamp's (as he was known at the time) Uh-Huh. Couldn't he have come up with a better name for an album? Anyway, I was listening to it to let the wife hear what a lame song "Jackie O" was, and it tracked over into "Play Guitar." There is a line in there that says "friends think you're bizarre," which to me always sounded like "Frenchmen killed the czar"! ;D To me, "Frenchmen killed the czar" is actually a better line, although it wouldn't make much sense for the song. The top 40 station in my former hometown actually gave "Play Guitar" a few spins back in the day, although they of course censored the line that said "Forget all about that macho shit, and learn how to play guitar."

I was in college back at the time, and I still remember the headline to that album review in the student newspaper, "Uh-Huh is Unh-Unh." ;D Needless to say, they didn't like it.

 

[EZway2go]

Sometimes singers invoke poetic justice to make the lyrics fit the melody. In Christopher Cross' "Never Be The Same," I had absolutely no idea what he was saying in the second line of the chorus until I looked it up... "I'll live alone and hide myself behind my tears." I would never have guessed the words were "I'll live alone" because he puts the emphasis on the first syllable of 'alone' (uh-lone) which is contrary to everyday speech.

 

[cd637299]

Sometimes singers invoke poetic justice to make the lyrics fit the melody. In Christopher Cross' "Never Be The Same," I had absolutely no idea what he was saying in the second line of the chorus until I looked it up... "I'll live alone and hide myself behind my tears." I would never have guessed the words were "I'll live alone" because he puts the emphasis on the first syllable of 'alone' (uh-lone) which is contrary to everyday speech.

Stevie Wonder is big on that.....like in "Sir Duke":

"One of THE things that life just won't quit" (whatever that means, anyway)

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[CTListener]

Sometimes singers invoke poetic justice to make the lyrics fit the melody. In Christopher Cross' "Never Be The Same," I had absolutely no idea what he was saying in the second line of the chorus until I looked it up... "I'll live alone and hide myself behind my tears." I would never have guessed the words were "I'll live alone" because he puts the emphasis on the first syllable of 'alone' (uh-lone) which is contrary to everyday speech.

Stevie Wonder is big on that.....like in "Sir Duke":

"One of THE things that life just won't quit" (whatever that means, anyway)

cd

As talented as he is, he strains for a rhyme at times. From "Living for the City": "To find a job is like a haystack needle / 'cause where they live, they don't use colored people." Cringeworthy.

 

[rnigma1]

Likewise, in Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams":
"When the rain wa-SHES you clean, you'll know..."

 

[rnigma1]

Oh, and when WJAD was playing "Doctor, Doctor" by Thompson Twins, one of my fellow jocks and I were having a disagreement on the lyrics in one line, whether it was "we all leave before the morning light" or "relief before the morning light."

 

[unitron]

Oh, and when WJAD was playing "Doctor, Doctor" by Thompson Twins, one of my fellow jocks and I were having a disagreement on the lyrics in one line, whether it was "we all leave before the morning light" or "relief before the morning light."

Relief before the morning light just comes from playing doctor.

 

[firepoint525]

Sometimes singers invoke poetic justice to make the lyrics fit the melody. In Christopher Cross' "Never Be The Same," I had absolutely no idea what he was saying in the second line of the chorus until I looked it up... "I'll live alone and hide myself behind my tears." I would never have guessed the words were "I'll live alone" because he puts the emphasis on the first syllable of 'alone' (uh-lone) which is contrary to everyday speech.

Stevie Wonder is big on that.....like in "Sir Duke":
"One of THE things that life just won't quit" (whatever that means, anyway)

On "I Wish," he sang, "why did those days (pause) eh (pause) ver have to go?" That made no sense to me for the longest time! :

And ELO, on "Evil Woman," sang "you found UH fool lying in a daze." For the longest time, I thought that Jeff Lynne was singing "you found Ethel lying in a daze." As if it were some sort of throwback to "The Streak" or something! :

And yeah, the Fleetwood Mac song was confusing, too! :

 

[cd637299]

Correct on Stevie...and, two songs from the same album!

As to "Evil Woman", isn't it supposed to be "Medieval Woman"? (A common misheard)

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[firepoint525]

As to "Evil Woman", isn't it supposed to be "Medieval Woman"? (A common misheard)

Another one of those instances in which the "mistaken" title is actually better than the REAL title! ;D

 

[CTListener]

Likewise, in Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams":
"When the rain wa-SHES you clean, you'll know..."

Simon & Garfunkelm "Sound(s) of Silence": "'neath the halo of A street lamp." Odd emphasis on the indefinite article. Also, in "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," Paul sings "robbed a hard liquor store." Nobody calls them that; they're just liquor stores or, at least in parts of New England, package stores. I think the "hard" was just tossed in there to pad out the line.

 

[firepoint525]

Simon & Garfunkelm "Sound(s) of Silence": "'neath the halo of A street lamp." Odd emphasis on the indefinite article. Also, in "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," Paul sings "robbed a hard liquor store." Nobody calls them that; they're just liquor stores or, at least in parts of New England, package stores. I think the "hard" was just tossed in there to pad out the line.

Ah, yes, the ol' need for an extra syllable. See Steve Miller in "Jet Airliner" in which he sings "big ol' jet air-uh-liner" so it sort of rhymes with "Carolina." However, we can't really fault Steve for that since he didn't write that one. But how does Steve explain away rhyming "taxes" with "facts is" in "Take the Money and Run"? And for the longest time, I did not know where "Tuckahoma" was (mentioned in "Rockin' Me") until I realized that it was Tacoma that he was referring to, there.

 

[cd637299]

Simon & Garfunkelm "Sound(s) of Silence": "'neath the halo of A street lamp." Odd emphasis on the indefinite article. Also, in "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," Paul sings "robbed a hard liquor store." Nobody calls them that; they're just liquor stores or, at least in parts of New England, package stores. I think the "hard" was just tossed in there to pad out the line.

Ah, yes, the ol' need for an extra syllable. See Steve Miller in "Jet Airliner" in which he sings "big ol' jet air-uh-liner" so it sort of rhymes with "Carolina." However, we can't really fault Steve for that since he didn't write that one. But how does Steve explain away rhyming "taxes" with "facts is" in "Take the Money and Run"? And for the longest time, I did not know where "Tuckahoma" was (mentioned in "Rockin' Me") until I realized that it was Tacoma that he was referring to, there.

And don't forget, he totally made up the word "pompitous" (The Joker).

cd

 

[CTListener]

And then there was that line in "The Flintstones" theme that hardly anyone understood, the one after "Let's ride with the family down the street." I never knew that the next line was "through the courtesy of Fred's two feet," believe it or not, until I joined the Internet age in 1997! It is sung with such strange emphasis and pacing that it's very difficult to get, even on repeated listens.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Some Light My Fire lyrics (Doors) were hard to follow, ie "... Funeral (?)..." Another '60s classic that used to confuse me was The Beatles She Loves You; "...'advice from her to do', apologize to her..."

And, of course, remember the intentionally slurred lines of The Kingsmen's copy of Louie, Louie?

 

[cd637299]

And then there was that line in "The Flintstones" theme that hardly anyone understood, the one after "Let's ride with the family down the street." I never knew that the next line was "through the courtesy of Fred's two feet," believe it or not, until I joined the Internet age in 1997! It is sung with such strange emphasis and pacing that it's very difficult to get, even on repeated listens.

Story on this.....

Beginning with the Saturday morning reruns of "The Flintstones" on NBC, and through its syndication run of the first two seasons (when the actual first-run theme was an instrumental called "Rise and Shine" when shown on ABC), the second theme of "Meet the Flintstones" was placed over it, with the entire "courtesy" line totally removed! The whole video became silent for 4 seconds at the end. (Maybe some of you remember this.)

I was told by somebody at a cartoon messageboard.....and this is weird.....that NBC had it removed, because part of that "courtesy" line sounded like "ABC". I have a hard time believing that, BUT, what other reason could it be? (besides that nobody could understand it---like you, I found it out much later in life as well)

This choppy theme is never shown anymore, after the "Rise & Shine" video was computer colorized; so no need of the confusion anymore. (The first 2 seasons, although produced in color, were shown only in B&W on ABC.)

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[firepoint525]

Simon & Garfunkelm "Sound(s) of Silence": "'neath the halo of A street lamp." Odd emphasis on the indefinite article. Also, in "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.," Paul sings "robbed a hard liquor store." Nobody calls them that; they're just liquor stores or, at least in parts of New England, package stores. I think the "hard" was just tossed in there to pad out the line.

Ah, yes, the ol' need for an extra syllable. See Steve Miller in "Jet Airliner" in which he sings "big ol' jet air-uh-liner" so it sort of rhymes with "Carolina." However, we can't really fault Steve for that since he didn't write that one. But how does Steve explain away rhyming "taxes" with "facts is" in "Take the Money and Run"? And for the longest time, I did not know where "Tuckahoma" was (mentioned in "Rockin' Me") until I realized that it was Tacoma that he was referring to, there.

And don't forget, he totally made up the word "pompitous" (The Joker).

How pompitous of him to do that! ;D

 

[CTListener]

Some Light My Fire lyrics (Doors) were hard to follow, ie "... Funeral (?)..." Another '60s classic that used to confuse me was The Beatles She Loves You; "...'advice from her to do', apologize to her..."

And, of course, remember the intentionally slurred lines of The Kingsmen's copy of Louie, Louie?

Who doesn't? Every grade school and middle school boy was absolutely sure they were singing "Every night at 10, I'd lay her again."