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Song titles people get wrong

CTListener said:
cd637299 said:
^ I tried to use the Quote function at the library here, but it keeps going haywire.

I did not get it either, when I read it the first time....years later I heard the pronunciation:

EYE-nuh KLY-nuh NOCKT-moo-sick

Sounds pretty close, eh?

cd

That's like the Strauss operetta describing what happens after a Disney parade ends: "Deflate a Mouse."

Or that new movie with Anne Hathaway, featuring Hugh Jackman, who can't walk.

You know: "Lame Is Rob".
 
Jackson Browne recorded a song with a title that voices a complaint to a physician, beginning with Doctor, My Eyes. I might be the only person on the planet who doesn't call it Doctor My Eyes, as though "Doctor" is a verb and not a term of address.

And the title of Led Zeppelin's D'yer Mak'er is a Cockney English pronunciation of the phrase "Do you make her?" It drives me crazy to hear it pronounced as "Dy-er May-ker." It's "D' yer make 'er?"
 
LARadioRewind said:
And the title of Led Zeppelin's D'yer Mak'er is a Cockney English pronunciation of the phrase "Do you make her?" It drives me crazy to hear it pronounced as "Dy-er May-ker." It's "D' yer make 'er?"

I always thought it was a mispronunciation of "Jamaica."
 
^ Well as far as Zep, whatever good Wiki is, I think that the actual pronunciation is "Jamaica" (this was just posted above me, ha ha). The tune does have a reggae beat (wasn't it recorded in Jamaica?). (And yes I know the possible joke there, and I'm ashamed.)

Has anyone heard American Top 40 w/ Casey during the run of that tune? I wonder how he pronounced it. One of our local DJ's (possibly at an AOR station in the 70s) called it "Dire Mocker."

I understand that even the Zep members intentionally spelled the name of the band "Led Zeppelin", because they feared those "stupid Americans would call it Lead Zeppelin." You know....their popularity might gave gone over like a lead balloon, or zeppelin.

I could be wrong on all this.....

cd
 
cd637299 said:
^ Well as far as Zep, whatever good Wiki is, I think that the actual pronunciation is "Jamaica" (this was just posted above me, ha ha). The tune does have a reggae beat (wasn't it recorded in Jamaica?). (And yes I know the possible joke there, and I'm ashamed.)

Has anyone heard American Top 40 w/ Casey during the run of that tune? I wonder how he pronounced it. One of our local DJ's (possibly at an AOR station in the 70s) called it "Dire Mocker."

I understand that even the Zep members intentionally spelled the name of the band "Led Zeppelin", because they feared those "stupid Americans would call it Lead Zeppelin." You know....their popularity might gave gone over like a lead balloon, or zeppelin.

I could be wrong on all this.....

cd

Casey got it right: "Jer-MAKE-Er".
 
cd637299 said:
I understand that even the Zep members intentionally spelled the name of the band "Led Zeppelin", because they feared those "stupid Americans would call it Lead Zeppelin." You know....their popularity might gave gone over like a lead balloon, or zeppelin.

I could be wrong on all this.....

cd

I think they didn't want it mispronounced "Leed" Zeppelin.
 
You guys think D'yer Mak'er was pronounced like Jamaica or Jer-Make-'er? Okay, you guys have been reading far too many Andy Capp comic strips! :D
 
LARadioRewind said:
You guys think D'yer Mak'er was pronounced like Jamaica or Jer-Make-'er? Okay, you guys have been reading far too many Andy Capp comic strips! :D

Steve: Maybe it's time for you to have a cup of cocoa and call it a night:

The name of the song is derived from an old joke, where two friends have the following exchange: "My wife's gone to the West Indies." "Jamaica?" (which has a similar pronunciation as "D'you make her?") "No, she went of her own accord". On 21 July 2005, Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant discussed the song during an interview with Mike Halloran, a DJ on radio station FM94.9 in San Diego. During the interview, he talked about the different interpretations and pronunciations of the name of the song.[3] The title, which appears nowhere in the lyrics, was chosen because it reflects the reggae feel of the song. Plant has said that he finds it amusing when fans completely overlook the apostrophes and naively mispronounce the title as "Dire Maker".
 
rnigma said:
cd637299 said:
I understand that even the Zep members intentionally spelled the name of the band "Led Zeppelin", because they feared those "stupid Americans would call it Lead Zeppelin." You know....their popularity might gave gone over like a lead balloon, or zeppelin.

I could be wrong on all this.....

cd

I think they didn't want it mispronounced "Leed" Zeppelin.

That same situation occured with the band LIVE. My understanding is that the members wanted it to be pronounced live with a short i. However, with out any context sorrounding the word, especially when seeing a display at a record store for an album like Throwing Copper: Live. Most will just assume it's a live, long I, recording of a band their not familiar with and once they learn, the mispronounciation stays. As for the members of the band,they've accepted it and learned to live with it.
 
Not a pop hit, but a song performed at President Obama's inauguration yesterday was reported incorrectly by the Associated Press as "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." The correct title is "America." Similarly, "America the Beautiful" often is referred to incorrectly as "O Beautiful."
 
rnigma said:
"Gimme Little Sign," Brenton Wood: "Gimme Some Kinda Sign"

Yup....."gimme little sign" is used nowhere in the lyrics.

cd
 
A few days ago on Jeopardy, one of the categories was "geographical groups," singing groups whose name includes the name of a city or state. The clue to Buffalo Springfield was "Stop, hey, what's that sound?" How many people really think those words are the title? The song is For What It's Worth. Alex Trebek should have said something!

And speaking of titular words that don't appear in the lyrics, how about Savage Garden's 1998 number-one hit Truly Madly Deeply?
 
LARadioRewind said:
A few days ago on Jeopardy, one of the categories was "geographical groups," singing groups whose name includes the name of a city or state. The clue to Buffalo Springfield was "Stop, hey, what's that sound?" How many people really think those words are the title? The song is For What It's Worth. Alex Trebek should have said something!
Isn't that the subtitle? At any rate, they were only looking for clues, not necessarily the song's title.
And speaking of titular words that don't appear in the lyrics, how about Savage Garden's 1998 number-one hit Truly Madly Deeply?
I once had a whole thread about that on the '50s/'60s board. I called it "The title is never heard," in case you want to look it up.
 
Huh!!! Many years ago on a Weekly Top 40 countdown show, Rick Dees asked what was the most recent number-one song (excluding instrumentals, of course) where the title was not part of the lyrics. The answer was Truly Madly Deeply. Apparently no one on Rick's staff paid much attention to the lyrics. Neither did I!
 
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