thh559 (04/30/83)
Have you folks ever considered, that the very reason some songs end up in the Top Forty, is that millions of people on their first exposure to the song respond with, "What was he saying, anyway?" . . . . Acutely, Wolf (thh559)
pfoley (05/09/83)
Just a bit of trivia on the subject: A few weeks ago the morning crew on WPLJ were making fun of a fellow DJ who thought the name of the song "Bad Moon Rising" was "The Bathroom on the Right." (He had interpreted the words "there is a bad moon on the rise" as "there is a bathroom on the right." True confession time--that's what I thought when I first heard the song too!
grw (05/10/83)
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Date:Tue, 10-May-83 15:42:44 EDT
And then there was a friend of mine who thought the
Eagle's "Life in the Fast Lane" was "Life in the Vaseline"
hmm......
-Glennjdb@qubix.UUCP (Jeff Bulf) (10/30/84)
> [-- Mark A.] > Any other nominees out there for Most Unintelligible Lyrics? I'm kind of ashamed to admit this, but I never did make head or tail of the lyrics to the Kingsmen's record of Louie Louie. "But it's really *great* sh*t, Mrs. Preski!" -- Dr Memory ...{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!qubix!jdb
markv@dartvax.UUCP (Mark Vita) (10/31/84)
<...>
About unintelligible lyrics--the master of garbled pronunciation has got to
be John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Surely you've all heard
the tune "Bad Moon Risin'" which contains the line:
There's a bad moon on the rise...
which, because of Fogerty's bizzare diction, has oft been interpreted as:
There's a bathroom on the right....
It took me years to figure out that the refrain of "Lodi" is:
Oh Lord, stuck in old Lodi again.....
There are still some lines in "Down On The Corner" and "Fortunate Son"
which mystify me.
A more recent unintelligible vocalist is Stevie Ray Vaughan. He has
kind of a rough voice to start with, and a Texas drawl which makes it
worse. He also has a tendency to insert interjections such as
"mah" (my) in the middle of lines, which makes it much harder to figure
them out. Frankly, I listen to Vaughan for the guitar, and have never
been struck by any of the lyrics, so I maybe haven't cared enough to
try to fully translate them all. However, after seeing the video for
"Couldn't Stand The Weather", which is kind of bizzare, I've become
interested in figuring out exactly what he says. Anybody out there
have a full (or even partial) decryption of the lyrics to this tune?
I really wish that record companies would make it a policy to publish
lyric sheets with all albums, unless the artist has a strong objection
to doing this. (I don't see why they should, unless the lyrics happen
to be embarrassingly bad.) I sometimes like figuring out lyrics
on my own, but it's frustrating when you can't confirm your guesses.
--
Mark Vita
Dartmouth College
USENET: {decvax,cornell,linus,astrovax}!dartvax!markv
ARPA: markv%dartmouth@csnet-relay
CSNET: markv@dartmouthsherouse@unc.UUCP (George W. Sherouse) (11/01/84)
Unintelligibleness (?) comes in lots of flavors. There's a Joni Mitchell couplet (I think on Hejira) that goes something like ...the people 30 stories down look like colored currents in the street... It was only after many listens that I realized that she meant "currents" and not "currants". I still like my version better. George W. Sherouse <decvax!mcnc!unc!godot!sherouse> "... 'til I step on the brake to get out of her clutches..."
acsgjjp@sunybcs.UUCP (Jim Poltrone) (11/06/84)
I still don't know how that Beach Boys song can be called "Barbara Ann".
Every time I hear it on the radio or wherever, it always sounds like:
"Ba Ba Ba, Ba Ba Ba Ran".
I still maintain that the song is really "Baba Ran". And that falsetto is
awful! (Ba-ba Ran....)
(on a sidenote, there were some new lyrics written in the wake of the
hostage situation five years ago -- 'nuff said!)
And when I was younger, I thought Buddy Holly was singing about "Peggy
Soup" (now I know it's Peggy Sue). Shades of cannibalism here? :-)
--
From under the smogberry trees....
Jim Poltrone (a/k/a Poltr1, the Last of the Raster Blasters)
uucp: [decvax,watmath,rocksvax]!sunybcs!acsgjjp
ARPAnet, CSnet: acsgjjp%buffalo@CSNET-RELAY
"But someday soon we'll stop to ponder
What on earth's this spell we're under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are..."wn@maxvax.UUCP (11/06/84)
During this discussion, I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned that recent, punk-folk-hippie music band from Athens, Georgia, R.E.M. They are one of the best bands of the past few years, but I think a lot of people have trouble enjoying their music because the lead singer's vocals are not only slurred and heavily accented (Southern?), but they are usually buried way down in the mix. The tunes have very catchy melodies, with jangling guitars and harmonies, but it's hard to "sing along" when you don't know what-the-heck is being sung! Anyway, don't let this keep you away from this fine band's music. There most recent album is "Reckoning", their first is called "Murmer", their both available on IRS Records (wherever five records are sold -): ), and I highly recommend them both. Bill ...maxvax!wn
mengm@homxa.UUCP (P.MENG) (11/07/84)
---------------------><--------------------------- Unintelligible lyrics, I used to think that the Down Under lyrics by Men at Work were actually "I come from a land of hunger" . In fact I've been caught singing this phrase to myself on more than one occasion. BTW, whats goin on with Men At Work?? It seems like years. Peter Meng ---------------------><---------------------------
Carl Moore (VLD/VMB) <cmoore@BRL-VLD.ARPA> (11/07/84)
"Barbara Ann" is not a Beach Boys original. It was done in 1961 by
the Regents (and I think the Regents' version is in American Graffiti).
What new lyrics are you referring to about the hostage crisis? The
only ones I know of were to the music of "My Sharona", new title being
"Ayatollah".
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From: Jim Poltrone <acsgjjp@sunybcs.uucp>
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Unintelligible lyrics
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Date: 5 Nov 84 23:58:45 GMT
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I still don't know how that Beach Boys song can be called "Barbara Ann".
Every time I hear it on the radio or wherever, it always sounds like:
"Ba Ba Ba, Ba Ba Ba Ran".
I still maintain that the song is really "Baba Ran". And that falsetto is
awful! (Ba-ba Ran....)
(on a sidenote, there were some new lyrics written in the wake of the
hostage situation five years ago -- 'nuff said!)
And when I was younger, I thought Buddy Holly was singing about "Peggy
Soup" (now I know it's Peggy Sue). Shades of cannibalism here? :-)
--
From under the smogberry trees....
Jim Poltrone (a/k/a Poltr1, the Last of the Raster Blasters)
uucp: [decvax,watmath,rocksvax]!sunybcs!acsgjjp
ARPAnet, CSnet: acsgjjp%buffalo@CSNET-RELAY
"But someday soon we'll stop to ponder
What on earth's this spell we're under
We made the grade and still we wonder who the hell we are..."
----- End of forwarded messagesRon Natalie <ron@BRL-TGR.ARPA> (11/08/84)
Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.
allynh@ucbvax.ARPA (Allyn Hardyck) (11/17/84)
AND they're great live. The best concert I've seen this year (at the Warfield (SF) in June). -- "When you hear the air attack warning..." Allyn Hardyck ..!ucbvax!allynh allynh@ucbvax.ARPA
Pawka <PAWKA@nosc-tecr.ARPA> (01/25/85)
Speaking of such, can anyone give the words in the chorus line in "The Heart of Rock and Roll"? Thanks, Mike ------
al@psivax.UUCP (Al Schwartz) (02/01/85)
In article <7711@brl-tgr.ARPA> Pawka <PAWKA@nosc-tecr.ARPA> writes: > > Speaking of such, can anyone give the words in the chorus line >in "The Heart of Rock and Roll"? Thanks, > Mike >------ The heart o' rock and roll is still beatin' And from what I've seen I believe 'em Now the old boy may be barely breathin' but the heart o' rock and roll, the heart o' rock and roll, is still beat-in'. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Yow! Am I having fun yet? Al Schwartz Pacesetter Systems Inc., Sylmar, CA {trwrb|allegra|burdvax|cbosgd|hplabs|ihnp4|sdcsvax|aero|uscvax|ucla-cs| bmcg|sdccsu3|csun|orstcs|akgua|randvax}!sdcrdcf!psivax!al
marno@ihuxm.UUCP (Marilyn Ashley) (02/04/85)
> > Speaking of such, can anyone give the words in the chorus line > in "The Heart of Rock and Roll"? Thanks, > Mike > ------ They say the Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating And from what I've seen I believe it Now the others may be barely breathing But the Heart of Rock and Roll, Heart of Rock and Roll is still beating.
Ron Natalie <ron@BRL-TGR.ARPA> (02/05/85)
Old boy? Oh, I thought they were saying "elbow". -Ron The elbow of rock and roll is still bending. God bless the human elbow. God bless it where it bends. If it bent too long, we'd be dry, I fear. If it bent too short, we'd be drinking in our ear. So, God bless it where it bends.