When I was a radio disc jockey and producer, I spoke to listeners on the telephone every day. Many of the calls were song requests, and many of those requests came from people misquoting a song title or misunderstanding the lyrics. Some of them were pretty hilarious.
I kept track of them because I was going to compile them into a book. Unfortunately, somebody beat me to it. (Gavin Edwards wrote “Excuse me while I kiss this guy.”)
I hadn’t looked at that list for a long time, but this week I pulled it out again because I had to add a new one to the Beatles list, courtesy of my son Johnny.
Here are a few of my favorites already on the list…
*Someone once asked for the Beatles song–”All my luggage, I will send to you.” (Actual words–”All my loving”)
*Another time a teenage girl asked for the Beatles song about Britney Spears. I didn’t know what she was talking about, so I asked her sing it. She sang the last sentence of the song “Sgt. Pepper.”
“So let me introduce to you, the only and only Britney Spears, and someone’s gonna hold her by the ha-ha-hand.” (Actual words–”And let me introduce to you, the one and only Billy Shears, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”)
*My old boss John Landecker was once inspired to do a bit about the song “Lucy in the sky with Diamonds” because a listener thought one of the lines was: “The girl with colitis goes by.” (Actual words–”The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.”)
*A middle aged woman once requested the song: “She’s got a tick in her eye.” (Actual words–”She’s got a ticket to ride.”)
And now Johnny joins the list with his interpretation of the lyrics from “Lady Madonna.” I heard him sing this while listening to his iPod the other day and made him repeat it to make sure I understood him correctly. This is what he thought the words were…
“Lady Madonna, chewing at your feet, wonder how she managed to eat, eat, eat.” (Actual words–”Lady Madonna, children at your feet, wonder how you manage to make ends meet.”)
So close.
Do you have any to add to the list before I put it away again?
November 8th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
John Fogerty sometime sings in concert Theirs a bathroom on the right, in place of bad moon on the rise in a CCR song.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Rick,
Well, not exactly a misunderstood lyric…but, when I was in college, I once remember reading a music critic for the Chicago Tribune refer to the Doobie Brothers song “Without Love” while reviewing their concert. (Actual title: “Long Train Running” - you’d think a music critic would know better).
November 9th, 2009 at 1:22 am
[...] reading Rick’s latest post here on his “Father Knows Nothing” [...]
November 16th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Hey Rick, how have you been? A guy we used to hang out told us he loved the Bruce Springsteen song: Dead Devil in the Freezer (Actually - Tenth Avenue Freeze Out)
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