Alpo Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 You ever feel dumb, when you been singing a song for years and years, and then find out you've been singing the wrong words? There's a sea chanty. All For Me Grog. Chorus goes All for me grog Me jolly jolly grog All gone for beer and tobacco For I spent up all me tin On molasses drink and gin And across the Western Ocean I must wander That made perfect sense to me. Rum is made from sugarcane. Molasses is made from sugarcane. Yankee sea captains would pick up a load of molasses in the West Indies and take it back to New England and sell it to the distilleries, who would make rum with it. So molasses drink made perfect sense as another name for rum. I've been singing that song for more than 20 years. This morning I'm reading a short story that was written in 1931. A sailor is about to be Shanghaied. He's leading up against the lamppost, drunk, singing to himself. Well I spent up all me tin On the lasses, drinking gin And across the Western Ocean I must wander. Huh. So I look up the lyrics to that chanty. And he's not imbibing molasses drink. He's hanging out with the lasses, drinking. Oh well. Could be worse. I could think there was a bathroom on the right. Or maybe say Bella Bella, even say Wonder bar. Oh them mis-heard lyrics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cypress Sun Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann) is probably the song with the most mis-heard lyric (notice lyric is not plural) of any song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 You know the old saying (g-rated for publication), "I spent most of my money on women and ale. The rest I just wasted." I'm OK if there's a bathroom on the right, so long as you don't say " 'scuse me while I kiss this guy..." 1 minute ago, Cypress Sun said: Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann) is probably the song with the most mis-heard lyric (notice lyric is not plural) of any song. Never could figure out how to wrap up a... Uh... Nevermind... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Louie Louie has to be #1 https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2479544 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warden Callaway Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 54 minutes ago, Alpo said: You ever feel dumb, when you been singing a song for years and years, and then find out you've been singing the wrong words? There's a sea chanty. All For Me Grog. Chorus goes All for me grog Me jolly jolly grog All gone for beer and tobacco For I spent up all me tin On molasses drink and gin And across the Western Ocean I must wander That made perfect sense to me. Rum is made from sugarcane. Molasses is made from sugarcane. Yankee sea captains would pick up a load of molasses in the West Indies and take it back to New England and sell it to the distilleries, who would make rum with it. So molasses drink made perfect sense as another name for rum. I've been singing that song for more than 20 years. This morning I'm reading a short story that was written in 1931. A sailor is about to be Shanghaied. He's leading up against the lamppost, drunk, singing to himself. Well I spent up all me tin On the lasses, drinking gin And across the Western Ocean I must wander. Huh. So I look up the lyrics to that chanty. And he's not imbibing molasses drink. He's hanging out with the lasses, drinking. Oh well. Could be worse. I could think there was a bathroom on the right. Or maybe say Bella Bella, even say Wonder bar. Oh them mis-heard lyrics. It might could be that you first heard and learned a different version. By their nature chanties, like folk songs, tend to have several versions, all equally correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 I have made lyrical mistakes. Blinded by the Light was one. Neither version makes a damn bit of sense. Mine or theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 30 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said: It might could be that you first heard and learned a different version. By their nature chanties, like folk songs, tend to have several versions, all equally correct. That's a very good theory, and I like it. However, this is the album that I learned it from. And knowing what the lyric is supposed to be, it is quite obvious they are saying, "on the lasses, drinkin' gin", not "on molasses drink and gin". I learned many a seafaring song from Dramtreo - a bar band in Chesapeake, back in the early 90s. One of my favorites was Maui. And when the internet came along I found there were lots of versions of Maui that did not agree with the one I learned. There's a great chanty called Paddy Lay Back. And again, the versions you find on YouTube are not the version I learned. It was then I made up me mind to leave her I get a job, and spend me life ashore. So I jumped overboard and swam ashore boys And in the English bar I found a whore Paddy lay back, take in the slack Take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl About ship's stations boys be handy We're bound for Valparaiso round the horn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 2 minutes ago, Alpo said: That's a very good theory, and I like it. However, this is the album that I learned it from. And knowing what the lyric is supposed to be, it is quite obvious they are saying, "on the lasses, drinkin' gin", not "on molasses drink and gin". Ah! It would be interesting to get a folk musicologist to do some research into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: Louie Louie has to be #1 https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2479544 I don't know if they qualify as misheard or flat-out not understandable. They are the only ones I am aware of to have spawned an FBI investigation, though.https://www.npr.org/2015/05/02/403623915/louie-louie-indecipherable-or-indecent-an-fbi-investigation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Gone away is the blue bird here to stay is a new bird he sings a love song as we go along walking 'round in women's underwear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 3 hours ago, DocWard said: I don't know if they qualify as misheard or flat-out not understandable. They are the only ones I am aware of to have spawned an FBI investigation, though.https://www.npr.org/2015/05/02/403623915/louie-louie-indecipherable-or-indecent-an-fbi-investigation Thanks for posting that. I remember the controversy very well. I played in a couple different bands that did that song. It was popular still in the early 70’s in the bar scene. We had fun with the lyrics when we played it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Set yourself on fire Just like Richard Pryor, cocaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 ..... I'm not sure but, "it's a long way to the shop if you want a sausage roll" ........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Dan Dawkins Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 There’s that CCR song “There’s a bathroom on the right” And Pearl Jam’s “Butter Man” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 We had to look up "kissing the captain's daughter" to see what it meant. I always figgered it was "Yes, I kissed the captain's daughter, now I've trouble passing water..." but that was a different bar song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irish Pat Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 She’s a brick owl! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 25 minutes ago, bgavin said: We had to look up "kissing the captain's daughter" to see what it meant I have heard of "kissing the gunner's daughter". So following your advice, I looked up "kissing the captain's daughter". I found several hits referencing a romance novel, but nothing else. In the chanty "drunken sailor", there's a verse saying to "put him in the bunk with the captain's daughter". Er-lie in the morn-ning. But nothing about kissing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Secret Asian Man aka Secret Agent Man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 It was explained to me that kissing the captain's daughter is getting flogged at the main mast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Shapiro Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 5 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: Thanks for posting that. I remember the controversy very well. I played in a couple different bands that did that song. It was popular still in the early 70’s in the bar scene. We had fun with the lyrics when we played it! It was a regular for us in the late 80's in the event band I was in. Still have a hard time believing I made more then than I make now. Ah well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 This is what I heard, way back when this song was a chart topper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixgun Sheridan Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Everyone thinks she's a spaz she's got Bette Davis eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 On 9/11/2022 at 8:58 AM, Rye Miles #13621 said: Louie Louie has to be #1 https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/2479544 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Devil Dale Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Not musical lyrics, but I confess I was a Junior in high school before I realized the Pledge was not: " One nation under God, in the window sill". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 49 minutes ago, Dusty Devil Dale said: Not musical lyrics, but I confess I was a Junior in high school before I realized the Pledge was not: " One nation under God, in the window sill". I had to ask my grandfather the meaning of “for widget stands”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocWard Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 On 9/11/2022 at 10:55 PM, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: This is what I heard, way back when this song was a chart topper. I laughed so hard I had tears rolling. Thanks, I needed that this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted September 13, 2022 Author Share Posted September 13, 2022 CCR is not as bad as Joe Cocker, but still - what I heard and (what it actually is). It came out of the sky, landed just a little south of N'Ohleans (actually it landed south of Moline Illinois, not New Orleans Louisiana) Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't b'lieve what he seen Laid on the ground ashakin', fearin' for his life Then he ran all the way to town screamin' "it came out of the sky!" Well a crowd gathered around and the scientist said it was Marsh gas Spiro came to make a speech about raising the Mars tax The Vatican said "whoa, the Lord has come" Hollywood rushed out an epic film Ronnie the cop, you know he said it was a communist plot (I used to wonder who Ronnie the cop was. Apparently that was "Ronnie the popular said it was a communist plot". I never heard him referred to as Ronnie the popular, but supposedly that was Reagan) Well the newspapers came and made Jody a national hero Walter and Eric said they'd put him on the network TV show The White House said he could sing in the Blue Room (I wondered why he would be singing. The actual lyric is that the White House said "to put the thing in the Blue Room") The Vatican said no, it belongs in Rome Jody said it's mine but you can have it for 17 million Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yul Lose Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Rode across the desert on horse with no legs——America. That’s what I thought they were singing until my wife told me what it real was about 2 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Lucy in disguise with diamonds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Not lyrics, but to my Baby Sister it was "Hail Mary full of grapes..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Slade Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Another not lyrics, but my brother always used to quote Spock as saying "Live long and perspire" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 13, 2022 Share Posted September 13, 2022 Louie Louie was a classic for “what are the words?” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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