ONE SONG: Misunderstood Lyrics

Everybody is guilty of singing the wrong lyrics to songs and somewhere along the line they get embarrassingly called out on these misinterpretations. For this week's One Song we pick out lines that we have mis-sung in the past. We considered this for a Syffalist a couple of weeks ago, but this has already been done in commercials and the internet has an abundance of these lists that include such favorites as:

• Excuse me while I kiss this guy - Jimi Hendrix
• Wrapped up like a douche like a runner in the night - Manfred Mann
• Do it like a lady - Aerosmith

BUT we wanted to be somewhat unique and pick mis-sung lyrics that were unique to us:

Pete didn't so much have trouble with understanding the lyrics as he did with understanding why people mocked him for liking Jason Mraz.

Joel continues on his long journey into glitter.

Dick is still cooler than everyone else.

Tom hurls himself towards middle aged dad rock.

K. Love proves the age old adage that white women love any and everything Kanye West.

The rest of us sat this one out because we saw what it really was...just another excuse for Tom and Del to talk about Pearl Jam.

Pete's Pick
Jason Mraz - The Remedy

There I was on a Sunday evening, on my 30th birthday, laid up on the couch after a long night of drinking the day before, and I'm watching VH1 Storytellers, one of the few quality programs VH1 still puts on. This weeks episode was Jason Mraz. One of the things that I've respected about him as a musician is his ability to write great songs with great depth behind them. If you just listen on a surface level you might think "The Remedy" is just another pop/top 40 hit that came about, but after watching last nights Storytellers, you find out that this is actually a song about his best friend's experience with cancer in his collar bone. While all of his family, friends and community were scared, Jason's friend simply put it, "I won't worry my life away". The reason I chose this song for our one song this week is to see how meanings of songs can be easily misunderstood unless we take the time to investigate on our own what the true meaning is. I can tell you one thing, after hearing that story and how much Jason struggled to even write it because he felt like a sell out, I have a new found respect for him as a musician. One may simply

Joel's Pick
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss

I was in about 44 bands between the years 1992 and 2007. One song that was easily jammed upon was Suck My Kiss from RHCP. Whenever we were sans singer, I would suggest Suck My Kiss and sing everything incorrectly from start to finish, especially the chorus, which in my version is "Fuck My Shins". I have no ill will towards my shins, but I should like you to Fuck them, yes? Yes, chef.
HIT WEED, YOU CAN HURT WEED...

Dick's Pick
Beck - New Pollution

It should come to no surprise that the greatest conflict during the mid-90s was neither the Bosnian or Gulf wars, but over who could record their lyrics in the mumbliest fashion. Everyone thought Kurt Cobain had that muthafucker in the bag, but then in rolls this dude named Beck. Hearing this music on constant radio rotation during my developmental childhood years likely explains why my sentences constantly trail off and how come I still find myself watching bootleg tapes of Rockos Modern Life.

She's got a cigar rent, I've been sure
She's got the lilt-y wack calamity craisens
She's got a car but ate her eye to the room
Pink guys looking for the fruit of the ancients

I could probably attempt to transcribe this entire song by ear and MAYBE get at most 10% of the lyrics even remotely correct. Even then, I feel like my nonsensical interpretations would probably come off as more coherent than the original wordings.

Tom's Pick
Pearl Jam - Black

I don't think anybody can understand Eddie Vedder. I honestly believe that there aren't any lyrics to 'Yellow Ledbetter;' it is really just jibbirish and Eddie laughs at the people who try to decipher his words. I even mis-sing lyrics on the few songs that are comprehensible. On 'Better Man' I sing: 'As she opens the door, she rolls over, her test tubes seep as he looks her over." and on 'Given to Fly' I sing "The wind came crashing like the Sea of Gibraltar." The lyrics I sing don't even make sense and I know they are wrong, but I sing them anyway. However, those mis-sung lines pale in comparison to what I sing on Black. For so many years I though that this song was about a Necrophiliac.

sheets of of empty canvas
untouched sheets of clay
her legs spread out before me
as her body lays dead

K. Love's Pick
Kanye West - Heartless

The song that I "misunderstood" for so long has to be "Heartless" by Kanye West. Now, I'm now one to listen to rap, hip-hop or r&b and the only reason I listened to this song was because it was played non-stop for quite awhile on the radio. Anyways - for the longest time, I would belt out the lyrics to this song and get the weirdest looks and never understood why (I thought it might have been due to my horrible singing voice?) Well, one day at work, someone came up to me and flat out told me, "You are completely singing that wrong." I just looked at her and said, "What part?" She said the most important part and told me the right lyrics. I just sat there with my mouth wide open, flabbergasted. It all made sense now. What lyrics did I mess up you ask? Just the most important part of the song. My idiotic self was spouting out the words, "How could you be so horny?" instead of "How could you be so heartless?" Yeah. Go ahead and laugh. I deserve it.