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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Songs in the head

I knew it was going to be a strange day when I start out with Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer"  and a few minutes later the theme song from the George of the Jungle cartoon show.
DisneySites!! Clipart > Characters > George of the Jungle




What makes that happen? They weren't "ear worms" as I understand those. To me an ear worm can't be easily gotten rid of except to sing it to someone and thereby passing it on.

And then there are the misheard lyrics. Most are pretty well known like Hendrix "'scuse me while I kiss this guy" or CCR's "there's a bathroom on the right". There are more obscure ones like the Association's "Windy". The real lyric is "Who's sweepin' down to capture a moment" but sometimes heard as, " Who's creepin' out to capture a Mormon."

Or The Allman Brothers "Whippin Post" heard as "Sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel, Like I been tied to the fishin' pole".

David Bowie's Space Oddity, "And the papers want to know who shot you where." " Clown control to Mao Tse Tung".

Fleetwood Mac's Landslide, "I took my love, and I took it down", or was it " I took my love and I milked a cow". Or Bill Clinton's favorite, "Don't stop thinkin' about tomorrow" to "Don't stop thinkin' about your mama."

Back to Simon and Garfunkel. "And here's to you Mrs. Robinson, She's a slut, that's more than you should know."

There must be hundreds or thousands of these that are heard by everyone. After all it is better to make something up than just mumble your way through lyrics you just don't know. And what about all the foreign languages? They must have these, too!  Imagine a group like Led Zeppelin writing lyrics in Gaelic or Swahili.

Or maybe the Three Stooges "Swingin' The Alphabet".  Just a musical interlude for your listening pleasure. Really!

Yes, it's true I sometimes slip back into something less mature and childish than most people are used to seeing, but even I enjoy a good fart joke now and then. I am not always the worldly intellectual scholar that you see before you (Don't read that with a mouthful of coffee...Ooops! Too late!). Maybe I'll pass for normal by the weekend.

10 comments:

  1. One of the bands I used to work with used to play that song!

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  2. Aaaack...now I've got "The Boxer" in my head. Damn you! Stop it! All I want to hear is the sounds of silence.

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  3. 1. The Boxer is a great song!

    2. I had an ex ruin Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" for me by singing "Bring me an iron lung!"

    Pearl

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  4. PP,Hello darkness my old friend...

    Pearl, with a sense of humor like that how could it be an "ex"?

    Professor, thanks for the clarification. It must have been an awesome band.

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  5. I am pleased to see that I am not the only one making up lyrics. My excuse is that English is the 3rd language I learnt and when people sing I often cannot catch what they say as they sing too fast. Even if later on I find out the real lyrics, somehow the ones I made up stay with me better. I enjoyed your post.

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  6. Donna, I used that one with you in mind.
    Vagabonde, My language skills are so primitive I just imitate sounds in many cases. I can't imagine having 3 dictionaries in my head. I would be overwhelmed!

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  7. Those cracked me up! I have many of my own, but do you think I can remember a single one right now? I've got The Boxer going through my head instead!

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  8. Knatolee, sometimes only a phrase will turn up and I can't place it.

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