I’m singing in the pain! I’m singing in the pain!
Apr 2nd 2008
Karen HawkinsWhen Goddesses Fall To Earth
I have a horrible memory. I can’t remember people’s names, birthdays, or where I first met them. I’ve lost every game of trivial pursuit I’ve ever played and I miss more appointments than I keep. If I don’t write down all of my bills and when they’re due, they don’t get paid. And if I need something at the grocery store, if it’s not on the list, it won’t be in the basket.
But the worst part of having a weak memory muscle is that I can’t sing ANY songs all the way through using the correct words.
Ok, ok, there are TWO songs I know all of the words to — “Happy Birthday” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” But then I’ve had 40 entire years to learn them and there was that short period of time when I thought part of “Rudolph” was “And if you ever saw it, you would even say it snows!”
My daughter still enjoys reminding me of that.
Still, despite my poor memory, I loooooove to sing and refuse to stop. When I get to the parts I don’t know, I just make up words. Some make sense. Some, not so much. Apparently, this bothers various members of my family because, over the last week, no fewer than seven of them have sent me the following clip from Bulgarian Music Idol. (Give it a moment, it may take a second or two to load.)
So . . . when you’re in the middle of belting out a song in the shower or the car, and you realize you don’t know all of the lyrics, do you:
A) keep going anyway, mumbling nonsense words until you come back to the parts you know?
B) politely quit singing until you can do a quick lyrics check on wikipedia?
or C) never worry about this because you’re one of those rare, wonderful, magical people who remember all of the words for every song you hear? (Darn you!)
And have any of you, like me, sung “Ken Lee” all by yourself?
88 Comments »
Mary T on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:27 am #
That is so FUNNY!
I can remember most songs (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!), but my ten year old daughter massacres every song she sings. Yesterday, she was singing “The Heart Will Go On.” and she managed to change it to “I believe the hot dogs are on!” LOL!!!!
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 6:59 am #
LOL Mary. I love mangled song lyrics. I’m just sorry I can’t remember any here at the crack of dawn. Not enough caffeine in the arteries yet.
Karen, I don’t watch American Idol and am, pretty much, a country music fan. Love Garth, Tim & Faith. So, what is the song the young lady is supposed to be singing? I’m going to have to watch it again. She’s not that good. Even when faking it.
This topic reminds me of the mangled hymn about “Gladly theCross-eyed Bear”. I’m sure someone must have sung it that way and I never hear the hymn w/o thinking of old Gladly. LOL
Kathy/Cookiedough on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:10 am #
heee heeee!
I’ve been sent the clip before! the poor girl!
I can’t help but laugh!!!
I’m sorry to say I am one of those hated people who memorize music and lyrics. I say I don’t have a photgraphic memory, I have an auditory one.
I annoy friends and family by blurting out what voice on the tv ad spot or cartoon is who and other things they’ve done.
I’m trying to get help.
Right now I’m in a Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana song mode..help! I am about to go onto a city bus with those songs and music from enchanted on my mp3…I know I’ll be singing on the bus!
eeeep!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:11 am #
Margaret, this singer is from the Bulgarian show Music Idol. She’s supposed to be singing Mariah Carey’s “Without You.” When I sing that song, I sound EXACTLY like this woman. I just don’t know the words, but when it comes on the radio, I have to sing it. Which I do — sorta! I think perhaps she knows more of the words than I do, though! Lol!
Btw, this woman is now a huge hit in Bulgaria. She’s been on their news, been called back for a repeat performance on this particular show, and has been called by some entertainment companies — some say she now has a career because of this video on youtube because so many people have seen her.
And Mary, my daughter’s in a band and she never sings a song unless she knows the lyrics, which is why she MERCILESSLY picks on me for not knowing the words. Btw, are you SURE the words ‘hot dogs’ aren’t in The Heart Will Go On?!?!!!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:13 am #
Kathy/Cookee, PLEASE don’t be a Lyrics Perfectionist! Say it isn’t soooooo!!!! Lol! Well, ok. So long as you enjoy music, we’ll let you. Wish I was on the bus with you — I love hearing other people sing although Miley Cyrus? I’m gonna have to research that. My guy’s 11 yr old daughter told me “Miley’s hot!” just yesterday so I need to go to itunes and take a listen.
Susan K (soon to be Susan M) on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:14 am #
I have to say I remember most of the lyrics. Especially to songs by Nsync and Justin Timberlake. Oooh…and musicals! I know all the words to The Phantom of the Opera and Rent (the movie version). Now I need to specify that I can remember all the words and sing them IF the song is playing. If you just ask me to sing a song I will mess it up. I would love to go on Don’t Forget the Lyrics though. I think I’d do pretty well.
Susan K. (Wedding Day Countdown: 9 Days)
Freedom Writer on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:18 am #
If I have learned the correct words in the first place, a hard task with some of the rock and pop songs, I usually remember them. But I have on occasion found out the “real” words to a song and been embarrassed to find I was singing the wrong words.
Margaret the song is “Without You”, and Mariah Carey’s version is a remake the song originally released in the 70’s by Badfinger. The words “Ken Lee” are suppose to be Can’t Live.
Alright I confess, I checked Wikipedia to be sure that I had the right band. I am rarely good at remembering which band sang what song unless it has been an extremely popular song or the band was hugely popular.
Susan K (soon to be Susan M) on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:18 am #
Kathy/Cookiedough - I have 4 Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana songs on my Ipod: I Got Nerve, The Best Of Both Worlds, Life’s What You Make It & Ready, Set, Don’t Go (the song she sings with her dad). I love the show too!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:32 am #
Susan K Soon To Be Susan M, only 9 days! WOOHOOO!!! Are you singing at your own wedding? I always think it’s so sweet when someone does that.
Freedom, welcome to my world — a little. I just can’t seem to separate the words from the music so I end up making up large portions of all songs. But I have to say, I still love to sing!
Btw, I didn’t know Badfinger sang Without You. I remember hearing the original, but didn’t realize they were it! Thanks for researching that; I meant to look it up and forgot.
Karen Rose on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:43 am #
Too funny! Karen, when I don’t know the words, it doesn’t stop me. I just insert “Something something sooooomthiiiiing.” My daughter rolls her eyes.
I have “That’s how you know” from Enchanted as my ring tone. I still get the words wrong on that one. Daughter rolls eyes once again.
And did anybody else think Neil Diamond was saying “Reverend Blue Jeans”?
Karen Rose on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:45 am #
Yes, I know it is Forever in blue jeans. Now.
The miracle of lyrics on the internet! I can only defend myself by saying because I’m 50% deaf, I don’t understand the words of most songs. Country music is different - I can understand most of the words, which may be why it’s still my favorite genre.
I’ve started listening to music with non-English lyrics. That way when I mess it up, who’s gonna know?
Lisa H on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:47 am #
Is “Round John Virgin” part of the lyrics in Silent Night?
Karen H - I’m with ya sista, I barely remember my kids’ names. I call them all by the wrong names half the time.
My grandma who was from Italy only had two grandchildren, me and my brother. Our names are Lisa and Todd—she called us Tommy and Theresa!
I hope I don’t take after her, I’ll be washing out my bras and panties in the sink and hanging them over the shower curtain rod…I digress
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:56 am #
Karen Rose, it’s NOT Reverend Blue Jeans? Are you SURE?
I had no idea you had hearing issues. I don’t. i have thinking issues. I wish they made an amplifier for my brain. Life would be SO much easier!
Lisa H, Lol! My great grandma called me ‘Sue.’ My name is Karen Ann. No clue where Sue came from. As for “Round John Virgin’ no, no, no. It’s obviously not that but “Round Fond Virgin!’
KariE on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:14 am #
I must admit, I fall into the A and C catagory. It’s like they say on American Idol, I make the song my own. That is how I can add C in there.
Since I am a big Mariah Carey fan, I do know the lyrics to “Ken Lee”. But, like Susan K(stbSM), I need to be hearing the song in order to sing it correctly.
Perfection is overrated.
Songs I make “my own”: Macarena, and song sung by Selena in Spanish, and Clumsy by Fergie.
Karen Rose on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:14 am #
Yes - I’m completely deaf in one ear and I read lips to augment. Hard to do when you’re listening to the radio. Part of the skill of lip reading (or any interpreting) is intuiting what the speaker will say next within the context of what he’s said already. In other words, you guess. You’d be surprised what I initially THINK people have said. A few seconds later, what they really said will hit me and sometimes I have to laugh.
Country music is a story, so you can get into the context, so guessing what comes next isn’t so hard, especially if you’re a storyteller . Not so with some of the lyrics today. Say what?!?
Gannon on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:16 am #
OMG, that video is hilarious! From now on when I hear that song, I’ll hear the lyrics “Ken lee”! LOL!
It drives me crazy if I don’t know the lyrics, so I’ll look them up.
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:21 am #
Ohhh, Kari, I like ‘making it my own’ theory! I need to call my interpretational singing ‘making it my own’ from now on.
Karen, I think you’re right about country music. There, the lyrics are sometimes THE most important part of the song because they tell a story, so it’s easier to hear the lyrics than in a song where it’s all about the beat and sometimes senseless repetition. It seems that in country music, the singers’ voices play over the music rather than thread through it.
Unfortunately, I’m attracted to the songs with a great beat and non-storytelling lyrics like Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back. I have no idea what the words to that song are, but it’s so much fun to sing that I do it anyway. And LOUDLY! I mean — I make it my own!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:22 am #
Gannon, you’re a music person like my daughter, so you HAVE to know the words. I bet you sing in key, too! I’m so envious of my daughter’s talent, but hey, SOMEONE has to buy the CDs/songs/downloads and that’s my job!
Susan K (soon to be Susan M) on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:38 am #
Karen H - No I am not singing at my wedding. Trust me, no one wants to hear that. And I forbid my fiance to sing because he’s majorly tone deaf!
I also love Sexyback. But I looked up the words and found out I was singing part of it wrong. The rest of it I had right I just kept screwing up the chorus.
doglady on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:40 am #
You guys are a hoot this morning. Love the scrambled lyrics! Sorry, former opera singer here so I HAD to know the lyrics. I have, however, forgotten the words during recitals. Fortunately the songs were in French or German and I could make it up until it came back to me. Then my voice teacher and my French and German teachers reamed me for it! But the audience never knew! A singer’s worst fear is forgetting the words. Mine? I have been called on to sing the National Anthem on numerous occasions and while I have never forgotten the words it is a real fear! I have done the solos in one of the hardest pieces ever - Les Noces - by Stravinsky. It is for soloists, choir, piano and percussion orchestra, yes nothing but drums. It was so hard we had t-shirts done that said “I survived Les Noces” There were several moments in rehearsal where the tenor soloist who whisper to me “Where the hell are we?” I’d say “Hell if I know. What for the timpani to come in and then I’ll know.”
DebMarlowe on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:41 am #
That was too funny! I can’t sing worth a darn, but I enjoy it anyway. Drives my kids crazy.
Funniest ‘makin’ it my own’ story here: When my oldest was learning the ABC song he turned L M N O P into Elmo Went to Pee. We LOL at that one–and still do!
SuzyQ on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:48 am #
The video was hysterical! I fall into the A category, definately. I can remember Madonna’s Celebrate came out I thought she was saying salad brain. My friends never let me live that one down.
KariE on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:51 am #
LOL DebM- My son was like that. But his was more combining the letters into one word, LMNO. When he got to the O, he would pucker his lips so dramaticlly. Was too cute.
Kim on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:53 am #
Ohhh, K-Hawk! This just nailed it, we were seperated at birth. I love to sing but I’m horrible at it. If I don’t know the words I just keep on going, mumbling or making something up. My husband laughs at me, asks “Doesn’t it go blah, blah (insert correct words.” “NO, I sung it right!” LOL We SO have to go karaoke in SF. K-Rock already said she’d buy the beer
Now, on Without You, actually, I can sing pretty much the whole song IF I’m listening to it. Don’t ask me to do it on my own *g* Its one of my favorite songs ever. The original, not the Mariah version. And did you know there’s supposed to be a curse on the song? Its been a while since I read about it but the original singer (or could have been the writer) committed suicide or died an unnatural death and then when Mariah sang it she had her whole meltdown. There were other instances but I can’t remember them.
And that video is hilarious! That woman is the Bulgarian William Hung. Let’s call her Wilhemna Hung*g*
Kerri on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:55 am #
My sister was convinced that Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs” was actually “Hot Frogs”. Why frogs would be hot, I don’t know - hey, she was eight!
What about that song, “Blinded by the Light”? I still haven’t figured out the lyrics. To me, the chorus has the inspiring line, “ripped up like a douche, you know the rumor in the night”. What is it really?
SuzyQ on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:00 am #
Kerri, too funny. I always thought the same thing except I would replace ‘ripped’ with ‘wrapped’ LOL!
Gannon on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:19 am #
Kerri, LOL! I was always confused by the lyrics to “Blinded By the Light”, so I looked them up. My friend thought it sounded like “wrapped up like a douche”, and it does. Anyhoo, the lyrics are “revved up a like a deuce, another runner in the night.”
Who knew?!
Kim on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:19 am #
Kerri–LOL I always thought the same thing! I googled the lyrics and this is what it says: revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.
Anyone remember Phoebe on Friends?? Hold me closer Tony Danza. ROFL!
Kim on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:20 am #
Gannon! LOL. GMTA
Oh and thankssomuch K-Hawk. I had to get my 70’s cd out so I’m currently belting out Ken Lee
Meg on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:34 am #
Oh my God, Kerri, that song is playing on my radio as I type! That’s what it sounds like to me.
I am one of these people if I find a song or album that I really like I end up playing it to death. At least that’s what some of my family says, I never get tired of hearing it! So in the end I know ALL the words. I will admit that it takes me a little while to learn them though. And in the meantime I usually stop singing if I don’t know the words. I guess it’s so I can try to figure out what I am supposed to sing; however, I have never looked up the lyrics on wikipedia. But wait! When I was a kid I would sing along with a song by looking at the lyrics that were printed cassette/cd cover. Is that the same thing?
zambonigirl on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:36 am #
I don’t make up words. I just sing “And then I don’t know what comes next…some words and stuff…oooh…” and onto the chorus.
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:45 am #
That was so funny!! You know it’s bad when people have to ask what language you’re singing in!
For those who haven’t read it, run out and buy Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs. It’s an entire book of how so many lyrics are hard to decipher, or how bad they are when you do!
Like The Beach Boys “Help Me Rhonda”– “Well, since she put me down, There’s been owls puking in my bed.” That’s what it sounds like, right?
amy1242 on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:53 am #
LOL, Kerri! I STILL sing those lyrics! Once it’s in there, it’s hard to correct it. I have to admit, sometimes I listen to part of a song over and over until I get it right. I have no problem laughing at my lyrical mistakes though. Sometimes my kids will say, “What did they say there mom?” And in between my singing I answer, “I have NO idea, hon.” And I just keep on going.
Great blog Karen! I’m laughing hysterically!! Elmo’s not the only one that has to pee!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 10:19 am #
doglady, your opera times sound fascinating. I bet you did better than you think! Me, i can’t even sing in English which I know very well. Ack!
Deb — that’s hysterical! Never heard that one. Now, the “elimenopee” word, I was very familiar with. My kids probably learned that from me.
Kari, I’m going to have a tune worm now — I’m humming the ’salad brain’ song already and I can feel it seeping into my psyche!
Kim, I had no idea that song was cursed! See what you learn when you blog with goddesses? All SORTS of excellent things! I don’t do kareoke though. Been boo’d too many times. And yes, Kim, we were separated at birth — how could you ever question that? We both have teenagers. That’s a blood deep connection if there ever was one.
Gannon, I thought it was ‘douche’ in Blinded By the Light, too. I thought I was being so racy, singing that in public. Guess I was! More than the song’s author, in fact!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 10:24 am #
Meg, don’t you wish there was legislation forcing ALL artists to put the lyrics on their cd covers? It seems like only a few do it now though I sure wish they all would!
zamboni, I tried that but I have a compulsion to make the words FIT, even if they’re completely and absolutely wrong. A good dose of therapy would probably cure me. Or a margarita.
Claudia, I had no idea Dave Barry wrote a book on that topic. I’ve got to get it. I think his Guide to Guys is one of the funniest books EVER. And no, I didn’t know ‘owls puking in my bed’ was in Help Me Rhonda, but now I do!
Amy, I think Elmo’s in a line somewhere. You know, ever since I saw this video, I’ve found myself singing the Ken Lee song over and over. I don’t think I could sing the original without the lyrics right in front of me. It’s just so much FUN to sing it the way she does!
Meg on 03 Apr 2008 at 10:56 am #
What about the high notes? Does anyone ever attempt those? Alone or in the company of others? I can’t do it. Not even alone. But someone mentioned a margarita, didn’t they, Karen? Maybe after a couple of those…
KariE on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:11 am #
Meg, do you mean the right high note or high notes in general? My bil has Karaoke Revolution, and I did “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Witney Houston. It was FABU-lous! NOT!!!!!
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:16 am #
I have the Dave Barry Bad Songs book around here somewhere. I love his old books. Like “Babies & Other Hazards of Sex”. He took a survey of his alert readers once on songs they hated and why they hated them. He was swamped. When the dust settled, the #1 most hated song was “A Horse with No Name”. As Dave said, “You’re out in the desert with absolutely nothing to do. Name the damned horse already!” I am paraphrasing that, of course.
You all are killing me today! I should have bought some Depends while I was out this morning. LOL
Thanks Karen & Free for telling me what “Ken Lee” actually is. Doesn’t help much as I never heard the real song. Poor me. I’m an antique.
“Parsley saved Rosemary in time.”
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:19 am #
BTW, goddesses. Just think on this. Weird Al has gotten rich on singing songs that almost sound like the original. LOL
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:31 am #
One more for the road. You get me in so much trouble, Karen. I had to Google mis-heard songs. There is a web site for anything/everything, of course. This is an article from 8-15-07 London Daily Mail. I wonder how much 10 pounds is converted to US dollar? I had to really LOL at the Monkees one.
Ever murdered a classic song by singing it wrongly? Hillarious new book reveals examples:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=475415&in_page_id=1773&in_a_source
Going away & doing something constructive now.
Suzanne Enoch on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:43 am #
For weeks I swore that the lyrics to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumper” were “I get no trout”. Then I got the album. It’s “I get knocked down”.
And then there’s the Jimmy Buffet song (can’t remember the name) with “where you gonna go when the volcano blow”, which I sang for years as “where you gonna go when the cantaloupe go”.
Paula M on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:48 am #
I’m definitely an ‘A’. As I’m typing this I’m listening to Westlife The Love Album and when I get to bits I’m not sure of I just tend to hum (or Mumble!)
Margaret I think that the rate is about $2 to £1 roughly.
Lisa H on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:50 am #
LOL! Where indeed, Suzanne!
Nicole Jordan on 03 Apr 2008 at 11:54 am #
OMG, that is hilariously painful, Karen! Unbelievable.
I can usually remember the words, but I know better than to sing in public cause I would make my listeners wince.
“Blinded by the Light”? I still haven’t figured out the lyrics. To me, the chorus has the inspiring line, “ripped up like a douche, you know the rumor in the night”. What is it really?
Kerri, too funny. I always thought the same thing except I would replace ‘ripped’ with ‘wrapped’ LOL!
Anyhoo, the lyrics are “revved up a like a deuce, another runner in the night.”
Who knew?!
Wow, thanks for clearing this up!!! That line has ALWAYS bugged me. Dh and I had a discussion about this the other day…. wondering why the heck they were singing about douches.
Ladytink_534 on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:00 pm #
I’m pretty good at remembering all the words. Sometimes when I can’t understand what the song is saying I’ll mumble through though.
Julia London on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:01 pm #
Ken leee!
Ohmigod, that is HILARIOUS
My favorite is an old old song from Petunia when I was a kid. Maybe the Carpenters. God, could I date myself any more? Anyway, the lyric was,
“Can’t afford to pass it by.”
My sister was driving, singing at the top of her lungs, “Cannibals to pacify”
We STILL laugh over that one.
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:02 pm #
Oh, I do this all the time, though eventually if it’s a song I sing a lot, I try to hunt down the lyrics.
But for a year I went around singing a line from Steve Perry’s “Oh, Sherrie”–”Oh, Sherrie, our love … hose on.” I thought it made no sense, but I didn’t realize how off I was. *G*
I’m sure there have been others.
This will date me, but *I* don’t know that song from Mariah Carey or Badfinger. I know it from Harry Nilsson. It was a big hit for him. That may be where some of you old folks like me heard it from. The Badfinger version isn’t as well known.
ct009ct on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:41 pm #
This is just toooo hilarious. Another PMP blog!!
Oh, my, Kim, “Hold me closer Tony Danza” I had forgotten that episode.
And, Margaret, “Parsley saved Rosemary in Time” ROTFLMAOL
What were Simon and Garfunkel thinking - singing about herbs!!!
I am married to the King of “Don’t know the words to that song - but will sing it to you anyway.” Usually while we’re dancing. Most people think I”m smiling and laughing because I love to dance (true), but it’s because my husband is singing to me. Sometimes romantic but mostly laugh out loud funny. I can’t think of a single song that he sings correctly, even when the words are right in front of him (karioke).
ct009ct on 03 Apr 2008 at 12:44 pm #
Oh, yeah, I will sing along to the parts I know (or think I know) and hum the parts I don’t know, then go right back to singing the parts I know. I only sing along, as I couldn’t carry a tune to save my life. But like most people who can’t sing - I love to do it anyway.
PJane1031 on 03 Apr 2008 at 1:03 pm #
I usually do O.K. if I’m singing along with a song. Granted, I’m usually alone, so if I don’t know the words or sing the wrong ones, no one knows!! Growing up though, in church for one of the readings we did, I was saying them wrong (and at the top of my lungs) until I learned to read. It was supposed to be “For thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead” and I was saying, “For Nancy shall come to judge the quick and the dead”. Now to add to that, I was only about four or five, so didn’t know the meaning of ‘quick’ in this context, so the image I had in my head was of a lady sneaking thru the graveyard really fast.
colinfirthfan on 03 Apr 2008 at 1:17 pm #
Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! - that was the funniest thing ever. I LOVE IT!!
OK I am decent at lyrics. If I am alone then I just sing. If my kids are with me - I sing. If there is anyone over the age of 12 with me - I mumble the parts I don’t know. I do google lyrics.
My cousin and my brother will put in any words to a song and will sing it so often that I forget the real words and can only sing their version.
Yasmin on 03 Apr 2008 at 1:21 pm #
I love Miley’s See You Again and I am positive that while i sing in my car I slaughter all the lyrics. I am such a bad singer. I also love Andrea Bocelli and love to sing along in italian. Once I was singing in my room with the full volume ( both me and the stereo) when my sis shut it off. She was laughing so hard. It was horrible i was soo off key it was embarrassing
Ann in IL on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:16 pm #
Oh yes, the LMNOP thing. My sister informs me that you shoudn’t sing the ABC song that way anymore because of the LMNOP confusion.
Change the ABC song? Yup. It now has to be sung to the Mary Had A Little Lamb music. It works, but it’s tough to get used to.
Wouldn’t want to confuse the little darlings
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:27 pm #
Meg. the song may have high notes, but I don’t. Alone, I’ll warble, but I never get there. In public, I lip sync.
Kari, is there a video of this performance? Just wondering! I know how to link things to the blog now. Just sayin’!
Margaret, that’s HYSTERICAL! Thanks for the link! And yep, it’s $2 per pound now.
Nicole, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when you and your husband were discussing that line and wondering why someone would sing about douches! Lol!
Ladytink, I mumble, but eventually, I’ll make up nonsense words and put them in there. Gotta keep that rhythm going no matter the cost!
Julia, sounds like your sister is one of my creed — the non-lyrical but highly-musical kind.
Sabrina, someone sang Ken Lee BEFORE Badfinger? Get outta town! No way! I had no idea. I’m going to look for that now.
ct, what a sweet thing for you and your husband to share! That’s very romantic.
PJane, that is SO FUNNY! The quick and the dead! How hysterical!
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:29 pm #
I’m laughing so hard I can barely see. Just hearing what everyone else thought were the lyrics.
When I was a tiny tot, I used to sing (at the top of my lungs—in public), “My bunny lies over the ocean, my bunny lies over the sea, my bunny lies over the ocean, oh bring back my bunny to me.” Clutching my stuffed bunny the whole time. My mom, smiling at her idiot child, eventually told me that it wasn’t ‘bunny’ but ‘bonny.’ I pondered that for about five minutes, and kept singing BUNNY. It made MUCH more sense to me.
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:33 pm #
Colinfirthfan, I get EXACTLY what that means! If I hear or sing a song in a wrong way enough times then I’ll never be able to sing it right again. Just can’t!
Yasmin, I think that’s grounds to smack someone! Very sisterlike, your sister!
Ann, that’s eeeviiiiil. Pure eeeeviiiilll!
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:35 pm #
Karen, I’m warning you, don’t read Dave Barry’s Book of Bad Songs if you have a cold or asthma or are in public; you’re going to laugh so hard you can’t breathe!
Example: song titles people get wrong:
“Ain’t No Woman Like the One-Eyed Gott”
“Anagotalavita”
“Woodchuck Love”
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:37 pm #
Has anyone heard of Weird Al Yankovich? Once he sings his version of a famous tune, that’s *it* for me. I’ll never remember it any other way.
colinfirthfan on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:41 pm #
I love the words to Weird Al’s songs.
KariE on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:51 pm #
Karen-I sure hope not. BUT I did get my dh singing a song that will make you PYP! I can’t remember the song but it was HILARIOUS! I will have to get it up at the forum.
Claudia-Of Course!!! You’re talking about the classics, right? I’m Fat, Eat it, and Amish Paradise are great!! I can see the videos in my head now just thinking about them.
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 2:54 pm #
Eat It has to go down as one of the best music videos of all time. Where has Weird Al gone? I buy all his CDs and haven’t seen a new one in years.
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:05 pm #
Oh I love Weird Al and his hilarious tunes. Some of his videos are pretty funny too. He did one about being Amish and dressed the part. He looked pretty much like a normal Amishman around here. The title is “Amish Paradise” done in rap. Spoofing “Gangsta Paradise” by Coolio.
It seems he did a great video parodying Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” but I can’t find it on the Net. Maybe somebody else did that.
With Weird Al, you start lauging before he ever opens his mouth. I agree, Claudia. He does leave his version imprint in our heads. What does that say about us? LOL
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:06 pm #
I forgot, Claudia. I never, ever hear “Beat It” w/o singing “Eat It” inside my tiny little mind.
Kim on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:11 pm #
Julia–I LOVE the Carpenters! I’ve been trying to find a good cd of their greatest hits. I remember going to the library, taking out their vinyl record (if anyone asks what a vinyl record is I’ll smack them!), putting on those super huge 80’s headphones and jamming. Rainy days and mondays always get meeee DOOOWWWNNNN…
Sabrina–Harry Nillson!! Thank YOU. He’s the one who died and started the whole curse thing.
Dagnabit I can’t find my cd with Without You on it. Urgh. But I did find Neil Diamond and The Beatles *g*
Meg on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:30 pm #
My husband was a Weird Al fan. I think the last thing he did that was big was about “…this here Annakin guy. May be Vader some day later but he’s just a small fry…”. Sorry, I can’t remember the name of the song he spoofed but it was real funny. And Coolio was none too happy about Weird Al spoofing him and his song.
Meg on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:42 pm #
OK. I just got back from youtube (laughing so hard that I cried). It was American Pie that Weird Al did the Star Wars song to. Suzanne E., being the huge fan that you are, have you ever seen that video? It is sooo funny! Is he really the one who writes that stuff?
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 3:42 pm #
I loved Eat It! What did happen to Weird Al? He hasn’t been as visible, has he?
Lol! Claudia, I MUST get that book! I am off to the bookstore to get Nicole’s new one anyway, so I will find Barry’s book then!
Btw, how many of you have heard a pro mess up the words? Do any of you remember Glen Campbell forgetting The National Anthem? I saw that on youtube.
Judy F on 03 Apr 2008 at 4:35 pm #
Karen I am pretty good at lyrics. Sadly my friend Nancy is not. Many of times we would be in the car driving, singing along and I would have to turn the radio down and say to her….what did you just sing???
Some of her famous ones are:
Instead of Rock the casba (sp) she sang f**k your a** off.
In Total eclipse of the heart instead of– We’re living in a powder keg and giving off sparks—she sang Living in a pony keg and giving off tarts.
I wish I could remember more but she had some gems.
I miss weird Al. I loved Like a Surgeon… Cutting for the very first time. LOL
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 4:49 pm #
Weird Al, with his gang of like minded nuts, does all the writing. He’s been around for 30 years, I think. Started on Dr. Demento in LA during the 70s and his spoof songs rocked the house! That’s how I remember it, anyway. What a creative mind. Twisted, but creative.
I remember the Coolio dust-up. Coolio just didn’t seem to understand the honor that was being bestowed. As Weird Al once said, he’s been around longer than a lot of the bands he’s spoofed!
I can’t even remember the original lyrics to American Pie anymore. All I have is Weird Al in his long robe and skinny braid in my head.
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 4:54 pm #
Words Dave Barry hears to Achy Breaky Heart:
You can tell by my lips
Or you can tell by my hips
That you’re going to dump me if you can
But don’t tell my liver
It would never forgive her
It might blow up and circumcise this man!
I love Dave Barry!!!!
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 4:58 pm #
Dave Barry on that famous Captain and Tennille standard, “Muskrat Love”—
Do that to me one more time
Once is never enough
With a man like you
“Is it just me, or does that sound to you like a serious criticism of the guy’s lovemaking technique?”
Okay, stopping now. I’m crying/laughing so hard I can’t see the screen anymore.
Lisa H on 03 Apr 2008 at 5:12 pm #
Oh Claudia! LOL! I really neede this today! Thanks goddesses!
Margaret Garland on 03 Apr 2008 at 5:33 pm #
I need windshield wipers for my glasses today! Thank you, Claudia. I believe I am all done up now. That’s a Brit saying isn’t it, Paula? Or am I rolled up? Whatever, I am checking out for the day. Got to make a knit as my daughter used to say.
Thanks for the blog today, Karen. I swear you all have the best darned author’s blog around. Thanks for letting me play.
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 Apr 2008 at 6:23 pm #
No, Karen, it’s between Badfinger’s version and Mariah Carey’s. It’s the one that was the biggest hit I think (before Mariah, I suppose). It was number one on ALL the charts, including UK.
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 Apr 2008 at 6:27 pm #
Weird Al is the best! Recently saw a A&E Biography of him, and I liked him even more after that!
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 Apr 2008 at 6:56 pm #
My husband (who is apparently quite the expert on this subject) just told me a famous one for Creedence Clearwater’s “There’s a bad moon on the rise”: “There’s a bathroom on the right.”
He also informed me that someone has actually coined a term for this weird phenomenon: “mondegreen.” According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen), a writer from the ’50’s named Sylvia Wright wrote an article about “Lady Mondegreen,” her childhood mishearing of the lyric, “They hae slain the Earl O’Murray, And laid him on the green,” from the ballad “The Bonnie Earl O’ Murray.” Wright turned it into “They had slain the Earl Amurray and Lady Mondegreen.”
I swear, only my geeky husband knows this stuff.
Gannon on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:43 pm #
Weird Al is still at it. My two sons are always playing his latest songs. He is hilarious!
Meg on 03 Apr 2008 at 7:43 pm #
This just hit me, but some of these misunderstandings remind me of some of Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck words. My favorite being “sensuous.” Example: Baby, you’re so sensuous. And sensuous up, how about bringing me a beer!
Karen Hawkins on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:23 pm #
Claudia, I got the book! Went out this afternoon and picked up Nicole’s newest (isn’t the cover fabu?) and grabbed Barry’s book, too! I can’t wait to dig in!
Margaret, it’s great having you here; thanks so much for coming out to play. And it’s nice for us all to have such a great playground, too! Mt. Oly rocks the house. We’re just so fortunate to have such lively reader goddesses!
Sabrina, I looooove info like that. Please tell your DH we all say thanks! Mondegreen, hm? That’s like a Malapropism set to music — although the term Malaprop is older, it wasn’t applied to singing. Btw, what did you see about Weird Al that made you like him more? I don’t a thing about him.
Meg, great connection! Some of it’s EXACTLY like that — you slam the words together, smudge them a little, and viola! They’re something else!
By when I was driving to the bookstore, Kenny Loggins’ song “I’m All Right” came on and I laughed when I realized that I FOR SURE only know about 1/10th of it!
Sabrina Jeffries on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:36 pm #
You should have heard Weird Al talk about his wife and his baby. It was so sweet! And I had no idea he’d done so many varieties of creative work. That’s just astonishing. Yet he’s very humble. He just came across as a really NICE man.
Santa on 03 Apr 2008 at 8:39 pm #
I still don’t know what the words to ‘Hotel California’ but I’m pretty sure the word phomaldehide is in there along with that Sweede.
I sing anywhere and everywhere whether I know the words to the song. I call it interpretive song. I sing with my kids in stores - something about Soldier Boys and Superman. Interpretive dance accompanies this.
What? Doesn’t everyone?
Santa
Off to figure out if what the heck apple bottom jeans are….
Claudia Dain on 03 Apr 2008 at 9:05 pm #
Karen, yea on getting both books! I’ll let Nicole pimp her book, which leaves me to shout out, “You’re going to love The Bad Song book!” If you can read it without laughing until you cry, I’d be shocked.
Weird Al is not only a devoted husband and father, he’s been working with the same guys all these years on the songs. He is a very talented musician, as are they all. They are actually playing those songs and sound *just* like the groups their satirizing. It’s an amazing talent.
Karen Hawkins on 04 Apr 2008 at 7:53 am #
Santa, I want to see the interpretive dance! I want to see the interpretive dance! PLEASE!!!
Btw, I was up late last night reading Nicole’s book — ohmigosh! SUCH a fun and romantic story! You guys HAVE to get it!
Now, after a little mid-morning nap, I’m going to dive into Barry’s book. Can’t wait — Claudia, you’ve got me salivating to read it! Muskrat Love indeed! Ha!
Nicole Jordan on 04 Apr 2008 at 10:12 am #
>>>I was up late last night reading Nicole’s book — ohmigosh! SUCH a fun and romantic story!
Karen, I’m so honored! That is high praise indeed, coming from the QUEEEN of Fun and Romantic Historicals!
Karen Hawkins on 04 Apr 2008 at 2:17 pm #
Aw, thanks, Nicole! You’re too sweet! You just knocked my socks off with this one. Of the three, I have to say TO SEDUCE A BRIDE was my fave. It was just so SEXY!
Lorena Streeter on 04 Apr 2008 at 3:31 pm #
Someone mentioned Hot Frogs? FYI, there is a song called Hot Frogs on the Loose …. although highly unlikely that your dd actually has heard it ….
Lorena
Karen Hawkins on 05 Apr 2008 at 8:50 am #
Lorena, I’ve never heard Hot Frogs. I need to go to lyrics.com and find that!
Pesky on 13 Apr 2008 at 1:39 pm #
Lift your voices and let all know that you are joyous! Belt it out! Hum the words if you gotta!
Not only don’t I know the words I sing off key. To heck with em!
I think I’d worry more if I was an opera singer for a living, but I’m not, I’m a DBA. *shrug* Qu’elle domage.
Besides, rappers make up the words all the time.