24/7 COUNTRY ONLINE
You can go online and enjoy more of Nancy Wilson's take on the country scene anytime you like. K99online.com
Now that Memorial Day has arrived, summer has unofficially begun — which for me means putting down the car windows and singing along to my favorite songs. But I have a tendency to mess up the lyrics.
But that doesn’t stop me, because I’ll make up something. And I’m not the only one. As a matter of fact, an entire book has been written about misheard song lyrics. “ ’Scuse Me, While I Kiss This Guy” is the tome written in the mid-90s by Gavin Edwards. The title comes from Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze,” which contains the line “Excuse me while I kiss the sky,” although some people heard something else.
Another well-known messed up lyric comes from Elton John. Whoever heard “Hold me closer, tiny dancer” as “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” needs to have their ears checked. I mean, I’m mistaken sometimes, but I’m not that bad. At least, I don’t think I am.
My sister Diana loves John Mellencamp. Yet, even being the uber-fan that she is, she had a hard time with his 1989 hit “Pop Singer,” asking me what the Mellencamp had against Bob Seger. She heard it as, “Never want to be no Bob Seger, never want to write no Bob songs.”
Blake Shelton has released what will be one of the country songs of the summer, “Boys ’Round Here” with backup vocals from The Pistol Annies, his wife Miranda Lambert’s side project with two other female singers. The girls comment throughout the tune to whatever Blake is crooning. When Blake sings, “At a honky-tonk, where their boots stomp all night; what?,” The Annies reply: “Dat’s right!” Later he sings about how the boys ’round here keep it country and don’t know how to “do the Dougie.” I thought the Annies replied: “Doo doo doo da Dougie?” Nope. It’s “You don’t do the Dougie?” Doo doo doo works for me though.
Darius Rucker owns the No. 1 country song out now, “Wagon Wheel.” Sing with me, “So rock me mama like a wagon wheel, rock me mama any way you feel … hey … paparazzi!” Of course, the correct lyric is “Hey, mama, rock me,” but don’t you think paparazzi sounds better?
Hmmm. I wonder if Mick Jagger is really singing “I’ll never be your pizza burger” in “Beast of Burden?” Don’t tell me, OK?
About the Author