Small Faces - "Itchycoo Park" For the last 30 years I had no idea what Steve Marriott was singing after "I feel inclined to blow my mind...." Then just the other day while reading the notes to the All or Nothing DVD I ran across these lines: "Get hung up, feed the ducks with a bun" But of course!
Gladys Knight - Licence to Kill The percussion in the chorus (some sort of shaker/wooden block/click combo) still makes it sound to me like she's boasting about her licence to kilt
If this wasn't mentioned already, this is what I sometimes hear in Rush - 2112: We all the priests, of the temples of Syrinx, All the gimps of light, Aww everything I want I cannot unhear it. No offense for the word "gimps". I'm pretty sure it is wrong somehow, but I won't google it.
Starbuck's Moonlight Feels Right: Actual lyrics: You say you came to Baltimore from Ole Miss, A class of '74 gold ring What I always heard: You say you came to Baltimore from Ole Miss, Class of '74, Go Rebs.... (which does make sense also) NJB
Cutting Crew - I Just Died in your arms As a kid from Germany I didn't know the meaning of any English word so I always heard something funny... Actual lyrics: "must've been something you said" What I heard: "du must besoffen sein" - which is german and means something like "you have to be drunk"
When I first bought Deep Purple's "Machine Head" and heard "Space Truckin'" for the first time I though it was about a girl. For years I heard them singing "We danced around with boring Alice" (and I know I am not the only one). It was until many years later when I joined a Deep Purple forum that I found out that they sing "We danced around with BOREALIS" which is something different. (However, sometime the word was actually printed with the lyrics as 'borealice'....) Well, it was not as bad as when I listened to Hendrix as a kid: "'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy."
I think he actually does say "diller" during the song... So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller Thriller here tonight
Steppenwolf's "The Pusher".... OK, so the protagonist of the song says that if he were the president of this land, he'd declare Total War on The Pusher. He'd cut him if he stands and shoot him if he runs. Then, he'd kill him with his Bible! And if that weren't enough, what would he do? He'd proceed to raise The Pusher's rent. Oh well, at least that's what these young ears heard.
I always loved England Dan & John Ford Coley's 1976 hit I'd Really Love To See You Tonight. However, I could never make out the first line of the chorus... I sang it as 'I'm not talking about my linen', which I knew made no sense and couldn't possibly be right. It took me years (the internet era) to find out it's actually 'I'm not talking about movin' in'. It's actually perfectly obvious now I know!
I'm with your first interpretation - I thought it was something like "I'm not talkin' 'bout the linen" as well. "I'm not talkin' 'bout movin' in" does make sense as a lyric, but it's phrased in such an odd way that it's natural you - and I - wouldn't understand it. They sing it like "move inin" - the phrase doesn't fit the tune at all!
My 3 year old daughter is a huge fan of "Ticket to Ride." Her interpretation of the chorus? "He's got a chicken to ride..."
Yes, it doesn't really fit, does it? I loved that song, but everytime I heard it I'd be trying to decipher that line!
I've known it was "movin' in" for so long now that I can no longer remember what I originally thought the line was. I suspect I never quite figured out a possible line - I think I just interpreted it as unintelligible. Your "I'm not talkin' 'bout the linen" makes more sense than my "I'm not talkin' 'bout gablinnin"!
As a kid most Michael Jackson lyrics were 50% unintelligible to me. As an adult I feel pretty much the same way. Some words just sound like gibberish.
As I've said in other threads, I didn't think "The Lady Is a Tramp" made much sense when I was a kid. I wondered, "why is Frankie being so harsh on this free and easy-going woman, calling her a slut and all?" until my Dad clarified exactly what sense of "tramp" was intended - ie, the older sense of a free-spirited adventurer type.
