Misheard Lyrics

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Paula
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by Paula »

The misheard ones just make me laugh. All that time and effort and the thought process of what the artist wants the song to mean is just blown away by mishearing. Especially if it somehow flows with the song.
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osmachar
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by osmachar »

Bonnie Tyler - Total eclipse of the heart

She sings: "Once upon a time there was light in my life...." (I think)

I heard: "Once upon a time I was riding my bike..."
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Sue
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by Sue »

It took me ages to make these out:
the heart-of-darkness alibi his money hides behind
and
She took his tavern parliament, his cap, his cocky dance
(both from Death of a Ladies Man)

but not because I heard them as something else. Somehow the expressions were too strange/unexpected to be made out at all. Until
something eventually clicked. Just wondering if anyone heard them as something else entirely.
John Etherington
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by John Etherington »

Hi Sue,

I always thought it was "cocky stance" which makes more sense than "cocky dance" (even though internet lyric pages use this). I'm unable to get my hands on the book to check this, at present. Can anyone confirm?

All good things, John E
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Honor
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by Honor »

I sang my songs, I told my lies, to lie between your mattress thighs...
QQAudreyQQ
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by QQAudreyQQ »

friscogrl wrote:Thanks Audrey, i know it is a bit of a stretch.
No, I don't think so! We hear what is uppermost in our minds I think. I miss the days of sitting down to be throughly entertained by a new episode of I Love Lucy, and even watching an old rerun was always great fun. This makes me want to watch VitaVita Vegimin again....I know we have it on an old VHS around here somewhere!

When I first heard Chelsea Hotel I heard "army bed" instead of "unmade bed". Sheesh!
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blonde madonna
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by blonde madonna »

John Etherington wrote:I always thought it was "cocky stance" which makes more sense than "cocky dance" (even though internet lyric pages use this). I'm unable to get my hands on the book to check this, at present. Can anyone confirm?
John, The album sleeve lyrics has it as "cocky dance". This is my favourite song but I never bothered to check the lyrics (I thought I knew them so well!) All these years I have misheard 'tavern' as 'tap in'. And really neither of them makes any sense to me. :?
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

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Sue
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by Sue »

All these years I have misheard 'tavern' as 'tap in'. And really neither of them makes any sense to me.
hiya blonde (not sure how you like to be addressed!)

I have always thought Leonard was describing himself in this line (tavern parliament, cap, cocky dance) and some aspects of his former self that people used to laugh at or find irritating. 'Tavern parliament', in this sense could mean a tendency to hold forth, ramble on in a group of friends in a bar - maybe giving the impression of 'holding court', wanting to show off, be the centre of attention etc. I think there is a film sequence somewhere (is it in 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Leonard Cohen'?) where he is shown doing something similar with a group of fellow poets and drinking buddies.
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blonde madonna
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by blonde madonna »

:D Thanks for the explanation Sue, I had never really understood that line, I had some vague picture in my mind of a sea captain dancing on the deck. Tavern is not a word I'm very familiar with (its always 'the pub' or 'the local' here). He has been wearing those caps for a long time hasn't he?

Image

BM
the art of longing’s over and it’s never coming back

1980 -- Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
1985 -- State Theatre, Melbourne
2008 -- Hamilton, Toronto, Cardiff
2009 -- Rochford Winery, Yarra Valley
2010 -- Melbourne
2013 -- Melbourne, The Hill Winery, Geelong, Auckland
greenfairy
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by greenfairy »

I, too, always had trouble with that line from A Signer Must Die, and I like "laid" better than "late" there.

One I messed up for a long time was from Field Commander Cohen:
The patron saint of envy, the grocer of despair...

I thought it was patron saint of Indie, like Indie rock. Which probably would not have been a music genre back then. Oh well.
And quiet is the thought of you
the file on you complete
Except what we forgot to do
A thousand kisses deep...
preadhead
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by preadhead »

If you enjoy a giggle, listen to the Youtube Pearl Jam (Yellow Ledbetter) lyrics with subtitles and pictures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU
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mnkyface
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by mnkyface »

Draw a sneer, and bind us tight.

(No, I didn't hear it that way but it was funny to think about.)
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Rachel
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by Rachel »

I can't remember any mis-heard lyrics now (I posted on this thread a good few years ago!)

Somehow the expressions were too strange/unexpected to be made out at all.

This is definitely true. Often the lyrics seem paradoxical. Even 'your invincible defeat' from 1000 kisses is just...weird.
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secretchord
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by secretchord »

I wondered for a while how hair on a pillow could be compared to a 'sleepy golden stone'
...that David played and it pleased the Lord...


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hydriot
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Re: Misheard Lyrics

Post by hydriot »

Rachel wrote:Even 'your invincible defeat' from 1000 kisses is just...weird.
Nothing weird about an invincible defeat. It has happened to me several times in my life, when you are knocked so low you become invincible as there is nowhere lower to go. You cannot defeat a person who is defeated. Therefore at the moment of defeat he becomes invincible.

There is also another interpretation - when a person is fighting hard with the objective of being defeated. Suicide is an invincible defeat.
“If you do have love it's a kind of wound, and if you don't have it it's worse.” - Leonard, July 1988
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