That’s why I look uo lyrics a lot. (I was terribly disappointed to leatn “One Armed Scissor” was about the singer and a bandmate dealing with drug addiction on the road and not about a disaster aboard a spaceship called the One-Armed Scissor.)
I’ve definitely looked up lyrics to find I was mishearing part of it, decided my version was better, ad kept imagining it that way when I listened.
Clif
THIS!!!
Schpoonman
Disney’s Hercules’s Hades has a scene where he flares for a moment, then says “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m cool, I’m fine.” Except I remembered it as “I’m cool, I’m cool, I’m fine, I’m cool,” which I thing rolls off the tongue way better.
I think even for people who can easily make out lyrics it’s just easy to not think about them enough to actually perform the work of interpretation. Lot of times when we’re listening to music that’s not all we’re doing.
I thought Britney Spears was singing “when I’m not with you, I use my mind” for literal years. It remains my headcanon, but the inferior “lose my mind” bothers me if I ever hear it, haha.
?Back in my day we had to play the cd or tape over and over with a group of friends, one acting as secretary and writing what the others heard, and occasionally debating the various possible iterations of lyrics based on sound, context and rhythm. Sometimes factions would go to war on the school ground over the lyrics to Hang Em High
I think I blew my partner’s mind when I told them that most cds came with a little book that had the lyrics on them tucked in the front with the albulm art. Apparently not everyone disassembles their cd cases out of boredom/curiosity I guess?
Jon
I mean, I went looking for them because I grew up with album sleeves that had the lyrics on them, followed by lyric sheets folded into the cassette cases, so it seemed a natural evolution, but I can see where someone younger might not have knows such things were even there.
There’s a fun scene in Jumping Jack Flash where Whoopi Goldberg’s character is listening to the titular song like that, on vinyl, as part of an attempt to guess someone’s password. At one point she pleads, “Mick, speak English.”
I mean, I like listening to Rammstein to get into a workout mood, and can mostly get the gist of it even though I don’t speak German (though I did eventually look up English translations).
Tangent: Because English is three languages in a trench coat (Latin, German, and French). And French/Spanish/Italian are basically just Latin evolved, so Between my native English and high school Latin, I can almost understand French and Spanish … but not the versions of them spoken in the southern US, Mexican Spanish is different from what they speak in Spain, and Cajun … is like that but twice, i.e. Quebecois is to French what Mexican is to Castilian, and Cajun is to Quebecois as Quebecois is to Parisian, if that makes sense.
Haitian Creole is a trip for this. Not so much in terms of how it sounds- honestly I can’t make hide nor hair of when my colleage or my students speak it- but written down. There wil be words that look like they almost make sense, and then I realize they’re French words written phonetically by someone with a very different pronunciation than what I’m used to.
Actually I understand what you mean. Those are all creoles, Quebecoise is closest to the base language of French, hell we even call Cajun Creole, Mexican Spanish is a Creole of the Spanish of southern Spain and the various native languages of the area.
United States English is also a Creole, but not to the extent of Cajun.
I generally refuse to get into any music with lyrics by default, mostly because I find it distracting, but also because I insist on actually thinking about the lyrics before I adopt the song as something I like.
My only exception to this has been Persona music, because Lotus Juice has pointedly stated that their songs are nonsense no matter how coherent it sounds. (And I still twitch every time Backside of the TV raps out “who the richest / Mother Teresa” and sometimes skip the song at that point.)
That’s part of why I like folk music so much, the lyrics actually matter to the enjoyment of the song, you’re supposed to actually listen and understand, and as a trained singer, if I cannot actually understand what words are being sung, it negatively impacts my impression of the song and band because clearly the singer can’t sing. That’s why I dislike listening to The Pogues despite loving covers of their original music performed by bands with actually competent singers, because their singer sounds like he’s drunkenly slurring at all times and it just seems like such an absolute waste of otherwise really good music.
Lyrics have always been important to me. It’s odd to listen to a somg if I can’t understand the lyrics. I do try with some foreign languages though, these days.
Another giant hit that was originally recorded when the singer was drunk was In a Gada Da Vita. Or as originally written In The Garden of Eden. I prefer the 17 minute version.
TBH I think discerning lyrics is a skill, like anything else. I used to be terrible at it, and my audio comprehension is pretty bad generally, but I make a really concerted effort to understand them when it’s a song I like, and it does get easier. Also, learning how specific singers phrase things helps a ton. Once you recognize their vocal patterns, the vowel sounds they’re partial to, where they emphasize words both syllabically and in musical phrases, etc, it gets easier to figure out what they’re saying in songs you don’t know.
I can’t judge her due to how long it took me to get, oh, Dio’s “Rainbow in the Dark” is about depression. In my defense, the music video REALLY has zero to do with the meaning of the song.
If you want songs where the music deliberately clashes with the lyrics, listen to Susan Vega. You get he nicest, upbeat sounding music to lyrics about devastating topics. Ever really listened to „My name is Luca?“ just don‘t ask me … ran into a door again, …
One of my favourite things to do is to inform people that Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is actually about masturbation, and when they don’t believe it, recite the chorus back to them slowly and watch the realization dark across their face.
Aw… he’s watching me… from afar… every single day… watching every word i say… every…bond i break… every… smile i… fake… oh god…
The fascinating thing about this is that even Sting wasn’t quite aware at first what he was writing. His intention was to write a sweet love song, but this was after his divorce (and during the cold war), and he soon came to realise the song had twisted into something sinister and controlling.
And then he kept it like that!
Steamweed
The song is an excellent depiction of, and warning about, stalkers. Kind of a theme song for the big bad wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood stories.
tim Rowledge
The slight variation he did for ‘Spitting Image’ was pretty good and quite scary
Michelle J Caboose
R.E.M.’s “The One I Love”.
Other people: “Aaaawww… ‘This one goes out to the one I love…’ That’s so sweet!”
Me, stuck on the REST of the lyrics: “Yeah… sure… sweet. Absolutely.” (cries)
307 thoughts on “Remake”
Giffem
yes about joe indeed
GholaHalleck
Dotty getting slapped in the face by the dong of consequences instead of the boobs.
Purple Floof
the boobs of self-indulgence
Opus the Poet
Boobs of engagement.
Steamweed
John Wick 5: The Boobs of Rules vs The Dong of Consequences
(or is that the ballerina movie?)
NGPZ
not sure if it just my being autistic or what, but I just don’t expect songs these days to have easily discernible lyrics by default XD
Jon S.
That’s why I look uo lyrics a lot. (I was terribly disappointed to leatn “One Armed Scissor” was about the singer and a bandmate dealing with drug addiction on the road and not about a disaster aboard a spaceship called the One-Armed Scissor.)
Yumi
I’ve definitely looked up lyrics to find I was mishearing part of it, decided my version was better, ad kept imagining it that way when I listened.
Clif
THIS!!!
Schpoonman
Disney’s Hercules’s Hades has a scene where he flares for a moment, then says “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m cool, I’m fine.” Except I remembered it as “I’m cool, I’m cool, I’m fine, I’m cool,” which I thing rolls off the tongue way better.
Jade
Same 😛
AbacusWizard
If anyone wants some excellent songs about disasters on spaceships, have I got an album for you:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3GeijUxGio1EGIDFHpN-k7HrWVR5OHM
Laura
Neat!
thejeff
Old filk. Nice.
I’ve got a couple of those songs, though I’ve never seen the original album.
tim Rowledge
An excellent album of disaster and drama!
Opus the Poet
A title like that makes me think of an amputee lesb.
Thag Simmons
I think even for people who can easily make out lyrics it’s just easy to not think about them enough to actually perform the work of interpretation. Lot of times when we’re listening to music that’s not all we’re doing.
Hroethvitnir
I thought Britney Spears was singing “when I’m not with you, I use my mind” for literal years. It remains my headcanon, but the inferior “lose my mind” bothers me if I ever hear it, haha.
Tan
I’m just gonna put this link here for the group. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditory_processing_disorder
Steamweed
What? Oh pft. Shirley that stuff doesn’t have _anything_ to do with Joyce. Or us. Shirley.
(*casually nudging my entire teen years’ music collection under the bed)
misabiko
Adding APD to the list of stuff I’ve never heard about, hits very close to home and wish I’d learned about 20 years ago.
Bogeywoman
?Back in my day we had to play the cd or tape over and over with a group of friends, one acting as secretary and writing what the others heard, and occasionally debating the various possible iterations of lyrics based on sound, context and rhythm. Sometimes factions would go to war on the school ground over the lyrics to Hang Em High
Bogeywoman
(this is hyperbole, but MCT did also bring out the passion)
Psi baka onna
I think I blew my partner’s mind when I told them that most cds came with a little book that had the lyrics on them tucked in the front with the albulm art. Apparently not everyone disassembles their cd cases out of boredom/curiosity I guess?
Jon
I mean, I went looking for them because I grew up with album sleeves that had the lyrics on them, followed by lyric sheets folded into the cassette cases, so it seemed a natural evolution, but I can see where someone younger might not have knows such things were even there.
StClair
There’s a fun scene in Jumping Jack Flash where Whoopi Goldberg’s character is listening to the titular song like that, on vinyl, as part of an attempt to guess someone’s password. At one point she pleads, “Mick, speak English.”
Delivery McGee
I mean, I like listening to Rammstein to get into a workout mood, and can mostly get the gist of it even though I don’t speak German (though I did eventually look up English translations).
Tangent: Because English is three languages in a trench coat (Latin, German, and French). And French/Spanish/Italian are basically just Latin evolved, so Between my native English and high school Latin, I can almost understand French and Spanish … but not the versions of them spoken in the southern US, Mexican Spanish is different from what they speak in Spain, and Cajun … is like that but twice, i.e. Quebecois is to French what Mexican is to Castilian, and Cajun is to Quebecois as Quebecois is to Parisian, if that makes sense.
Rogue 7
Haitian Creole is a trip for this. Not so much in terms of how it sounds- honestly I can’t make hide nor hair of when my colleage or my students speak it- but written down. There wil be words that look like they almost make sense, and then I realize they’re French words written phonetically by someone with a very different pronunciation than what I’m used to.
Steamweed
Yay! for linguistic fun!
jonathan young
I love your analogy about Parisian -> Canadian -> Quebecois -> Cajun that is perfect.
Opus the Poet
Actually I understand what you mean. Those are all creoles, Quebecoise is closest to the base language of French, hell we even call Cajun Creole, Mexican Spanish is a Creole of the Spanish of southern Spain and the various native languages of the area.
United States English is also a Creole, but not to the extent of Cajun.
Jamie
I generally refuse to get into any music with lyrics by default, mostly because I find it distracting, but also because I insist on actually thinking about the lyrics before I adopt the song as something I like.
My only exception to this has been Persona music, because Lotus Juice has pointedly stated that their songs are nonsense no matter how coherent it sounds. (And I still twitch every time Backside of the TV raps out “who the richest / Mother Teresa” and sometimes skip the song at that point.)
Psychie
That’s part of why I like folk music so much, the lyrics actually matter to the enjoyment of the song, you’re supposed to actually listen and understand, and as a trained singer, if I cannot actually understand what words are being sung, it negatively impacts my impression of the song and band because clearly the singer can’t sing. That’s why I dislike listening to The Pogues despite loving covers of their original music performed by bands with actually competent singers, because their singer sounds like he’s drunkenly slurring at all times and it just seems like such an absolute waste of otherwise really good music.
Adept
Lyrics have always been important to me. It’s odd to listen to a somg if I can’t understand the lyrics. I do try with some foreign languages though, these days.
thejeff
Shane was drunkenly slurring most of the time, but damn he was good at it. 🙂
Opus the Poet
Another giant hit that was originally recorded when the singer was drunk was In a Gada Da Vita. Or as originally written In The Garden of Eden. I prefer the 17 minute version.
hothotpot
TBH I think discerning lyrics is a skill, like anything else. I used to be terrible at it, and my audio comprehension is pretty bad generally, but I make a really concerted effort to understand them when it’s a song I like, and it does get easier. Also, learning how specific singers phrase things helps a ton. Once you recognize their vocal patterns, the vowel sounds they’re partial to, where they emphasize words both syllabically and in musical phrases, etc, it gets easier to figure out what they’re saying in songs you don’t know.
Mr. Bad Example
I grew up trying to figure out what the hell Eddie Vedder and Hootie were saying, nothing fazes me anymore
Needfuldoer
Now I’m mumblin’!
And I’m screamin’!
And I don’t know
What I’m singin’!
We’re so loud and incoherent
Boy this oughtta bug your parents!
Yeah!
Dot
Oh this is NASTY work, Willis, absolutely well done.
DailyBrad
I can’t judge her due to how long it took me to get, oh, Dio’s “Rainbow in the Dark” is about depression. In my defense, the music video REALLY has zero to do with the meaning of the song.
Mewzard
To be fair, Dio loves writing about a lot of varied themes with differing levels of hidden meaning in his rather creative lyrics.
Mr D phone posting
You thought it was shallow musical lyrics, BUT IT WAS ME, DIO!
Opus the Poet
+1??
CJ
If you want songs where the music deliberately clashes with the lyrics, listen to Susan Vega. You get he nicest, upbeat sounding music to lyrics about devastating topics. Ever really listened to „My name is Luca?“ just don‘t ask me … ran into a door again, …
mindbleach
I will never recover from that synthwave cover of Komm, Susser Todd.
Rose by Any other Name
**bops** “I know – I know I’ve let you down…”
Laura
Played on the hacked symphonic concert hall:
https://youtu.be/gPNrjFlq8CM?si=NJ4w_KzTryiY5s4H
Nono
One of my favourite things to do is to inform people that Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is actually about masturbation, and when they don’t believe it, recite the chorus back to them slowly and watch the realization dark across their face.
GholaHalleck
“Rock Me like a Hurricane” for me. I knew it was a bangin’ song, but woo the actual lyrics.
jeffepp
Genie In A Bottle is… quite topical for this comic of late. It’s about the girl getting “one rubbed out” first, before sex.
Which set the tone for most of her songs involving her crotch.
Aquila
Not quite as topical, but Hotel California is about killer robots (if you only go by the lyrics).
Clif
Nuh uh! It’s clearly about zombie vampires.
Thag Simmons
Yeah I don’t think they’re literally meant to be Robots in that one.
3oranges
There is one line about being programmed, but nobody dies. Not even the beast, despite being stabbed.
Risky
It’s about beasts, clearly. Or possible an overdose leading to nightmares and possibly hell.
Steamweed
I thought it was about the music (or even the entire entertainment) industry.
Clif
You make a compelling case.
Jon
Your interpretation is backed by Word of God, so…
Purple Floof
Good ol’ Like a Prayer – the themesong for Blowjob Cat
Queen Anthai
“Your Love” by the Outfield is about a guy cheating on his lady and man that killed a lot of the joy of it for me.
Needfuldoer
Allow me to help bring some of the joy back to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LQS0mqaRVU
Kitschensyngk
I feel sorry for anyone who actually thinks Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is a patriotic song.
Freezer
“‘Every Step You Take’ is such a romantic song!”
Sharizard
Aw… he’s watching me… from afar… every single day… watching every word i say… every…bond i break… every… smile i… fake… oh god…
The fascinating thing about this is that even Sting wasn’t quite aware at first what he was writing. His intention was to write a sweet love song, but this was after his divorce (and during the cold war), and he soon came to realise the song had twisted into something sinister and controlling.
And then he kept it like that!
Steamweed
The song is an excellent depiction of, and warning about, stalkers. Kind of a theme song for the big bad wolf in the Little Red Riding Hood stories.
tim Rowledge
The slight variation he did for ‘Spitting Image’ was pretty good and quite scary
Michelle J Caboose
R.E.M.’s “The One I Love”.
Other people: “Aaaawww… ‘This one goes out to the one I love…’ That’s so sweet!”
Me, stuck on the REST of the lyrics: “Yeah… sure… sweet. Absolutely.” (cries)
Opus the Poet
You mean the Stalker’s Anthem?
Nobby Nobbs
Will fully admit that I only paid attention to a few lines as a kid and assumed it was a Christian song. Like, from the POV of God.
Thag Simmons
you probably shouldn’t
Rogue 7