{"id":203,"date":"2015-08-03T21:42:01","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T21:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=203"},"modified":"2015-08-10T16:58:19","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T16:58:19","slug":"ftv-charlie-walnut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=203","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Charlie Walnut!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shock,<\/a>Anyone who spends any amount of time talking or writing about music will eventually bring \u2018misheard lyrics\u2019 into the discussion. \u00a0I would not want to feel left out of this club. \u00a0In fact, anyone who has had to figure out songs for a band to learn faces the task of unmasking mystical (and sometimes undecipherable) lyrics probably should be a charter member of the club. \u00a0Okay, so maybe a lot of rock songs aren\u2019t meant to be very deep, but they should at least make sense! \u00a0One of the most often quoted lyric mistakes comes from the Jimi Hendrix song Purple Haze.<\/i> \u00a0I played (and sang) along with this record a lot when learning to play the drums and I never heard \u2018Excuse me while I kiss this guy\u2019 – \u00a0\u00a0I always heard \u2018kiss the sky\u2019. \u00a0It really doesn\u2019t matter how the lyrics get bent out of shape or or misheard. \u00a0\u00a0It has happened and will continue to happen as long as songwriters continue to pen lyrics and people try to sing them.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it all started with Louie Louie <\/i>by the Kingsman. \u00a0Written and recorded by Richard Berry in 1955, the Kingsman\u2019s version was released in 1963. \u00a0The Kingsman took Berry\u2019s straight 1-2-3-4 beat and changed it up to a more tribal (and easily recognized) 1-2-3, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2 \u00a0rhythm that has been repeated by too many bands and on too many recordings to even count. \u00a0It was Jack Ely\u2019s vocal that got everyone stirred up. \u00a0His slurred delivery was so garbled, even the FBI began a 31 month investigation amid accusations of \u2018dirty lyrics\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0It seemed that no one could decipher what Ely was singing, so they began making up their own versions of the lyrics. \u00a0The Kingsman\u2019s original recording sold so poorly that it didn\u2019t even become a hit until a Boston DJ featured it as his \u2018Worst Song of the Week\u2019. \u00a0There were enough interpretations of what people thought they heard in Ely\u2019s delivery that no marketing firm on Earth could have generated that much free publicity if they tried.<\/p>\n

In the end, the national buzz about the song\u2019s supposed \u2018dirty lyrics\u2019 sent it over the top making it one case where misheard lyrics (or imagined in many cases) actually caused a record to become a hit. \u00a0Just for the record, here are the lyrics just as Berry wrote them and Ely sang them:<\/p>\n

Louie Louie, oh no \/ Sayin’ we gotta go, yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah \/ Said Louie Louie, oh baby \/ Said we gotta go \/\/ A fine little girl, she waits for me \/ Catch a ship across the sea \/ Sail that ship about, all alone \/ Never know if I make it home \/\/ {chorus} {Louie Louie, oh no no no \/ Sayin’ we gotta go, oh no \/ \u00a0Said Louie Louie, oh baby \/ Said we gotta go} \/\/ Three nights and days I sail the sea \/ Think of girl, all constantly \/ On that ship I dream she’s there \/ I smell the rose in her hair \/\/ {chorus} \/\/ {vocal break into lead guitar solo} Okay, let’s give it to ’em, right now! \/\/ {guitar break} \/\/ See, see Jamaica, the moon above \/ It won’t be long, me see me love \/ Take her in my arms again \/ I’ll tell her I’ll never leave again \/\/ {chorus}. \u00a0Even the FBI couldn\u2019t understand Ely\u2019s delivery, let alone find anything subversive.<\/p>\n

When Ray and I taught our Knockdown band mates Loggins and Messina\u2019s Your Mamma Don\u2019t Dance,<\/i> we bumped into one of those hard to decipher lyrics on the middle eight section. \u00a0They describe a \u2018parking\u2019 episode at the drive-in theater being interrupted by \u2018a light in your eye, and then a guy says, \u2018out of the car, long hair\u2019\u2019. \u00a0The next section was up for grabs: \u00a0\u2018Hoo wee, you\u2019re coming with me . . .\u2019 and Ray swore the next line was \u2018to Leavenworth East\u2019. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t come up with anything closer than that so that is what we sang. \u00a0Years later, I heard the tune on the radio and for the first time heard it clear as day: \u00a0\u2018 hoo wee, you\u2019re coming with me, it\u2019s the local police\u2019! \u00a0I cringed momentarily for all the times we sang it wrong, but nobody ever corrected us so we will let that slide.<\/p>\n

Southern rocker Zac Brown\u2019s advice to \u2018Let It Go\u2019<\/i> includes a line that sounds \u00a0like \u2018Like a sweet son said in Georgia, let it go\u2019. \u00a0Former president and Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter aside, what Brown is really saying is \u2018Like a sweet sunset in Georgia, let it go.\u2019 \u00a0Misheard lyrics come from national anthems and history lessons, too, as in Canada\u2019s Oh, Canada: <\/i>\u00a0(misheard: \u2018Oh, Canada, we stand on cars and freeze\u2019 instead of \u2018we stand on guard for thee\u2019) and Billy Joel\u2019s We Didn\u2019t Start the Fire: <\/i>(misheard: \u2018We didn\u2019t start the fire, it was always burning, said the worst attorney\u2019 instead of \u2018since the world\u2019s been turning\u2019).<\/p>\n

Carly Simon scored a rare \u2018double double and a mystery twist\u2019 with her classic hit You\u2019re so Vain. \u00a0<\/i>First of all, there was always disagreement about who she was singing about (the \u2018mystery twist\u2019). \u00a0Speculation was that it was either Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty (and either would be a fine fit). \u00a0The double double\u2019 comes from the lines heard as \u2018with the wife of a postman\u2019 (which is really \u2018with the wife of a close friend\u2019) and \u2018clowns in my coffee\u2019 (which is really \u2018clouds in my coffee\u2019). \u00a0As a person who prefers cream in his coffee, I can relate to the second one (the \u2018clouds\u2019 not the \u2018clowns\u2019). \u00a0Mike the bass player in two of my old bands had to sing it every time I doctored my coffee accordingly during our post gig meals.<\/p>\n

Being a little deaf doesn\u2019t help matters, either. \u00a0I tend to play music in the car much too loud because I am a little deaf (yes, my folks were right again). \u00a0Playing loud music plus a viral illness I picked up on a field trip 30 years ago (it knocked out the low and middle frequencies I can hear with my left ear) have effectively combined to reduce my ability to hear things, especially in situations where there is a lot of background noise. \u00a0My wife, on the other hand, has great hearing so when we travel together, the radio gets tuned to her hearing threshold, not mine. \u00a0As a consequence, I hear many familiar songs bubbling under the radar and my brain turns them into something entirely new.<\/p>\n

Charlie Walnut? \u00a0We were recently traveling and I was trying to make heads or tails out of the song that was playing on the radio. \u00a0I finally asked my wife, \u2018I wonder who Charlie Walnut is?\u2019 \u00a0She asked, \u2018What are you talking about?\u2019 \u00a0\u2018That song on the radio – it is something about Charlie Walnut.\u2019 \u00a0I am pretty sure she thought I was the nut at this point because when I turned up the volume, it turned out we were listening to Kentucky Woman<\/i> as performed by Deep Purple. \u00a0If anyone wants to write lyrics to a song about \u2018Charlie Walnut\u2019, I know a great tune that it would go with.<\/p>\n

If listeners ever find themselves wondering about the lyrics they hear on WOAS-FM \u00a088.5, please feel free to drop me a line at ken@oasd.k12.mi.us<\/a><\/span>. \u00a0I promise that I won\u2019t laugh at what you thought you heard because I have already been there and done that!<\/p>\n