2/23/2007

I’m always flattered to hear how much you guys like our song parodies- which would never be as good without the great instrumental tracks arranged and played by my long-time friend and accompanist Doug Graves. I’ve always enjoyed writing parodies of songs…and sometimes, just changing one phrase in a lyric to something it just happens to sound like helps create a new parody. Of course, sometimes that change isn’t on purpose- it’s just a matter of not hearing the correct words very well. I’ve done that, and I’ll bet you have as well. There are even books and websites of “misheard lyrics”- which sometimes are hilarious, and other times are just head-scratchers. Here’s one I remember from junior high school- I think it was Herman’s Hermits, and the song was “She’s a Must to Avoid”- Not exactly a common phrase, which is probably why a youthful Rich/Sven thought they were saying “She’s a muscular boy!” Come on, it even made sense with the second line- “She’s a muscular boy- a complete impossibility!” Darn right it’s an impossibility. Another one with a few variations is Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon on the Rise”- used perfectly in the John Landis film “An American Werewolf in London.” The lyrics have been heard somewhat imperfectly, however-some swear the line “there’s a bad moon on the rise” is actually “there’s a bathroom on the right.” Others mistake a different hairy animal for that werewolf- “there’s a baboon on the right.” I know someone who thought Archie and Edith Bunker , instead of singing “gee, our old LaSalle ran great” in the “All in the Family” theme – were singing “ Gene’s an old and sour ingrate.” I asked who he thought “Gene” was, and he came up with an elaborate theory that it was liberal Presidential candidate of the late 60s Eugene McCarthy, who Archie naturally would’ve hated due to his political views! Well, at least it made sense to him… One misheard lyric a lot of folks seem to have misheard occurs in Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs’ “Wooly Bully”- Sam sings that the creature had “two big horns – and a wooly jaw.” A lot of people I know seem to think that it had “two big horns- and a wooly dog.” Another funny one is from ZZ Top’s “Sharp-Dressed Man…” when “every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp-dressed man” becomes “every girl’s crazy bout a half-dressed man.” Well, there may be some truth to that, but it sure seems like a stretch… Have you got you own favorite misheard lyric? Send it to me- Svengoolie@wciu.com - and maybe we’ll do a blog about viewer misheard lyrics. After all, in the words of Frank Sinatra, we could be “strangers in the night- exchanging glasses…”