Do you have any songs that make you shake your head every time you hear them because the lyrics are just wrong?
Iāll start with a couple:
Folsom Prison Blues. Why would he be doing time in Folsom Prison (California) for a crime committed in Reno (Nevada)?
Little GTO. āShe beats the gassers and the rail jobs.ā No she doesnāt. A GTO wouldnāt come close.
Def Leppard, Pour Some Sugar On Me. Leaves me wondering what those guys were thinking, or consuming.
Arenāt all the wrong ones meant to be listened to backwards? And if that doesnāt work they are probably intended for the Lizard People and not us.
In Folsom Prison, the lyrics arenāt clear if heās doing time for the murder in Reno or for some other crime. Also Reno is only 10-15 miles from the California border. Iām just being particularly pedantic so donāt take these comments seriously. I certainly donāt.
Oh, I know how close Reno is to California. But youād still do your time in Nevada, not California.
In my most recent project Nine Stories thereās a lyric:
āI was in Virginia City for the stringing up of Clubfoot Laneā 
Having no clue what this referred to, I look it up and, although George Lane/Clubfoot George did live in Virginia City, he was wrongfully hanged by vigilantes in Nevada City 
Needless to say, I was compelled to change the lyrics.
I think thereās something wrong with meā¦ 
Well, thereās the classic Robert Johnson Blues song, Sweet Home Chicago, where he talks about, heading āBack to that land of California. To my sweet Home Chicagoā.
Many artists have felt compelled to change that over the years.
Eric Clapton, for instance, changed it his version to āFrom that land of Californiaā¦ā
But then messed it up by claiming that ā4 and 2 is 8ā.
I guess if you multiply them Eric, but thatās not normally what āandā means. 
Cheers,
Keith
Cortez The Killer by Neil Young
Pretty much the entire song is historically inaccurate. In fairness Neil Young said in an interview he wasnāt trying to be accurate, itās just a song that sounded good.
Montezuma was in fact a nasty piece of work, a tyrant and hated by most of his subjects.
Hahahaha.
Oh yes, Iāve just heard one on the radio in my car on my way home this afternoon.
I donāt know the song well, but the chorus goes like this ā¦
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong?
Sail away with me
to another world ā¦
Well, now try not to laugh while thinking of an island in the stream that sails away suddenly
ā¦ 
ā¦ and gone ā¦ 
ā¦ to another world ā¦ 
Thatās what I call imaginative songwriting 
there is a Swiss / French song by Stephane Eicher that always makes me laugh
he says :
ā Jāallais Ć la fenĆŖtre
Enroule dans un drap
Je secouais la tĆŖte
Jāen Ć©cartais les bras ā
ā I went to the window
rolled up in a sheet
I was shaking my head
and opened my arms ā
now I ve always hoped he was not naked under the sheet 
The song that has always bugged me is jailbreak by Thin Lizzy. The lyrics arenāt so much wrong as not well thought outā¦
Tonight thereās gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this town
How many jails does this town have? It shouldnāt be that hard to work out!
@Gunhild
I think the original āIslands in the Streamā was by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rodgers.
Michael
yeah it is to show how twisted and in-human he becameā¦
I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.
Iām still wonderign what the pompetus of love is
and I friggin hate āAre we human or are we dancerā with a passion 
Iāve never been able to make out the lyrics to Hocus Pocus by Focus.
Unless youāre calculating the probability of āsomethingā and āsomething elseā happening!! 
The probability of someone saying ā4 and 2 is 8ā is probably quite high! 
Mark
Joladadijoladadi-jo-o-ooh!!
The voice as an instrument or nonsense poetry. Focus 3, from āLive at the Rainbowā, proves that the guitar can talk to you.
Brian
They were pretty good, werenāt they? I had a bit of a Focus binge this evening, and decided to learn the guitar part to āSylviaā soon.
Iām also amazed at the amount of amplification Jan Akkerman had on some rather small stages.
Haha! Youāre right. Iāve been listening to this song for 50 years and that never occurred to me.
Although, I think āRenoā is the perfect place name to put here. It evokes (for me), the right mix of gambling, vice, cowboy vibe, etc. āI shot a man in Fresnoā¦ā is just not as good 