Just for fun: lyrics that are just wrong

Community Hub 🗨 Just Chatting
21

Saw them in the Cavern and in the Phil, where they played it both times :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:
I never noticed that I didn’t understand a word, but I suppose living in Switzerland for ten years can play tricks with your ears… :wink:

1 Like
22

So So much are just wrong :upside_down_face:

I don’t even know where to start, but that could also be because I speak and hear a bit too much RogEnglishier :roll_eyes:

Greetings :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:

23

Very talented multilingual artist :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:
I recall him confessing in an interview how embarrassed he felt at a grammar mistake in one of his early songs, Les Filles du Limmatquai, where he sings tous les filles… instead of toutes les filles :open_mouth:
We’re often our own worst critics :rofl:

2 Likes
24

yeah I really like Stephane Eicher’s songs
he’s eccentric in the way he records his album , I ve always like that

but I ve always been wondering if he really did open the sheet in front of a window XD

1 Like
25

I think “I shot a man in Frisco” would work

1 Like
26

Actually, I think Frisco is widely considered kind of cheesy as a nickname for San Francisco, so maybe not.

1 Like
27

How about Barstow? Rough desert town.

28

Frisco is a real city in Texas

3 Likes
29

Did anyone tell Otis when he was sittin’ on the dock? :thinking:

1 Like
30

…and what would have happened if Tom Petty had backed down…? :zany_face:

1 Like
31

…or if heaven really wasn’t in the back seat of that Cadillac?..:nerd_face:

2 Likes
32

Not famous enough. Also, doesn’t sing as well as “Reno”.

33

True, but we’re looking for a place name that is in California and doesn’t sound cheesy.

34

Well, Southern man don’t need him around, anyhow. :slight_smile:

1 Like
35

Touché. I was trying to think of a song with “Frisco” in the lyrics, but my mind couldn’t come up with this classic. Far be it from be to criticize the song writing skills of a legend like Otis Redding, but I always found that “Frisco Bay” line a little cringe.

This aversion to “Frisco” may be a California thing. I lived there in my youth.

36

Good topic!

Here are two lyrical “mistakes” from two of my absolute heroes and they both, strangely enough, have to do with … baseball.

Springteen, Glory Days:

“he could throw that speedball by you, make you look like a fool, boy”

Ugh, nobody refers to a fastball (or any other kind of pitch) as a “speedball”. To make things worse, the term “speedball” actually refers to a mixture of heroin and cocaine.

Chuck Berry, Brown Eyed Handsome Man

“Two-three the count, with nobody on, he hit a high fly into the stands”

For those who don’t know about baseball, the “count” is the number of balls and strikes that have been thrown so far. However a count of “two-three” is impossible, Chuck meant “three-two” (the most dramatic situation possible).

I don’t know why these songwriting giants made these lyrical choices. Poetic licence, I guess. In the end, I love both songs, so I guess these “mistakes” aren’t a deal-breaker for me.

2 Likes
37

You are not alone, my friend :laughing:
I’ve told many a continental friend that nobody says ‘Frisco’.
Cringe is the perfect label.
I was very disappointed when I noticed Mr. Redding’s employment of the term :cry:

Bono counts in Vertigo with “Unos, dos, tres, catorce!” (Some, two, three, fourteen!)
he later admitted there may have been some alcohol involved :wink:

1 Like
38

One unanswered puzzle since the 80’s is Meatloaf (I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that)

“Oh, I would do anything for love
I would do anything for love but I won’t do that
I won’t do that”

I have never seen a satisfactory answer of exactly what “that” is and it’s not defined in the song.

1 Like
39

[quote="Prof_Thunder, post:38, topic:409847”]
I have never seen a satisfactory answer of exactly what “that” is
[/quote]

not buying one more guitar :rofl:

2 Likes
40

This one has also been a long time puzzle since the punk era of the 70’s in the UK. Not exactly wrong lyrics but certainly difficult to understand:

Stranglers - London Lady (1977)

“Making love to
The Mersey Tunnel
With a sausage, have you ever been to Liverpool?”

It really makes you wonder what drugs these people were on.

7 Likes