a little about mostly nothing

I love music. This is no surprise to my regular visitors who no doubt notice my prediliction for changing the music every couple of weeks. If you don't hear any music when you visit my journal, please let me know. My dear friend Bea (Wanderer) told me over lunch last Saturday that she doesn't recall hearing music when she opens my journal. I need to know if all of my uploading efforts are for naught. The song of the week plays only once and it may take a moment to load.

I have eclectic tastes in music. I like R&B, country, classical, reggae, opera etc. I'm not fond of most rap, but primarily because it's more talking than singing. It's also often misogynistic and homophobic, when I can understand the lyrics. I'm also not a big bluegrass fan, although I've heard a song or two in that genre that I like.

I like singer songwriters; folks who write and perform their own music really impress me. Currently I'm enamored of the sound of a young British singer songwriter by the name of Corrinne Bailey Rae. The song that I hope that you hear when you open my journal is from her CD.

When I was growing up, I would play a song over and over again, trying to learn the lyrics. This was a challenging process because it was the dark ages, BCD (Before CDs). If the song that I wanted to learn was the third track on the album, then I would have to gently drop the stereo arm so that the needle landed on the third track without scratching the record. Today's young people don't realize the trauma that we suffered in the old days.

In spite of my efforts over the years, I am guilty of mishearing song lyrics. Actually, it's not mishearing the lyrics that is the problem, it's my insistence on singing along with the song anyway. This happens most often when I'm in my car, riding along with the radio on or my newest CD. My friends and family can attest to this. My sister has told me that I sing the loudest when I have no idea what the lyrics are. Back in BCD, I loved the Supremes. One of my favorite Supremes' hits was Stop in the Name of Love. The chorus was:

Stop in the name of love

Before you break my heart.

Think it all over,

Haven’t I been good to you?

Think it all over,

Haven’t I been sweet to you?

I could never quite make out the words in the third and fifth lines, so what I sang was, Sling it all over. It didn't make much sense to me but I was a mere child. I didn't have any such excuse for my biggest misheard lyric ever. When Earth, Wind, and Fire hit the music scene, I was no longer a child. In my defense, I had only heard the song on the radio. I loved the beat, but the lyrics didn't make much sense to me. Nonetheless, I sang along everytime the song played. I thought that the name of the song was Turpentine Fire. The chorus was the same line, repeated twice and what I thought I heard was: Gonna tell a story moaning glory all about the turpentine fire. The actual lyric is: Gonna tell a story morning glory all about the serpentine fire and the title of the song is Serpentine Fire. Of course, I'm not certain that the actual lyric makes any more sense than my version.

Well, I have important things to do so I must go. Okay, I'm really signing off so I can watch Big Brother 8.

Tags: misheard lyrics, music