Your favorite lyrical screw-ups in songs?
Grafwritah
4,184 Posts
Every now and then I'll listen to a song and in the lyrics a word will clearly be misread or misstated, changing the whole meaning of the line. I've always wondered why they were so lazy to not re-do the line, or maybe no one noticed?
One that always sticks out for me is in Ice Ice Baby, when Vanilla says, "Gunshots ranged out like a bell." Clearly should have been rang, but now the line means the gunshots were in the configuration of a bell.
Another one I noticed recently is in Bone Thugs's Handle the Vibe, where the line says, "Bone Thugs is my Calvary." Clearly should have been cavalry, but again it changes the meaning. Now instead of Bone Thugs being soldiers on horseback, they are the hill where Jesus was crucified.
What other lyrical screw-ups can you think of?
One that always sticks out for me is in Ice Ice Baby, when Vanilla says, "Gunshots ranged out like a bell." Clearly should have been rang, but now the line means the gunshots were in the configuration of a bell.
Another one I noticed recently is in Bone Thugs's Handle the Vibe, where the line says, "Bone Thugs is my Calvary." Clearly should have been cavalry, but again it changes the meaning. Now instead of Bone Thugs being soldiers on horseback, they are the hill where Jesus was crucified.
What other lyrical screw-ups can you think of?
Comments
The Copper has already asked Smiley what his name is, and received the correct answer, before then recognising him later in the song when Smiley is asked to write his name. BIG HOLE IN MY LIFE RIGHT THERE.
Cameo "She's Strange".
"Her mini-skirt, it fit so nicely, you can't look once, you have to look twicely."
I ain't Shakesbeer (sic), but as a native English-person, that ain't making it over the net.
Here are some:
1. "Dizzy Gillespie plays a sax." Nice & Smooth's "Funky for You."
Um, Dizzy Gillespie played trumpet.
2. "A lot of MCs like to use the word dramatical." Boogie Down Production's "My Philosophy."
Dramatic is the correct term.
3. "On the Jungle Brothers 'alblum', oh yes.". Q-tip on " The Promo" by The Jungle Brothers.
There is only one L in album.
4. "Your lyrics are stiff like 'David Koeppel'"-KRS-ONE on " 1-2 Pass it" on The D&D Project album.
The correct name is Ted Koeppel.
5. "I say Muhammad Ali, you say 'Classius' Clay.". Greg Nice on " Dwyck" by Gangstarr.
Cassius does not have an 'L' in it.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
And when Rakim says "You thought I was a donut, you tried to glaze me", I have always wondered exactly what being glazed involved and what was so bad about it. When I think of being glazed by a female I only picture good things.
Uh, that would be a shotgun.
A lot of these are just people trying to rhyme lyrics so they are taking creative liberties.
'cause yo, I deliver'
Diamond D 'Fuck What u Heard'
Well, Lennon was dead when this was written, so technically correct.
That Beatle guy - live and let die
I feel that instances of being overcome by da funk should be excluded from the discussion
Not to mention the enunciation police.
I want my singers to sound like BBC news readers!
"In 1959, Yellen attended the fiftieth anniversary reunion of his high school graduating class. As the writer of such standards as "Happy Days Are Here Again," "My Yiddishe Momma," and "Ain't She Sweet?," he was the class celebrity. The only unimpressed person was his former English teacher, who upbraided him with, "So you're the one who wrote that 'Ain't She Sweet?'. And I thought I tought you that 'ain't' is bad grammar!""
The hopper grass makes the hops,
The honey bee makes the honey,
The good lord made all the pretty girls,
and Sears and Roebuck makes the money,
Well excuse me!
Nobody pointed out that hops are actually made from grasshoppers.
That extra syllable always struck me as odd since I was I was a yout
From welcome to the terror some of
Course
"Lyrical douches in their bushes" notorious big
Douche doesn't go in the bush. Also.... Lyrical douches?
This is the first thing I thought of. Also, he uses the word 'unrational' right before that.
And I'm pretty sure KRS is the only MC who likes to use the word dramatical.
The next one I thought of is Microphone Fiend. "Assassinator" may actually be a word, but 'assassin' is a better one.
Kevin McCallister. That wouldn't work as well, though.
that's double, for those who aint mathematically aware"
Common and Canibus
Although (probably unintentionally) still technically correct as a lyric, as for those who are mathematically unaware squared does mean double.
Also, those criticising "dramatical" are just being pedantical.
Fixed.
No man I read or heard an interview in which he admitted it he said "in which we live in." But it could be he doesn't really remember either way. I've heard the "living" arguments but I'm not convinced.
Assuming the right hand is on the pump, left hand on the forty, which hand is holding the blunt? Feels like one too many hands to me
Also... Multiple versions of Wichita Lineman where they sing:
"I know I need a small vacation, but it sure does look like rain" when the actual line is "it don't look like rain"
I always assumed the blunt is in his mouth. hence no other hand is needed.
Sayin'. The only number whose squared value is double the original value is 2.