Your favorite lyrical screw-ups in songs?

GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
edited October 2014 in Strut Central
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?
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  • strataspherestratasphere Blastin' the Nasty 1,035 Posts
    LL Cool J mispronouncing album instead he said alblum on 1-900-LLCOOLJ. He made that mistake throughout his albums.

  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Nas saying "MenAHstral cycles"

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    Smiley Culture's "Police Officer".

    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.

  • Big_StacksBig_Stacks "I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
    Hey,

    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

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    "There's three of us but we're not the Beatles" :NO:

    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.

  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    "A sawed off mic, so words scatter like a rifle" Rakim

    Uh, that would be a shotgun.

    A lot of these are just people trying to rhyme lyrics so they are taking creative liberties.

  • 'sell like hotcakes, people has prostate cancer of the liver
    'cause yo, I deliver'

    Diamond D 'Fuck What u Heard'

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,885 Posts
    asstro said:
    "There's three of us but we're not the Beatles" :NO:

    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.

    Well, Lennon was dead when this was written, so technically correct.

  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    "In this world in which we live in"

    That Beatle guy - live and let die

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    I'm not sure who the artist is but there's a version of Express Yourself where he get it mixed up like "it's not what you do when you're doin what you're doin". Mixes up the meaning but it was so funky they kept the take anyway.

  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    deezlee said:
    I'm not sure who the artist is but there's a version of Express Yourself where he get it mixed up like "it's not what you do when you're doin what you're doin". Mixes up the meaning but it was so funky they kept the take anyway.

    I feel that instances of being overcome by da funk should be excluded from the discussion

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    We got the grammar police all up in this place.
    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!""

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Furry Lewis once said:
    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.

  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    "Would you join me please in welcomining..."
    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?

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    LaserWolf said:
    Furry Lewis once said:
    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.
    Hmmmm

  • KadinkKadink Mainstream hip-hop is losing its street edge 98 Posts
    Big_Stacks said:


    2. "A lot of MCs like to use the word dramatical." Boogie Down Production's "My Philosophy."

    Dramatic is the correct term.


    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.

  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,080 Posts
    'So I booby trap intruders like my name was Ferris Bueller.' - "We're Here" Ugly Duckling

    Kevin McCallister. That wouldn't work as well, though.

  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
    "I'm your worst nightmare squared,
    that's double, for those who aint mathematically aware"

    Common and Canibus

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    Unherd said:
    "I'm your worst nightmare squared,
    that's double, for those who aint mathematically aware"

    Common and Canibus
    Ouch

  • deezlee said:
    Unherd said:
    "I'm your worst nightmare squared,
    that's double, for those who aint mathematically aware"

    Common and Canibus
    Ouch

    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.

  • GaryGary 3,982 Posts
    Yeah squared does mean double so what am I missing?

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    Gary said:
    "In this ever-changing world in which we're living"

    That Beatle guy - live and let die

    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.

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    Gary said:
    Yeah squared does mean double so what am I missing?
    And hops are made of grasshoppers. Whatsgoinonaroundhere?

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    Gary said:
    Yeah squared does mean double so what am I missing?
    And hops are made of grasshoppers. Whatsgoinonaroundhere?

  • ElectrodeElectrode Los Angeles 3,080 Posts
    Prime numbers one and two aside, "double" to me insinuates the addition to a number with the same value. In other words, the number multiplied by two; not multiplied by itself, which is "squared".

  • "sawed off shotgun, hand on the pump. Left hand on a forty, puffin on a blunt"

    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"

  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    "I stand alone, don't need anyone."

  • kicks79kicks79 1,333 Posts
    TheKindCromang said:
    "sawed off shotgun, hand on the pump. Left hand on a forty, puffin on a blunt"

    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.

  • GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
    Wasn't there some Beastie Boys -> Beatsie Boys lyrical screw ups also?

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Electrode said:
    Prime numbers one and two aside, "double" to me insinuates the addition to a number with the same value. In other words, the number multiplied by two; not multiplied by itself, which is "squared".

    Sayin'. The only number whose squared value is double the original value is 2.
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