What Song Titles Did You Get Wrong?

Anything to do with the world of music...old or new

What Song Titles Did You Get Wrong?

Postby jon » Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:28 pm

Pat St. John played "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones as part of his (once an hour?) Hallowe'en music on SiriusXM 60s on 6 today. Not even Wolfman Jack thought of playing that song on his Hallowe'en specials.

Which reminded me that, the first time that I heard the song on CKLG-FM when it was current (1968), I got the title wrong: "Symphony for the Devil".

What song(s) did you get wrong, title-wise, when you first heard it on the Radio?

Best mistake I've heard of was a request by a girl to WLW's all night Oldies show about 30 years ago, for "She's a Muscular Boy" by Herman's Hermits. Probably more fun if I let you try and figure that one out. The answer is here. The YouTube copy has been taken down for Copyright infringement, so I can't give you a listen.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: What Song Titles Did You Get Wrong?

Postby Richard Skelly » Fri Oct 27, 2017 3:36 am

Mondegreen is what you call mishearing a song lyric, usually to comic effect. There really aren't that many in the annals of pop music. On Vinyl Tap, Randy Bachman and his then-wife (and Tap researcher) Denise stitched together enough songs for one really good mondegreen show. Randy reprised the theme a few years later, but most of the tunes didn't, in my opinion, truly qualify on that second go-round.

As a kid, my most vivid mondegreen was Eve of Destruction. To this day, I still hear Barry McGuire intone: "Think of all the hate there is in Regina." Of course it is "Red China".
Richard Skelly
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 447
Joined: Mon May 11, 2015 5:52 pm

Re: What Song Titles Did You Get Wrong?

Postby jon » Fri Oct 27, 2017 8:20 am

Misheard song lyrics made for a daily contest on Cool 8-80 (CHQT) in its last year, with the late Gord Robson as Music Director.

In his P.M. Drive Time show, he would say the misheard lyrics twice, open the phone lines for listeners to try their hand at guessing the answer and go into the Stop Set. After the Stop Set, he would play excerpts of the phone conversations with a few of the best or most interesting guesses, then play the song.

You are right. I never heard one that I misheard the way he read it, but he still seemed to generate enough interest from listeners to generate the phone calls.
User avatar
jon
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 9256
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 10:15 am
Location: Edmonton

Re: What Song Titles Did You Get Wrong?

Postby CubbyCam » Fri Oct 27, 2017 9:42 am

"I believe in Milko..." Couldn't figure out why they'd be singing about chocolate milk... then realized it made perfect sense with the group's name... ;-)
CubbyCam
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 394
Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 11:52 am


Return to Music Notes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 79 guests