Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Overkill

I like music. My tastes are all over the place, but for the most part I like songs that I can sing to when I am alone in my car.

If you grew up as a child of the 80’s, like I did, you may be familiar with the band Men at Work. Their videos were on MTV and they were quite popular. Although, I have to admit there was only one person that I knew in middle school, that actually claimed she was a fan and that was my friend Tara*. We used to mock her for liking Men At Work, because seriously, how could you like a band like that, when there were bands like Asia , Styx and Foreigner?

Anyway, Colin Hay, the lead singer of Men at Work, did an acoustic version of the Song Overkill for something or other, that ended up on the TV show Scrubs soundtrack CD. I listen to that CD all the time because it has a great mix of songs that I can belt out, to and from work.

The Overkill lyrics start with:

“I can’t get to sleep,
I think about the implications,
Of diving in too deep,
and possibly the complications.”

If you are familiar with this song you are probably singing it to yourself right now. The song is about laying awake at night feeling stressed out.

The chorus of the song is:

“Day after Day it appears,
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear,
Nurse a beer and fade away.
Come back another day.”

Yesterday while driving to work, I didn’t feel like singing. I just listened. As the chorus part played my face reddened with the flush of embarrassment. I was embarrassed for myself and at myself.

The lyrics are “Ghosts appear and fade away.”

NOT “Nurse a beer and fade away.”

I have been singing this song incorrectly for a couple of years now.

Have you ever done that? What song and lyrics have you messed up?


*Dear Tara,
About two years ago I ended up buying the Best of Men At Work CD and I really like it. You were ahead of your time. I apologize about ridiculing your taste in music, except Duran Duran. I still think they suck.

38 comments:

t_cole said...

BeeGees.
More than a woman. more than a woman to me.
my version: Baldheaded woman. bladheaded woman to me.

i am dead serious.

Anonymous said...

The damned alphabet song... "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, elemenopee..." What kind of a letter is that?

carrie said...

That is too funny, and yeah I was singing it in my head too!

My favorite lyric goof-up is "we go down to the light house" instead of "big 'ol jet airliner" in the Steve Miller Band tune.

What lighthouse? Funny what a child's mind will do to a song.

Carrie

Anonymous said...

I'm totally singing that song now. I really like the acoustic version.

I can't think of any songs right now where I do that, but in Minneapolis there used to be a guy on the radio who did a bit called "Lyric Detective." People would call in with their lyrics "interpretations" and then he and the other listeners would set them straight. It was pretty funny.

Anonymous said...

Oh, so so many. Although my favorite is one of Rob's. He thought "The heart of rock and roll is still beatin'" was "The heart of rock and roll is Stobetum." And when he realized his mistake, he told me, "I always wondered, 'Where the hell is Stobetum?'"

Hee.

Susie said...

This site has lots of misheard song lyrics and parodies. Always good for a laugh.

mommiebear2 said...

Yes, many many times! :)

OhTheJoys said...

I love the track that was in Garden State that Colin Hay did... "I drink good coffee, in the morning, comes from a place that's far away..."

My high school friend used to sing "Wash my arms in the name of love" instead of "Once more in the name of love" to that U2 song.

Jen aka Evilynmo said...

I always sing the wrong lyrics. My husband and friends make fun of me for it all the time. =)

Teri said...

How can you think Duran Duran suck??????

Stepping Over the Junk said...

Men at Work. I think I listened to them alongside Air Supply. And both rock. They each have their time and place of course, but they both rock.

Steve said...

Def Leppard Pour Some Sugar on Me gets me everytime...

Real Lyrics:
You got the peaches, I got the cream
Sweet to taste, saccharine


My lyrics:
You got the peaches, I got the cream
Sweet to late, sack of me


Yeah, not sure why that seemed to make sense to me either.

April said...

Jimmy Buffet....line is "Steped on a pop top blew out my flip flop" I always sang it "Steped on a poptart.." Couldn't figure out how that would blow a flip flop out...!

Lisa Bakewell said...

Funny stuff! I can't think of any right now, but I know I've wrecked plenty of songs!!

Great topic!

Unknown said...

No, never, ever, ever.

*snork*

Anonymous said...

Lifehouse "You and Me" - where it says "you got my head spinning" sounds like "you got my ass burning"

Anna Nallik "chill out what'cha yellin for" - actually sounds like "Chill out, watching Eleanor"

Could this just a few examples of "old ears" ?

theotherbear said...

Ha, I was singing along in my head and stopped shirt to think "Hang on a mo, those aren't the words I know. Maybe they released a different version in the states".

I am pretty sure I have gotten many lyrics wrong but probably still sing them wrong in blissful ignorance.

Anonymous said...

I LOVED Men at Work when I was younger (a child of the 80's yes, of course. Oh and Tara had GREAT taste *ahem*). My Brother's friend gave me the "Best of CD" for them awhile back :-)

That song (Overkill) sums up my life. Always has, always will. That version from Scrubs was great! I didn't realize who did it until you mentioned it.

I just went to iTunes and downloaded it. Thanks!

As far as misheard lyrics, I don't know for myself but I do know that when I was in the 6th grade our math teacher bet us that the lyrics for their song "Down Under" said "bit of my sandwich" (instead of "vegemite sandwich"). I proved him wrong and therefore (as promised) our entire class received an "A" on a quiz without having to take it.

Meegs said...

My favorite, which I do on purpose now is instead of "there's a bad moon on the rise..." I sing "there's a bathroom on the right..." Which honestly, why would someone sing about a bathroom, but on long roadtrips you start to understand why there's a bathroom on the right could start to sound so good to somoene!!


On a side note... uh, Duran Duran does NOT suck! I could grove to Hungry Like A Wolf all damn day!

Charlotta-love said...

I used to sing "I'll stick with Dalona" instead of Tiffany's "I think we're alone now" (For the record, I knew a girl named Dalona...just didn't know why I should stick to her.)

Very funny post.

Anonymous said...

My 16 year old would sing "Secret Asian Man" instead of "Secret Agent Man." When I heard her singing this I near about peed laughing so hard. How can you be secretly Asian?

Jenny said...

There's a country song with the lyric, "Should've asked her faster". I always sang, "should've asked the Pastor". Who knew?!

Anonymous said...

FOX has a new show coming out: "Don't Forget the Lyrics"

http://fox.com/dontforget/

Sounds like a show you might like!

Nature Girl said...

I'm too embarrassed to admit mine in a public forum such as this because the ridicule I endured at the hands of my husband when I fessed up still haunts me to this day...
I won't laugh at you Bill, I will laugh with you..
Stacie

Nature Girl said...

OMGosh Deneen! I always thought that too..(though it's not the one that I won't fess up to) I just admitted that one last week to my friend, and I always wondered..man if you're asian, there's really no hiding that..I know, my husband is asian...
LOL

Nilbo said...

Oh, so many. But *ahem* of course, none of them MINE ...

A friend once thought it was "The ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind ..."

My buddy's younger brother once asked us why Paul McCartney was doing a commercial for a company called "Mulligan Tire" ...

My wife (!) was sure they were singing "I believe in Milko ..." which, being Canadian, she just assumed was like Bosco or something ...

Yeah, I didn't tease her much about that. Ohhh ... maybe you can buy Milko in Stobetum!

Scottsdale Girl said...

Huey Lewis
I want a new drug. I sang it as I want a new truck for like oh I dont know, 2 years.

kittenpie said...

Just a darn minute, here.
I don't usually leave comments, but there comes a time when a girl has to take a stand!
Duran Duran? Rock the house. Seriously. Go listen to some. You'll see.

Anonymous said...

Check out www.kissthisguy.com for some pretty funny misheard lyrics. I think you should submit this one!

islandarts said...

My daughter recently sung The Bonjovi song "you give love a bad name"... "You give love a BAND AID"
it's already posted on kissthisguy.com, i checked.

Charlotte in Pa said...

Sue is notorious for singing the wrong lyrics to songs. She sings them loudly and with conviction. The most recent was the Gwen Stefani hit "Hollaback Girl." "Ooohhh... kiss my shit, kiss my shit." As opposed to the real lyrics which are "Ooohhh... this my shit, this my shit." Which isn't a big difference, but kind of? It is!

t-bird said...

I had to come out of lurkerville on this one because I love music.

I love all the episodes of Scrubs that they really go overboard with the music. In that particular episode, Colin Hay was showing up all the time and following JD around while singing that song. Awesome. Also, there was another memorable episode where most(if not all) of the music was by Journey. Again - Awesome.

I've definitely had my fair share of screwed up lyrics. The most memorable one I can think of was for a Bush song - Everything Zen. For the longest time I couldn't figure out a line because it sounded so much like "Tracy was my wife" (and of course my name is tracy). The actual line is "Try and see it once my way".

Unkempt Mommy said...

My friend used to sing "Moostafia!" when of course, Mic Jagger is actually saying something totally silly like, "You got to start me up!" instead WTF? Moostafia? That's not a really word, is it?

Unknown said...

*knock knock*

Who can it be now?

Anonymous said...

Wow, an apology after all these years!! I accept your apology. It was 23 years in the making! I will continue to wait for an apology for the years you busted on me for liking Duran Duran. Should I even admit to you that I saw Duran Duran in concert last year?!?! Yes, you heard me right -last year 2006, not 1986! I wish I would have known about your fondness for Men at Work because Colin Hay was recently performing at a local theater and I almost bought tickets. I'll keep you posted next time and we'll have to go! Love the blog, always amusing!!

Susie said...

Moostafia! is a Croatian toast, like, "cheers!"

Anonymous said...

When I was 12, me and my friends were trying to figure out the Spice Girls "Slam your body down and wind it all around." We had so many versions, ended up with "Somebodies down and wine is all around"

kissthisguy.com is good for that

Shelley said...

I'll admit it...I sang, "Blinded by the light...wrapped up like a douche in the middle of the night..." Nothing else ever occurred to me...