#i may have misheard the lyrics

[swingsetindecember]

painting your bathroom pink can be so freeing. like yes. this is pink. it's so girly. i love it. will people hate it? yes. does it matter? no. because this is where the horrors happen and i deserve to be cute

[connecting-the-stars]

Cody’s Song:

If I were a weapon, you said I’d be a gun. Lethal at close range I guess, with silencer and stun.

But I feel more like a needle, always pulling on the thread. Always making the same point again, and wondering if you heard what I just said.

Well, if I am a that weapon, I am pointing now at you. So just put down the hostage and we’ll talk it down until we see this through.

[juice-enjoyer]

watch what you say, say what you are

i've been in love with apparitions of death

my mind has left

and my life is only threads

[kyoukamybeloved]

”In other words, the suicidal maniac wants to live. Is that it?”

“I’ve come to think it’s worth trying.”

"You used Corruption, believing in me? How beautiful."

skk webweaves: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

//strange gods - Roxane Gay// the portrait of a lady - Henry James// art from @/_mwk19_ on Twitter// say yes to heaven - Lana del Rey// the grudge - Olivia Rodrigo// litany in which certain things are crossed out - Richard Siken// art from @/suya1414 on Twitter// Kyoto - Phoebe Bridgers// we’re in love - boygenius// writings prompts for the broken-hearted - Eden Robinson// anyway - Richard Siken// art from @/AB0to on Twitter// things I never give myself permission to say - Chelsea Dingman// art from @/ssmi_0215 on Twitter// the whetting of teeth - Jamaal May// no light, no light - Florence + the machine// cosmic love - Florence + the machine// letters to Felice - Franz Kafka// art from @/rokkyun1 on Twitter// the sorrow festival - Erin Slaughter// norman fucking rockwell - lana del rey// remember my name - mitski// art by @bananana2217// townie - mitski// misheard lyrics - car seat headrest// you couldn’t just leave - Trista Mateer// art from @/T__rate on Twitter// your love finds it’s way back - Sierra DeMulder// a pearl - mitski// humpty - mitski// art by @yuyonyu// abandon me - Melissa Febos// where did you go - Hishaam Siddiqi// I should hate you - Gracie Abrams// art from @/qmthtdy on Twitter// killer - Phoebe Bridgers// a poem for Haruko 10/29 - June Jordan// crush - Richard Siken// pandemonium - Lauren Oliver// art from @/1110yu_ku_si on Twitter// catalog of unabashed gratitude - Ross Gay// steamboat - Adrianne Lenker//

hey remember when I said last part would be the final one? yeah uh about that, turns out I still have some inspiration yippee. hope you liked it :)

tags:

@dinosaur-mayonnaise @philzokman @amagami-hime @nnavia @homuncvlus @vinylbiohazard @bunglegaydogs @zamxii @ghostsinacoat @slug-behaviour @vivid-vices @atsuwushi @gorotic @pendragonstar @ricelover888 @oatmilkbasic @thou-shalt-cha-cha-real-smooth @the-gayest-sky-kid @lotus-reblogs @whiteapplesandblackblood @dazaiyuri @evermorehypewoman

[cantagirldrawinpeace]

Looking up for heaven~

Ah the uniquely painful experience of loving someone who’s determined to destroy themself

Ugh Deu having to watch as Ace takes on more challenges than he can handle out of nothing more than to spite the world. Knowing WHY he does it and that he can’t stop him. Having been in a similar state when he himself first set out, taking on more than he could chew just to prove to himself and the rest of the world that he could, and getting set free from that by finding a bigger purpose (a guide, a leader, a friend) in Ace but knowing that he can’t be Ace’s purpose in return is-

I may think about them a lot.

But also the sheer joy on his face and his willingness to depart with the Spade title once he sees Ace finding that purpose in Whitebeard makes me so incredibly happy. He knew before Ace did that Ace would choose to stay on that crew, and he gave him permission to do so before Ace even asked. I love them your honor I love them.

(And the best part is it can be completely platonic and doesn’t change the dynamic whatsoever. Like yes, even my aroace ass is certain that by the way he’s written Deu is canonically in love with Ace, and they’re also friends. They are friends and they love each other so much, and no matter what you ship or don’t ship it’s the same and it’s amazing.)

Song is Glory by Bastille

((Also I think I misheard some of the lyrics but I do not care. The whole song is Them to me so eh.))

[srbachchan]

DAY 5919

StWork, Mumbai May 2, 2024 Thu 12:49 PM

Birthday - EF - Elena Iankova Friday, 3 May .. and all our wishes for a happy birthday

🌹

Yo !

here before time for a very big change .. haha ..

but at work and got a bit of time and BOOM !

got to say the travel from Juhu home to work Marine Drive in 30 mins .. amazing Coastal Road and the Tunnel emerging on Marine Drive , just before its flyover and simply amazing .. !

Super constructed roads, tunnel, neat clean construct .. no traffic jams .. and done ..

Ok just to change the topic .. here is something to know :

Know what is a "mondegreen?'

MONDEGREENS

If you’ve been listening to rock music, you know it’s often hard to make out the lyrics. They sing it their way and we hear it our way.

Jimi Hendrix famously sang the phrase “While I kiss the sky” which was heard by thousands as “While I kissed this guy.”

CCR’s popular song originally said, “There’s a bad moon on the rise.” Many heard it as “There’s a bathroom on the right.”

Deep Purple’s still-popular chorus (known for its timeless guitar riff) “Smoke on the water/Fire in the sky” was misheard as “Smoke on the water/Fire engine guy.”

Nirvana’s anthem “Smells like Teen Spirit” had the lines, “Here we are now/Entertain us.” They were misheard as, “Here we are now/In containers.”

When Elvis Presley sang, “Everybody in the whole cell block”, many heard it as” Everybody in a wholesale frock”

There’s actually a word for misheard lyrics like these.

Mondegreen.

Some mondegreens became so famous that even artistes like Hendrix and CCR sang the misheard versions in their live concerts in a spirit of fun and tease.

It’s not just in pop songs that mondegreens occur. The US national anthem begins with the lofty words, “Oh say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light.’ Some heard them as “José, can you see…”

Occasionally, mondegreens had an interesting side-effect. Joe Cocker sang of a ‘lovely planet’ which was misheard as ‘lonely planet.’ The latter became the name of a well-known travel guide series of books.

No one knows why we hear the wrong thing although there are theories. It’s akin to the game of Chinese Whispers where the original line gets progressively distorted into some hilarious garbage by the time it reaches the last guy.

Mondegreens are not restricted to English alone. South Indians, with limited knowledge of Hindi, were taught patriotic songs in Hindi by zealous teachers. A popular one had the repeating phrase, “Bara tamata.” School students sang it with great gusto. Years later, some of them realized the actual words were “Bharat Mata.”

A popular line from Qurbani song, “Aap jaisa koi meri/zindagee mein aaye/ toh baat bun jaaye” was understood as “Aap jaisa koi…toh baap bun jaaye.” The defective version made sense to many who saw Zeenat Aman gyrating on those lyrics while gaping at Feroz Khan.

Many who weren’t familiar with the hill station between Bombay and Pune heard the Gulaami song as “Haathi ka andaa la” until they realized it was “Aati kya Khandala”.

I have a friend, her name is Geeta. Her family called her Gitu. Throughout her childhood and youth, she thought Rajesh Khanna was singing for her, when he said, ”Mere sapnon ki raani kab aaye Gitu”.

'Mondegreen' sounds French but isn't. In 1954, a writer at Harper’s Magazine remembered how as a little girl she misheard an old English ballad. The actual words, saluting a dead war hero, were:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭 𝘰' 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯.

She heard them as:

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘭 𝘰' 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯.

And thus was born the word ‘mondegreen’ to signify all misheard lyrics from that moment on.

Turns out, mondegreen itself started life as a mondegreen.

sent to me by a friend .. 🤣🤣

More perhaps later .. or perhaps not ..

Amitabh Bachchan

and some more .. a very pertinent article in TOI ..

[pdalicedraws]

so I may have misheard a Ghost lyric and decided to run with it bc it suits him better that way

[pinkestmenace]

sending a few more in!!! i most like to hear about olympea, but if you want to answer for someone else feel free!!

1. 🎶: What is a song that you associate with your OC, and why do you associate it with them? (i know you have a lot of really cool and thoughtful playlists, you could share more than one song here if you like!!!)

24. 😴: If your OC could pick one of the Star Allies Dream Friends to go on an adventure with them, who would they pick and why?

11. 🐾: If there was a Forgotten Land copy ability upgrade themed after your OC, which ability would it be for? What would the hat for it look like and how would it upgrade the base ability?

Ask game

Alright. *Cracks knuckles* ∥Ξﾛ(-ÒᴗÓ- )ﾛΞ∥ Here we go!

1. 🎶: What is a song that you associate with your OC, and why do you associate it with them?

My Olympea playlist unfortunately isn't as developed as my 4.5 hour Galacta Knight playlist. (Spotify only recommends me metal anymore. I'm not complaining, but it does make finding other genres difficult.) But I do have some songs in mind!

Power Of The Beast (Beast In Black)

This one's kinda funny. I first misheard the lyrics as Power of the Pea. And while not all the lyrics are relevant, I think the somewhat bombastic style mixed with bright sounds and Eurobeat influences is close to how I'd like her armoured battle theme to sound.

Feel Invincible (Skillet)

This one is more for the four heroes together from Galacta Knight's perspective. Even when he feels down and out they're on his side. Especially this part:

You make me feel invincible Earthquake, powerful (Olympea) Just like a tidal wave (Aegle) You make me brave You're my titanium (Castor & Pollux)

Sideshow Duckling (Mili)

Olympea and Galacta Knight. Who is the performer and who's the partner I'll leave ambiguous. Galacta (So swan-coded to begin with!) buckling under the pressure of always having to perform and look perfect, yet never feeling authentic? Olympea secretly feeling like she'll never be good enough even when her friends praise her, until she sheds that self-doubt? It could be both, really! Also: tentative voice claim, at least in pitch. Although she would be quite a bit louder!

24. 😴: If your OC could pick one of the Star Allies Dream Friends to go on an adventure with them, who would they pick and why?

Olympea: She would go with King Dedede. Strong hammer buddies! Wrestling liker! Receiving strange vibes that may or may not be either precognitive or "normal" zoning out and daydreams! High jumps!

Castor & Pollux: Cyborg and mech aficionado that he is, Castor would be very interested in Susie's Business Suit! Whether he and Susie get along is another story. They might enter a feedback loop of trying to passive-agressively outpolite and out-shoot each other. Pollux is definitely not jealous. If it was sentient. (Which it totally isn't.)

Aegle: They would like to meet Magolor and Marx. To talk about magic, sure, and to investigate Marx's vines. I'm sure Magolor would be very interested in what they have to say about Halcandra as well. But they have a mischievous streak, too. The three of them would rile each other up! Woe to anyone in their blast range!

11. 🐾: If there was a Forgotten Land copy ability upgrade themed after your OC, which ability would it be for? What would the hat for it look like and how would it upgrade the base ability?

Sticking to the existing abilities in KatFL, it would be:

Olympea: Hammer! Except it'd be her club and helmet. It would probably be a little unwieldy like Wild Hammer, though.

Castor: This one's hard! There's no Mech ability, and Homing Bomb already exists. He could turn the bombs into missiles, of course. Or maybe Ranger. A bit like Space Ranger, but with a fighter pilot helmet and a flying drone that helps you. Or Cutter, or...

Aegle: Ice! It's a snow cloud with floating icicles that home in on the enemy when you attack. Its shape resembles their mage hat.

[mycastlescrumblingdown]

speak now tracks 1-4

MINE

this song is SO GOOD I can't get over it

i remember a year and a half ago when the rerecording came out. It was my first album release as a real swiftie and in the middle of summer, so I decided to listen to it at midnight. I was FREAKING OUT over this song (and rightfully so)

also a god tier bridge and no one acknowledges it?? hello???

banger song, basically. and in her adult vocals? *chefs kiss*

score: 10/10

points for lyrics, style, personal bias, chorus, verses, bridge, instrumental, vocals, pretty privilege, loopability

fav line: you saw me start to believe for the first time

SPARKS FLY

to write "the way you move is like a full on rainstorm, and i'm a house of cards" at that young of an age is BAFFLING to me. like that was absolutely insane of her and no one even talks about it

my only critique of this song is that I feel like the instrumental could be louder but it's not inaudible or anything

not as good as mine but it's still a top tier song. speak now as an album is just a full step up from fearless/debut and you can TELL

score: 9/10

points for lyrics, style, personal bias, chorus, verses, bridge, instrumental, vocals, pretty privilege

fav line: i'm captivated by you baby, like a firework show

BACK TO DECEMBER

my dad likes to mess with me and sing this as back to November, September, October, he even tried February once (it didn't work as well as the other three, but A for effort)

i have so many things to say about this song but I just think it's really good. I usually find myself skipping it but I can't really figure out why. it's just really good like why don't I want to listen to it?

anyways~

score: 8/10

points for lyrics, style, chorus, verses, bridge, instrumental, vocals, pretty privilege

fav line: you gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye

SPEAK NOW

THE laugh song. I love that mischievious little chuckle in the middle of the song it's so perfect. honestly the majority of this song is so silly in such a good way. except for the part where Taylor is trying to steal a man at the altar, which is most of the song....hmm. I may need to reevaluate the vibe of this song. whimsical, maybe?

i grew up on this song. this song is just a part of me at this point. it's a bit of a pick me song (like a lot pick me song) but that's okay. my joy is not hindered by the annoyance of people.

i think this song describes the bride's family like the bolter describes the charming saturday

one last note, I once misheard "horrified looks from everyone in the room but I'm only looking at you" as "horrified looks from everyone in the roomba"

score: 7/10

points for style, personal bias, chorus, verses, bridge, instrumental, vocals, pretty privilege

fav line: there's the silence, there's my last chance

[hamsteriffic]

Misheard Lyrics for Be Our Guest for @trying414

Story behind it:

I misheard my husband and I thought he was singing “Be Agreste!” to the tune of “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast and inspired this to happen… (Also Gabriel’s new outfit makes him look like a candle)

This was sitting in my WIPs basket never to see the light of day, but it was my crack prediction for Hawkmoth’s showdown. It’s fitting to his penchant for being dramatic!

Without further ado, here what my brain came up with, imagining this scene as the Final showdown between Hawkmoth and Ladybug.

Be Agreste

Sung by Gabriel as Lumiere

Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug in the role of Belle

And Chat Noir as Himself

Picture this:

Adrien and Marinette just got engaged, and Gabriel looks at his phone to see the photo of them on Instagram with an engagement ring on her finger. The rock was huge and garish, Gabriel obviously had no part in it because it was too common.

The problem was, Gabriel already knew that Marinette was Ladybug. He, of course, doesn’t know about his son’s secret identity, but that may be a story for later. So he says to himself or Nooroo, or for the sake of villains explaining themselves in monologue form.

“My son is engaged to Ladybug? Why this is the perfect opportunity for a trap of epic proportions!”

Then he invites Marinette to dinner, and she’s expecting Adrien there, it was apparently to celebrate their engagement afterall, but as she walks towards large ominous dining table in the mansion she meets an image of her future father in law, in his white-ass suit, looking like a fucking candle.

“Ma chère Mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight,” and Gabriel now tips his top hat. “And now we invite you to relax. Let us pull up a chair as the dining room proudly presents… Your dinner!”

Marinette sees Nooroo flying above her and she gasps, transforming into Ladybug as she sees Gabriel surprisingly break out into a song and dance.

Be our guest! Be our guest!

Put your courage to the test

Tie your yo-yo 'round your waist, cherie

And we'll provide the rest.

Want couture, Fame or more?

Why, I’ll throw in my first-born too!

Try this ring stuff, it's suspicious…

Don't believe me? Make some wishes!

By now, the forks have been assembled into the Eiffel Tower with the help of all his captured kwamis.

Kwamis sing, they can dance,

After all, Miss, this is France,

And akumas here are never second best!

Go on, let me akumatise you.

Take a chance, and then you'll be our guest

Oui, our guest, be our guest.

Zombizou, Simon Says,

Ice cream man "en flambe",

We'll prepare villains in an akuma cabaret.

At this point, Ladybug has had enough of Hawkmoth’s stupid song and leaps at him while he runs away, and she chases him to the study.

She presses the buttons that open up the door from Emelie’s portrait. For some reason, the music is still playing, as Gabe sings:

You're alone and you're scared

But the pancakes all prepared

No one's gloomy or complaining

While the kwami’s entertaining

They tell jokes! I do tricks

With your internal conflicts

And it's all in perfect taste that you can bet!

Come on and lift your glass

You've won your own free pass

To be a success!

If you're stressed, it's akumatising we suggest

Be our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest!

Ladybug stops and looks at all the kwamis trapped in his giant hamster wheel.

Life is so unnerving

For a kwami who's not serving

I’m not whole without a soul to prey upon

Ah, those good old days when they were useful

Suddenly those good old days are gone.

She turns to see Emelie’s coffin and next to her, Hawkmoth.

For years I’ve been trusting

That your defeat will be crushing

Needing exercise, a chance to use their skills

Most days they just lay around the mansion

Flabby, fat and lazy

You walked in and oops-a-daisy!

Ladybug has had enough as the glowing purple mask hovers over her eyes as she grasps her head. The Kwamis break out in fear and whisper to her, pleadingly. “Marinette! Marinette!”

[Sass]

Snakes alive, she'll be possessed!

[Duusu]

I’ve been restored, I’ve been bored

I've had the amoks freshly pressed!

Hawkmoth holds his hand out to Ladybug who is still fighting the akuma.

Which kwami will it be?

Leave your earrings with me!

There’s no time for frou-frouing,

It’s troubling, who you’ll be using.

You’ll conform, ring or not?

Kwamis sakes! That’s not a lot?

He puts five alliance rings on her as she falls to her knees.

The guardian needs us for the final test!

We've got a lot to do! Is it one power up two?

For you, our guest! She's our guest! She's our guest! Be our guest! Be our guest!

Your miraculous is my request!

It's been years since we've had success here

And I’m obsessed, with the jewels, on your ears

Yes, indeed, I aim to please

While the akumas are still flowing

Let us help you, we'll keep going

Course by course, one by one

'Til you shout, "Enough! I'm done!"

Then you can accept my son’s request

Tonight you'll stop and meet up

But for now, let's tee up

Be Agreste! Be Agreste! Be Agreste!

Please, be Agresteeeeee-

He is cut off at this point because Ladybug breaks the Akuma mask just as Chat Noir breaks through the rose window and knocks out Gabriel.

“About time!” Ladybug sighs with relief.

Chat Noir is taking Gabriel away, and Ladybug narrows her eyes as she realised that he’s humming along

“Be Agreste! Be Agreste! Be Agreste!”

This arouses Ladybug’s suspicions.

“How long have you been here?”

Chat blushes and grins sheepishly. “Long enough,” he shrugs.

Ladybug is now angry as she jabs a finger at him. “You made me listen to the whole song?!”

Chat rubs his neck nervously and grins at his fiancée. “It was kinda catchy?”

[setthishouseablaze]

2023 Spotify Wrapped - Devils & Angels

The angel and devil figures are surrounded by a wild apple tree. Within Christianity The Tree of Knowledge has most often been represented as an apple tree, which places this pair of figures in The Garden of Eden, paradise. The devil in that parable is usually depicted in the form of a snake tempting Eve, the first woman.

The angel in white stands on top of a wedding cake. This visually links Cruel Summer "devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes" with the music video for "I bet you think about me" in which Taylor is the sole character in red while everybody else besides the groom is in white, and she flicks the grooms cake-topper off the cake leaving the bride to stand alone. So, is Taylor the devil in this scene? If so then is she tempting the angel-bride to sin?

Behind the pair a red eyed dragon with leaves for scales and gnarled bark for horns and teeth looms watching them. The angel has a heart-tipped arrow which is typical in depictions of Cupid and her bow aims at a pair of dice held by the devil.

There's a lyric from the 80's band Dragon, "snake eyes on a pair of dice" which was very frequently misheard as "snake eyes on paradise." The song, April Sun in Cuba, is described as "an escapist dream of escaping in search of greener pastures, against the backdrop of possible political disaster" [1]

Dragons also appear lyrically in Long Live, a song in which Taylor and the subject are fighting dragons, moving mountains, and she swears that one day they will be remembered. She also describes the subject as holding their head up like a hero in that song, in contrast to the way she describes herself in the song Anti-Hero.

The devil throws the dice into the air and at the last moment the angel shifts her aim down ready to shoot the devil instead of the dice.

The next shot of the pair is the final scene before the scroll up to the stars, in it the angel changes her mind a second time and takes aim at the dice once more while the devil, now facing camera forward, dances. The angel never actually lets loose an arrow. Nor does she roll her eyes. :P To dance with the devil is to do something risky or immoral but the devil here is dancing alone. The angel is poised to shoot but uncertain whether to shoot down 'paradise' or to shoot the 'temptress' in the end she hasn't made a decision, interestingly she never even looks at the dragon let alone takes aim at it.

The scene plays out on Taylor's right shoulder next to the wrist that displays friendship bracelets spelled out in bi-pride coloured letter beads: Cruel Summer, Anti Hero, Karma, and August.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/14/scott-morrisons-ukulele-rendition-of-april-in-the-sun-in-cuba-labelled-cynical-by-band-behind-1977-hit

Edited to add: more thoughts because can't stop won't stop:

In media having an angel & devil on your shoulder are representations of your conscience and temptation, an inner conflict. And in the I Bet You Think About Me music video TS is shown in both red and white costumes: as a scorned party, and as the bride. So both the angel and devil characters may be read as aspects of TS herself. One (facet of the mirror-ball) who wants to take a risk to stay in paradise and dance, and another facet who wants to be 'pure' (white dresses in weddings represent virginity,) and get married. Is the angel/bride shooting down paradise, or shooting for paradise? The devil/temptresses intentions might be risky but that doesn't make them evil. Why is the tip of the arrow a heart? To be struck by Cupids arrow is to fall in love, so is the angel/bride trying to make the devil/temptress fall in love with her?

Snakes in Christianity are symbolic of Satan, but in the TS universe snakes are a symbol of having a bad reputation. Is the risk of the dice roll a loss of reputation? Is the angel/bride threatening the devil and getting married in white to protect her reputation?

Both characters wear face-paint to partially obscure their features in keeping with the overall theme of the art-work, however, the angels face is far less concealed than the devils. Despite the effort at concealment the devil turns to look at the observer. This may be linked to how exposed she feels each facet of herself has been in the fish-bowl of the public sphere.

Whatever the turmoil is it is unresolved at the end of the clip.

[get-back-homeward]

Ram Revisited

Paul and Linda record their album Ram from October 1970 to March 1971, and it is released May 17, 1971. By May 26, John already had his infamous response, recording How Do You Sleep. This song gets a lot of attention for how cruel it seemed. One of John’s defenses by the album’s launch was that Paul had written special messages to him on Ram, only Paul didn’t print the lyrics so you couldn’t hear them. He mentions it a couple times, in print...

and at St Regis hotel press conference for the album release:

JOHN: But... I was laughing at [Ram] later, but first, I was saying, “Oh! Hmm. Oh, I see. Oh, that’s what he thinks,” huffing and puffing. That’s the first thing I heard on his album, was all this ��� this message, you see. [x]

JOHN: It’s just a moment of anger. But I just put it down on paper. And also, I’m answering Paul’s last album, which mostly because he didn’t hand out a lyric sheet, [people] don’t know what he was saying [on it]. [x]

JOHN: You mightn’t hear ‘em, but I can hear ‘em, and I know Paul. [x] 

and during live interviews, where he gets cut off from finishing his point every time. But he seems particularly bothered by the lack of printed lyrics.

JOHN: Little messages that Paul sent to me on Ram. Which, funny, I publish my lyrics you see. He doesn’t, so you have to listen. [x]

It’s tempting to laugh at this, if you think it’d just an excuse for HDYS, or call him kookoo, if you think he’s just obsessed with Paul and reading things that aren’t there. But I find the comments rather curious in light of idea that the Beatles, particularly John and Paul, had a shared language that dates back to when they were kids in Liverpool and was used as late as 1969 as seen in Get Back. By design, the language is used to protect and exclude, so any analysis by outsiders will probably be utterly meaningless. But I thought I’d take it on face value that John was hearing something the average listener couldn’t without printed lyrics to try to understand the root of the anger that drives HDYS.

As a thought experiment, I decided to relisten to Ram for the first time while reading the lyrics, with an eye for words I couldn’t hear (or misheard before) along with album themes. Full disclosure, I’ve always listened to this album while working on something else, so while I may be have seen looked up lyrics for a song or two independently (Too Many People, Back Seat), I didn’t read them while listening to the song or consider them in the context of the full album, all of which create a different experience. I used Spotify’s lyrics function while listening to the 2012 remastered album, so any lyric variations may be Spotify’s fault.

Starting from the top. The album begins with Too Many People, which opens with an indiscernible line that’s a play on words.

Piss off cake-->piece of cake. I had no idea that’s what he was singing at the start. For 20 years, I heard this line as “this I got to say-ay-ay”. That said, “piss off cake” still doesn’t tell us much. I’m with this guess that this phrase is an in-joke turned nasty, like a firing shot John heard right at the start.

Two “mistakes” are mentioned here. The first mistake gets a lot of attention (”going underground”, “took your lucky break and broke it in two”) and is generally attributed to John asking for a divorce/leaving the band, though I question it (see below). But the last mistake is the hidden dagger I never heard without looking up the lyrics:

“I find my love awake and waiting to be...” followed by the stinger chord is an unfinished sentence. The verb ‘be’ is doing all the work, suggesting a missing past participle left unsaid. John is no stranger to using simple verbs to stand in for prohibited ones, as Norwegian Wood and Don’t Let Me Down show. Paul stops just short of making it vulgar, but the implication is there. By making the arena in bed, the suggestion is inherently sexual--not only in the unfinished sentence but also in the 1-minute guitar solo climax that follows, complete with dog howling. This makes the dagger a sexual taunt, and I keep trying to hear other interpretations, but I only hear one: Literally this could have been you in my bed but you blew it and now I have her. Not ever but never again. It’s a closed door. Slammed in your face. Now what can be done for you? as the guitar goes wild. Suggestive of bedroom fun you’re shut off from.

Okay, I can see how that could ignite someone’s anger, especially one prone to jealousy.

The trouble I have with this is timing. If “first mistake” is the divorce meeting (Sept 20) then what is the “last mistake” that deserves this sexual taunt? Paul always talks about the divorce meeting as if John declaring he’s leaving the band and wanting a divorce (from him) as the same moment. Maybe the “first mistake” is mislabeled, as John’s “going underground” wish begins in 1968 with Yoko and his controversial public actions from nude album covers to bagism events (not to mention private actions like covering personal debt and bringing outsiders into the recording studio) that caused a schism at Apple at its crucial first few months. Paul talks about summer 1968 as a difficult time for him, where he felt like everything was falling apart. Dick James their publisher is watching all of this and making business calculations. By March 1969, in the middle of their honeymoons with their wives, he decides to sell Northern Songs.

Would John pinpoint his "first mistake” as Yoko? IDK. He’d know when his relationship with Paul got rocky, at least professionally. They seem to be arguing about this underground direction as early as May 1968 (NYC), perhaps even earlier. In interviews, Yoko seems to focus on this part, which may indicate her feeling it was about her.

But if the “first mistake” is May 1968 and in the realm of music/business/professional, then the “last mistake” is the final straw and it’s personal.

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

Paul recounts September 20 as if John betrayed him, getting him to sign the EMI contract before telling him he wanted the divorce. Paul felt tricked, like the rug was pulled out from under him. The hidden dagger in the song works the same way.

The second track, 3 Legs, begins innocently enough (When I walk on my horse upon the hill). It seems like empty nonsense until this accusation:

It’s a explicitly John-directed lyric: Paul’s emotional state is caused by John’s actions. I still hear “you let me down” (recalling Don’t Let Me Down) even though the original lyrics sheet says “left” and these printed ones say “laid.” So it’s worth taking a closer look at the rest.

This is a weird lyric taken literally. Paul’s doodling a three-legged thing and a three-legged dog on the lyrics sheet for this song. The dog doesn’t look like any of the dogs they had at the time to my knowledge. Dog could be a stand-in for another word John understood.

I enjoy @jobey-wan-kenobi’s​ idea of “three leg” as surrealist imagery that suggests an off-kiltered scene and reflects the writer’s state of mind. Both John and Paul spoke about being inspired by surrealist art and using it in lyrics to mask.

Didn’t John talk about having a reoccurring dream of flying above the clouds as a kid? I believe he used it to justify his whole egocentric interpretation of Strawberry Fields. But this flying seems the opposite of an ego trip:

He’s so unstable, the listener could knock him down from his flight with a feather.

But you know it’s not allowed

Ram On is the nearest to the title track but only a wisp of a thing, so it gets lost in the attention to Too Many People. I swear every time I hear it, I hear it another way.

Is it about needing love quickly? You’ll take anyone who appears next around the bend? Or is it about the unpredictability or impermanence of love? The someone round the bend coming to take the somebody you just gave your heart to? It shapeshifts, depending on how you approach it. But the second one reminds me of what John says later about love slipping away as soon as you look at it directly, as soon as you try to possess it completely. And hey what was that in 3 Legs?

When I thought, when I thought you was my friend... But you laid me down Put my heart round the bend

That lyrical link suggests the latter option. The earlier question in 3 Legs also fits with this theme of the unpredictability of love.

When I walk, when I walk On my horse upon the hill... Will my lover love me still?

But it may also suggest freedom. To do your own thing outside and then return home with a lover waiting. Like Too Many People. She’s waiting for me...

Big Barn Bed (not released til 1973) is first recorded with other 1970 Ram home recordings. It starts as a coda for Ram On and later becomes its own song. It has a similar “round the bend” line: Who’s that coming round the corner? Will it be my friend?

Which suggests more anticipation than worry but gives the same feeling of unpredictability toward the listener who is also the friend who let him down.

Bug lore is that John thought Dear Boy was for him, though I’m having trouble finding a source on that. I always found it pretty hilarious, as I do think it fits best with Paul’s story that it’s Linda’s ex-husband. The “When I stepped in” part makes sense with that interpretation. But it’s funny to think about John thinking it’s about him:

What’s John hearing Paul say here? I loved you and you didn’t even see it! And you know what, maybe Paul knew John would hear it like that and it was half the fun. It’s not hard to see that Paul identified with Linda’s feeling of being unappreciated in her prior marriage. And it’s common for Paul to start a song about one person or idea and then it becomes transformed into being about something else. Layers are possible in all their songs. John talks about the layers he hears in their old songs in Jan 1969, layers that he didn’t hear when they wrote them. So it’s possible John heard this connection. It may have just made him angry because John suggests elsewhere that he was the one who felt unappreciated and neglected.

However, even with Paul’s interpretation, John still shows up as the reason Paul’s heart was down and out and positions Linda as an antidote:

Oh what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive

I always filed away Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey as a simple character mashup. But looking at the words, I started to question that. Could Uncle Albert, a real uncle of Paul’s, also act as a stand-in character for someone else? The theme of no one left at home is echoed in Little Lamb Dragonfly, which is home recorded with RAM songs but held back until 1973 Red Rose Speedway.

But the line that follows is a peculiar one. I always thought I was hearing it wrong, surely it is it’s gonna rain. But the lyrics tell me it’s I’m gonna rain:

So could it be a metaphor or stand-in for an emotion like sadness or a visible reaction like crying? Or is it like 3 Leg? More surrealist projection of instability when charting new waters.

The second section, Admiral Halsey, has nautical themes that suggest more than meets the eye. Remember both John and Paul talked about the Beatles as a boat, with John talking about leaving the Beatles as jumping off Paul’s boat and onto Yoko’s boat.

Paul’s delivery of “berth” sounds like “bath” to me, so I can’t see how anyone could pick up this line in full before, except maybe if you knew that’s how Paul pronounces -er- sounds. But it certainly is a suggestive of a metaphor for a significant event. Perhaps about the day that Ringo as the messenger notified Paul about the McCartney release date change (to make room for his own album)? Or more personally, about Paul having to back away from John to make room for Yoko?

But what on earth is butter pie? Wiki tells me it’s a Lancashire-based savory pie of onions and potatoes (so meatless). But my mind goes straight to Penny Lane (finger pies), so I’m just gonna assume it’s something dirty.

Hands across the water, hands across the sky

Linda’s harmonies and backing vocals are just so cool. It had to have gotten to John that she so easily fits into this vocal role next to Paul, especially in the more silly moments featured here. Especially considering humor was such a large component of John and Paul’s relationship.

There’s limitations to printing lyrics though and I get Paul’s right to not print them earlier because sometimes it take away from all the wordplay and double meanings inherent in the sounds of the words. For example, I always heard some of these “smile away”s in Smile Away as “it’s my way,” and so I’m surprised that phrase is never printed in the lyrics:

However, given the double meanings elsewhere, I think it’s worth still considering because "it’s my way” fits into the album theme of not blindly following along and finding your own path.

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

A lot of focus is on Too Many People as the trigger for How Do You Sleep. But it’s a question directed a line from Heart Of The Country.

I’m gonna get me a good night sleep

It’s the one respite on the whole album and I can see how the image of smug Paul could send John in a writing fury.

Monkberry Moon Delight plays with “ketchup” and “catch up” and both of these appear in the lyrics. But is it beretta the gun or biretta the hat? Or something else? Ram sessions include Oh Woman Oh Why with gun sounds that gets left off the album, and photos from the session show Paul holding a prop gun. There’s also a gun-like object drawn on the Ram back cover. So maybe he did mean the gun. Inclusion of that song would have turned the tone of entire album, from jaunty taunts to serious violence, so it’s the right choice to keep it off. John would only hear the beretta line here with “banana” and the gun on the back cover:

and i don’t get the gist of your letter

Considering John and Paul are sending letters back and forth across 1970, this line sounds like a taunt for John alone. Along with what follows:

don’t get left behind

which makes this...

...another sexual taunt like Too Many People. Haha, look at what you’re missing!

If you’re doubting that, the track order clears it up fast because it’s followed immediately by....

Eat At Home. No explanation required.

It is an outright banger. No way John wasn’t a tad impressed by it. Even if it exudes those aggressive “I am having so much fun with my wife right now and not even thinking of you” vibes that left John shook.

Am I the only one that thought some of these “little lady”s were “lad”s? Paul stresses the -d so the -y sounds silent except for Linda’s backing. The result is pretty...ambiguous at times.

So I’m left thinking it’s a bit odd how this song ends on the negative: don’t do that. If the sexual connotation starts it, it ends with something that sounds unwanted, like it goes too far. A revoking of consent. But is it the lad(y) going too far? Or someone else?

Don’t let them tell you what you want to be

Long Haired Lady is an ode to Linda that starts with a jokey call and response between Paul and Linda and builds into a section that channels The Mamas & The Papas with lush, blissfully layered harmonies:

I’m good up til “win or lose it” but I don’t know if anyone could have heard “into the soul”. I’m not so sure it matters much, but the suggestion seems to be that love continues whether or not you “win or lose” love. That no matter if you are wrong, love is stable, constant. Wait, where have I heard that before?

Generally, I find Back Seat of My Car to be the strangest one for John to think was directed at him (and Yoko?). It’s just so big and sweeping and wasn’t Paul and Linda the one who did the joyriding? But that whole we believe that we can’t be wrong really got to him. He mentions it a lot, sometimes attributing the line to him and Yoko and other times to Paul and Linda about them (”well I believe that you could possibly be wrong!“). It’s a real hangup for John around this time, the idea that Paul is always right and he is wrong. Seeing Paul’s predictive powers, I can see how infuriating it would be after a while, and how comforting it would be to have people around you who counter that, to tell you “no, you are right and he’s wrong.” How it’d make you dig your heels in and work hard to get people off the McCartney bandwagon.

There’s a whole gibberish sounding section not picked up in the printed lyrics that sounds like “everyone’s tried to love her” or “i’m gonna try to love her” sung at an auctioneer’s pacing. You could possibly read something into that depending on what you hear.

Here’s another mention of “my way” after “highway”, suggestive of the idiom “my way or the highway”. The second half of the “looking for a ride” lines I can’t hear even with the lyrics:

“and all I found” would have been my guess.

But if you’re taking everything else as a sexual taunt, looking for a ride could hold a double meaning.

The climatic ending of the song and album is the height of choosing your own way and building your own world:

We believe that we can’t be wrong

A brash assertion of confidence in your own choices? A mocking condemnation of someone else’s choices? Or aggressive positivity to vanquish agonizing about whether you’re right or wrong? Like others on the album, it depends on how you look at it. But the first option fits with the overall album theme, with the third behind it as another layer.

There’s a snowglobe imagery to the feeling of this ending. Swirling and wondrous and heady but also contained and protective and isolated by design, living in this world you’ve built for yourself. You control it to a point while fearing what’s outside, the unpredictability of the future and the unknown of what’s waiting for you around the bend. 

Wrapup

Overall, there’s a story in the album themes. Starting with a declaration of independence and naming mistakes and ending with the denial of wrongness, suggesting your own. From John’s comments, we know he got that part. In between a conditional: if you choose wrong, love is long. Throughout, the main theme is strong, finding your own way and building a new life to push forward, which makes the cover less of a joke and more of an apt metaphor for a precisely crafted album. The pronouns look fairly consistent too, which is a big surprise to me: you are sending hearts around the bend, but she waits for me. There’s double meanings galore with possible sexual taunts as hidden daggers. But, above all, there is the repeated need for love that’s in alignment amidst confusion and miscommunication.

Will my lover love me still? (3 Legs)

Bring the love that you feel for me in line with the love I see (Eat At Home)

Do you love me like you know you ought to do? (Long-Haired Woman)

The trouble with any shared language is what may get lost from the communicator to the listener. If you get 9 out of 10 things but the 10th thing was important for understanding the other 9, the risk of misunderstanding is still huge. So I’m left wondering whether John listened to the album enough in those first 9 days to hear these lines before recording HDYS. He may have regretted venting his anger in more obvious public daggers than Paul’s more hidden ones the more he listened. By September, he knows the album well enough to sing an exact match on the spot.

Undoubtedly, John knew just where to hit because he knew Paul’s weaknesses. He shows that by dragging it into the public sphere. If Paul’s messages are directed at John but subtle or hidden, John’s messages are blatant as neon lights about Paul to the world. There’s an unevenness there that makes us uneasy.

By focusing on John brandishing the dagger so obviously in one song, it’s easy to miss the hidden daggers in Ram along the gems. A concealed dagger can do the same damage. But the overall theme of needing a constant unwavering love is one they ultimately shared, signalling a place where they could find common ground once the anger cleared.

[dangerously-human]

Ah. All this time, the lyrics to Good in Red have been "take your throne, paint the walls"? I truly thought it was "take your gun," I mean, that makes sense, considering we are clearly talking about fighting back and painting the room in blood? I guess throne also fits with the overall message of the song, reclaiming agency and becoming powerful after a lifetime of being overlooked and undervalued, but. Still feels weird. Also strange that it took the live version to notice I'd misheard the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. Incidentally not my favorite on the live album, although I think that's purely because of how much I absolutely love the original and any changes to it irrationally feel like a betrayal. I... may have messed up my lyrics reference in (If You Make It Out Alive) Hold That Bloody Head Up High. (Okay, actually I did not, so either I knew this at the time I wrote that fic, or I just copy/pasted and didn't notice the difference from what I heard.)

[s0urk1w1]

hey song rec. Misheard Lyrics by Car Seat Headrest is a post-canon dirkdave song if you really want it to be. also You’re in Love with Me as a general daveshipping song. you are so cool & epic btw

YAY YOU ARE COOL AND AWESOME!! I love getting music recs from you :) (probably because the venn diagram of our music tastes is a circle)

Notes:

1. “I’m turning into the person that you were afraid I’d turn out to be” <- (´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`) sobbingg. Also love the synths in this one— depressive disco music <3

2. Oh okay Obama lyric = Dave got it gotit

Btw. You may or may not be responsible for me downloading disjecta membra (it’s a pipeline)

Thank you for having great taste in everything 👍

Here’s a rec back for funsies: Papercut by Kevin Abstract as a dirkdave song :3

[spelingisfnu]

Has anyone else misheard a lyric, but then when you finally learned what the lyric actually was, kept singing your own version because you liked it better?

I’ll go first. In dorothea, instead of “selling dreams” I always thought it was “you’re a queen, silent dream, selling makeup and magazines”

I loved the lyric I (apparently) misheard because it was so evocative. Dorothea has this amazing dream life and is so incredibly happy, but it’s fickle and could all slip away in an instant if she makes a wrong move. So instead of being proud and outspoken like may have been in her youth before she became well-known, she now silences herself to avoid causing any sort of controversy that could tarnish her image. She doesn’t allow herself to be open and honest anymore, and that’s something the narrator misses about her.

It puts this image in my head of a woman who has it all, but still has to force a smile because she’s had to cut off a significant part of herself in order to fit the mould of what people expect her to be.

I felt like that has so much more meaning behind it than “selling dreams” does, so whenever dorothea is playing I sing the incorrect lyric even though I know it’s wrong.

Anyone else?

[tyrannuspitch]

fic title ask game: this house says my name like an elegy (you're mine; oh my)

(yes they're[.. lightly misheard] song lyrics lol.)

oh this is OUTSTANDINGLY baz pitch. the title but also the song as a whole. baz as a character is ALL ABOUT family names as possession and house-meaning-family and ghosts and curses and fire imagery.

however, whenever i try to get further than that, i hit a wall and come back to a WIP that already exists, so i guess i'll just have to tell you about that. (current working title: the unquiet grave.)

in this AU, baz is a late-victorian ghost still lonesomely haunting his family's abandoned mansion, and simon is a mid-2010s(?) washed-up journalist / reluctant ghost hunter. simon is the first significant living human presence in the house since a few years after baz's death, and he kind of "wakes" baz from a dream-like state into more normal, living-seeming consciousness... and they start to form a weird little melancholy bond.

important (title-relevant) backstory: baz was meant to be the lord of the manor, pass on the family name, etc, but instead he died in his mid-20s by suicide because he couldn't face the life laid out for him by a homophobic society. (there may well have been conversion therapy involved; i would need to do more historical research and consider it very carefully.) BUT, despite his family all being dead by now, he is the only (literal) ghost remaining there. it's just him and the house that killed him and all his memories and somehow-still-lingering expectations. (and the house either has a moat or is on an island: literally surrounded by running water! ghost trap!)

simon, for his part, is coping (badly) with his relationship with agatha breaking down. they somehow got as far as engagement, even though they're not attracted to each other and don't want to be in the relationship, and simon's current work (ghost-hunting) trip is him kind of running from this reality and his queerness as a whole.

and uhhh they fall in love and simon has an awakening(tm) and they have a few very tense, sad conversations about homophobia across eras, and baz slowly reaches a point where he realises that even if the world is a long way from perfect, he does want to (or want to want to) live... and somehow it all works out to baz getting a second chance at life. BUT the house won't want to let him go. i'm still working out those details. but i am determined to make it work

-> send me a made-up fic title and i'll tell you what i'd write for it!!