Did anyone, back when the song was out in the early 1970s, think that the actual lyric in the Jimi Hendrix song “Purple Haze” was “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” instead of “Excuse me while I kiss the sky”?
I ask because I was familiar with the song in the early 1970s (thank you Superstars of the 70s multi album set), and I didn’t know anyone who thought that. I never heard it mentioned. I should add that in southern Minnesota, it was not exactly the most popular song. The first time that I heard it mentioned was when some guy was pimping his book about “Mondegreens” about 10 or 15 years ago. My bullshit meter sounded at the mention of it. It absolutely pegged when the author claimed that Hendrix would occasionally kiss a guy during the playing of the song in concert.
So anyone more into music at that time have any insights into this? I’ve been meaning to ask this for a number of years.
Nope for me, nope for my brother. Of course, that may have been because we actually listened to the album. I’m wondering about some disgruntled parent, overhearing it from another room, as being the source for the bad press.
My brother did say, however, that our wildman friend, Allan, did believe it, but, my brother may have just been making it up, to show what a dolt Allan was.
And, IIRC, on Woodstock, Hendrix actually made a kiss motion at the sky.
But yes for one of my step-brothers. We were both born in the late 1960’s, so as a contemporary hit it was before our time. But while I had some interest in classic rock as a teen and thus knew Hendrix’s oeuvre, my SB was much more into rap, funk, and “old school” r & b ( so was I a bit, but it was a difference of focus ). So I suspect someone told him that’s what the lyrics said and from then on that’s what he heard in his head until corrected years later.
I am pretty sure I have heard that Hendrix himself was aware of the “kiss this guy” interpretation, and at least one gig Jimi distinctly sang it that way, and pretended to kiss Noel Redding. No doubt it was not the lyric Jimi originally intended, but the alternative version presumably got around quickly, and Jimi himself heard about it, and was amused.
A quick Google turned up this page (despite its being incorrectly headed as being about “Jimi Page”). I do not think it I where I first heard the story, however.
The song came out when I was a teenager. We knew it was “kiss the sky,” however, we also frequently used “kiss this guy” as a joke because of all the straights and lame-o’s who thought that was the actual lyric.
I remember flipping though one of those ‘mis heard lyrics’ books and seeing that and thinking “Who thinks it says that, that doesn’t even sound right.” So, add me to the “never heard it that way” camp. Also, since everyone else is doing it, I’m 32 (born in 1980) so and I’ve pretty much always been into classic rock, so I’ve been hearing it most of my life.
I was born in 1973, so I don’t fully satisfy your criteria, but for what it’s worth, I personally thought that was the lyric for many years. Probably because I heard the song a lot as a child, and “kiss this guy” was a coherent, recognizable action to me, while “kiss the sky” was too metaphorical for me to parse that phrase. I’d guess I was a young adult when I finally read the correction and went, “Ooooohhhhhh!” :smack:
Hahahaha. This brings back memories. When I was a kid in junior high, all my friends knew it was “kiss the sky” but when that part of the song came up we would all yell out as loud as we could “'Scuse me…WHILE I KISS THIS GUY!!”
I was around then, and didn’t hear “kiss this guy” until years later. . . though I was, in fact, kissing a lot of guys back then, so I would have noticed those lyrics.
I don’t recall any special memories about it, but recently I saw it on the Batman slapping Robin internet meme, with Robin singing it “kiss this guy” and Batman slapping him, “that’s not how it goes!”
Now it’s permanently “kiss this guy!” just because of that.
Underworld’s Born Slippy:
“Shouting, mega mega white thing mega mega white thing mega mega white thing.”
My ears: “Nigga nigga white thing, nigga nigga white thing…”
