Was the Beatles’ Day Tripper a prick teaser or a big teaser? Either way, she took him half the way there.
The OP’s claim was that the singer may purposely be singing “wrapped up like a douche.” I’m sure douches come pre-wrapped. 
It definitely sounds like he’s singing “douche.” Again, I don’t know about purposely, but it definitely sounds like it. Could be accent, the way he is trying to accentuated the “c” sound in “deuce” or something else, but it definitely comes out closer to “douche.”
I doubt any sleeves had the lyrics that way. I did a search, and no one has mentioned it. I should be able to find some evidence of that if it was true. It’s not some minor album release. There are some bad lyrics sites that have it written that way, though. I recall hearing some sites do it on purpose to prove other sites are plagiarizing their material, the way map makers have done things purposely like added fake towns.
Below is a link which has the album sleeve pictured.
Ha!
Neither does brimstone baritone, anti-cyclone rolling stone. And how DO you dethrone a dictaphone? And if you say “hit it in its funny bone” I’ll slap you. Metaphorically.
And it isn’t like Springsteen’s version is any better. I’m actually glad Personfred Person left out:
And now in Zanzibar a shootin’ star was ridin’ in a side car hummin’ a lunar tune
Yes, and the avatar said blow the bar but first remove the cookie jar we’re gonna teach those boys to laugh too soon
And some kidnapped handicap was complainin’ that he caught the clap from some mousetrap he bought last night
The album sleeve has the same lyrics as the album sleeve next to me. It has “how far will you take it well know one knows”. The song isn’t even close.
Here are three sites that have different lyrics. One has the the lyrics on the album sleeve, one has the one they actually say. The third one has both of them.
You’re right! :smack:
We’ve had at least two other examples over the years posting album sleeves getting lyrics wrong. I wonder how that happens. Original sheet music, but the band changed the words?
I can think of two examples where the songwriters make a deliberate choice in odd wording -I think- just to mess with the listeners.
In the days before the internet, boys and girls, if you wanted to figure out the lyrics to a song, you just listened closely and if you had the means to, you could rewind a particular section.
The song Bye, Bye Love by the Cars had a lyric I couldn’t figure out. It sounded like lead singer Benjamin Orr was saying: “It’s an orange disguise, always it’s some other guy,” which didn’t really make sense and didn’t sound exactly like what was being sung. Looking up the lyrics, you find out the words are “It’s an orange-y sky…” Orangey? Is that, like, even a word? And it still doesn’t make sense and I’m hard pressed to determine why that was the modifier chosen.
Example two, in Heart of Glass by Blondie, you have:
To me it sounded like, “Don’t you mistrust” or “Can (or maybe Can’t) you mistrust” but it didn’t quite fit what was actually being sung.
Many years later, googling the lyrics and you find it was “Mucho mistrust, love’s gone behind”. MUCHO mistrust?? Like WTF? You slip in a random Spanish word when you had any number of two-syllable English words that would have worked just as well and would have allowed the listener to sing along.
Sheesh. The stuff we had to put up with.
The liner notes for Volunteers album by Jefferson Airplane has the lyrics for “We Can Be Together” use the word “Fred” twice. The band, of course, sings “fuck” the first time and “motherfucker” the second.
The Wall definitely has lyrics that were cut between the commission of the lyrics sheet and the completion of the album; I don’t remember exactly which song they were to though. Another prog rock song this happened to was Siberian Khatru by Yes on Close to the Edge. What annoys me in particular is that this was even true of the CD release, the only versions I have since I was not born when those songs came out. Why couldn’t they fix the liner notes for the new release? Maybe they only had the rights to copy what originally was there, and were not recommissioned to ensure they matched what actually was on the album? They are pretty noticeable omissions when you follow along with the lyric sheet while listening for the first time.
When the Tigers Broke Free. The song was restored for the film*.
*Not now John we’ve got to get on with the film show
Hollywood waits at the end of the rainbow
Who cares what it’s about as long as the kids go
Not now John we’ve got to get on with the show
-I think someone didn’t like the movie!
Speaking of Bye Bye Love by The Cars… Right after the orangy sky line it supposedly says “broken lullaby”. I cannot hear that. It sounds like “fucking alibi” to me.
I’ve read many things about this song. The lack of proper equipment in the recording caused the “wrapped up like a douche” misunderstanding, for example. The one that drives me nuts is not the deuce/douche bit but the next line.
Another runner in the night
Even though I learned years ago that it’s supposed to be runner, I hear rumor. “Another rumor in the night” seems to make more sense considering the entire song.
I had always thought the Silicone Sister has a Mannequin Mister, which also seems to make sense.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the full Manfred Mann version and here it is…with lyrics on screen as it plays, so you can match sound to word. WTH have I been singing all these years?
Huh. I’ve heard the song a zillion times and thought it was “put your mistrust not far behind.” Which doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I attributed it to cocaine.
[quote=“lobotomyboy63, post:33, topic:855421”]
I don’t think I’ve ever heard the full Manfred Mann version and here it is…with lyrics on screen as it plays, so you can match sound to word. WTH have I been singing all these years?
[/QUOTE]The extended instrumental interlude makes that version a lot better than the radio cut, but how could they leave out the last verse?
*And some kidnapped handicap was complainin’ that he caught the clap
from some mousetrap he bought last night
Well I unsnapped his skull cap, between his ears I saw a gap
and figured he’d be all right
He was just blinded by the light…*
There was probably no thought of The Boss’s original being on the radio. I didn’t hear it until the early eighties, and I’m thinking I may need to give Greetings From Asbury Park a listen today.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band tried twice more to strike gold from that album, releasing their versions of For You and Spirit in the Night as singles, the latter twice. Neither made much of a dent, obviously.
What do you mean by “not much of a dent”? MfM were pretty popular. I only knew these songs as being MfM songs long before I knew them as Springsteen songs.
Think you’re confusing albums. Those lyrics are from Not Now John, which is on The Final Cut, not *The Wall. * Tigers was written for The Wall, but the rest of the band thought it was too personal and rejected it. It is available on the 2004 reissue of The Final Cut.
I always bring this up in Mondegreen threads:
Elvis Presley’s “Memories”
Real line:
Memories
Of holding hands and red bouquets…
How I hear it (and sing it):
Memories
Of holding hands and rat bouquets…
With “Blinded by the Light”, I hear:
“Revved up like a douche, and there’s a woman in the night.”