# I heard the lyrics right, but I misunderstood

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-lyrics-right-but-i-misunderstood/377837>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 25, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-lyrics-right-but-i-misunderstood/377837 "2006-10-25T13:28:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-lyrics-right-but-i-misunderstood/377837/1 "2006-10-25T13:28:05Z")

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[This post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7899800&postcount=35) by \*\*Freudian Push Up Bra \*\* reminded me of a couple of instances where I heard the lyrics correctly, at least in a phonetic sense, but was whooshed on the real meaning. For example,

**Mother and Child Reunion** :

I can’t for the life of me/remember a sadder day  
I know they say let it be

And I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t remember a Saturday.

**Like a Rolling Stone** :

Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse  
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose  
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

Well, in the second line I thought he was just repeating “you got nothing” for dramatic effect and I totally missed the idea being expressed. :smack:

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**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-heard-the-lyrics-right-but-i-misunderstood/377837/2 "2006-10-25T14:25:27Z")

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I also was confused by that **Paul Simon** lyric until just this very moment!

On a similar note…

Right now I’m in a production of **Fiddler on the Roof** , and the last lyrics of the song ‘Matchmaker’ are:

_Groom me no groom,  
find me no find,  
catch me no catch,  
unless he’s a matchless match!_

I’ve always wondered how he could be matchless if he was a match. Maybe, thought I, she was worried about getting a husband who was already matched to someone else?

Last week it just hit me. Duh! Matchless as in peerless. Boy was that one obvious.