The other day I heard Herman’s Hermits’ “I’m Henry VIII, I Am.” I was in my car alone, and this being a catchy (if silly) little ditty, I began to sing along. Though it had been many years since I’d heard it, I remembered all the words… except one.
As I belted out the penultimate line, “I’m her eighth old man called Henry,” Peter Noone defied my expectations by instead singing “I’m her eighth old man named Henry.”
Huh, I thought. I was sure it was “called” and not “named.” Maybe he switches it up later in the song.
Well, the second verse is, indeed, same as the first. But wait! After the guitar solo, the verse comes around again. I was confident, convinced, positive, certain even, that this time I was going to hear the line the way it had been indelibly burned into my memory all those years ago.
“I’m her eighth old man named Henry…”
DAMMIT! Where did “called” come from in my head, and how could I have been so sure and so wrong? I’ve been unable to find any cover versions or alternate recordings to back up my memory.
I know there have been similar threads before, but they’re always fun. What’s a song lyric, or movie quote, or any other instance where you were absolutely, 100% certain you knew something, only to be proven wrong?
I thought it was “I’m her eighth old man, I’m Henry…”
Wikipedia seems to agree that’s what Noone is singing in the Hermit’s version.
No idea where “called Henry” came from in your memory. It’s obviously been covered and performed many times, so maybe one of those versions? The movie Ghost?
ISTM that in conversation, most Brits say “called” as opposed to “named”, so maybe, knowing this, you mentally substituted the word that seems “right” ?
The thing about Peter Noone, is he is one of the rare Brits that sings with a British accent. So if he is singing “…named Henry” what’s actually coming out is “…ahm 'en ery”. Which sounds more like “I’m” than “named”.
Fun fact: the 'ermans 'ermits song is merely the chorus of the original song.
My mom told the story of my brother playing this song over and over and over to the point the folks almost disowned him. I was four, so I don’t remember that at all.
Practically every time I watch a YouTube video with captions, I find out that I had at least one thing wrong. The Spirit of Radio is a recent example. It is bristle with the energy not whistle with the energy. But usually, once I know the right words, I start to hear those instead of whatever I made up.
Curious. I could have sworn it was “called” in the original music-hall version (by Harry Champion*) that I was brought up on - no doubt reflecting the usual British preference as mentioned above. But no - and if the man who wrote it sang “named”, who am I to argue?
*Author of quite a number of songs that sound as though they ought to be somewhat risqué but somehow aren’t quite, such as Cover It Over Quick Jemima Don’t Do It Again Matilda You Don’t Want To Keep Showing It
For years, inLittle Palaces, I heard: “The sedated homes of England/ Who does defend the lies?” instead of: “The sedated homes of England / Are theirsto vandalise.” Any other examples of this?peilefella
Here’s my best example of stubbornly mis-hearing a lyric.
From the Thread What song hit you like a thunderbolt when you first heard it, my post (#193, Oct 2020).
I was insisting that John’s response line in the Beatles “Getting Better” was “It can’t get any worse.” After some back and forth, one of my adversaries posted:
I just relistened to it. The lyric is very clearly “it can’t get no worse.”
My reply: I first listened to SPLHCB the day it was released. I can’t even try to guess how many times I’ve listened to it since then, closely and carefully. Certainly many hundreds of times. Since the 90’s I’ve played around with the various isolated instrumental and vocal tracks, studying how the songs and sounds were put together. And Getting Better is one of my favorites. But “harrumphs” notwithstanding, my 70 year old mind isn’t completely closed to new shit coming to light. So, because of you heretics, I’ve just listened to the isolated vocal track for the bazillionth time, and heard “any worse” because it’s what I expected to hear. But a flicker of doubt made me listen again, trying to be more objective about it…and by god you’re right. It does sound like “no worse.” I still stubbornly think I hear the first syllable of “any” (“en”) but the second syllable is indeed a long “O” and there ain’t no such thing as “enno worse.” It has to be “no worse.” I’m gobsmacked, humbled, and a little amused at myself.