# Mistakes in recorded songs you'e heard a million times **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 7, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547 "2021-04-07T14:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/21 "2021-04-07T22:20:57Z")
I’ve probably heard it a thousand times and never noticed. Can you pinpoint where in the song it happens? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/22 "2021-04-07T22:21:41Z")
“Guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees” should be the other way around, Johnny. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q-cy1fsptv8/hqdefault.jpg "Johnny Horton Sink The Bismark Live on the Ozark Jubilee Show March 5, 1960") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-cy1fsptv8) ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/23 "2021-04-07T22:53:09Z")
Eric Burdon of the Animals was always garbling lyrics, but one that has always jumped out at me is in the song “Sky Pilot.” The line is supposed to be “But he’ll stay behind and he’ll meditate.” Eric, however, sings what sounds like “But he stale behind.” They couldn’t have gone back and fixed that? Guess not. Great song, though, and Burdon was one hell of a shouter. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/24 "2021-04-07T23:33:17Z")
The high feedback note at the end of the guitar solo in “Nowhere Man”. I’ve heard this song a thousand times since I was 10 years old, and my favorite part has always been that moment. It took me years to get me to even consider that it was accidental. I’m still not sure, but if it was deliberate, it was genius. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/25 "2021-04-07T23:42:11Z")
I hear it as “fasticulous” which would be a combo of fastidious and meticulous, I guess. Does any of else hear a flub in Bill Withers’ version of “Ain’t No Sunshine”? It sounds like he sings, “and shis house” as if he confused the “she’s always gone too long” with the “this house just ain’t no home” lines. It’s at 1:29. [Ain't No Sunshine - YouTube](https://youtu.be/5PeyzXvvdmw) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/26 "2021-04-07T23:47:45Z")
In the soundtrack to the stage production of “My Fair Lady” two of the lines are reversed. Henry: Thank Heavens for Zoltan Karparthy. If it weren’t for him I would have died of boredom. He was there, all right. And up to his old tricks. Mrs. Pearce: Karparthy? That dreadful Hungarian? Was he there? Clearly, Mrs. Pearce’s line should be between “boredom” and “He was there” - not after it. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/27 "2021-04-07T23:49:32Z")
The Who - Eminence Front. Pete sings lead, Roger backup on the chorus. At around 2:29, the chorus kicks in and they are out of sync, resulting in a garbled “be-it-en-en-nece front”. A remastered version from the late 90s tried to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/28 "2021-04-07T23:54:15Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I know there’s a Beatles song where, if you turn it up you can hear one of them (probably John) say ‘fuck’. Hey Jude - the phrase is “fucking hell” and yes, it was John. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/29 "2021-04-08T00:46:23Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > The high feedback note at the end of the guitar solo in “Nowhere Man” Sounds like a harmonic to me. He played an open string and immediately touched the string at the 5th fret to make sound 2 octaves higher. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/30 "2021-04-08T00:48:09Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I’ve probably heard it a thousand times and never noticed. Can you pinpoint where in the song it happens? [referring to page-turning sound in Slim Slo Slider] Sorry, took a while. Guess I only have it on vinyl, and my turntable’s broken. Once you hear the noise, you’ll never not hear it. At 1:26, after “some sandy beach”… but I [just listened to the remastered version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO6k4JRafrU) and it seems sharper than paper… a mic stand, something wooden? Well, it’s been a piece of paper since I first heard it… ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/31 "2021-04-08T00:48:15Z")
From Allan Sherman’s “Hungarian Goulash No. 5”: > Frenchmen eat a lot of bouillabaisse there, > Dutchmen **eave** a sauce called Hollandaise there! ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/32 "2021-04-08T01:09:22Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Paul played a really bad chord on the piano in, “Let It Be,” and I don’t know why no one fixed it at the time (or since); Aughhhhh! > > There’s a mistake in your title; well played! Which chord are you talking about? Because I think I started a thread in here once asking what a specific chord was that Paul played in the final verse (on the bolded “…I wake up to the sound of music **Moth** er Mary…”) IIRC, the consensus was that it was misplayed by McCartney and they just decided to keep it. I do NOT agree with that. I still can’t even figure out what the actual notes recorded are but it is beautiful and 100% on purpose. ETA: this chord is not on all the recordings of “Let It Be”. I know it’s at least on the album _One_. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/33 "2021-04-08T01:29:43Z")
Also, on the second to last measure of the keyboard solo in Zepp’s _“All Of My Love”_ Jones mashes a couple keys together quite clearly. He does it at other points in the solo too, but not as obviously and some could be passed off as “blue notes” or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/34 "2021-04-08T01:42:31Z")
In the Westside Story soundtrack Quintet song, one of the singers sings “way” instead of “day” in the first line. [[West Side Story - Tonight Quintet and Chorus (1961) HD - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyUV3hIL-G0)] ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/35 "2021-04-08T06:28:46Z")
That bit of guitar feedback at 2:36 of the Eagles’ “Already Gone” seems like a mistake that got left in for some reason. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SoduRTF9J-o/maxresdefault.jpg "Already Gone (2013 Remaster)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoduRTF9J-o) ---
**Author:** ![DeathPool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e95f7d/32.png) [@DeathPool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeathPool)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/36 "2021-04-08T07:35:28Z")
Rolling Stones - No Shelter They famously hired a classically trained opera singer or something the story goes and got her out of bed at like 1am or something when she was 8 months pregnant to sing the backing vocals. Her voice cracks on the recording but she said her voice was still in the right musical key, they liked the way it sounded and kept it. You can read the Wikipedia article, as I’m just paraphrasing based off a possibly not so accurate memory of a memory. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/37 "2021-04-08T08:02:37Z")
Beatles Yellow Submarine where Ringo sings “slubmarine” instead. In the Song “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” by Freddy Fender, when he sings the very first line it sounds like he has a speech impediment caused by a mouthful of tobacco or slobber or something. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/38 "2021-04-08T08:10:18Z")
> [@DeathPool](#): > > Her voice cracks on the recording but she said her voice was still in the right musical key, they liked the way it sounded and kept it. And you can hear the boys digging it in the isolated track. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/njAuEGRthuw/maxresdefault.jpg "Gimme Shelter - Merry Clayton (Vocal)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njAuEGRthuw) ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/39 "2021-04-08T09:08:35Z")
In the Beatles’ “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” Paul sings: “Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face…” This was a mistake that the band decided to leave in [(cite)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ob-La-Di,_Ob-La-Da). ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/40 "2021-04-08T11:22:13Z")
Regarding the “day/way” flub in “West Side Story”: We had the soundtrack album in our home, and I noticed that long before I ever saw the movie, and it’s in the movie too, exactly as you describe. It’s so obvious I’m baffled as to why it wasn’t re-recorded at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547.md?page=3)