My wife and I were sitting around the other day and Wooly Bully came on and I started singing along. She asked, ‘what’s that song about’. I admitted I didn’t know. And she said, ‘but you were just singing it!’. So I tried to work it out… “Had a gold Caddie, with a sling see-saw…” Nope, I don’t know the words. But I belt it out anyway.
There are other songs I sing along with but don’t actually know the words to. I’m usually surprised to learn what they are actually saying. For example, the words to Wooly Bully (I now know) are: Matty told Hatty, About a thing she saw Had two big horns, And a wooly jaw Wooly bully Wooly bully
Hatty told Matty, Let’s don’t take no chance Let’s not be L-seven, Come and learn to dance
L7, I’m assuming is a square? Anyway, I’m not really talking about mis-heard lyrics (Kiss the sky, kiss this guy), I’m more thinking along the lines of songs you’ve just never bothered to listen to that close to but can’t help singing along with.
Tried Peggy Sue
Tried Betty Lou
Tried Mary Lou
But I knew she wouldn’t do
I’m not even sure those are the correct lyrics above since The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean can’t even agree. When I sing along I get every combination of Peggy, Betty, Mary, Cindy, Suzy, and Lou, Sue, Q, Wu, etc imaginable.
Interesting. Googling, AI says:
" A “square” is a slang term for someone who is conventional, old-fashioned, or out of touch with modern trends and culture. It can also imply that the person is not open to new experiences or is overly concerned with following rules or social norms.
The term originated in the American jazz community in the 1940s to describe people who were out of touch with musical trends. However, the term “square” has had older, more positive meanings, dating back to the 16th century, to describe someone or something that is honest and upstanding."
That’s a good one. Every tenth time I sing it in the car, I manage to go into a weird fugue state and absolutely nail it, but never in front of an audience, oddly enough.
Coincidentally, I’m sitting in a pub waiting on takeout, and it’s karaoke night. There were just a couple little girls that sang a Taylor Swift song that was really cute. I texted my wife, and she said I should ask to sing “Black Betty”, which I think absolutely qualifies for the OP, even for the actual band that sang it originally!
Pretty much any Elton John song, particularly from the 70’s going into the 80’s which are my favorites. I think I know the words until I try to sing along and then realize there are large segments I just have to mumble my way through.
I learned the lyrics to Sweet Caroline so I could perform it in a lip-sync competition. I have since forgotten the lyrics, even when I sing along when I hear the song on Sirius.
I always sing along with ‘Bennie and the Jets’, but have no idea what the lyrics are until the chorus comes along.
Hey, I’d say you nailed it!
(So glad they don’t play That Numa Numa Song on the radio. If it came on while I was driving, I’d have to do the arm movements… and crash.)
I’m constantly googling song lyrics because I often realize I’ve been singing a song for decades with one or two lines a mystery (Brown Eyed Girl: “Goin’ down the old mine/with a transistor radio?” Why the HELL would you take the girl you have a crush on down a mine?)… hmm, I’d better get googling. But I swear EVERY song from the '70s is like that for me.
Part of the problem for me is I don’t question, I just sing what I think I hear. For the next line to Brown Eyed Girl I always sang,
“Standing in the sunlight lamp
Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall…”
Makes no sense, but somehow I never questioned it.
