I don’t really consider it a particular accomplishment to know all the words to a song. In fact, I’d happily give up some of the space currently being used in my brain as song-lyric storage if I could consistently remember how to spell avocado or where I left my keys. The truth is that I know all the words to probably thousands of songs at this point in my life, not to mention also television themes, commercial jingles, and entire musicals. I could sing all the parts of Pirates of Penzance, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent, et al by myself without missing a word. Oh, and pretty much the entire ABBA corpus as well.
There aren’t many thing funnier than misheard or misremembered lyrics, though. If you haven’t done so already, check out some of the “misheard songs” videos on YouTube, especially this one. Thinking about those common mistakes motivated me to pick a song today that I not only know all the words to, but that I also think has more-difficult-than-most lyrics to hear, to understand, and to remember.
Lyrics like: Music loud and women warm, I’ve been kicked around since I’ve been born.
That’s right, my pick for today is the Bee Gees timeless disco hit– BECAUSE DISCO IS TIMELESS– “Staying Alive” from 1977. Here it is:
As far as I can tell from the countless times I’ve heard people flub the lyrics to this song, the only thing harder to understand than the New York Times’ effect on man is the brothers Gibb themselves.
Click here to return to the “anchor page” for #30DaySongChallenge2016 with the full list of this year’s picks