Misheard and Heard Lyrics

Music is the food of Soul

Hands up anybody who listened to music in the 70s and 80s on cassette tapes?

Before the Sony Walkman cassette tape, which was the coolest thing for a young person to own and to strut around with, showing off your amazing portable music machine, and before the internet, my siblings and I listened to hits on the radio and on tapes.

I wanted to know the words/lyrics of my favorite songs, so I would listen to a song on cassette tape and laboriously write out the words.

The trouble is that sometimes I misheard some lyrics.

The most infamous case was Kate Bush”s “Wuthering Heights”. I must have listened for HOURS and concluded that I had heard “batteries in the night” and much later I discovered the words were actually “bad dreams in the night.”

Misheard lyrics created a lot of amusement, for example, a friend who didn’t like Spandau Ballet said testily to me one day “What are they saying, I don’t want it French fried?”

Of course, they were singing “I don’t need this pressure on”!

Anyhow, listening intently to lyrics certainly honed my senses for picking up and remembering the words to many songs, and I like to think that I do have a very good sense of hearing.

One of the fun things that my partner and I like to spontaneously do is to sing a line from a song, to talk to each other. For example, he may ask “has the movie started yet” and I will sing “We’ve only just begun”. This is of course from the Carpenter’s beautiful song.

It’s done in good fun or as a creative and light-hearted way of communicating. Keep in mind that the song and the lyrics that we choose have nuances.

A line that I choose, not only expresses what I could say in spoken non-musical words but of course demonstrates something of my mindset or emotional self at that time.

I love talking “in song” and someone I know has even said that he can sense or feel harmonies flowing around me in my energy field.

From the days of watching “Countdown” with Molly Meldrum to ABBA-mania and the range of music genres that human beings listen to, music has soothed the stressed and the depressed and has entertained, inspired and motivated us.

I like to google “Misheard Lyrics” and go to pages such as the one below and read the interpretations, which always make me laugh. If you are interested in Archangels, Sandalphon is the one that looks after or inspires musicians, and another person has told me that Archangel Sandalphon is one of my personal guardian angels.

When we really listen to what each other says, writes or sings, or even “thinks” or sends to us directly Soul to Soul, we hear a message just for us. What I make of a song is unique to me and possibly different from what the next person feels or thinks or does about the same song.

That is the wonder of music, it speaks to us individually, delivering what we need at that instant, through magical ways. When you truly hear music, you understand why they say “Music hath charm to soothe the savage breast.” This is a line by William Congreve, often twisted to read “music soothes the savage beast”.

I wrote a poem titled “A Christmas Story” in 2007 which I gave to friends and family as gifts. This poem feels like a song to me, and I have sought to have it set to music unsuccessfully.

I made requests on “Fiverr” for songwriters to set it or some of it to music but they did not deliver. Never mind, for I’ve only just begun …. if it wants to be a song, I’m sure that one day it will be.

“We’ve only just begun” by the Carpenters

We’ve only just begun to live White lace and promises A kiss for luck and we’re on our way (We’ve only begun)

Before the risin’ sun, we fly So many roads to choose We’ll start out walkin’ and learn to run (And yes, we’ve just begun)

Sharing horizons that are new to us Watching the signs along the way Talkin’ it over, just the two of us Workin’ together day to day Together

And when the evening comes, we smile So much of life ahead We’ll find a place where there’s room to grow (And yes, we’ve just begun)

Sharing horizons that are new to us Watching the signs along the way Talkin’ it over, just the two of us Workin’ together day to day Together Together

And when the evening comes, we smile So much of life ahead We’ll find a place where there’s room to grow And yes, we’ve just begun

Songwriters: Roger S. Nichols / Paul H. Williams

Thank you for reading.