Rant Or Misheard Lyrics?

When I first thought of what I was going to blog about this month I had a couple of ideas that I kept forgetting what it was I was going to write. So I thought about doing a mid-year update on my self appointed posting quota. That would be depressing because as usual I've been procrastinating and will most likely yet again barely crank out the bare minimum of one a month possibly a little more. I don't mind too much since I am making the low minimum. Sort of like when you are only making minimum wage and still living at home with Mum and Dad.

I also thought about doing a rant about some current political event or personality, but I don't like controversy on my blog. I also don't want to have to delete all the comments it would attract, or the spam I'd have to report and then delete.

Then I remembered some more lyrics I had misheard over the years. So:

I recalled that for one of my previous "Misheard Lyrics" posts, I had forgotten to include one of the lines I used to mishear.

Once again it was from The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian".

What I thought the line was:

The phone waitresses take their trays,

They spin around and they cross the floor.

The real line is:
The blond waitresses take their trays,
They spin around and they cross the floor.

Another song that I had misheard some lyrics to, has recently been getting more radio airplay due to a recent cover of it. Well the cover has been getting a lot of airplay, and also the original. The Song is "Africa" originally written and recorded by the band TOTO from their Toto IV album.

Toto IV 1982

This year Africa was covered by the band Weezer and is a very faithful cover.

The part of the song that I had misheard for many years was part of the chorus.

What I thought it said:
I Guess it rains down in Africa

The Real Lyrics:
I Bless the rains down in Africa

So um Yeah. That is it for now.

Misheard Lyrics: Bangles Walk Like An Egyptian

We have all done it, mankind has done it since he started putting vocals to music. I am talking the musical version of "the telephone game". You know where something is said but you hear something completely different and believe what you heard is the right line. A mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase or song lyrics is called a Mondegreen. There are at least two websites devoted to this sort of thing as it applies to song lyrics: Am I Right? and KissThisGuy Can you believe all the people who used to think (and some still do) that Jimi Hendrix sang the line "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"?

One of the songs that it took me a while to get the right words for was Elton John's "Bennie & The Jets". NO I didn't think that "electric boots" were "electric boobs" like so many did. I was too young to know what a mohair suit was but understood that line.  For me it was the line "Oh Bennie she's really keen" at first I couldn't figure out the "really keen" part and thought it was "Oh Bennie she's a rent-a-Queen" or "Bennie she's a real queen.". Which is a little closer. Oh maybe I should be a writer for "Don't Forget The Lyrics!"

Now as for the song I intended this thread to be about. For as long as the song has been around there were some lyrics that I never quite heard correctly. Even seeing the real lyrics and trying to listen for them it is hard for me to hear the real lyrics. The song I am talking about as recorded by The Bangles from their Album Different Light is Walk Like An Egyptian.

The Bangles: Different Light copyright The Bangles and Columbia Records.

To start things off the opening line:
I used to think the second line was "They do the SAME dance don't you know"

The real line is:
"All the old paintings on the tombs,
They do the sand dance don't you know"

Screen capture from official "Walk Like an Egyptian" video.

Here is the more difficult verse/lines:
Most of the line was unintelligible to me something like "slight bit a street and your back, shift then you call a cop (also sounds like call a cock), Let the Sargent know (oh whey oh), they strike a pose on a Cadillac".

Now the real verse is:
"Slide your feet up the street bend your back,
Shift your arm then you pull it back,
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh),
So strike a pose on a Cadillac.

If you want to find all the cops,
They're hanging out in the donut shop."

Screen capture from official "Walk Like an Egyptian" video.

OK so excuse me NO I will not kiss this guy, I don't play for that side of the field.
Now my favorite misheard song lyrics- "Don't hold on tonight, It's bound to take your life, There's a bathroom on the right."