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when words strike you funny
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Subject: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 11:06 AM I've encountered a whole new performing problem. Suddenly the words are striking me as funny when I sing them (when they shouldn't be). I keep thinking what they might sound like. For example 'I've been calling all day' became 'I've been Colin all day' because there was a Colin in the audience. Similarly 'I took to Robin on the King's highway' and 'Bert the night goes on & on' (should be 'but') And even worse... 'Time won't ease my mammaries'. (should be 'memories'). This is torturing me - is there a cure? Or even better - any other sufferers???????? Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: MMario Date: 17 May 01 - 11:11 AM for some reason while learning Tom Lewis's "Sailors Prayer" I kept singing one line as sells bad steel to whalers when it should have been bad ALE to SAILORS |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: InOBU Date: 17 May 01 - 11:12 AM Having gone to law school so I can give medical advice... and the ruination of my liver is the best evidence that my advice is good...my advise to you young man, is to drink long and hard before and after each song. - Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: InOBU Date: 17 May 01 - 11:14 AM And to ruin one more song for you... as I roved out, sung by Johnny Monnaghan, sing I took off my pants and I did salute her I did salute her most outrageously When she turned around the tears fell from her saying false young man you have abuse-ed me... dont sing it around Johnny though, I did, he didn't laugh - Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: marty D Date: 17 May 01 - 11:14 AM Try "Fast Freight Flies" from Utah Phillips' Goin' Away. It's been coming out as fast flite fries! marty |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Patrish(inactive) Date: 17 May 01 - 11:17 AM The chorus in the gipsy davey that goes "ah de do ah de do da day" always reminds me of the scousers saying "ah de do day don't day" I can't sing it anymore. I am sure there are others......... Patrish |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: InOBU Date: 17 May 01 - 11:22 AM There was a band in Derry, may still be, named after the line in The Town I loved so Well, they were called the Derry Airs. I was asked to make them a T shirt (I used to do a lot of silkscreaning) I said, "How bout someone's bum on the shirt." They didn't speak french, when I told them what the name meant in French, they went white then red, still kept the name though... Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 11:23 AM Ruined! Totally ruined!!! All those lovely songs.... (expires laughing).... Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 11:26 AM And on a similar note... why did the whole pub burst out laughing last night when I was singing The Water Is Wide? It was OK until the bit about 'I put my finger into some soft bush'..... Kris PS. Larry - great advice, except I am neither young nor a man. But I'll try that deep drinking thing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: GUEST,UB Dan Date: 17 May 01 - 11:28 AM early on I slipped up during Black and tans and sang "Where are your steers and queers\ that you bravely let us hear" |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: mousethief Date: 17 May 01 - 11:31 AM We sing a song at church, our rough equivalent to "Happy Birthday" or "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" which consists of saying the words "God Grant You Many Years" over and over. But now every time I hear it, I hear "God Grant You Many Ears" And picture the birthday person, or the happy couple whose anniversary we're celebrating, with multiple hearing organs (or with their arms full of many ears of corn/maize/miellies). Makes it hard to sing with a straight face. Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Kim C Date: 17 May 01 - 11:33 AM Mister keeps singing a phrase in NOttingham Ale as "soy cullen dame" when it's actually "coy sullen dame." We figure maybe she was actually made of tofu. We had to learn Tenting Tonight for an SCV banquet and there's a line about "the loved ones at home who gave us the hand" and one night in rehearsal I couldn't help but say "gave us the finger." Sometimes, when I do Streets of Laredo, I think of the Smothers Brothers bit about "if you get an outfit you can be a cowboy too." Arrrrrggggggghhhhhh.................... |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 12:14 PM When Hamm & I sing Cousin Jack (Show of Hands) there is a line at which a look of intense concentration takes over our faces as we attempt to sing: The English they live in our houses the Spanish they fish in our seas. Tragically - the spanish often end up living in the sea. Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: InOBU Date: 17 May 01 - 12:21 PM THE KING IS A QUEEN! Not since Edward II was there as much perplexity at the MC! Please accept my profound appology, as my monitor is not very good, and I mistook KingKris for a fella! SO! I owe you a drink my leige, and a chune on the oul pipes when you get to new york, or I to whereever! Cheers, and again sorry, Larry |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Ebbie Date: 17 May 01 - 12:22 PM A friend was singing his own song with the line: "the sweet fragrance on the breeze..." It has been ruined for me forever because drawing a blank on it, he sang smoothly, "sweet friggin fraggin freeze". We have it on tape. I don't think that he, to this day, knows that anyone noticed. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: catspaw49 Date: 17 May 01 - 12:29 PM Dear Kris, Take it from someone who has been addicted to puns/Grouchoisms and the vagaries of the language for years........................Once you get started noticing that stuff, it just gets worse. You not only substitute words, but you see the "other" possible meanings in the RIGHT word and soon, no one can say anything that doesn't either crack you up or "force" you to make a wiseass comment that others may or may not be offended by. Or you have both situations and then you can tell them to look up your crack! Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 12:30 PM Larry - its my fault for using King in my 'catname - I sort of didn't think of it that way, because its my surname. Causes no end of trouble. Its amazing how many of us mis-sex eachother (if thats an allowable phrase) though. Glad you feel profoundly apologetic - profundity is a wonderful thing (I'm more used to profanity though). Cheers'm'dear Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: mousethief Date: 17 May 01 - 12:35 PM My wife says that any newspaper or indeed any newsletter or circular needs to employ an editor with a wicked mind, to comb for double entendres. Our monthly church bulletin this month said, "Please talk with fiends after church OUTSIDE the worship hall so people can pray inside." Hard to pray with all those demons flitting about inside the nave. Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Jim Dixon Date: 17 May 01 - 12:35 PM I used to be an amateur actor, and I have experienced this problem on stage. The only time I ever broke up during a performance was when something suddenly struck me as funny, which I had never noticed was funny before. The audience triggered it by laughing at a point where I had never anticipated laughter. The play was a comedy, so I was well prepared for most of the jokes. But the audience wasn't laughing so much at a specific joke or funny line as at the gradually developing ridiculousness of the situation. In a scene like that, you can never quite predict when the growing tension will reach the breaking point of laughter. So they laughed, and I laughed, and then they laughed even more. All I could do was pause (you have to pause for laughter anyway), look at the floor (to avoid eye contact with the other actor), and try to compose myself, then get back into character and repeat the last line with even more intensity than the first time. (The story required me to be angry at that point, so I had to get even angrier.) The best preventive medicine is to notice the humor early and laugh as much as possible during the early rehearsals. Then you really will "get it out of your system," as they say. A good director, directing a comedy, will encourage the cast to be playful, goof around, experiment with different ways of reading the lines, and laugh a lot during the early rehearsals. He will laugh himself (maybe even force it), and will invite friends to watch rehearsals, so that the actors get used to hearing people laugh, and, hopefully, will notice and "get" all the jokes themselves long before opening night. This fits well with something a psychologist told me once: "If you want to change anything, the first thing you've got to do is notice the hell out of it." I will leave it to you to figure out how to apply this lesson to singing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: KingBrilliant Date: 17 May 01 - 12:35 PM Mr Paw - you frighten me for the future . And Ebbie - do you mean to say that its all lies when they say that no-one ever notices the mistakes??? Have you never played the tape back to the perpetrator? Kris |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Pseudolus Date: 17 May 01 - 01:47 PM A dear departed friend of mine whose line in Camelot was something to the effect of, "I just want to eat grapes and chase women around trees." inadvertantly said that he wanted to, "Eat women and chase grapes around trees". We're not sure who was more concerned, the women or the grapes!!! Frank |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Kim C Date: 17 May 01 - 04:33 PM Once when I was visiting a battlefield I thought the sign said "Do Not Walk on Earthlings" when it actually said "Do Not Walk on Earthworks." |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Noreen Date: 31 May 01 - 08:28 AM Well, I admitted it last night for the first time, while practising, so may as well come clean here... The line in Lennon & McCartney's beautiful Here, There and Everywhere where I have to stop myself singing And when he's beside me I know I need Mothercare... |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Ebbie Date: 31 May 01 - 12:19 PM KingB, my friend lives in Washington state so he doesn't get here very often. One of these times... And you're right- if no one speaks of it, no one noticed... At least, that's what I prefer to believe. The problem is that my friends tend to be somewhat open, might say raucous even. The other night a friend was clipping her capo on and I said to her, Your rubber is slipping. They didn't have the decency to ignore it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: kendall Date: 31 May 01 - 12:31 PM I always substitute memories for Mammaries. Most people dont even notice. I used to sing Dave Malletts' The Haying Song with a straight face, but, since an incident in NY at a bluegrass festival, I can no longer do it. ..just keep your load wide, keep your eye on the sky, and make sure it's dry when you put it away. ..it's back to the mow, six loads in and 8 more to go. ..when all men are srong...you know when to rise and know when to rest... ..you drink from the spring and get mud on your knees... I was singing this in a field picking session, and suddenly, I noticed a young couple rolling around in the grass down over a bank, and that song took on a whole new meaning. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: kendall Date: 31 May 01 - 12:41 PM I got memories and mammaries turned hindside before. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Kim C Date: 31 May 01 - 01:12 PM Kendall my husband does that and it drives me round the bend! |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: harpmolly Date: 31 May 01 - 01:37 PM this just happened to me the other night! I had stopped by my favorite pub with some friends, and there was a man up playing whom I've sat in with once or twice. So he calls to me, "I hear you've been singing 'Annachie Gordon' lately. Want to come up and give it a whirl?" and I said, "sure!" Unfortunately, I got a little mixed up when it came to the third verse, and instead of singing "Jeannie was married, from church was brought home.." I went into the LAST verse--"The day that Jeannie married was the day that Jeannie died." Well, I had to keep on going, but I started getting more and more confused, and then it happened: I accidentally sang, "You who are her maidens, go loosen up her gowns/And lead me to the chamber where my love she lies in." Ewwwwww! And the line struck me as so funny that I started laughing and couldn't stop. :( I barely finished the song. Sigh. See if I ever get invited up to sing again... M |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Chip2447 Date: 31 May 01 - 02:04 PM For years my sister in law thought the "searching for my lost shaker of salt" line from Jimmy Buffet's Marguriteville was "searching for my lost digger the dog". It has been the source of some amusement over the years, especially at a Jimmy Buffet concert.
Steve Winwood's "Bring me a higher love" has always sounded like "Bring me an Iron lung" to me. While at my Mother's house one day, Angela Landsbury as the character Jessica Fletcher on "Murder she wrote" said "she had many happy years with her late husband". Which to me sounds like he was stuffed and mounted and on display in the living room... |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Chicken Charlie Date: 31 May 01 - 02:05 PM If this was a serious question, repetition is the only thing I can count on. The Mexican parody of "Whiskey in the Jar" that showed up on a recent thread was impossible for me to sing through at first, but doing it enough times took the edge off the jokes. Or, as I heard from a colleague only last night--turn to prayer. I.e., "Put your hand in the hand of the Man who steals the water." On the other hand, perhaps there is no hope. When we first learned "Katie Wells," my wonderful alto partner decided that the roses and the ivy were in tune. No matter how many times we remind each other that they were really in bloom, as soon as stress level rises to a certain point, the plants wax musical again. CC |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: annamill Date: 31 May 01 - 03:34 PM I once saw a sign on a marquee that read "Jerry Vale -Last Night" and for 10 minutes I tried to figure out why they would announce that Jerry Vale had been there LAST NIGHT??? ;-) L.A. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Hawker Date: 31 May 01 - 03:50 PM I have a problem with The Sweet Forget me not - 'Where she whispered when we parted' invariably comes out as 'where we whispered when SHE parted!' Lots of songs have words that conjure up images to me too, like Lamorna 'She had a dark and a roving eye' I always want to add JUST THE ONE Words are magical though aren't they, what fun we can have and what problems they can cause! Lucy |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Chicken Charlie Date: 31 May 01 - 05:16 PM |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Chicken Charlie Date: 31 May 01 - 05:29 PM Annamill-- I can relate. An artist painted a "Peace" mural; I told a friend he had incorporated [the word] Peace in six languages, but I didn't stress "the word" enough, so she envisioned the inscription "Peace in Six Languages," and spent the rest of the day wondering why anybody would write that phrase. CC |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Jim Krause Date: 31 May 01 - 05:40 PM It was late and rehearsal was going long. We were attempting to arrange the Carter Family's Railroading On The Great Divide. There is a line in it that goes It's a long steel rail and a short cross tie But our bass player in her inimitable style thought the line was: It's a long steel rail and a sword crossed high We fell to pieces laughing at the thought of all these rough and tumble railroaders standing on the right of way with swords held crossed over the cross ties. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: kendall Date: 31 May 01 - 07:32 PM Kim C, I dont often confuse the two! |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: kendall Date: 31 May 01 - 07:53 PM I get a kick out of signs such as: DOG SUPPLIES flashlights camping gear etc. EARS PIERCED WHILE YOU WAIT MOTEL FOR SALE, Always full, especially on weekends. LIVE PET SUPPLIES. I guess that lets out dead ones, and pet rocks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Tattie Bogle Date: 31 May 01 - 08:11 PM From the "Messiah": "Yea tin my flesh" instead of "Yet in my flesh" (shall I see God). A highly expensive soprano soloist managed this every time it came round. Tattie B |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Bill D Date: 31 May 01 - 11:19 PM the most carefully pronounced song of all time... makes you wonder what the author was thinking |
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: GUEST,Ophelia Date: 01 Jun 01 - 12:03 AM I was devastated one day when I saw "Pet Mince" for sale at a Pet Shop and imagining all those minced up pets... I'm not often that gullible but it caught me off guard. Half listening to an irish band the other night & in "Black is the Colour" on one verse they sang: I love my love and well she knows I love the ground whereon she goes I wish the day it soon would come When she'd turn around and show me her bum It seemed to fit so well I didn't notice it was wrong for a few seconds.
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Subject: RE: BS: when words strike you funny From: Chip2447 Date: 01 Jun 01 - 02:39 AM On a nearby interstate there is a barn with the advertising slogan... "LIVE NUDE" and in a much smaller font... "bait". |
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