Just let me out of here!
Musical Misappropriations
Because ranting about stuff people get wrong is a good way to make myself feel better.
The song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was not sung by Bob Marley. The singer, Bobby McFerrin, isn't even Jamaican - he's American, and he's putting on a fake Jamaican accent during the song (that isn't his real singing voice). Also, the song is actually supposed to be satirical (you've got all these serious, non-trivial problems, but don't worry, be happy!), not a genuine feel-good song like many people interpret it as.
"Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. was not written about the death of Kurt Cobain, as even some magazines and newspapers have falsely reported. Kurt Cobain died in 1994, while that song was featured on the album Automatic for the People, which came out in 1992. The song itself is simply a comfort anthem with suicidal teenagers in mind. Michael Stipe did write a song about Kurt Cobain's death, but it was called "Let Me In" and featured on the album Monster.
And speaking of, Nine Inch Nails did not cover Johnny Cash's song "Hurt" - which, again, has been falsely reported by many newspapers and magazines. Nine Inch Nails wrote the song "Hurt", which Johnny Cash later covered. Also, on a related note, NIN isn't a band - it's just the stage name of singer/songwriter Trent Reznor.
Speaking of that song, Trent Reznor never called Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" "the perfect cover" or "better than the original". He merely said that both versions were very different, but excellent in their own merits.
The song "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie was never intended to be a Christmas song, despite often being categorised as one. It's an anti-war song and has little to do with Christmas other than the line "Wish I could be home for Christmas", which was a reference to people saying that World War I would be "over by Christmas".
"Jingle Bells" is thought of as the quintessential Christmas song nowadays, but it was originally written about and intended to be sung on Thanksgiving.
Owl City, like Nine Inch Nails above, is the stage name of a solo artist, not a band name. Same goes for Meat Loaf. (Technically, Meat Loaf is a band name, it's just that the "band" consists of one person.)
Sadly, there are probably still people, particularly in America, who think that the Beatles once called themselves "bigger than Jesus". They never did. John Lennon, in an interview, said "We're more popular than Jesus now", but it was more of a lament than a boast, as he was referring to the decline of organised religion (as well as making a lighthearted jab at the kind of people who take things like religion too seriously). The full context of the interview makes his real intentions very clear, but his statement was ripped out of context and used as a headline (BEATLES: BIGGER THAN JESUS) for a smear press in the American media. The full quotation was "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now - I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but His disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.
John Lennon never said "Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles". He actually held Ringo's drumming ability in high regard. Not to mention, this implies that John thought Paul was a better drummer than Ringo, which is very odd.
It's common belief that Warrant hated the song "Cherry Pie", but this isn't true. It was rushed, which they admitted to, but they have made it quite clear that they never hated the song. The singer just flipped out during an interview when a question about it was asked because his life was falling apart around that time.
You'll still find some people to this day who think that "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen has deliberately slurred, unintelligible lyrics because the actual lyrics are so filthy and obscene that it would never get released or played on the radio if you could understand them. These people have obviously never listened to the original song, by Rick Berry and the Pharaohs, which is very understandable and not obscene at all. And the slurring wasn't intentional - they recorded the song with one microphone mounted on the ceiling, Jack Ely's voice was shot from singing "Louie, Louie" all night (plus he was wearing braces) and while he was aware he had to record in one take, he didn't realise the tape was running and thought he was just doing a rehearsal play-through. The only obscene part of their cover is the uncensored profanity one of the band members yells about a minute into the song due to missing a cue (which somehow very few people, including the FBI - who analysed the song and after 18 months declared it "unintelligible at any speed" - managed to catch).
"Now You're Gone" by Basshunter is not an English version of "Boten Anna". It's a completely different song with completely different lyrics and subject matter that just happens to use the same tune as "Boten Anna". This is the same with a lot of Basshunter's songs, really - for instance, "All I Ever Wanted" uses the same tune as "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA", but again, the two songs are about completely different things.
The song "The Legend of Zelda" (popularly known as "Link, He Come to Town" after the first line) was NOT done by System of a Down. It was written and recorded by Joe Pleiman and featured on his album The Rabbit Joint. System of a Down have never performed the song, not even as a cover.
The song "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry is very often considered to be about lesbianism or about a girl coming out, even though the singer/narrator repeatedly mentions having a boyfriend and makes it very clear that her kissing another girl was just an innocent, spur-of-the-moment thing.
The Darkness themselves have denied that their song "Holding My Own" is about masturbation and that their song "Growing on Me" is about genital disease or infection. While the innuendo in "Holding My Own" was most likely deliberate, the song itself is simply a breakup song. As for the latter case, well, as the band themselves said, "genital infections don't really 'grow' on you".
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary is not a song about marijuana, despite constant rumours and accusations which the band have repeatedly denied. The song is based on a poem, which was inspired by a children's rhyme called "Custard the Dragon". The band have said that the song is about the loss of innocence in children and that it has no meaning other than the surface one. (Supposedly, Jackie Paper is a reference to rolling papers and their adventures are meant to represent a drug trip. However, marijuana is not a hallucinogen, so the only "adventures" Puff and Jackie would have would be sitting blazed on the sofa considering ordering a pizza. Then there's the final verse, which highlights the fact that, although they both started off young and grew up together, Puff, as a dragon, is immortal while Jackie, as a human, is not, and thus, Puff has to face life without his childhood friend - something which would be sure to harsh anyone's buzz.) Paul Stookey even went as far as to say that no member of the band had ever tried marijuana or had any interest in trying it when the song was written.
And of course, we can't talk about songs not being about drugs without mentioning "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles. It was based on a drawing John Lennon's son did of one of his classmates, not on drugs. (Reportedly, they didn't even notice that the initials spelled LSD until after they had released it). While the band were probably on drugs when they made it, the song itself is not about drugs.
On a similar note, Jimi Hendrix himself revealed that "Purple Haze" was based on a dream he had where he was walking under the ocean.
"99 Luftballons" simply means "99 Balloons" ("luft" means "air", but "luftballon" is used to refer specifically to a child's toy balloon). Not one word of the German lyrics mentions the balloons' colour (and it's very likely they were all different colours). Nena added "red" to the English lyrics so they would scan better.
Ask the average person on the street to sing "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles, and if they know the song at all, they'll probably start with "In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed the seas, and he told us of his life in a yellow submarine". The actual lyrics are "In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea, and he told us of his life in the land of submarines".
The anthem for the US Navy is titled "Anchors Aweigh", not "Anchors Away". "Anchors away" would have the complete opposite meaning. (For those not familiar with nautical terminology, "anchors aweigh" means "the anchor is raised and the ship is ready to sail out".)
There's a Christmas-ish song that's often called "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" but the actual title is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". God is commanding gentlemen to be merry, he isn't commanding people who are already merry to stop.
The line "Smoke weed everyday" was not sung by Snoop Dogg. It was sung by similarly-named rapper and singer Nate Dogg, as the final line of the song "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg.
Because ranting about stuff people get wrong is a good way to make myself feel better.
The song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was not sung by Bob Marley. The singer, Bobby McFerrin, isn't even Jamaican - he's American, and he's putting on a fake Jamaican accent during the song (that isn't his real singing voice). Also, the song is actually supposed to be satirical (you've got all these serious, non-trivial problems, but don't worry, be happy!), not a genuine feel-good song like many people interpret it as.
"Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M. was not written about the death of Kurt Cobain, as even some magazines and newspapers have falsely reported. Kurt Cobain died in 1994, while that song was featured on the album Automatic for the People, which came out in 1992. The song itself is simply a comfort anthem with suicidal teenagers in mind. Michael Stipe did write a song about Kurt Cobain's death, but it was called "Let Me In" and featured on the album Monster.
And speaking of, Nine Inch Nails did not cover Johnny Cash's song "Hurt" - which, again, has been falsely reported by many newspapers and magazines. Nine Inch Nails wrote the song "Hurt", which Johnny Cash later covered. Also, on a related note, NIN isn't a band - it's just the stage name of singer/songwriter Trent Reznor.
Speaking of that song, Trent Reznor never called Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" "the perfect cover" or "better than the original". He merely said that both versions were very different, but excellent in their own merits.
The song "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie was never intended to be a Christmas song, despite often being categorised as one. It's an anti-war song and has little to do with Christmas other than the line "Wish I could be home for Christmas", which was a reference to people saying that World War I would be "over by Christmas".
"Jingle Bells" is thought of as the quintessential Christmas song nowadays, but it was originally written about and intended to be sung on Thanksgiving.
Owl City, like Nine Inch Nails above, is the stage name of a solo artist, not a band name. Same goes for Meat Loaf. (Technically, Meat Loaf is a band name, it's just that the "band" consists of one person.)
Sadly, there are probably still people, particularly in America, who think that the Beatles once called themselves "bigger than Jesus". They never did. John Lennon, in an interview, said "We're more popular than Jesus now", but it was more of a lament than a boast, as he was referring to the decline of organised religion (as well as making a lighthearted jab at the kind of people who take things like religion too seriously). The full context of the interview makes his real intentions very clear, but his statement was ripped out of context and used as a headline (BEATLES: BIGGER THAN JESUS) for a smear press in the American media. The full quotation was "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now - I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but His disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.
John Lennon never said "Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles". He actually held Ringo's drumming ability in high regard. Not to mention, this implies that John thought Paul was a better drummer than Ringo, which is very odd.
It's common belief that Warrant hated the song "Cherry Pie", but this isn't true. It was rushed, which they admitted to, but they have made it quite clear that they never hated the song. The singer just flipped out during an interview when a question about it was asked because his life was falling apart around that time.
You'll still find some people to this day who think that "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen has deliberately slurred, unintelligible lyrics because the actual lyrics are so filthy and obscene that it would never get released or played on the radio if you could understand them. These people have obviously never listened to the original song, by Rick Berry and the Pharaohs, which is very understandable and not obscene at all. And the slurring wasn't intentional - they recorded the song with one microphone mounted on the ceiling, Jack Ely's voice was shot from singing "Louie, Louie" all night (plus he was wearing braces) and while he was aware he had to record in one take, he didn't realise the tape was running and thought he was just doing a rehearsal play-through. The only obscene part of their cover is the uncensored profanity one of the band members yells about a minute into the song due to missing a cue (which somehow very few people, including the FBI - who analysed the song and after 18 months declared it "unintelligible at any speed" - managed to catch).
"Now You're Gone" by Basshunter is not an English version of "Boten Anna". It's a completely different song with completely different lyrics and subject matter that just happens to use the same tune as "Boten Anna". This is the same with a lot of Basshunter's songs, really - for instance, "All I Ever Wanted" uses the same tune as "Vi sitter i Ventrilo och spelar DotA", but again, the two songs are about completely different things.
The song "The Legend of Zelda" (popularly known as "Link, He Come to Town" after the first line) was NOT done by System of a Down. It was written and recorded by Joe Pleiman and featured on his album The Rabbit Joint. System of a Down have never performed the song, not even as a cover.
The song "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry is very often considered to be about lesbianism or about a girl coming out, even though the singer/narrator repeatedly mentions having a boyfriend and makes it very clear that her kissing another girl was just an innocent, spur-of-the-moment thing.
The Darkness themselves have denied that their song "Holding My Own" is about masturbation and that their song "Growing on Me" is about genital disease or infection. While the innuendo in "Holding My Own" was most likely deliberate, the song itself is simply a breakup song. As for the latter case, well, as the band themselves said, "genital infections don't really 'grow' on you".
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary is not a song about marijuana, despite constant rumours and accusations which the band have repeatedly denied. The song is based on a poem, which was inspired by a children's rhyme called "Custard the Dragon". The band have said that the song is about the loss of innocence in children and that it has no meaning other than the surface one. (Supposedly, Jackie Paper is a reference to rolling papers and their adventures are meant to represent a drug trip. However, marijuana is not a hallucinogen, so the only "adventures" Puff and Jackie would have would be sitting blazed on the sofa considering ordering a pizza. Then there's the final verse, which highlights the fact that, although they both started off young and grew up together, Puff, as a dragon, is immortal while Jackie, as a human, is not, and thus, Puff has to face life without his childhood friend - something which would be sure to harsh anyone's buzz.) Paul Stookey even went as far as to say that no member of the band had ever tried marijuana or had any interest in trying it when the song was written.
And of course, we can't talk about songs not being about drugs without mentioning "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by the Beatles. It was based on a drawing John Lennon's son did of one of his classmates, not on drugs. (Reportedly, they didn't even notice that the initials spelled LSD until after they had released it). While the band were probably on drugs when they made it, the song itself is not about drugs.
On a similar note, Jimi Hendrix himself revealed that "Purple Haze" was based on a dream he had where he was walking under the ocean.
"99 Luftballons" simply means "99 Balloons" ("luft" means "air", but "luftballon" is used to refer specifically to a child's toy balloon). Not one word of the German lyrics mentions the balloons' colour (and it's very likely they were all different colours). Nena added "red" to the English lyrics so they would scan better.
Ask the average person on the street to sing "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles, and if they know the song at all, they'll probably start with "In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed the seas, and he told us of his life in a yellow submarine". The actual lyrics are "In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea, and he told us of his life in the land of submarines".
The anthem for the US Navy is titled "Anchors Aweigh", not "Anchors Away". "Anchors away" would have the complete opposite meaning. (For those not familiar with nautical terminology, "anchors aweigh" means "the anchor is raised and the ship is ready to sail out".)
There's a Christmas-ish song that's often called "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" but the actual title is "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". God is commanding gentlemen to be merry, he isn't commanding people who are already merry to stop.
The line "Smoke weed everyday" was not sung by Snoop Dogg. It was sung by similarly-named rapper and singer Nate Dogg, as the final line of the song "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg.
Comments
Post a Comment