Post by Diamond Girl on Nov 17, 2006 19:33:34 GMT -5
Book ends guesswork on those Motown lyrics
BY DESIREE COOPER
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
November 14, 2006
I haven't memorized the lyrics to an entire song since the 1980s. With the dominance of rap, I can't even understand the lyrics, much less sing along.
But author Herb Jordan is making me realize that I didn't even know the lyrics to the songs that I thought I knew. His new book, "Motown in Love: Lyrics from the Golden Era," is a collection of the lyrics from Detroit's unforgettable songwriters.
When I read the real lyrics, I had to stop and think them oh-wo-ver.
'Sugar fried' or 'sugar pie'?
Jordan's goal was to point out the complex beauty of the seemingly simple Motown songbook.
"The lyrics may not really be poems," he said last week in a phone interview, "but they're very poetic."
That's been lost on some of us. For decades, my friend Donna Robinson of Detroit and I thought the Temptations were singing, "Judy's gonna send me," when they were actually singing, "Beauty is only skin deep." Another friend, Julie Fields of Detroit, was worse:
"I was in college when I heard it on the radio and said, oh my God! They're not saying, 'Do you want a string bean, yeah, yeah, yeah?' " she said.
Jordan's book offers hope to anyone who has ever mangled Motown lyrics, especially those who thought the Four Tops' classic, "Bernadette," was really about a woman who "burned to death." That misunderstanding is evidently so common, it has shown up on everything from Web sites to National Public Radio.
On the Archive of Misheard Lyrics, www.kissthisguydotcom, someone wrote that he thought "Sugar fried honey butt" was the stupidest song in the world until he discovered the lyrics were really, "Sugar pie, honey bunch," from the song "I Can't Help Myself."
And then there was "Lori," who thought the words to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" were: "No wind, no rain, or midriff bulge can stop me, baby." The actual lyrics refer to "winter's cold," but I could learn a lot from a woman who doesn't let her midriff bulge stand in the way of love.
The Temptations' song, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," says that "when he died, all he left us was alone."
"But my cousins thought that it was, 'all he left us was a loan,' " said LaVerne McCree of Detroit. Wrong interpretation, right idea.
New York radio personality Bob Slade told Jordan that he misheard the lyrics to Smokey Robinson's "The Tracks of My Tears," which are: "People say I'm the life of the party 'cause I tell a joke or two. Although I may be laughin' loud and hearty, deep inside I'm blue."
Instead, Slade heard, "Although I may be laughin' Laurel and Hardy... "
I second that in lotion
To compile the book, Jordan researched the original lyric sheets. Still, he and his copy editor debated the correct lyrics because "it wasn't uncommon for there to be a deviation between what was written and what was sung," he said.
I congratulate him for his efforts. At least now I know which lyrics are real and which were just my imagination.
Contact DESIREE COOPER at 313-222-6625 or dcooper@freepress.com .
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Detroit Free Press
BY DESIREE COOPER
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
November 14, 2006
I haven't memorized the lyrics to an entire song since the 1980s. With the dominance of rap, I can't even understand the lyrics, much less sing along.
But author Herb Jordan is making me realize that I didn't even know the lyrics to the songs that I thought I knew. His new book, "Motown in Love: Lyrics from the Golden Era," is a collection of the lyrics from Detroit's unforgettable songwriters.
When I read the real lyrics, I had to stop and think them oh-wo-ver.
'Sugar fried' or 'sugar pie'?
Jordan's goal was to point out the complex beauty of the seemingly simple Motown songbook.
"The lyrics may not really be poems," he said last week in a phone interview, "but they're very poetic."
That's been lost on some of us. For decades, my friend Donna Robinson of Detroit and I thought the Temptations were singing, "Judy's gonna send me," when they were actually singing, "Beauty is only skin deep." Another friend, Julie Fields of Detroit, was worse:
"I was in college when I heard it on the radio and said, oh my God! They're not saying, 'Do you want a string bean, yeah, yeah, yeah?' " she said.
Jordan's book offers hope to anyone who has ever mangled Motown lyrics, especially those who thought the Four Tops' classic, "Bernadette," was really about a woman who "burned to death." That misunderstanding is evidently so common, it has shown up on everything from Web sites to National Public Radio.
On the Archive of Misheard Lyrics, www.kissthisguydotcom, someone wrote that he thought "Sugar fried honey butt" was the stupidest song in the world until he discovered the lyrics were really, "Sugar pie, honey bunch," from the song "I Can't Help Myself."
And then there was "Lori," who thought the words to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" were: "No wind, no rain, or midriff bulge can stop me, baby." The actual lyrics refer to "winter's cold," but I could learn a lot from a woman who doesn't let her midriff bulge stand in the way of love.
The Temptations' song, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," says that "when he died, all he left us was alone."
"But my cousins thought that it was, 'all he left us was a loan,' " said LaVerne McCree of Detroit. Wrong interpretation, right idea.
New York radio personality Bob Slade told Jordan that he misheard the lyrics to Smokey Robinson's "The Tracks of My Tears," which are: "People say I'm the life of the party 'cause I tell a joke or two. Although I may be laughin' loud and hearty, deep inside I'm blue."
Instead, Slade heard, "Although I may be laughin' Laurel and Hardy... "
I second that in lotion
To compile the book, Jordan researched the original lyric sheets. Still, he and his copy editor debated the correct lyrics because "it wasn't uncommon for there to be a deviation between what was written and what was sung," he said.
I congratulate him for his efforts. At least now I know which lyrics are real and which were just my imagination.
Contact DESIREE COOPER at 313-222-6625 or dcooper@freepress.com .
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
Detroit Free Press