I love music. I love singing, I love listening… I could pretty much have music all day long. Henry too. We’re well matched in that way. There is one big difference though. He has a music memory. I don’t.
He is like a walking juke box. He remembers song lyrics even if he’s only heard the song once or twice, he remembers who sang it, and many times he can tell you the album and approximate year. Yes, I’m impressed. You should be too.
Me, well, I’m just lucky to walk and sing at the same time. You know the performance option in Cranium? It’s the yellow one I think. I can’t tell you the color for any of the others. Want to know why? Because I suck at remembering songs so I stay away from yellow like it’s the plague.
Come to think of it, I suck at getting the song right in the first place. Maybe that’s my real problem. This bothers the life out of Henry. (I’m not sure why it’s so important to him other than he understands them the first time so maybe he just doesn’t get how I don’t, but back to me). A great example is ‘Have You Forgotten‘ by Red House Painters. I actually had to look this song up just now so I would get the name, artist, and lyrics right, but don’t tell anyone.
I have always sung the chorus, ‘have you forgotten Africa, ya-suh’? Why? Because that’s what it sounds like. Of course it doesn’t make sense, but that doesn’t bother me. I get just as much enjoyment out of the song singing these words (and harmonizing at the same time to boot) as I do the real words. And how did I find out the real words, you ask.
Well, did I mention Henry hates when I sing the wrong words? One day we were listening to the song in the car and Henry looked at me quizzically and said, “What in the world are you saying?”
“Have you forgotten Africa, ya-suh.” came my happy reply.
“Why in the world are you saying that?” he said.
“Because that’s what it sounds like.” I say.
“You’re kidding me, right? That doesn’t even make sense.” he says.
“I know, but I can’t understand the words and it fits the meter.” I say.
“But ya-suh isn’t even a word. You have to think of something that actually makes sense.” he says.
“Oh whatever.” I say. And, honestly, I still sing this song this way unless Henry is in the car and then I have to try really hard to remember the lyrics are really, “Have you forgotten how to love yourself.” Cause that makes a ton of sense.
Fast forward several months and Henry and I are driving in the car listening to Moby. He’s singing some song and I say, ‘What is he saying?? Come back to inspire us?’ That’s the only thing that fits and makes sense.”
Henry says, “No, he saying, ‘come back to us spiders‘. ”
I look at him in disbelief. “Come on, stop teasing me. I’m really trying hard here to figure out these lyrics. What’s he really saying?”
Henry says again, “Come back to us spiders.”
I’m getting annoyed now, “Come on, tell me what he’s really saying. ‘Come back to us spiders’ doesn’t make sense.”
Henry laughs. “I forgot to tell you. Sometimes you have to take into account the artist too. For Moby it makes sense.”
Moral of the story – just enjoy the music. Don’t worry who’s singing it, or what the words are. As long as you are enjoying it, sing whatever the heck you want. I do!
(c) 2016 Leighann Marquiss
Comments (8)
Remember mom singing like 2 lines of a song and then fading off?? I think she had the same problem. Singing is good for you. Sing whatever, however you want.
andy hates when i do that too…. sometimes, i do it on purpose just to annoy it. it’s so funny seeing the look of horror that overtakes his face. our ongoing joke is this…
andy: “do you know who sings this?
me: “no”.
andy: “guess who”.
me: “i don’t know”
andy: “guess WHO”.
me: “i DON’T KNOW. van halen?” andy: “The Who’s”
me: “I DON’T KNOW”
andy: “no, that’s the name of the band, The Who’s”.
me: who???
I’m horrible with getting the lyrics right. My husband is always tuning in when I sing, just so he can later laugh at me =( We have a library full of songs I have different lyrics to.
Have you ever seen that Ramen Noodle commercial? The guy is supposed to be singing to Def Leopard’s song Pour some sugar on me, but instead he says, “Pour some shook up ramen”.
apparently i got it wrong on multiple fronts. the name of the band is The Guess Who and apparently, there’s another band called The Who, not The Who’s…. as andy sits next to me correcting my every line… ha ha ha!
I was laughing out loud while reading this post. This is definitely me and my husband…only I wouldn’t be able to put it in words like you can.
He always asks me “who sings this” and I say “I don’t know”. He makes me guess and then when I say something he asks “why would you think THEY sing it?”. I can never win…
Hilarious post! Thanks for the chuckles this morning!
Love, Linda @ Truthful Tidbits
do you guys ever watch Don’t Forget the Lyric on Fox…. my kids love it and so do we. Warren and I think we know the words until we watch the show and then we realize how way off we have been all these years!It makes us laugh so hard!!!
A little late in my comment, but Dan and I are the exact same way! Also, I avoid the singing part of cranium too. In fact, that’s the one reason my family doesn’t play cranium much . . . all of use are HORRIBLE when it comes to music! It’s actually funny how bad we are 🙂