Favorite mispronounced words in songs

M
I say M-O
M-O-P
M-O-P-P
Mop
M-O-P-P
Mop Mop Mop Mop
R
I say R-A
R-A-G
R-A-G-G
Rag
R-A-G-G M-O-P-P
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
R-A-G-G M-O-P-P
Rag Mop!
A
I say A-B
A-B-C
A-B-C-D
A-B-C-D-E
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H
I
I say M-O
M-O-P
M-O-P-P
Mop
M-O-P-P
Mop Mop Mop Mop
R
I say R-A
R-A-G
R-A-G-G
Rag
R-A-G-G M-O-P-P
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
Rag Mop
Doo-doo-doo-DAH-dee-ah-dah
R-A-G-G M-O-P-P
Rag Mop
Mop Mop

"The dirty thoughts and dirty minds that I contri-BUTE to"

It took me at least a week to figure they meant the fiscal year.

B-b-but that's how I pronounced "contribute". Merriam-Webster lists it as a chiefly British but acceptable pronunciation.

(And I guess I'd have to hear the song but "promenade" can rhyme with "lemonade" in English.)

need coffee

"God didn't make the little green apples, and it doesn't rain in in-dee-ann-a-POLE-us in the summertime . . . "

They really nail that POLE syllable, too. Hi-larious.

(i think daniel means mott the hoople.)

'look who's hiding in the apple tree, clinging to a branch /
don't be afraid it's only me, hoping for a little romance'

the whole of the pronunciation of that little couplet, plus later on..

'don't be afraid of the man in the moon, because its ao-w-nly meeee!'

George Jones - She thinks I Still Care

"If she's happy thinking I still need her
Then let that silly notion bring her cheer.
Oh how could she ever be so foolish?
Where could she get such an IDEEAAURRRLLAH."

where in the U.S.? not where i live. (we have a path along the river called the promenade and we pronounce it promen-ahhhhhhhd.)

Broken Social Scene - It's All Gonna Break

maybe I'm dumb, and I haven't heard it in ages, but how is this pronounced wrong?

just like how "pen" and "pin" sound exactly alike.

actually, though, I don't think I've ever heard someone use "promenade" as a noun in NC...we'd probably just call it a sidewalk.

maybe I'm dumb, and I haven't heard it in ages, but how is this pronounced wrong?

The first "m" and the "n" are transposed: "alunimum."

"And I saw you on TV
doing a bad imitation of a second-rate songwriter from the '80s named mer-ISSY
i never liked mer-ISSY,
and i don't like you ..."

And Morrissey still hasn't written his answer song. What a total puss.

However, unlike Paul Westerberg, she can pronounce "anathema."

Revved up like a douche

Runner in the night

This would only be anectodal however on the Epoxies disc that came out last year, the goofy Portland, Oregon New Wavers covered the track. They did a lovely job with it. And vocalist Roxy Epoxy, bless her spazzy heart, pronounced it "wee-shawn," exactly as Klaus vould have vanted eet.

ABBA, "Happy New Year" -- in the line "no more champagne," she pronounces a hard "ch," as if it were "champ-pain." I'm guessing this was a phonetic delivery?

Heh heh...I was in a K-mart in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in early '83 (shortly before Let's Dance exploded) and will never forget overhearing this middle-aged guy saying "David Boowie?! I don't know ANYBODY likes David Boowie!"

On old Scorpions records, you can hear Klaus Mein's thick German accent a lot of the times. One of them is on the track "Robot Man" off the criminally underrated In Trance which you can find in your store by looking for the album cover of a girl trying to have sex with a guitar. Anyway, on the track, Klaus sings "Babe, it's not a vision," however with his thick Teutonic timbre, it comes out like "Babe, it's not a wee-shawn."

-- Brian O'Neill

Heh heh again...ya gotta love how, in "Another Piece Of Meat", Klaus sings "WIOLENCE really turned her on"!

WHEREAS the Bowie Knife was named after Jim Bowie; and

WHEREAS Jim Bowie pronounced his name "Boo-ee";

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that David Bowie has been MISPRONOUNCING HIS OWN NAME since 1965.

Adopted by ILM Question
"Favorite Mispronounced words in songs"
February 20th, 2006.

in Wu-Tang's "Impossible", RZA's otherwise great verse is marred by a "benelovent" (benevolent) and an "examinated" (examined).

Nas's "What Goes Around" is tarnished by a comment about "physicians prescripting us medicine" (prescribing).

"...is she trying to get out of that clitaris?"

ABBA, "Happy New Year" -- in the line "no more champagne," she pronounces a hard "ch," as if it were "champ-pain." I'm guessing this was a phonetic delivery?

This is a good one. They pronounce "champagne" correctly during "Man In The Middle" which is from a few years earlier (though it's one of the guys singing it). It almost sounds like an error or a glitch in recording, but since it's Abba you have to assume that there is no such thing as errors or glitches in their recorded output.

In an (undeservedly) obscure song by the earth, the lead singer enunciates “strawrrberry” so clearly that it’s entirely delightful. not sure origin but google hinted that it’s something out of englishes and “intrusive r” rules.

'I am the modren man'

My Gran used to say modren too, but not in song format.

Always liked John Cale pronouncing orgy with a hard g

Actually only just occurred to me to look this up and (as well as many nsfw welsh orgy google results) found that that is the correct pronunciation in welsh. Happy st davids day!

In an (undeservedly) obscure song by the earth, the lead singer enunciates “strawrrberry” so clearly that it’s entirely delightful. not sure origin but google hinted that it’s something out of englishes and “intrusive r” rules.

Yes, it's dialect not mispronunciation.

See also the Bee Gees' song, "Saw a New Morning", or as the brothers sing, "I sawr a new morning".

it makes me think of the snl skit with mike myers as the kid in the bathtub saying "my name is simon and i like to do drawrings do you wanna see my drawrings?!" also it's one word, strawberries, shouldn't that eliminate the rule? or does the intrusive r intervene words too?

Drawing is one word?

Purple Mountains - That's Just the Way That I Feel - "When I try to drown my thoughts in gin" with a hard G.
Silver Jews - Send In the Clouds - "Seventeen doctors couldn't decide whether I should be allowed in the gime"

no, "strawberries." xp

Yes, and so is drawing, so I don't know what your point is.

George Clinton referring, in "P-Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)," to "David Boo-wie."

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos)

repeated by the voice sampled in negativland's "michael jackson", and accompanied by "cyndi looper"; announcer obviously taken with the "oo" phoneme

i'm more interested in blatant grammatical errors... i seem to remember that carl wilson mispronounces "enveloping" in "feel flows" (pronounces it like "envelope" instead of "envelop"), which i always liked.