Jeux sans frontières

[aprilp_katje]

You know the part in Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" where Kate Bush sings "jeux sans frontières" ("games without frontiers" in French)? For the longest time--at least for a decade--I thought the line was "she's so conceited." Why am I posting about this? I don't know what made me think of this, but I tried Googling "jeux sans

Comments

[scribal_goddess]

I mishear things in songs a lot too. "Rocketman" is probably the most varied examples. I thought for a few years it was "burning through the useless metronome."

[aprilp_katje]

Yeah, "Rocketman" is a classic misheard-lyrics song. There was even a TV commercial not too long ago featuring people singing along with their own misheard versions, ending with the correct version.

Another favorite misheard-lyric example for me is the Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed." The first time I heard the song on the radio, I thought the chorus was "honest Cecile."

[scribal_goddess]

Just today, I had Pandora on and I was like "hey, back up, who is singing about Boromir?" Turns out that it was a song by Jimmy Eat World and the actual lyrics were "Anything but bother me," not "anything but Boromir."

[aprilp_katje]

Sometimes I've gotten pretty attached to what I thought a lyric was and then have been disappointed in learning the real words. :)

[howtheduck]

Well Crocodile Rocking is something shocking
when your feet just can't keep still.

For the longest time I did not know the words were "crocodile rocking" in this Elton John song, until I had to sing the song on a cruise ship, and the lyrics were written out.

[aprilp_katje]

I'll bet your own version was more sensible. :)

Until very recently, I thought the chorus in David Bowie's song "Sweet Thing" began "and you know I once said/boys, boys, it's a sweet thing...." Instead, it's "And the knowing one said..." The "knowing one" is Big Brother, as the whole album was originally conceived as an adaptation of Orwell's 1984. Still, I was disappointed and attached to my own version.

[howtheduck]

One of my favorites was the David Bowie song, "China Girl" when I thought the lyric was "Oh baby just you shut your mouse" instead of "shut your mouth." "mouth" made more sense than "mouse", but I liked the idea of shutting a mouse more.
I still hear "mouse" when I listen to it, so I don't know if Bowie was attempting some sort of mockery at Chinese attempts to pronounce a "th" sound. I have been told since that the song is actually about heroin addiction and not a China Girl, and that really confuses me.

[aprilp_katje]

Heh. I like "shut your mouse."

"China Girl" was originally recorded by Iggy Pop (produced by Bowie). He (Iggy) was addicted to heroin for years....

[dreadedcandiru2]

Oddly enough, that question never came up when I listened to it. Probably has something to do with having access to French-language channels.

[aprilp_katje]

Maybe so. :)