SONG LYRICS

A few days ago I heard an old seventies song by Three Dog Night called “Joy to the World” – no, not the Christmas song. This one is rock ‘n roll at its finest. It was also featured in the movie "The Big Chill" which is one of my favorites.  The song starts off:

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog.

Was a good friend of mine.

I never understood a single word he said.

But I helped him drink his wine.

And he always had some mighty fine wine."

This song has a rockin’ beat & is good to dance to – geez, now I’ll REALLY date myself & say that I sound like I’m on American Bandstand back in the 50s & 60s. If you aren’t old enough to remember Rate-A-Record, Dick Clark would play a new record (yes, a small round vinyl disc) & have kids rate it. They would give it a numeric value & say things like “It has a good beat & is easy to dance to”.

Anyway, it is a catchy tune that makes you want to dance & move. Back in 1970, when I was newly married to a skydiver, our group of parachutists hung out at a local hotel near the drop zone where the manager loved the jumpers & gave us free reign of the place. We’d play “Joy to the World” on the jukebox probably ten times a night since it was such fun for dancing. Another favorite was "Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando & Dawn.

To this day whenever I hear “Jeremiah was a bullfrog…..” or "Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me....", I am immediately transported back 45 years to that other world. That got me thinking about how powerful song lyrics can be. Most of us have a few songs that immediately trigger a memory from long ago.

Back in the old days, I recall listening to a record over & over to figure out the lyrics. You would lift the needle, back it up 1/16 of an inch & place it down to hear it again then scribble down what you thought you heard. Now, all you do is Google “Joy to the World Three Dog Night lyrics” & they pop up right in front of you! It is so much easier but not nearly as much fun as listening over & over & asking all your friends for help.

It was a common occurrence before the Internet to go years without knowing the correct lyrics to a popular song. Often times people sang along substituting their own incorrect interpretations. When I first heard the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, “Bad Moon on the Rise”, I thought for sure John Fogerty was singing, “There’s a bathroom on the right”, not "There's a bad moon on the rise".

My son turned into a big Beatles fan in high school (I raised him right!) along with his best friend. I recall them listening to “Norwegian Wood” & thinking that “this bird has flown” sounded exactly like “whispered the phone”. I was a semi-genius for interpreting for them....especially since I explained that "bird" was a slang term for "woman" in cockney English.

For me, the Rolling Stones song “Get Off My Cloud” was impossible to interpret. I had no clue what Mick was saying for most of the song until a few years ago when I finally Googled the lyrics. Even with the translation I couldn’t begin to make heads or tails out of what the song was about. It sounds like blah, blah, bladdy, blah, blah…or something similar. And honestly, knowing the lyrics, it still doesn't sound anything like what I read. Oh, well, maybe some things aren't meant to be understood.

I suppose the best advice is to simply crank up the volume & sing along when a favorite old song comes on the radio!