#0Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:35pm
We're all guilty of this. Sometimes we get so absorbed in a musical, we've convinced ourselves we've memorized the words only to find we were NOT hearing them correctly. Even after learning the correct way, we CONTINUE hear it the wrong way because our ears are trained.
For example, for the longest time I thought the lyrics were:
"I'll write the panic receipts"
instead of
"All right, the panic recedes"
in Nobody Needs to know from The Last Five Years
And I still want someone to prove me wrong that:
"All over"
can work just as fine as
"Oh, Lover"
in I'll Cover You from RENT
BUT! Don't let me be the only one caught with his pants down! ADMIT SOME OF YOUR MISTAKES!
Updated On: 4/17/06 at 11:35 PM
#1re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:39pm
One that I can think of off the top of my head is from the second "Kiss Me" in Sweeney - when Johanna says "It never leaves my side, it's the only thing my mother gave me," I always thought she was singing "Reticules aside, it's the only thing my mother gave me."
Not that you can really blame me... that's one of the msot complicated songs...
shesamarshmallow
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/06
#2re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:41pm
From See I'm Smiling in L5Y, I always sang
"Marvelous, novelous Jew!" instead of
"Marvelous novelist, you!"
Pretty embarrassing. But it's right after Shiksa Goddess, I think I'm excused.
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#3re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:42pm
"God drag me back to the nice men again" instead of
"God, drag me back to that basement again"
Caroline, or Change- Lots Wife
peggyandvelma
Broadway Star Joined: 9/4/05
#4re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:44pmI don't think I ever put my own words in it, but in "Defying Gravity" when the line "I'd sooner buy defying gravity...." came up I just kind of mumbled b/c I really had no idea what she says. And then when I found out the real words I was like: Buy?? Huh? Oh well.
No one is alone.
thevolleyballer
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/29/04
#5re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:44pm
First time I heard The Last Five Years, my friend sent me a track, and I didn't know the title of the song. I thought it was, "Hey, hey, [this] chick's a goddess." Turned out to be Shiksa Goddess, of course. But you all knew that. 
#6re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:45pm
WAIT A MINUTE!!!
It's NOT "Reticules aside" ???
Wait wait... *goes to listen*
OH MY GOD!!! She swallows the "It never leaves my side" into one incomprehensive syllable! Oh my GOD! And I LOOOOVE Sweeney! How could I JUST NOW be learning this! I was JUST LIKE you! I'm never going to hear it the right way, at this point... it's too late in the game!
Hahhahaha
Oh geez, I feel this thread is going to be a slap in my face.
Updated On: 4/17/06 at 11:45 PM
ShbrtAlley44
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
#7re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:50pm
I've answered this question like 800 times, but I'll reiterate the ones I've stated before.
From "America": "Pour us coffee in America" instead of "For a small fee in America."
From "Momma Look Sharp": "Them soldiers, they fart" instead of "Them soldiers, they fired" and "Oh, Ma, am I dumb" instead of "Oh, Ma, am I done."
From "Oklahoma?": "And the widorses through the dead thistles" instead of "And the wind whistles through the dead thistles."
#8re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:52pm
EugLoven, I thought it was "reticules aside" until I read that post, too!
In JCS, during the song This Jesus Must Die, I used to think they said "A trick or two with leopards" instead of "A trick or two with lepers".
That was pure vodka, you poop!
#9re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:53pm
"Pour us coffee in America!"
I LOVE IT! It makes total (cute) sense.
My college (SFSU) is doing "West Side" in 2 weeks and now that's gonna be in my head! Haha :)
Updated On: 4/17/06 at 11:53 PM
thats*like*shotastic
Chorus Member Joined: 4/3/06
#10re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:53pm
"My body's talking heat" instead of "My body's talking to me" in Out Tonight from RENT (for about three years I was singing the wrong lyrics until a director corrected me when I was singing in the dressing room. Mucho embarrassment.)
"But I'm still learning" instead of "I'm still hurting" in Still Hurting from Last Five Years. Don't know why, seeing as it's pretty obvious what the real lyrics are.
Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrel
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/26/05
#11re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:54pmI sooo thought that it was "Marvelous novelous, Jew!" oh wow. And same with "reticules aside". What a day...everything I once thought was right is wrong. *Goes off to ponder meaning of life*.
ShbrtAlley44
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
#12re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:54pm
Well, it makes sense, Eug... I mean, if they're working as waiters and all!
Another one from 1776 ("Cool, Cool, Considerate Men"): "With well-endowed wives" instead of "With well-endowered wives."
#13re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:55pm
I THOUGHT OF ANOTHER ONE:
"With the bee-line of that valued beat"
instead of
"With the feline of Avenue B"
From "Out Tonight" in RENT
shesamarshmallow
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/06
#14re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:57pm
Another L5Y one, from Still Hurting:
"Jamie has new dreams he's building a bomb" instead of "Jamie had new dreams he's building upon".
broadwayunderstudies.com - most underrated performers on broadway
#15re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/17/06 at 11:59pm
I just laughed SO GODDAMN HARD at the "bomb" one!
Oh, you guys are making me so happy right now! Haha
Thanks Marshmallow :)
thats*like*shotastic
Chorus Member Joined: 4/3/06
#16re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:01amThe bomb one cracked me up. My brother thought the same when he first heard it.
Everyone should believe in something. I believe I'll have another drink.
#17re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:03am
My latest two are from Wicked:
In Defying Gravity:
I used to sing "and I'll walk down the aisles 'til I die" instead of "..and I'll want nothing else 'til I die"
and in No Good Deed it took me a long time to get the line about being "looked at with an ice cold eye"
Updated On: 4/18/06 at 12:03 AM
Leading Actor Joined: 12/31/69
#18re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:03am
There used to be a whole website of these at http://www.journey-on.com/lyrics/frame2.html, called the Misunderstood Musicals Lyrics website, but it seems to be gone. My favorite was from Ragtime, instead of "Ladies with parasols/fellows with tennis balls", "Ladies with parasols/fellows with genitals".
Maybe its moved to a new address?
#19re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:04amLAVINIA: I can't PM you, so I'll ask in here. Where'd you get that beautiful photo of Ben and Lauren of "Sweeney Todd." I'm assuming it's part of the same photoshoot of the photo of Michael strangling Patti. Are there more than just those 2?
Link Larkin Wanabe
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/1/04
#20re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:04am
Wait...So Jaime ISN'T the unibomber?!? Man...that makes me reinterpret the whole musical.
Akiva
#21re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:05am
in La Vie Boheme...
"to apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstacy
____________, the sex pistols, 8bc
to no shame never playing the fame game"
still have no clue what that word is lol
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#23re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:11am
One of the first lines of "Like Father, Like Son" from Aida is
Don't come on so cocksure boy, you can't escape your genes.
For months, I thought he meant "you can't escape your jeans" and was basically telling Radames to keep it in his pants. Which I thought was a bit risqué for a Disney show, but whatever. 
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how
Updated On: 4/18/06 at 12:11 AM
Wanting life but never knowing how
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#24re: Embarrassed to Admit: Lyric Flubs
Posted: 4/18/06 at 12:12amBut you didn't think cocksure was risqué?
