Why I can never be a Studio Singer

One of the things that positively baffles my husband is the fact that I have extremely sensitive hearing and yet cannot understand approximately 85% of lyrics that I hear.  It's such a frequent occurrence that it's become a running joke with us on every car trip.

I wanted to share with you some of my greatest hits, so to speak:

"Lodi" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Original line: Oh lord, stuck in Lodi again.
Caitlin's line: Oh lord, sucking on old diaphragms.

(...the muscle, not the contraceptive, perverts)


"Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Original line: There's a bad moon on the rise.
Caitlin's line: There's a bathroom on the right.

(To be fair, I've heard that this is a pretty common one)


"Reach for the Sky" by Social Distortion
Original line: Reach for the sky, 'cause tomorrow may never come.
Caitlin's line: Reach for the sky, 'cause tomorrow, they never come.

(Listen to it here, around 0:57)


"Story of My Life" by Social Distortion
Original line: I didn't have much interest in sports or school elections
Caitlin's line: I didn't have much interest in sports or school erections


(haha...erection.)

(Listen to it here, 0:43)


"When She Begins" by Social Distortion*
Original line: Man I was just looking for a place for this raggedy ol' heart of mine.
Caitlin's line: Man I was just looking for a place a higgedy rattamine.

(Listen to it here, 3:23)

The last lyric in particular demonstrates the fact that if I can't understand a lyric I generally make up nonsense words that vaguely approximate the sounds of the words and belt that out just as loud as the rest of the song. And I find nothing wrong with that.

If Rob is listening and I don't want him to be made aware of the fact that I don't know a particular lyric, I'll simply start adding in my own lyrics about our dog or intentional nonsense lyrics based on our dog's nicknames, like "diddly derp derp scrab."  Then he does it back and I don't look like I'm the only idiot in the car.

Makes total sense, right?

As an aside, I put the query out on Twitter on Monday asking if anyone else had this issue, and my good friend Katie told me that she always thought that "Pour some sugar on me" was "First come to the I love." Rob and I were extremely skeptical until we listened to it and now we can't get the line out of our heads. If you don't believe me that it sounds exactly like "first come to the I love," here's proof at around 1:28...

Katie, I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Oh, and good luck trying to unhear any of these lyrics should you hear these songs in the near future.

P.S. Have you entered my handmade mobile giveaway yet?!

*Rob wants me to note that we performed "When She Begins" together at our wedding and at that time had no idea what the lyrics were.