I was listening to “Radar Love” on the radio yesterday, a song that I’ve loved since it was featured on the episode of The Simpsons where Bart gets a license and drives Nelson, Millhouse, and Martin to the World’s Fair in Knoxville. The thing is, I always misunderstood the lyric “Adrenaline comin’ on strong” as “Grenadine comin’ on strong.” You see, I grew up with teetotaling parents who only stocked three beverages: Cranapple, Perrier, and frozen orange juice from concentrate that was always to be mixed with three parts water in one of three rotating glass jugs from a juice purchase so historic it had faded into memory. There was no alcohol or alcohol related products in the house besides the one bottle of wine someone dimwit gave to my parents as a present and was left unopened in the cupboard, I think until they moved or finally threw away when they realized there wasn’t even a corkscrew on the premises. The point is, as a kid, I was as unfamiliar with grenadine as I was whiskey, vodka or absinthe, so I thought it was a kind of shot, not the syrupy non-alcoholic mixer I know it to be today. It seemed perfectly reasonable that the lead singer of Dutch rock group Golden Earing would be shooting grenadine to stay awake all night.
As a kid, I also had no concept that alcohol was a depressant, and therefore doesn’t help you stay awake as much as it makes you pass out cold. I didn’t learn that until prom night senior year. But that’s another story for another day.
The other song my feeble childhood brain re-worked was Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.” I couldn’t figure out if the song was about her father, who was a preacher, and Madonna was asking him not to work on Sunday because she needed him more than the congregation. Or if she could have been saying, “No, my father’s not a preacher, so I can’t ask his help for this problem because I need to speak with a preacher.” Either way, I thought her problem was that she was “in loosensy” which I figured was a condition I didn’t know about yet, because I had only just learned to write in cursive, and “loosensy” wouldn’t be covered until middle school. Of course, I later learned that she was actually saying “I’ve been losing sleep” and that she didn’t want her father to preach at her because she decided to keep her baby, which referred to the fetus growing in her womb, not her boyfriend, which was another thing I didn’t get about the song.
So Mom, if you’re reading this, and I ever tell you that “I’m in loosensy,” that means congratulations, you’re a grandma.
Posted by Hope V on April 18, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY feel the one part frozen concentrate juice drink/three parts water cause my mom only got juice from concentrate too-which after it was mixed and poured into a glass she would mix with MORE water cause she thought straight juice was too sweet. And, misheard lyrics are the best. For some reason my brain is not offering up any examples at the moment, but when it does, I’ll be sure to share (there are many…my brain is being VERY greedy by keeping them to all it self.)
Posted by stefanie on April 18, 2007 at 1:41 pm
That World’s Fair episode is a classic. Grammar Rodeo… Andy Williams. All around, it’s a good one.
I don’t think I really got “Papa Don’t Preach” at the time, either. The title line I understood, I think, but I definitely thought “keeping my baby” meant her boyfriend, not her fetus.
Posted by Anonymous on April 18, 2007 at 1:53 pm
yeah… for yearsssssss i thought it was her boyfriend too. even AFTER viewing the video on muliple occasions. then again, i thought babies arrived via stork until i was 22 – so who knows.
- kir
Posted by Elizabeth on April 18, 2007 at 3:49 pm
I have a friend who was one hundred percent WASP. She fell in love with a Jewish guy and loved singing that famous Beatles song so popular at the time, “HEY, JEW.” It took her a ridiculously long time to realize they were actually singing about a dude named JUDE.
Posted by lizgwiz on April 18, 2007 at 4:03 pm
See, there’s no real future for me in pop music–I articulate too well. I would deprive everyone of the fun of misheard lyrics.
For some reason, “Papa Don’t Preach” never confused me, but to this day I don’t know what “Blinded by the Light” was all about. Wrapped up like a douche? Huh?
Posted by Hope V on April 18, 2007 at 4:31 pm
lizgwiz- HAHAHA I JUST heard that song last week and was thinking the same thing- “wrapped up like a douche? is that really what that guy is singing?” But there was no one appropriate around to ask. So…if anyone could shed some light on this I would appreciate it!
Posted by Noelle on April 18, 2007 at 4:43 pm
It’s “Revved up like a Duce,” although I don’t see how that makes any more sense. Springsteen, you done us wrong.
Posted by Mermu on April 18, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I think it’s a “deuce” like a “Little Deuce Coupe”…er, a fast car.
I never had trouble with “Papa Don’t Preach” but maybe that’s because I’m Catholic. Good girls get “in trouble” all the time. Althought I was a good girl that was actually a good girl…in high school and most of college at least.
The one I did have problems with was the Steve Miller Song about Jed, and Elijah…”don’t carry me too far away”. I thought it was a biblical reference until my more worldly friends advised me it wasn’t Jed or Elijah at all but a “Jet Airliner”.
Posted by NancyPearlWannabe on April 18, 2007 at 9:54 pm
One of my friends in college thought that the lyrics to the Mrs. Robinson song “going to the candidates debate” were “going through the cans, today’s the date”.
Posted by -R- on April 19, 2007 at 3:15 am
My mom used to make Cranapple from concentrate. It feels so luxurious to be able to buy it already made now!
I thought Papa Don’t Preach was about keeping the boyfriend too.
“Going through the cans, today’s the date” made me laugh out loud.
Posted by Noelle on April 19, 2007 at 12:35 pm
hope – the best part of being a grown-up is that there’s no more OJ from concentrate!
stefanie – I’m glad that I’m not the only one who didn’t get that song. I also didn’t get what it meant for Penny from “Dirty Dancing” to be “knocked up.”
Kir – I have no first hand knowledge of where babies come from, so it really could be the stork.
Elizabeth – I love that story, although it’s always tainted the way I hear that song. I’m glad we can share it with the readers as well!
liz – Articulation is of such little importance to pop music, perhaps you can bring it into vouge.
hope – I attest again that it’s a terrible song.
Mermu – that makes even more sense, I never did get what a Deuce was. Jed and Elijah, that’s funny!
NPW – that’s funny! I love how our brains justify hearing things that don’t make any sense at all. I’m never listen to the Graduate in the same way again…
-r- – Cranapple from concentrate is so awful compared to the real stuff. I’m glad you get to have it the way you like it now.
Posted by Sadie Says on April 19, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I can’t even drink orange juice to this very day all due to that horrid frozen stuff!
Posted by Brando on April 20, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Funny post and comments. It is funny how we completely accept nonsense lyrics when we never would in real life. If someone said to you in conversation, “Wrapped up like a douche,” you’d ask them WTF they are talking about instead of singing along.