Men at Work

Just in case there isn't enough cheese in your life.

Michael Jackson

I was extremely surprised to learn just now of Michael Jackson's death on Thursday in Los Angeles, although I knew that he wasn't in the best of health for quite a while now.
I will admit that I've not been too impressed by him for many years now, but not for the problems in his personal life. No, my problem with Michael Jackson was this video (which, unfortunately, cannot be embedded):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-TZnNXXQrI
It was simply the greatest music video ever produced, and nothing he did after that ever came close to matching it. Every time I hear a creaking door, I expect to hear those familiar, spooky footsteps.
For "Thriller" alone, I'm grateful for the life of Michael Jackson.

'Scuse me, please while I...huh?!

Jimi Hendrix said he was going to "kiss the sky". Millions thought he was going to "kiss this guy", thus giving rise to probably the most famous mondegreen of all time.

What's a mondegreen? Well, it's a term coined in the 1950s by the writer Sylvia Wright (good name for a wrighter, er, writer), who, as a child, misheard the words the 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray."

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray,
And Lady Mondegreen.

And young Sylvia felt so sad for Lady Mondegreen.

Years later, she discovered that what they had, in fact, done was slay the Earl of Murray and laid him on the green, and so she came up with the term, "Mondegreen" to represent what she'd done to her now non-existent heroine.

Enough with the history lesson. You know what a mondegreen really is, don't you? It's all those songs that you thought you were singing correctly, blissfully unaware of why everyone around you was rolling around in laughter. Or those songs that made you go, "Huh?" as you tried to make sense of the lyrics. Like this one did to me:

Life would be ecstasy/You and me and Leslie/Groovin'...

I thought that was kinky, even for the swingin' sixties. It took me years to realise that the Rascals were actually singing:

Life would be ecstasy/You and me endlessly/Groovin'...

Judging from the entries at Kissthisguy.com (warning: many hours of mirth to be obtained there), I'm not alone with this song.

This one, though, I know is an original:

If I said I love you, do you mind?/Mick and I'll love you, Do you mind?

About twenty years later, after listening to it repeatedly on a really good stereo, I finally divined that what Tony Newley was singing was:

If I said I love you, Do you mind?/Make an idol of you, Do you mind?

I hope Mick didn't mind being left out.

My mondegreens aren't restricted to English. Listen to the first song on my playlist. When I was a kid, this was a hit Hindi movie song, and the words of the first lines are:

Aap jaise koi meri zindagi mein aayen/To baath ban jaayen

(Idiomatic translation: If someone like you came into my life, it would be wonderful news)

My young ears, however, heard them as:

Aap jaise koi meri zindagi mein aayen/To baap ban jaayen

(Idiomatic translation: If someone like you came into my life, you'll become a father) Did I mention I nine when I was belting out these lyrics? Precocious.

So, what are your favourite mondegreens?

Enjoy...

We Three Kings

This is my favourite Christmas carol from my childhood days in England...although we never sang it with quite as much gusto as these three Australian gentlemen.

Song of the day

Well, the song of the morning, at any rate. Normally, even at 8:00 in the morning, the water in India is warm enough for me not to require hot water showering and shaving.

Not today.

We had heavy showers in Chennai last night, and the water was suitably frigid this morning. As the cold water shocked me awake, and I saw the stubble on my chin, the immortal words of The Monkees came to mind:



Oh, I could hide 'neath the wings

Of the bluebird as she sings.

The six (more like eight, for me) o'clock alarm would never ring.

Whoops its ringing and I rise,

Wipe the sleep out of my eyes.

My shavin' razor's cooooold and it stings.



It took me till lunch to get that tune out of my head. What was playing on your personal jukebox today?

Theme Song Guy

Sometime ago, I was watching "The Emperor's New Groove" and I thought to myself, "Self, when I grow up, I want to be rich enough to have my own ' Theme Song Guy'."



Well, I'm not there yet, but there's no reason why I can't put Theme Song Guy's playlist on my blog. So, enjoy while you listen to what I (would like to) think of as my life's soundtrack. ;-)

Desert Island Discs

After the gravity of my last post, let's lighten the mood up a bit. Let's pretend that I'm famous enough to be invited to appear on BBC Radio 4's long-running programme Desert Island Discs. What 8 musical tracks and what one book (The Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare would already be awaiting me on the island) would I like to be with me if I were a castaway on a desert island? (Of course, in this world of 160 GB iPods and 5 MB mp3 files, 8 musical tracks aren't a lot, are they? We'll ignore this reality for the sake of tradition.) 1. My Baby Just Cares for Me, Nina Simone. As I've stated already that I would one day like to play this on the piano, you shouldn't be surprised that this makes the list. 2. You'll Never Walk Alone, The Anfield Kop. But it's got to be a recording of them singing after the 2005 Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg at Anfield. And this made The Bucket List as well, so no surprise here either. 3. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Why isn't this in the LDS Hymn Book? 4. Pachelbel Canon Techno Remix, unknown. I have no idea who did this, but I love it. Brilliant adaptation of the finest piece of classical music ever written. 5. Across the Universe, The Beatles. There had to be a Beatles representation, and this is my choice. And even if their pronunciation of the Sanskrit chant "Jai Guru Deva, Om" is almost incomprehensible, I still love this song. 6. James Bond Theme, Monty Norman Orchestra. Best theme music, narrowly beating Indiana Jones. 7. Volare, Gipsy Kings. I need an upbeat number for when things get a bit slow, and this is a wonderful version of Domenico Modugno's excellent song. 8. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, Monty Python. Mindless optimism from the bad boys of British comedy. Book: The Code of the Woosters, P.G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is my favourite author of all time. I love his way with words, his turns of phrase, and his endless optimism about life. And although this was the third or fourth of his hundred-plus novels and short story compilations that I read (back when I was but a wee nipper), it still holds up as the best in terms of convolution of plot. So, what are your Desert Island Discs? And if your blog appears as a link on mine, then consider yourselves tagged and required to give your response as a post on your own blog (or else this post will have a doozy of a comments section).