scientifically evil

I posted this a long time ago but I deleted it when I sobered up because sobriety does crazy things to people.  The song came up tonight in conversation and I wished to share this whole rest of it, but it wouldn't have worked.  It is so hard talking to new people because you don't know how long to wait before you let them in on the fact that you are totally fucking insane.  Anyways, here's the old stuff:

As I sit here half, nay, three-fourths drunk on unfiltered sake, I have no choice but to ask the question: Why the fuck am I 1 /1 drunk on sake?!? Well, I’ll tell you why. First off, it’s part way a gamble, a gamble that I won’t be working in the morning, but that is rather esoteric, so I won’t waste anymore time on it. Secondly, and by secondly I mean most importantly, it is because I was in the store last night and I saw some shimmering blue bottles of wine, and I can’t resist blue bottles. The bottles are guilty.

You see, there’s this song, a Babybird song. The song is called Aluminium Beach (aluminium being British for aluminum), and in this song there is a verse that says:

<i>There’s sunshine in your eyes,
It shimmers like blue bottle flies.</i>

But I, with my affinity for blue bottles, always heard the verse as:

<i>There’s sunshine in your eyes,
It shimmers like blue bottled wine.</i>

So, what I’m driving at is that sometimes we hear the lyrics as we want to hear them rather than as they actually are, which is one of the beautiful things about music. Like most other forms of art, we are able to interpret songs in the manner that we best see fit. As someone who has been known to be meddling with a pencil/pen/microphone/camera, I understand that the mission of the artist can be to eliminate all interpretations other than that which is intended, but I still adore the fact that things will be interpreted as they are interpreted.

That being said, there is this one song that I used to hear the lyrics all wrong to, and I still do when I want those special feeling that it used to give me. It’s a Nirvana song, a song called Lounge Act. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. You see, there was this thing a few years ago. This thing were I was explaining the same thing to this dude, this dude who I slowly but surely realized was much smarter than I could ever give myself credit for, despite the strong bias in my favor. This dude, this dude he tells me about how Black Francis once explained that his initial lyrics for the song Tame focused strongly on the word Pain, and that Mr. Francis opted for Tame instead for reasons best left unparaphrased (but I bet you can figure out for yourself). In the same conversation it came up that although Mr. Francis sings “I am Un Chien Andalusia,” which sounds a lot like “I am a shit and a loser,” the actual name of the movie is Un Chien Andalou. It became apparent to me at the time (and surely to my friend long before) that perhaps some of the best lyricist of my generation, and of many generations prior may have seen fit to take advantage of assonance to be more oblique. I tell you, as not one of the greatest minds of any generation, I don’t know for sure, but it seems like just the sort of thing a genius might do.

But, boy! Can I go on and on! I am sorry for polluting the MOG -O-SPHERE. What I really want to share is this song, the wrong lyrics that used to (and still do) mean so much to me, even though all the official records tell me that they are diffr’nt. So now I share with you they way I heard lounge act for ten years, before I found out I was so wrong:

<i>TRUE  ,  CALL IT INSECURITY
I COULD  let you smother me.
I’d like to but it couldn’t work,
Trading off and taking turns.
DON  ‘T  REGRET A THING

and I got this friend and  SHE  makes me feel,
like I wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself and wear a shield
I’ll go out of my way to prove I still
STILL LOVE YOU

Don’t tell me what I want to hear
Afraid I’ll never know a fear
Experience anything  UNIQUE
I’ll keep fighting jealousy
Jealous fucking  GUY

And I’ve got this friend, and  SHE  makes me feel
like I Wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield
I’ll go outta my way to prove I still
STILL LOVE YOU

TRUE  –  CALL IT  insecurity
I could let you smother me
Like to but it couldn’t work
Trading off, taking turns
Don’t regret a thing
And I’ve got this friend, and  SHE
makes me feel like I
Wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield
I’ll go outta my way to make you a deal
We’ve made a pact to learn from who
And ever we want  THEN WE WILL DO
AND IT STILL WON  ‘T  STOP WHAT WE DO

I’LL  GO OUT OF MY WAY TO PROVE I STILL
STILL LOVE YOU
AND I STILL
STILL LOVE YOU</i>

But the real lyrics, the internets tell me, are as follows:

<i>Truth – covered in security
I can’t let you smother me
I’d Like to, but it couldn’t work
Trading off, taking turns
Don’t regret a thing
And I’ve got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield
I’ll go outta my way to prove I still
Smell her on you

Don’t – tell me what I wanna hear
Afraid of never knowing fear
Experience anything you need
I’ll keep fighting jealousy
‘til it’s fucking gone

And I’ve got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield
I’ll go outta my way to prove I still
Smell her on you

Truth – covered in security
I can’t let you smother me
Like to but it couldn’t work
Trading off, taking turns
Don’t regret a thing
And I’ve got this friend, you see
Who makes me feel and I
Wanted more than I could steal
I’ll arrest myself, I’ll wear a shield
I’ll go outta my way to make you a deal
We’ve made a pact to learn from who
And ever we want without new rules
We’ll share what’s lost and what we grew
They’ll go out of their way
To prove they still

Smell her on you
They still, Smell her on you
Smell her on you</i>

SMELL HER ON YOU  ?

I totally get what the song is saying, but that doesn’t take those ten years away from me. The last five years I have been able to smell her on the other girls, or at least see her on the other girls, but for the first ten, it was all about the misheard lyrics, and if it hadn’t been the song would never have meant as much to me.