She Just Wants to Dance

     The musical The Producers is hilarious.  I highly recommend it. There is a great line in it where Ulla, the Swedish blonde (longer on looks than on common sense), dances for Max and Leo (the producers).  Who watch her, agog.  She then says, "Remember how Ulla dance? Ulla dance again."  Meanwhile Max and Leo continue to stare.  Fun fact: in the movie version starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the role of Ulla is played by Uma Thurman.  

  What does this have to do with Fall Out Boy?  Well, I'm glad you asked--although you may not be. . .  The song Uma Thurman by Fall Out Boy has the repeated line "She wants to dance like Uma Thurman."  According to the interwebs (and they can't say anything that's not true [that's sarcasm, ya'll]), that line refers to Uma Thurman's character in Pulp Fiction in which she leads John Travolta's character dancing.  The song is all about strong women, like Uma Thurman's characters in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill.  Pretty much NOT Ulla.

    So what's misunderheard here?  The opening line is repeated throughout the song which is where my confusion comes.  The song is about dancing like Uma Thurman, right?  So the first line is "I can move now, dance", right?  Nope.  The line is "I can move mountains."  Here this whole time I thought he was trying to say he can dance--in other words, he can keep up with a strong woman who wants to dance like Uma Thurman.

    The long and short of it is this: he can move mountains, she wants to dance.  

 https://imgur.com/gallery/K5MRnDd

https://imgur.com/gallery/K5MRnDd https://imgur.com/gallery/K5MRnDd
https://imgur.com/gallery/K5MRnDd

    

Lions and Leopresses and Rains, Oh My!

    "Africa"--one of Toto's most iconic songs.  It was the number one song for the week of February 5, 1983.  Weezer has a cover of it with Weird Al Yankovic. (Apparently, the cover was a fan request--not sure if Weird Al was part of that request. . .)  Straight No Chaser quotes it at the end of their arrangement of the "Twelve Days of Christmas".  So of course I misunderheard the lyrics.

    The first line of the song says "I hear the drums echoing tonight."  I understood them to say "I hear the drums echo in the night."  Not too off.  

    Then there's that line about Kilimanjaro: "As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti"  I thought for sure it was "As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like a leopress above the Serengeti."  Not sure how a mountain rises like a female leopard ,but hey, it's the Serengeti.  They have wild animals there--perhaps the mountain is wild like a mother cat whose cubs are threatened. Wait--do leopards have cubs or kittens--anyway, I totally missed the Greek reference.

    Speaking of wild animals, I was sure they sang, "It's going to take a lion to drag me away from you."  I was thinking the Lion King a decade before the Lion King.  I mean, a lion has got to be stronger than a hundred men or more, right?  Apparently, that's a lot. (See what I did there?)

    And what about that line about missing the rains? Or making the rains? Or mumble mumble the rains?  Oh--you BLESS the rains.  Got it.

Not Misunderheard: More Like a PSA

        I admit it: I like Hallmark movies.  Judge me if you will.  One movie I watched recently featured a song which seemed familiar, so I looked up the song to find out more about it.

    The song is called "Hearts Breakdown" by My Silent Bravery.  I did have a bit of a misunderhearing with this one, but a simple confusion.  There is no space between break and down.  This makes a bit of a difference, actually.  When hearts break down, that is an action: a hearts breakdown is a thing.

    So, what does this song mean?  Well, that's a good question.  The best poetry is esoteric at best, and that's what song lyrics are--poetry.  In this case, your experience with love will color your understanding of the words; therefore, I will not try to interpret it with a definitive meaning.  You'll just have to hear it for yourself.

    In short my public service announcement is this: "Hearts Breakdown" by My Silent Bravery is a great song.  Listen to it here.  Find out about the artist here.   Enjoy!

I Saw the Sign

 No, this is not about the Ace of Bass song; although that would make sense considering the musical direction I have taken.  It is about signs, however. 

    Before I had featured really dumb church signs.  Now, I have chosen to feature funny signs.  There are a few around town that are always good for a laugh--or at least a silly chuckle.

So keep an eye out for the "I Saw the Sign" updates on the sidebar.

    The one I am currently featuring is one dear to my own heart.  It's about parallel parking--something of which I cannot do.  Don't ask.

Sparks on the Edge

     One of my most favorite songs from the 80s is Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart".  The music is quite moving, and featured soloist Rory Dodd's "turn around, bright eyes" conveys a sense of longing.  It's no wonder the song was a big hit.  The video was weird, however--not a fan.

    Of course, there are some lyric questions I have--I always do.

    First, I was not sure if I had misunderheard the lyrics.  I was certain the line was "Together we can take it to the edge of the night. . ."  Makes perfect sense.  It's a song about longing and darkness.  Eclipses make day seem like night for a moment--they are on the edge.  There was also a soap opera called The Edge of Night, so there's that.

    Turns out, I was wrong (no surprise).  The actual line is "Together we can take it to the end of the line."  Well.  Obviously, line rhymes with time better than night and time, but I still like the whole "edge of the night" idea.

    The second lyrics question I had was more of a "how's that again?"  The questionable line comes two lines after the previous lyric--so let be back up to there.

    "Together we can take it to the end of the line/ Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time/I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark/ Livin' ina sima gonna givne a spark."

    Huh? Whatever Tyler sings must be important based on the passionate manner in which she sings it, but what is it?

    Apparently, the actual wording is "We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks."  Okay.  That makes a little more sense.  Sparks and powder kegs, of course, are dangerous together; obviously the point is that this romance is the same.  Of course sparks and explosions seem rather opposite of the darkness pervading the song, but then again, I have never personally written a hit song, so who am I to correct the lyricist?

    All in all, this song has stood the test of time; it is still a highly popular 80s song.  So now we are at the end of the line--or the edge of night.  Whatever.

What Kind of Prince?

    For some unknown reason, I had a Rod Stewart phase.  "Young Turks", "The Rhythm of My Heart", and "Forever Young" were some of my favorites.  "Maggie May" was not--is not--and never will be.  I don't know why--I have an irrational dislike of it for some reason.  Perhaps it is because I never think the guitar introduction (which I DO like) goes with the rest of the song.  But that's another story.

    "Forever Young" is a sweet song about wishing someone well and always remembering them.  According to Rod Stewart himself, it is a song about his children.  Very sweet.

    The confusion in my younger mind came in the second verse of the song where he sings this puzzling line:

    "Build a stairway to heaven where the princes are all fat and bald."

    What does that even mean?  Heaven is great because everyone is a prince and they have plenty to eat and they don't need to brush their hair?   Maybe it's a weird reference to Yul Brynner?

    Well.  Of course that isn't the line.  It is this:

    "Build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond."

    Honestly, I'm still not quite sure what that means.  Perhaps he's telling his children to be kind to all sorts of people whether of high or low estate.

    Well, at least vagabonds are sweeter than fat, bald princes. . .