Hi, Matt:
Since you are the knower of all good and evil and everything in between, my daughter, age 11, and I thought we would ask you about a song. "Song #2" by Blur has some wacky lyrics. What are they? We think the first two lines (after the woo-hoos, of course) are, "Got my head shaved by a jamochay." What is a jamochay anyway? Is this some UK thing that we don't know about, or can regular Americans figure this out?
-- Jamocha-fied, together on the Net
Does decoding Blur lyrics count as "quality time"? And if I give you the answer, do you promise you and the kid will get father-daughter buzz cuts? Much hipper than dressing alike.
Right off the top, I have no idea what a jamochay is or whether it can cut hair. Blur doesn't know either. What you have on your hands is a mondegreen. I do know what that is. That's when people misunderstand song lyrics and sing what they think they hear. In fact, you might consider submitting yours to one of the many mondegreen Web sites-- for example, "Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy" (www.kissthisguy.com) or "The Ants Are My Friends" (they're blowin' in the wind) (www.mcs.net/bingo/lyrics). (The Ants page will tell you where "mondegreen" comes from.) There's even a site dedicated to misunderstood Beatles lyrics-- "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm six feet four?" I hope the hours of mondegreen pleasure will make up for the fact that Blur isn't singing about haircuts.
So, if it's not "Got my head shaved by a jamochay," what are they saying? Verse one, after the woo-hoos, begins, "I got my head checked by a jumbo jet." Which actually makes even less sense than having your head shaved by a jamochay. Perhaps anticipating our bewilderment, the next lines are, "It wasn't easy, but nothing is. No." A while later, Blur also admits, "I got my head down when I was young. It's not my problem. It's not my problem." And that's all the noggin news we get in "Song #2." Between random "woo-hoos," they go on a bit about "I feel heavy metal" and "I'm pins and I'm needles" and "I lie and I'm easy all of the time"; and they let us know twice, "I'm never sure why I need you. Pleased to meet you." Yeah, back at'cha, Blur.
Hi, Matt:
Since you are the knower of all good and evil and everything in between, my daughter, age 11, and I thought we would ask you about a song. "Song #2" by Blur has some wacky lyrics. What are they? We think the first two lines (after the woo-hoos, of course) are, "Got my head shaved by a jamochay." What is a jamochay anyway? Is this some UK thing that we don't know about, or can regular Americans figure this out?
-- Jamocha-fied, together on the Net
Does decoding Blur lyrics count as "quality time"? And if I give you the answer, do you promise you and the kid will get father-daughter buzz cuts? Much hipper than dressing alike.
Right off the top, I have no idea what a jamochay is or whether it can cut hair. Blur doesn't know either. What you have on your hands is a mondegreen. I do know what that is. That's when people misunderstand song lyrics and sing what they think they hear. In fact, you might consider submitting yours to one of the many mondegreen Web sites-- for example, "Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy" (www.kissthisguy.com) or "The Ants Are My Friends" (they're blowin' in the wind) (www.mcs.net/bingo/lyrics). (The Ants page will tell you where "mondegreen" comes from.) There's even a site dedicated to misunderstood Beatles lyrics-- "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm six feet four?" I hope the hours of mondegreen pleasure will make up for the fact that Blur isn't singing about haircuts.
So, if it's not "Got my head shaved by a jamochay," what are they saying? Verse one, after the woo-hoos, begins, "I got my head checked by a jumbo jet." Which actually makes even less sense than having your head shaved by a jamochay. Perhaps anticipating our bewilderment, the next lines are, "It wasn't easy, but nothing is. No." A while later, Blur also admits, "I got my head down when I was young. It's not my problem. It's not my problem." And that's all the noggin news we get in "Song #2." Between random "woo-hoos," they go on a bit about "I feel heavy metal" and "I'm pins and I'm needles" and "I lie and I'm easy all of the time"; and they let us know twice, "I'm never sure why I need you. Pleased to meet you." Yeah, back at'cha, Blur.
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