Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for August 30, 2021

Life is a highway, in this case Ventura Highway.

The 70’s taught us a lot of things which we would have never believed without the help of hallucinogens.

Well Ventura “Freeway” just doesn’t have the same panache, does it?

Just gotta learn to recognize opinion from fact. (I also use it for a spelling dictionary)

For anybody curious, this lyric is from Ventura Highway by America.

From https://ilovethatlyric.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/alligator-lizards-in-the-air-in-the-air/#:~:text=Dewey%20Bunnell%2C%20the%20song%E2%80%99s%20vocalist%20and%20writer%2C%20has,Lompoc%2C%20California%20where%20they%20had%20a%20flat%20tire.

Dewey Bunnell , the song’s vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric “alligator lizards in the air” in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California where they had a flat tire.

I have a pet misheard lyric myself. David Bowie’s 1984, which I used to jump to on the Live at the Tower where I first heard it. There was this recurring line which I thought was “Beware the sound in store, in 1984”. Later, lyrics online have it written as “Beware the hammer claw, in 1984”. Which makes far less sense.

That’s how I found out the line in the Bruce Springsteen song, Tenth avenue freeze out wasn’t dead devil in the freezer. Bless the internet.

What are the true lyrics to “Louie, Louie?”

I thought “Come on the Peace Train” was “Come on and be strange”

I had a book about misheard lyrics that was very funny. The cover is Jimi Hendricks singing “’Scuse me while I kiss this guy!”

Never had that trouble with songs before 1975 (and a few in the mid 80s). I find most anything since to be an attack on my hearing or sensibilities!

Only from America….

(Only in America is from a different song. Probably several different songs)

Yea but, what does “cause i speak of popitous of love” mean?

… and Lady Mondegreen.

“Are alligator lizards native to California?“Alligator lizards are found in almost any natural habitat in California (except most of the deserts and very high elevations.) They can be fairly large in size. Active during daylight, they are frequently seen moving on the ground, and occasionally up in bushes.”

They still need to explain what the h*** “The Tropic of Sir Galahad” means.

So can LSD. Some days.

i absolutely hate that song!

“I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name.”

“There’s a bathroom on the right”.

“Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess

Boy, you’ve been a naughty girl you let your knickers down”

Still don’t know what a crabalocker fishwife is.

You can’t trust everything you read on the internet, Arlo.

Between the Internet and being able to afford much better speakers than I could in high school I now know what they were singing about.

Best breakup song ever.

I know you’re leavin’, leavin’ me behindI’m seein’ you darlin’ for the very last timeShow a little tenderness Mama, before you goPlease let me feel your embrace once more.

Take me in your arms and rock me, rock me a little whileOh would ya darlin’, rock me, rock me a little while

We all must feel heartache sometimesRight now, right now I’m feelin’ mineI’ve tried my best to be strong, but I’m not ableI’m like a helpless child left in a cradleBefore you leave me Mama leave me far behind Please let me feel happy one more time

Take me in your arms and rock me, rock me a little whileOh, would ya darlin’ rock me, rock me a little while

I’m losin’ you and my happinessMy life is so dark I must confessI’ll never, never see your smiling face no moreI’ll never, ever hear your knock upon my doorBefore you leave me, leave me behindPlease let me feel happy one more time

Take me in your arms and rock me, rock me a little while

. . . and the lyrics really are “Wrapped up like a deuce, another roller in the night” !

About the time that came out there was a drug called Psylocybyn (no clue how to spell it) that was a lot like LSD. One particular batch cause a hallucination that I, I mean. Those who took such drugs, looked like an. Alligator lizard in the air. I. I mean others. Called it a dragon. But. I get it. I mean. They do.

Yesterday they played “Jack and Diane” on the radio for the millionth time, but only then did I notice the lyric, “Let the Bible Belt go and save my soul.” Such pointed religious commentary was hiding there the whole time.

I have an old smartphone less sim card that I keep beside my comfy chair which I call my little encyclopedia and use to look up stuff I don’t understand on tv or which pops into my head. When I was a kid we had a hundred pounds of encyclopedia volumes to do that. Who’dathunkit!

I have a love/hate relationship with the internet with regard to stuff like this. I remember hours going by as we argued about the lyrics of countless songs, playing them over and over at deafening volume, and “enhancing” our powers with alcohol.

Now nobody bothers to debate, whether it’s lyrics, who was the actor that played that role in that show, or who was the starting second baseman for the Cubs on opening day 1973. They just google and there’s nothing to talk about.

Glenn Beckert.

Some of my personal misheard lyrics: Survivor’s ‘Eye of the Tiger’ ~ And the last known Survivor stocks his bread in the night ~ Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty’s ‘Stop Draggin My Heart’ ~ Is Sgt. Tinkerbell what you’ve wanted? Is Sgt. Tinkerbell what you’ve lost? ~ and Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’ ~ Sweeet Caroline bom, bom bommm, good times never seemed so good. I’m Kevin Kline…~

Just like ‘Lucy with the colitis goes by’…

Yep If you don’t like the answer, just keep looking until you mind one you agree with.

One of the comments to BC this morning referenced “The Mighty Quinn.” My fav America song is “Sister Golden Hair” for personal reasons.

“Knights in White Satin…”

Love that song. The first time I heard it I was in Okinawa, where they had their start. Didn’t know it at the time though.

6 years old, hearing the Beatles’ ‘I want to hold your ham..’

Thanks for the earworm, Jimmy!

As a child of the 70’s, I thought he was saying alligator wizards in the air…

Now I want to know what Arlo thought the lyrics were. ;)

When I first heard Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic,” Instead of “Death row pardon.” I heard it as “Death row hard on.”Which makes no sense

When I look up song lyrics these days the Internet has apparently never heard them!

The lyrics are printed on the dount? And, why does a box a of a dozen donuts have internet?

My wife loves America and many years ago (while driving cross country) we were listening to an America CD and she told me they were saying “alligator lizards in the air”. I did not believe her. So, I replayed Ventura Highway and I listened very closely and behold she was right.

Plus “the heat was hot”.