It takes courage to sing in front of others; it takes even more courage to knowingly sing the wrong lyrics while masterfully swinging like one of the “wild and crazy” Festrunk brothers to a song by the Eagles. This was my friend Jake Stoneking, who was never afraid to have fun, no matter what the circumstances were.
He was the rare breed of friend who transcends friendship and felt as much like a member of my family as any blood relative.
With a truly magnetic personality, an infectious smile and the ability to make pre-ghost-of-Christmas-future Ebenezer Scrooge belly laugh about nothing much at all, Jake passed away about a month ago following a five-year battle with Medulloblastoma, a rare form of childhood brain cancer. He had celebrated his 20th birthday six days prior. He was diagnosed at the age of 14 during orientation week of high school.
Jake managed to defeat the cancer once and graduate from West Linn High School, where he received a standing ovation at the graduation ceremony.
During his senior year, however, the cancer returned, more aggressive than before. Given only two months to live, Jake created a bucket list that earned him international notice and inspired close friends and strangers alike to be the best possible version of themselves while passing along his mantra of “Carry on.”
With an unending effort to outlast the cancer, he fought the debilitating disease for eight months — four times longer than what doctors believed was possible.
After the tears began to slow, stories of the past began cascading out of everyone who knew him. A personal favorite of mine was Jake dancing with all the swagger in the world to “Heartache Tonight” by Eagles, except Jake always changed the words to “Party tonight.”
I had corrected him multiple times, but he did not care because as he put it, “‘Party tonight’ is way more fun!”
What follows is a list of songs with lyrics that are commonly misheard, followed by the correct lyric in honor of Jake’s idea that sometimes fun is more important than accuracy.
Eagles – “Heartache Tonight,” The Long Run (1979)
What Jake heard: “There’s gonna be a party tonight”
The real lyrics: “There’s gonna be a heartache tonight”
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – “Purple Haze,” Are You Experienced? (1967)
Misheard lyric: “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy”
Correct lyric: “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky”
After hearing about the confusion, Hendrix would often sing the incorrect lyric in concert to create further uncertainty of which is the correct lyric.
The Beatles – “Strawberry Fields Forever,” Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
Misheard lyric: “Living is easy with nice clothes”
Correct lyric: “Living is easy with eyes closed”
The Magical Mystery Tour outfits weren’t necessarily the most fashionable pieces ever assembled, but it’s possible they may have made life easier.
The Beatles – “I Want to Hold your Hand,” Meet the Beatles (1964)
Misheard lyric: “I get high”
Correct lyric: “I can’t hide”
At this point, during Beatlemania, hiding was impossible, yet they were still a few months away from the psychedelic drug-fueled portion of their history.
The Beatles – “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Misheard lyric: “The girl with colitis go by”
Correct lyric: “The girl with kaleidoscope eyes”
Colitis is an inflammation of the large intestine or colon, but in reality, what’s a stranger to see? A girl with an actual disease, or a girl with kaleidoscope eyes?
My Morning Jacket – “Highly Suspicious,” Evil Urges (2008)
Misheard Lyric: “Peanut butter pudding surprise”
Real lyric: “Peanut butter Pulitzer Prize”
Many of my friends have pointed to this lyric as the reason why they don’t like My Morning Jacket, all due to a typo in the lyric booklet. Writer Jim James himself had to clarify the lyric about his grandmother’s Pulitzer Prize-winning peanut butter.
Bob Dylan – “Blowin’ In the Wind,” The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
Misheard lyric: “The ants are my friend, it’s blowin’ in the wind”
Correct Lyric: “The answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind”
Apparently Dylan is not a friend to insects.
The Clash – “Rock the Casbah,” Combat Rock (1982)
Misheard lyric: “Lock the catbox,” or “Lock the cashbox”
Correct lyric: “Rock the Casbah”
Joe Strummer “might have been our only decent teacher,” as Craig Finn of The Hold Steady claims, but his pronunciation wasn’t always the most clear, as this commercial demonstrated.
The Police – “So Lonely,” Outlandos d’Amour (1978)
Misheard lyric: “Chipotle”
Real lyric: “So Lonely“
I may be the only one who hears this because I heard this song for the first time when I was ten years old and hungry.
Bruce Springsteen – “Blinded By the Light” Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ (1967)
Misheard/wrong lyric: “Cut loose like a douche”
Real lyric: “Cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night.”
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band with a sad excuse of a cover changed the lyric to “revved up like a douche, another runner in the night,” forever causing unnecessary confusion. Somehow, Mann’s cover reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, giving Springsteen his only No. 1 single as a songwriter.
The Rolling Stones – “Beast of Burden,” Some Girls (1978)
Misheard lyric: “I’ll never leave your pizza burnin’”
Real lyric: “I’ll never be your beast of burden”
Mick Jagger is older now, though, so who knows if that promise still stands.
The Replacements – “Favorite Thing,” Let It Be (1984)
Misunderstood part: Everything that isn’t in the chorus.
To this day, singer Paul Westerberg still doesn’t know what he incoherently rambled about while recording. Something about dad either walking or rocking real bad and hip-a-young things? Maybe he just had hiccups and liked the sound. The world may never know.
Follow Craig Wright on Twitter: @wgwcraig