I just remember this now, but when I initially heard Guns On The Roof I thought Joe was singing " guns, guns sha la la la".
For years I could not decipher what Joe mumbles at the end of that track. I used to think it was "it's over now". But Joe bit his tongue during the vocal take and he says "blood in my mouth".
I liked R.E.M. better when Michael Stipe mumbled the lyrics because it was fun trying to figure out what he was singing. I'd say starting with Life's Rich Pageant he started enunciating more clearly and by Document the mumbling was gone. I think it added to the murky Southern feeling of their music and that something was lost when he changed his style.
I liked R.E.M. better when Michael Stipe mumbled the lyrics because it was fun trying to figure out what he was singing. I'd say starting with Life's Rich Pageant he started enunciating more clearly and by Document the mumbling was gone. I think it added to the murky Southern feeling of their music and that something was lost when he changed his style.
I love those early R.E M. albums also. Yeah I agree that unintelligible and nonsense lyrics can be great fun.
Re: Misheard Lyrics
Posted: 22 Nov 2019, 2:47pm
by Marky Dread
Another Joe vocal I always misheard.
From "English Civil War". For years I thought Joe was singing "the sun is shining at the chip shop now".
When it's "the sun is shining the kids are shouting loud".