Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Thanksgiving warm fuzzies and earworms based on perpetually misheard lyrics
Here in the US, it’s Thanksgiving day today (the day I posted this, Nov. 24).
I’ve written about my dislike of traditional Thanksgiving food already (especially cranberry sauce — click link below to read more), so I won’t get into that again. But what I do appreciate about the holiday, is the attention brought to giving thanks. For stopping to reflect on what we are grateful for.
At the beginning of 2022, I decided to start a gratitude journal, where I would write down three things I was grateful for each day. I would do this in the morning—first thing—so that I started the day with kindness in my heart.
I didn’t keep to it day in and day out, but I’d say I’ve got a 50 percent success rate, and even that much attention truly changed my general outlook on life (for the better if you were wondering).
Even if the words didn’t always make it to the page each day, the habit of pausing to reflect on gratitude did. You could say I’m grateful to gratitude (or what Weezer might call “raditute”). You could also say that 2022 was the year I had a gratitude adjustment.
I want to say that it was the holiday that triggered my latest earworm, Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).”
I want to say that the spirit of generosity had led this classic funk tune from 1970 to fill my brain with great cheer and indelible grooves.
But that’s not how it happened.
It started like this….
I’m driving home from my last dog walk of the day and I’m playing KFRC on the stereo (a local “oldies” station that plays the hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s), when Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” comes on.
I don’t normally let the song play all the way through if I have control of the stereo. Not because I don’t love Queen or even this song, but because it is one of those tunes that has been so overplayed—without a break since its release in 1980—that it hasn’t left popular earwaves long enough to trigger the warm nostalgia feelings. It’s on par with “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” as ubiquitous stadium anthems that, in my opinion, have overshadowed the rest of their catalogue. And if I never heard them again (or for a year or two at least) I would be thrilled.
That said, I do not turn the dial. In fact, I find myself instinctively singing along. And then, at the breakdown that occurs around 1 minute 45 seconds, just after Freddie sings, “Hey! Oh, take it!” I join in with what I always assumed Freddie was saying next:
“I’m adopted!”
It just so happens that my wife Karen also thought that Freddie was singing “I’m adopted,” and so whenever this song comes on and we’re together, we always let the song play for at least two minutes so that we can sing our misheard-lyrics-duet together in out-of-tune harmony.
I suppose I didn’t truly believe Freddie was singing “I’m adopted,” but the other wrong interpretation I came up with was “I’m a doctor!” And Freddie Mercury being adopted seemed more likely than his being a doctor. So I stuck with adopted.
I’m intentionally not looking up what the actual words are (or word - maybe it’s only one), as it’s a misheard lyric that brings such joy, such marital bliss, that to know the truth might dampen it.
(Hopefully the video above is cued to the section I refer to for those who don’t know what I’m talking about.)
In addition to mishearing these specific lyrics, I often find myself singing “another one rides the bus” more than 50 percent of the time, due to Weird Al Yankovic’s amazing parody version.
I am not linking to, though, the version from Weird Al’s self-titled debut in 1983. Instead, I am sharing a scene from the new, just released biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, airing now on the Roku Channel. (It’s a biopic satire with an all-star cast. Yes, that is Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al.)
I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m going to do so this weekend. Just as soon as I have all the conditions set for an optimal viewing experience:
Double check surround sound system
Reset wireless router
Find a time that my Weird Al super-fan friend Colin is also available, as a movie like this needs to be shared with other super-fans.
Procure all necessary snacks and beverages
Hostess’ Zingers
Flaming Hot Nacho Doritos
Zima wine coolers (for Colin)
Fixins for a Bee’s Knees (for me): gin, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, limes
I will have my review of the film coming in the coming weeks.
Like always, I’ve gone off on a tangent.
If you are a regular reader of these Earworm and Song Loop essays, you know that I like to take the back roads to reach my destination.
Though I haven’t veered very far off the path.
Because what I’m getting at is that this Sly and the Family Stone song, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” is the first and maybe only song to preemptively change the lyrics to what (everyday) people might think it mistakenly sounds like! I can only guess that Sly, while working out the arrangement in the studio said something to the effect of:
“You know when I sing ‘thank you for letting me be myself,’ it kinda sounds like ‘thank you falettinme be mice elf.’”
This mishearing of one’s own lyrics is something that being quite stoned might have played a part in. And by “might” I mean “definitely.”
And then perhaps Rose, Sly’s sister and vocalist/keyboardist, could have responded with:
“But don’t you think if we change the title to ‘Falettinme be Mice Elf Agin’ it dilutes the message of the song? Cause we’re singing about being grateful when others accept and embrace our uniquenesses, right?”
And how would Sly have answered? Probably something along the lines of:
“The message is the music, you see? People are gonna get high and listen to our song and mishear the lyrics, so why not show them that, yeah, we also misheard the lyrics, and we wrote ‘em! They’ll dig us even deeper, man!”
Of course I wasn’t there, and, as far as I know, no filmic evidence of the band’s songwriting process exists. (Though maybe one day Peter Jackson will unleash a 4 part documentary on Disney+ all about the making of this song, as it does not appear on any of their albums, except for compilations. When this song was released as a single in 1970, it was during the height of the band’s heavy drug use period. So maybe it’s a 1-part series.)
Even if the preemptive misheard lyric song title had drug-use origins, that does not make it any less brilliant of a song.
And some mice I’ve seen over the years have looked a bit elfin in appearance.
The most famous misheard lyric in rock history has to be this one:
Right?
Sure, there is Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” being mistaken for “Tony Danza” but that isn’t really a misheard lyric. It’s more like a jokey lyrics replacement, like a Weird Al song. No one truly thought that Elton was wanting Tony Danza to hold him closer. Or hold Bernie Taupin closer.
According to a poll in Newsweek of the top 50 most misheard lyrics, these three make the top ten:
Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away”
Wrong lyric: Give me the Beach Boys and free my soul
Right lyric: Give me the beat boys and free my soul
The Police “Message in a Bottle”
Wrong lyric: A year has passed since I broke my nose
Right lyric: A year has passed since I wrote my note
and the one I thought might be #2:
Bruce Springsteen / Manfred Mann’s Earth Band “Blinded By the Light”
Wrong lyric: Wrapped up like a douche, another rumor in the night
Right lyric: Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night
Many of the others on the Newsweek poll list are lame and don’t deserve me mentioning.
But what does deserve mentioning is you!
I know for a fact that every single one of you has a song that you misheard and still mis-sing. (That’s a good made-up word, no? Mis-sing: when you sing the wrong words and are also out of tune. Yes, you can borrow it.)
So I expect the comment area to be filled with your favorite misheard lyrics. Which songs do you mis-sing?
In the spirit of gratitude and thankfulness, I want to offer my deep appreciation to you for being a subscriber/reader of Earworms and Song Loops.
I am good at being my own best audience, but I always prefer when I can share my stories and ramblings with a community of friends.
Thank you for letting me be myself, again.
I only know ‘Thank You ...’ from a great Magazine cover version.
The most famous UK misheard lyric is ‘Sue Lawley’ by The Police, but since she was a famous newsreader over here I guess that variant on ‘So Lonely’ will mean nothing to US listeners.
By the way my current (v.persistent) ear worm is Prefab Sprout’s ‘King of Rock’n’Roll’, “hot dog, jumping frog, Alberquerque”!
My favorite misheard lyric ever is when I was in 7th grade, and my friend jokingly told me she was going to name her new kitten "Boberetta, like the song." "What song?" I asked, full of skepticism. "You know, the one that goes 'Ooooh, Boberetta'!" To which I exclaimed, "You mean 'Smooth Operator'?!?" I still think of it every time I hear that song.