Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head

Mr. Vanderleun,

Thanks. You're the only other person I've ever even heard of who is familiar with that song. I used to listen to the 78 rpm 10-inch version of my Dad's, not out of any Clooney jones (I was 5) but mainly for the novelty of playing records. And it was the flip side of "This Old House", a comical tune. But your link raises a question I have asked from time to time: Who writes those lyrics that turn up when you do an online search? Clearly, in many cases, it is not the songwriter, nor often any literate person. Sometimes they are clearly just dead wrong. I'm sure, for example that "just nuts from the fire" should be "chestnuts from the fire". Is there some clown who sits around listening to records --a quota-- and writes down what he thinks he hears?

Regards

Posted by Mike Walsh, MM at March 14, 2006 12:45 PM

A very good question. I too believe it is "Chestnuts from the fire."

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at March 15, 2006 11:30 AM

Here's a link that uses chestnuts:

MANGOS

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at March 15, 2006 11:38 AM

Here's another with better formatting.

Probably from the source of the previous comment.

MANGOS

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at March 15, 2006 11:41 AM

On the other hand, it IS possible to mishear lyrics.

Until I read those links above, my head's version of the song always said: "Chestnuts from the bayou."

Posted by Gerard Van der Leun at March 15, 2006 11:43 AM

There was a small comical book that came out a few years ago that talked about this problem, leading with the confused hearing of "Purple Haze": some heard Hendrix saying "'scuse me while I kiss this guy" instead of "'scuse me while I kiss the sky."

I'll bet Cole Porter didn't have this problem.

Regards,

Posted by Mike Walsh, MM at March 16, 2006 7:43 AM