My Google Fu has failed on this lyric
January 29, 2013 9:15 PM Subscribe
I can't believe I'm wasting a question on this, but searching the internet has failed to give me a definitive answer. In the song Some Nights by Fun, which is the proper lyric?
Is it "When I hear a song, it sounds like this one?" or "When I hear a song, it sounds like a swan?" I would very much like it to be the latter, but I cannot tell for sure, and looking up the lyrics online gives me both. Stupid late night ponderings! This is why I should not go on YouTube past my bedtime!
Is it "When I hear a song, it sounds like this one?" or "When I hear a song, it sounds like a swan?" I would very much like it to be the latter, but I cannot tell for sure, and looking up the lyrics online gives me both. Stupid late night ponderings! This is why I should not go on YouTube past my bedtime!
Best answer: some nights fun lyrics sound like a swan: 94,300 hits
some nights fun lyrics sound like this one: 2,370,000 hits (over 25x as many)
The lyric in context:
So this is it? I sold my soul for this?
Washed my hands of that for this?
I miss my mom and dad for this?
No. When I see stars, when I see stars, that's all they are
When I hear songs, they sound like (this one / a swan), so come on
When he sees stars, they have no more significance than being stars. When he hears a song, it either sounds like a swan (who, swan songs aside, mostly make a sort of trumpety honk or quiet grunt depending on species), or it has no more meaning than the song that is being sung right now. The swan lyric makes no sense.
When I hear it, I hear a "th" sound before the more ambiguous "iswun" sound.
I would like it to have been a swan, but I also like the mental image of Jimi Hendrix sneaking in a quick man-on-man makeout session during Purple Haze.
The lyrics are in the official video on YouTube.
Ah, spoil my research, will you? Phooey.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:34 PM on January 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
some nights fun lyrics sound like this one: 2,370,000 hits (over 25x as many)
The lyric in context:
So this is it? I sold my soul for this?
Washed my hands of that for this?
I miss my mom and dad for this?
No. When I see stars, when I see stars, that's all they are
When I hear songs, they sound like (this one / a swan), so come on
When he sees stars, they have no more significance than being stars. When he hears a song, it either sounds like a swan (who, swan songs aside, mostly make a sort of trumpety honk or quiet grunt depending on species), or it has no more meaning than the song that is being sung right now. The swan lyric makes no sense.
When I hear it, I hear a "th" sound before the more ambiguous "iswun" sound.
I would like it to have been a swan, but I also like the mental image of Jimi Hendrix sneaking in a quick man-on-man makeout session during Purple Haze.
The lyrics are in the official video on YouTube.
Ah, spoil my research, will you? Phooey.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:34 PM on January 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Damn, for as many times as I've watched the official video, I've never clicked on Show More. When I posted this, I was watching them on SNL, and it really sounded, and looked, like swan. I like swan song better, and think it fits with the context, but oh well. I will continue to sing the lyrics wrong when I am alone in my car, but will sleep better knowing the truth. Thanks!
posted by Ruki at 9:45 PM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Ruki at 9:45 PM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Oh, and reading the official lyrics, I've decided they're a band of missed opportunities, because I also thought it was "Washed my hands of god for this?" Which, again, is in my opinion, a much better line, and more fitting to the context. But no one hears me sing the wrong words in my car.
posted by Ruki at 9:51 PM on January 29, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 9:51 PM on January 29, 2013 [4 favorites]
There are currently three hits for "Some Nights" by Fun!, at KissThisGuy.com, the website where people record the lyrics they mis-heard. It was of course inspired by the aforementioned "Purple Haze."
All three are related either to the first line (Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck) alone, or all four lines at the start.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:49 AM on January 30, 2013
All three are related either to the first line (Some nights, I stay up cashing in my bad luck) alone, or all four lines at the start.
posted by Sunburnt at 7:49 AM on January 30, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by birdherder at 9:28 PM on January 29, 2013 [1 favorite]