Michael S. Pascua The Life of a Freelancer

Hinder and Coldplay Misheard

I love listening to music. Songs that I like, I like to butcher for fun. Songs that are annoying or disliked get butchered naturally. Case and point. One day my friends and I were playing "Karaoke Revolution" for the Wii and we decided to pick Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel.” I grabbed my microphone and started singing.

Well, my cousin, the next room
Sometimes I wish she was you

My friends all looked at me funny. After I finished the song my friends bursted out laughing. I never realized that I’ve been singing this wrong. Although Karaoke Revolution had the right words, I guess it scrolled past quickly enough that I ignored it. It was near the chorus. Everyone knows the chorus. The correct lyrics are:

Well, my girl's in the next room
Sometimes I wish she was you

For some reason, I never got the memo that possibly singing about incest was a bad thing. I figured there was some sort of poetic justice. My cousin is in the next room. Instead of her, I wish you were here. I never said anything about doing my cousin. I actually find that better than: I’m considering cheating on my current girlfriend with you. As a small defense, the first result of “hinder lips of an angel lyrics” on Google actually shows the wrong lyrics that I heard.

After a good laugh and a few lighthearted jokes about Hinder, Creed, and Lifehouse we continued singing the night away.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was listening to Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” and sang along with my friends. I love this song, but I still have no clue what it’s really about. So I sang along:

I hear traditional bells are ringing
Roman Catholic Choirs are singing.

I was informed I was wrong again. Wait what? Traditional Bells are the ones that I heard in Catholic Church? What’s wrong with that? I looked it up:

I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing

Oh. Well, now I feel a little sheepish. We all loved the song but it became a subject of European history and religion. We also had a discussion that I would rather have one of two people (instead of St. Peter) calling my name: Jesus and Santa. (Yes Santa, not Satan). Santa because he’s Santa. He knows when I’m awake and sleeping. Jesus because I’d rather have him directly tell me “No” then having his secretary tell me that I’m going to hell. I’m probably going to hell just for typing that previous sentence (You just called St. Peter useless!).

What’s the moral of the story? There are several, really. Have friends that can laugh with you. It’s preferable to have ones that also mishear things. A top ten hit on the Billboard charts probably won’t talk about incest. Always prefer to look like an ass singing Karaoke and you’ll become the life of the party. Finally, if you don’t know the words to a song, go online and double check, but check three or four websites to cross reference.