Songs where the songwriter confuses A with B

Isn't the Alanis Morrisette thing common knowledge?

At time of recording, there were three members of The Beatles.

This is another one where they copped to being straight-up wrong, guys genuinely thought there were always three Beatles (unlike the 417 that quantum mathematics have established as co-existing within the Schrodingerian fifth position).

How can I go on / When every alpha particle hides a neon nucleus

In the song "Richard", Billy Bragg confuses the noble gases neon and helium.

what a loser

this thread is really primo material btw... good work all around

(Lil Wayne)
Young moolah baby
I got money on money on money on money
on top of more money on top of my shit like flies
open that ferrari f 5 like eyes up and down ocean drive
jumpin up out that maybach with a bitch way back to tease them thighs
she got a tattoo on her booty and it say 305
DJ Khaled say it's a movie now don't forget your lines,
Cause you dont want me to edit before we roll the credits
bitch give me my credit
i'm so energetic
i'm f**kin like a rabbit smokin on lettuce
whatever i want i get it
i meant it if i said it
and i say i keep it pumpin i aint talkin unletted
if you want it come get it
cause boy i'm ready
i get that fast fetty they should call me Tom Petty
got two bitches one peanut butter one jelly
i'm a American gangster already

richard petty is the NASCAR driver, tom petty is a singer/songwriter

A) Halloween
B) Not Halloween

Bushwick Bill (My MInd is Playin' Tricks on Me)

early morning april 4th a shot rings out in the memphis sky

that beach boys 'california dreaming' got what felt like alot of airplay on mtv at the time, here's the horror - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQ-AeUlijU. big al jardine showcase. lotta sax. i think it was the followup to the slightly bigger hit 'getcha back' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Pk9kwcGKk - really really shoddy production on these things, the vocals on 'getcha back' are just stunningly schlocky. really w/ these, roth's 'california girls', 'wipeout' (the best of this bunch by many miles), and then of course 'kokomo' the beach boys were hustling pretty hard for a hit then.

Y'all niggaz is scared, I'm your worst nightmare squared
That's double for niggaz who ain't mathematically aware

Nice, or possibly Smooth

"Like Dizzy Gillespie played the sax"

In The Crazy Word of Arthur Brown's rendition of "Fire", Arthur Brown confuses being the god of hellfire with being Arthur Brown.

In "Tambourine", Eve seems to think the Taj Mahal is a palace, rather than a mausoleum:

"Doin it big like I live in da Taj Mahal,"

that beach boys 'california dreaming' got what felt like alot of airplay on mtv at the time, here's the horror - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQ-AeUlijU. big al jardine showcase. lotta sax.

jesus, what is up with that video? if you turn the sound off, it's like a long-long david lynch short.

In "Tambourine", Eve seems to think the Taj Mahal is a palace, rather than a mausoleum:

Only learned that fact myself in the last year. :(

"I'm a venereal disease like a menstrual bleed." - Lil Wayne

In Eve's defense, living in the Taj Mahal would be pretty sweet even if it were an abbatoir

i dont know if thats relavent here, and it was written with full awareness,but "left of the dial" - the replacements:
"pretty girls are growing up
playing make up,wearing guitar"

Re Dead Milkmen and "California Dreamin'", Made in the USA was a popular comp, and lots of people heard that cover, but CD jukeboxes were exceedingly rare in 1988 and it wasn't a single.

OK, maybe it was a single. The important thing is that someone needs to flesh out the entry for "Jukebox" on Wikipedia.

"Y'all niggaz is scared, I'm your worst nightmare squared
That's double for niggaz who ain't mathematically aware"

Ha, wow. Who was that?

Cannibus

It's OK, because my nightmare is 2.

In '4th Chamber' by the GZA, RZA confuses positrons with protons.

Either that or he confuses 'Causing explosions' with 'Collectively forming a hydrogen atom'. Though that would have made the acronym 'PEACFAHA'. And also wouldn't have scanned.

I like this forum already and this is only my first post. Ace.

Hello linea. It's good in parts.

In "Daddy," Juelz Santana confuses leaving his child an orphan with siring a bastard. (One imagines that ship has sailed already, Mr Santana.)

Same as in "Mind Playing Tricks On Me"

"Y'all niggaz is scared, I'm your worst nightmare squared
That's double for niggaz who ain't mathematically aware"

Maybe he meant that anyone who confuses "multiplied by two" with "to the power of two" is "mathematically unaware"? (Which would be OTM)

I think that is the correct interpretation of that line.

he is actually saying your worst nightmare is the number 2

(your nightmare)^2 = (your nightmare)*2

-> your nightmare = 2

haha

My take:

for the mathematically aware, he is (your worst nightmare)^2
for those that ain't mathematically aware he is twice that: 2*(your worst nightmare)^2

So for all beings > 2, it's better to be non-mathematically aware if beefing with Canibus. I understand now.

Heh, it's the old "I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man/And so is Lola" kerfluffle all over again! "Pronoun Trouble", Daffy Duck would say.

so that would be 2 men.

Either way, Canibus really should call his next album (Your Nightmare)^2 = (Your Nightmare)*2

Brooklyn Academy - Raise Ya Hands

"Your girl got more niggaz in her mouth than Kramer from Friends"

cant believe theres no noreaga mentions here

run laps around the english channel

In most Rolling Stones songs, Mick Jagger confuses the female sex with a piece of meat.

"When I was in England town. The rain came right down"

Love-She comes in colours.

Well he could be half-right.

Except when he wrote that, he'd never been to England Anything.

Hold the press!

There's an England Town in Texas.

Maybe he was unlucky with the weather.

With Frampton comes Alive 2, Peter Frampton confused the general public with someone who gives a shit.

in hey hey, my my neil young confuses sid vicious with johnny rotten:

The king is gone but he's not forgotten
Is this the story of Johnny Rotten?
It's better to burn out than it is to rust
The king is gone but he's not forgotten

Even if you change the line to the right show, what exactly are Brooklyn Academy getting at there? I'm sure I would have heard about an episode of Seinfeld in which Kramer had "niggaz in his mouth".

PLEASE, NOBODY LINK TO THAT FUCKING THREAD.

In "Paranoid", Ozzy confuses paranoia with depression.

In "Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers" Jeru confuses Manuel Noriega being captured for Manuel Noriega being killed.

In today's high tech world where almost everything is remote controlled, it's difficult to image life without batteries, but let's be honest, batteries are not a product that immediately create an emotional response.

In Duracell's case however, that is exactly what happened when the company introduced Duracell Bunny to the world.

It began in 1973, when breakthrough advertising was developed to communicate that Duracell alkaline batteries lasted much longer in than ordinary and inexpensive zinc carbon batteries. A small pink, fluffy bunny was created, who, powered by Duracell batteries, was able to outlast all others in an array of colourful challenges.

The Duracell Bunny made his debut appearance in the US 35 years ago, in a commercial that included a group of drum-banging pink bunnies. The winner was the Duracell Drumming Bunny, the message was loud and clear - powered by the long-lasting Duracell battery, he's unstoppable.

From 1973 through to 1980, the Duracell Bunny starred in a toy campaign, which was later rolled out around the world.

Throughout his successful career, the Duracell Bunny has embarked on numerous sports and cultural activities :

He excels on drums which he has been practicing since 1973
With unparalleled endurance, the Bunny's a natural at skiing, kayaking, boxing, football and marathons; he always performs at the top.

For over 33 years, Duracell has followed a coherent advertising strategy continuing to evolve the bunny to keep up with the consistent improvements in quality and power of Duracell batteries. 35 years old, 35 years of high performance and the Duracell Bunny is still going strong.

Today the Duracell Bunny is one of the Top Advertising Icons of the 20th Century.

The Duracell advertising strategy has now changed. The Duracell Bunny does not want to compete any longer with Zinc-Carbon Bunnies, as the Zinc Carbon category is less and less important. The Duracell Bunny has now come to the real world to highlight the power of the new formula of the best Duracell ever, Duracell Ultra AA / AAA.

lol you think VU was trying to give a weather forecast?

The internet suggests that weather can be described as maudlin.

Maybe he meant Reginald Maudling

lol you think VU was trying to give a weather forecast?

― This Thrilling Saga is the Top Show on Netflix Right Now (President Keyes), Monday, November 24, 2025 11:40 AM (sixteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

no?

i'm maybe willing to entertain the idea that there is some regional variation where "maudlin" means "awful" or something, but to me describing a muggy summer day as "excessively sentimental" just kind of immediately registers as odd to me, like somebody in a freshman english creative writing class using a word incorrectly. to me that seems more likely than any other explanation

are you accusing the velvet underground of writing odd, pretentious lyrics???

i understand what you are saying but i will reiterate that it seems more likely that a college student writing a short story might flub a line of dialogue without even realizing that he's using a word incorrectly. tbf it does kind of "sound" right

did Lou Reed think that Sheila Klein thought that word meant hot/humid?

i associate maudlin with tears streaming all over the place, i don't think that's a very off-base meaning, and it describes the feeling of a hot muggy day well where your skin and clothes are a hot mess. it seems like an odd word to get something else mixed up with. lou was young but i think he was more literate than that. and yeah the voice of sheila in the song feels pretty well-drawn otherwise. i wouldn't be surprised if it was a colloquialism you'd hear from time to time in their milieu.

I don't think someone describing weather as maudlin is too different from using a word like "somber". Some of the recent posts seem to be taking issue with metaphor. The star light one strikes me this way, too.

again, it's a question of how the word is used in context, as a line of dialogue from somebody who is just kind of making idle conversation with her friend. the description of the weather isn't the focus, it feels more like it's supposed to be some kind of stock phrase to establish how people in their milieu might normally make small talk. so i agree with map. i don't "take issue" with metaphor, it's just that for whatever reason the way the line strikes my ear is how children will sometimes confidently use a "grown up" expression

next y'all are going to start telling me you hear the 1 on "REACHED his limit"