Reflections on Amazon, and song lyrics

Who knew it could possibly be so hard to buy a skinny little book about misunderstood rock ‘n’ roll song lyrics?

Some of you alert readers out there blessed with good memories might recall my column in May about misunderstood lyrics. Well, more than a few readers responded with examples of what lyrics they had misheard.

Some of them I have not yet included, such as Connie Cummings thinking Neil Diamond on “Forever in Blue Jeans” was singing “Rev. Blue Jeans.”

Meanwhile, Peter O’Connell emailed me to say that some people think Frank Sinatra was not singing “Strangers in the Night” — it was “Stranglers in the Night.” This kind of changes the song’s meaning; loses the romance of it all.

O’Connell also referred to an unnamed “guy” who thought the Beatles were combating anti-Semitism when they sang “Hey Jews, don’t be afraid.” The rest of us remember the song as “Hey Jude.”

This scintillating topic sent me to my cultural library at home, as I remembered owning a book called “’Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics.” Apparently more than a few people had heard Jimi Hendrix on “Purple Haze” singing about kissing some dude instead of the actual trippy line “’Scuse me while I kiss the sky.”

The book was gone. How could I have parted with it? What was I thinking?

No problem, I would just order another one. I needed it for “research.”

Because I believe in supporting local independent bookstores, I went down to Atticus Bookstore & Cafe on Chapel Street to order “’Scuse Me.” A friend told me I was going to way too much trouble, that I should just order the thing online from Amazon.

Sometimes I do patronize Amazon, if I am forced to do so. For example, I prefer to buy rock music CDs at Exile on Main Street in Branford (support your local businesses!) but sometimes when they check their computer, they say they can’t get that particular CD. Amazon seems to have everything ever made, so I then have to get it from them.

My Atticus mission was unsuccessful. A salesperson checked the store’s computer and said it couldn’t be ordered. And so I went home and purchased Gavin Edwards’ paperback edition of “’Scuse Me” via Amazon for about $9.

I did that on May 17.

There followed more than two months of waiting and searching for what had happened to the book: visiting the U.S. Post Office on Brewery Street in New Haven, waiting on line there, then speaking to a supervisor who did make a good effort to track it and after his research told me “GPS shows it was delivered to your mailbox on May 30,” then my contacting Amazon, then going on to contacting Discover Books and requesting a replacement order.

On July 24, hallelujah! “’Scuse Me” finally made it to my door.

I read today that our South Central Regional Council of Governments is working hard to convince Amazon to build a headquarters in our area. I understand the economic motivation and the need to create jobs. I also admit the other books and CDs I have ordered from Amazon made it to me without a problem. But I still prefer to patronize small businesses and to deal face-toface with merchants.

OK, here was “’Scuse Me” back in my eager hands. It’s a little thing, only 189 pages, many of them filled with cartoons! But there were some funny misunderstood lyrics, according to the book.