Department of Misheard Lyrics

[rachelmanija]

I just now discovered that the lyrics in Sting's Fields of Gold are about fields of barley and not, as I had always thought, fields of parting, like lovers parted by fate. As in,

You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley

I can't decide if my misheard lyrics are more poetic or more clunkily on-the-nose.

Comments

[shati]

It makes some sense, at least! I never even made it to a coherent mishearing, I just spent my entire childhood hearing upooon the fields of [????]. (Although even if I had been able to tell what he was saying, I didn't know what barley actually was.)

[princessofgeeks]

Hee!

For years I thought Eric Clapton's song was about a PORTABLE man, not a FOREVER man.

I feel ya.

[legionseagle]

Barley in English and Irish folk songs is an indication of place and heritage; it can grow in colder and wetter climates than wheat can, so it's seen as poor person's food (the rich eat wheat bread, from grain brought in from elsewhere, such as the south of England). By referring to ripe barley as "fields of gold" I think it's a "love transcending material concerns" allusion.

[liviapenn]

I always used to think it was "fields of autumn," myself. (Which doesn't really make sense b/c fields generally aren't gold in autumn, but I guess I never thought of that.)

[indywind]

I always used to think it was "fields of holly" even though that doesn't make any sense. But it sounds picturesque.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

For quite some time I thought they were about the fields of Bali.

[sovay]

For quite some time I thought they were about the fields of Bali.

Same!

[ckd]

I thought they were fields of pollen, which I would personally want to avoid.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Conversely, when there was that bombing in Bali a few years back, the BBC reporters sounded to me like they were saying "the barley bombing."

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

In a non-rhotic accent they're not that different.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

I think most things are more poetic than barley. I have nothing against barley, but I have trouble thinking of it as poetic.

[chomiji]

YMMV, I think. If one is to consider agricultural fields of any sort as romantic in the first place, barley is at least as romantic as wheat or corn (maize).

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't like it any better with wheat or corn.

Now I'm trying to decide what kind of field I WOULD find romantic and am having trouble. Maybe it's me.

[chomiji]

A field rippling in the wind on a sunny day, or under moonlight, can be attractive to me. Maybe that's what he meant?

The fact that the song is about "fields of gold" makes me think that a ripe field of grain symbolizes a particular mood for Sting ... possibly along the lines of a post-coital mellow.

I'm sure I'm thinking too hard about this.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

A field rippling in the wind on a sunny day, or under moonlight, can be attractive to me. Maybe that's what he meant?

I guess so. It never occurred to me to actually find out what the lyrics to this song were (and I have a close to 0% chance of telling what they are just by listening).

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Barley is one of those things that transforms into poetry by drinking enough beer. Or maybe that's the other way around? I always heard "Fields of Gold" as a breakup song about John Barleycorn; ie, a song about going sober.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

Malt does more than Milton can.

[larryhammer]

Shoulder the sky, me lad, and drink your ale.

[filigree10.livejournal.com]

I think a field of ripe barley looks really beautiful - the awns give it a hazy look compared to wheat so it can appear to shimmer in the sun.

[tool-of-satan.livejournal.com]

Apparently I just don't have enough experience with barley.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ditto!

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

Yours are better.

[anglerfish07.livejournal.com]

I like your interpretation/ misheard lyrics better, Rachel. :) Fields of parting sounds nicer.

I thought they were about the Fields of Bali.

Hee!

[larryhammer]

"Fields of barley" is playing off imagery from English folk-songs, which (as I understand it) are intended to suggest parting by allusion. So your mishearing moves the meaning from connotation to denotation.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Nicely said :-)

[consonantia.livejournal.com]

There is a CDZA video! History of Misheard Lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6jRICTGmnM

Also History of Lyrics That Aren't Lyrics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_OzM2mE_uo

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

An allusion to "The Wind That Shakes the Barley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley)"? That's all about lovers parted by fate.

Nine

[larryhammer]

That's one of the songs I was thinking of.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I think your mishearing is very beautiful.