The great Bruce Springsteen had a hit with the superb song “Walk of Life.”
Only I didn’t hear it that way. For the longest time I thought he sang, “Do the walk on by.”
That really changes the meaning on the song from muddling through your existence, doing the walk of life, to throwing up your hands at what is going on around you to “Do the walk on by.” Just walk on by your problems, just walk away from them and your responsibilities. Given this interpretation, I rather wondered why so many people loved this song. But I heard wrong. I admit it. I’m sorry Boss.
It just goes to show you how exciting, how outside the box, life can be, when you mishear things.
Anywhere, here are the real lyrics to “Walk of Life.”
“And after all the violence and double-talk
There’s just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, yeah, you do the walk of life
Hmm, you do the walk of life.”
Misheard lyrics #13
Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.
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