This just in:

Hi!

I am a huge fan of [tos] and was listening to the album while painting my apartment today... and I realized that there is one lyric which I don't understand... so I thought I'd ask.

In "Part of it All" what is the lyric immediately following "Part of Lunch with Bernadette" Part of: ???? I am saying "a cocoa marmosette" which I'm pretty sure is wrong, but I can NOT figure it out... and that's what it sounds like... take another listen.

So, if you'd let me know at your convenience, that'd be swell. Otherwise, I will be singing "part of lunch with Bernadett, part of a
cocoa marmosette" until the end of time.

Thanks! Love the show!!

Nellie

ps. if Susan ever sees this, we both used to go to colleen's yoga class on sundays downtown!! wierd!

Dear Nellie:

Hi! Thanks for your fabulous email. I love little lyrical mysteries like this. When I was in 7th grade, there were a few John Cougar Mellencamp songs that I listened to over and over and over and over again to figure out the lyrics. John Cougar will slur a lyric, people. And this was pre-Internet, so if the lyrics weren't printed on the record (that's right, kids: RECORD) sleeve, you were f'ed. I was supes proud of myself when I figured out the following (bolded) lyrics to Jack & Diane:

A little ditty about Jack and Diane
Two American kids growin' up in the heartland
Jackie's gonna be a football star
Diane's debutante in the backseat of Jackie's car

And I still couldn't figure out these (bolded) lyrics last week. Honestly:

Theres a black man with a black cat
Living in a black neighbourhood
Hes got an interstate runnin through his front yard
You know, he think, that hes got it so good
And theres a woman in the kitchen cleanin up the evening slop
And he looks at her and says: hey darling, I can remember when you could stop a clock

Listen to Little Pink Houses again. It sounds like he's saying "starve a flower". But what sense does that make? Almost as much sense as "a cocoa marmosette".

(Speaking of Little Pink Houses, does anyone remember that contest where Mtv gave away that pink house? And John Cougar Mellencamp was all, "we're gonna paint the mother pank"? Anyone? No one?)

So, in answer to your question, Nellie, the lyric is "a coat of marmoset". Cause Hunter's been wanting a coat made out of these for a long time. We were trying to obscure the lyric so PETA doesn't protest our next appearance. I guess the marmosets out of the bag now.

And as for that yoga class...I need to get my butt back in there. I remember that I used to see this guy in that same class. Then he came to see [title of show] and I was all: "I recognize you, dude. But I'm used to seeing you upside down and through my legs". Which sounded filthy. But accurate.

Finally, here's an extremely well-organized web site on the subject of mondegreens.

(Mondegreens, huh? That's a pretty fancy work for the blog, huh?)