Spencer Davis Group: I'm a Man (1967)

Down the years – from Mairzy Doats in 1943 to Springsteen's Blinded by the Light three decades later (“madman drummers, bummers and Indians in the summer”) – lyrics have been open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

For years I thought Manfred Mann's Ha Ha! Said the Clown was “the horse hit the town”.

I'd been ready for Dylan's surrealism.

Everyone has their own garbled lyric somewhere.

Another for me was the opening line of Spencer Davis Group's thrilling I'm A Man.

I heard “well, my papa's been a-messin' and there's whisky on my gin . . .”

I only ever got bits of the rest of the song. Too busy dancing, probably.

But I'm A Man – co-written by the group's singer Paul Jones and producer Jimmy Miller (later to do the Stones' Beggar's Banquet, Sticky Fingers and other classics) – really is a confusing song.

Have a listen and see what you get, the actual lyrics are below the clip.

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Well, my pad is very messy
And there's whiskers on my chin
And I'm all hung up on music
And I always play to win

I ain't got no time for lovin'
'Cause my time is all used up
Just to sit around creatin'
All that groovy kind of stuff

But I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so

But I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so

Well, if I had my choice of matter
I would rather be with cats
All engrossed in mental chatter
Movin' where our minds are at

And relatin' to each other
Just how strong our wills can be
I'm resisting all involvement
With each groovy chick we see

Well, I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so

But I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so

I got to keep my image
While suspended from a throne
That looks out upon a kingdom
Full of people all unknown

Who imagine I'm not human
And my heart is made of stone
I never had no problems
And my toilet's trimmed with chrome

I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so, no no

I'm a man, yes I am
And I can't help
But love you so

Yes I am (no, no, no)
I need you so bad(yeah)
Yes I do
Yes I do
Yes I do
Yes I do
Yes I do
Yes I do

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Did you get the line about the toilet? Some have said he sings "trimmed with gold", but who in their right mind would have a gold toilet? Oh, that's right.

Go figure, as the American's say.

and then there's this . . .

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For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.