I'm talking about "Proud Mary," of course, written by John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival and released in late 1968 or early '69.
You know how it goes:
Left a good job in the city,
Workin' for the man every night and day.
But I never lost one minute of sleeping'
Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been.
Only, that's not how Tina Turner usually sings it. She usually says something like, "But I never lost one minute of sleeping—I was worrying about the way things might have been." Which is not only the opposite of the intended meaning; it's also kind of meaningless. (If you don't lose any sleep, it means you're not troubled. You're not worrying. "I never lost sleep; I was worrying about something" is a contradiction.)
I've been thinking about this for a long, long time. How can she have sung this song so many times without singing it the right way? Is that the answer—that she has sung it so many times she's stopped paying attention? She can certainly be forgiven for adopting a less-than-fresh attitude to the number she must have performed a thousand times. (And we all know what she means. We don't really listen too closely, either.) But! Her strange wording goes back to the 70s. She's been singing the song like this from the beginning! (See 1:30.)
Beyoncé got it wrong in her rendition at the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Tina Turner in 2005. Which I guess isn't surprising; she was emulating Tina Turner, after all. (See 1:25.)
Am I missing something? Does it actually make sense the way she (usually) sings it, and I just can't see it?
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