"The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" and My Childhood

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I have been doing a tremendous amount of reflecting back on my childhood lately. After noting how many of you have unhappy experiences regarding your social life like in school, I analyzed how I was able to maintain one friendship that satisfied my social needs throughout the early years of my schooling. And although much credit is given to my parents for supporting my needs, there is something that allowed me to develop a best friendship, and that was:

"The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane"---a song sung by the Ames Brothers many years ago.

Now, let me explain how this song probably saved my social happiness in school and allowed me a friendship.

Before I began Kindergarten, my mother let me have (or at least borrow) her entire collection of 45 rpm records from the 50's and 60's. I played through all of those records and filed away by favorite 40 records in a record case. Of those records, there were several that became obsessive for me. Some of those were:

"The Crazy Otto" by Johnny Maddox
"Sweetie Baby" (flip side of "Last Date") by Floyd Cramer
"Honey Babe" forgot the artist
"Please Pass the Biscuits" by Jimmie Dean
"The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" by the Ames Brothers

I became obsessively fascinated with "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" over lyrics that I mistakenly thought was saying something else. What the song actually says is "she throws those come hither glances" but I though it was saying "she throws those come here their glasses." I was imagining the naughy lady grabbing the guy's eyeglasses and throwing them to the floor. For whatever reason, I became obsessed with eyeglasses. My parents got me a pair of eyeglasses frames with the lens removed so I could wear them. I actually wanted to have glasses for real, but I had 20/20 vision back then. Then, when I entered Kindergarten, there was a boy in the class who was wearing glasses---the only one with them. I wished I had glasses. So I went up to him on the first day of school and wanted to hang around him because he wore glasses. And that is how our friendship began. We quickly became best friends and our families would vacation with each other. He became like my brother. He lives in Florida now, and I rarely see him. I miss those days. But, we had each other as best friends and we were often at the other's house. Our families did many things together and I cannot imagine what life in school would have been like without him. I probably would not have found anyone to be friends with. It was because of those glasses that I became obsessed with from the song that allowed me to approach him in Kindergarten. Since I have always found approaching people difficult, it is unlikely I would ever have become friends with him---or anyone else. I was known as a loner anyway, because most viewed my being friends with only person as a bit socially isolated.

Now...to add to this...my best friend's mother taught in the elementary school, so no one really picked on my best friend over fear of her. And since I hung around him, I also fell under this protective umbrella. And---my father taught in the high school and was also very well respected. My father and my best friend's mother knew the guidance counselors and thus were able to persude them to keep my best friend and I in the same classes through the 6th grade. We even had his mother for the first grade. We also got to set together. And we behaved. We did not cause problems and were therefore allowed this liberty.

Had I never listened to the old song, I wonder what would have happened to me. Would I have hung around anyone? Or would I have kept to myself? I believe strongly I would have kept to myself because in junior high school, my best friend began hanging out with several others and I didn't follow him into this larger social scene. I found it incredibly awkward anytime others hung around us. It was too much. Throughout 7th and 8th grade I was a loner. While my best friend hung around a group of guys, I paced the playground in specific patterns all by myself. At home I also practiced patterned walking in my backyard.

In high school I entered a school as a teacher's son. And not just any teacher---my father is well-known to this day in the community as a former professional baseball player and an excellent basketball player that helped the school win many trophies and championships in the 1950's. Yes, I was quiet, but I wasn't picked on much because the older guys were afraid of my father. As I had been in the band since 5th grade, I was also in the high school concert, marching, and jazz bands. I became the best musician in the school, and I was playing professionally by the time I was 16. I can relate my music interest back to those days that I sat around the old record player with the old records as I listened to the ways songs were made and how their melodies captivated me. "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" was among those songs---not only did it get me a best friend, but it helped pave my musical interests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGpR6R3a1D4
The lyrics that I misunderstood occur from 1:11 to 1:14.

Your post started me thinking about songs I "misinterpreted" . One lyric was by Bob Dylan; I can't remember the song. He was really saying "How Does It Feel"; I thought he as saying Out In the Field (I thought he just really liked the country). Another song was by Skeeter Davis; she was singing "Don't they know it is the end of the world" I thought she had a lisp and was saying Don't Say No it is the end of the world" Another song was by Donovan; he was actually saying Mellow Yellow. I thought he was saying Mano Yano.

I remember a song that went "I'm not talking about moving in and I don't want to change your life..." I thought it said "I'm not talking about the lillies and I don't want to change your life." I was only about five y o at the time and it made absolutely no sense to me so I asked my mom about it and she said the words are, "I'm not talking about moving in," and then it made a lot more sense. I misinterpreted lyrics myself from time to time.

That's a nice story, glider18. I met my former best friend because she was Japanese and at the time I was obsessed with everything having to do with Japan. We bonded over a common interest in anime and became very close. It was easily the highlight of my life at the time. It's a shame our friendship ended on such a bad note just a couple of years later. (long story)

I've had some similar experiences.

When I was in high school my mother was one of the principals, which lead to many people not annoying me/picking on me/etc., who otherwise would have.

My primary obsession has been music for a long time. I'm not sure where/when it started, but I always did excellent in music in school, got given the more difficult parts by the music teacher, and when I got my first 'real' instrument 14 years ago (bass), I spent most of my spare time on it and have been doing that ever since (although now it's on bass, keys, guitar, and vocals). I have absolute pitch as well, the ability to know what any given note is without any outside reference.