John Prine - "The Happy Enchilada Song"

If you are a John Prine fan then you will know this song as “That’s the Way the World Goes Round.” It’s a staple of any John Prine concert and a favorite of his audience; which ranges in age from 9 to 90. But this is not the version you generally hear on the radio. It is, however, the one you will hear when you are in my car. 

We have all misunderstood the lyrics to different songs at various times in our lives. Usually the mistaken words are fairly innocuous; as in my own version of “Shine Little Glowworm.” I used to sing it as “Shine little glow worm, liver”, rather than “glimmer.” Hey, I was only 4 years old at the time and not yet familiar with the word “glimmer.”  Also, liver was a big thing in my life at the time; my parents were always at me to “eat my liver.”

There have been others along the way as I grew up that were equally banal. And I’m sure you have had some of your own, too. But, in this video of John Prine singing “That’s the Way the World Goes Round” he tells the story of a woman in San Francisco who just may take top prize for mistaken lyrics.