... in response to Re: Re: Re: No Problem!, posted by Jay on Jun 8, 2001Hey Airwolf,
I spent 25+ years thinking Eric Burdon was singing "Spill the Wine...dig that girl." Then I found a web page of misunderstood lyrics. Now I have to figure out what the song means all over again. ;o))
One of the words I could never figure out the meaning of was "pompatus." Steve Miller sang in "The Joker;" "Some people call me Maurice, because I speak with the Pompatus of love." It turns out that it was misinterpreted from an old R&B song written and sung by a member of the Medallions, named Vernon Green. When Green heard "The Joker" for the first time, he laughed his a** off. The lyrics were from the "The Letter," Green's attempt to create his dream woman. He was around 14 at the time. The mystery word was "puppetutes." Green said it was a term that he made up to mean a "secret paper-doll fantasy figure [thus puppet], who would be my everything and bear my children." Miller had heard "pompatous" and not "puppetutes." One of the great mystery lyrics of our time was actually a word Steve Miller had misunderstood himself.
I will see you in a couple of weeks.
Dave H.