Picture it: 2001 car trip to visit other newspapers.

The driver was press association EVP Mark Thomas. El Reno Tribune Publisher (and press president) was next to him. Both were at least 30 years younger than me. I was vice president and sat in the back when Mark turned up the music: She’s a Lady by Tom Jones.

“I love this song,” I said.

It was kismet.

We all started to sing.

“She’s a lady, whoa whoa, she’s a lady …”

I grooved and chair-danced as much as my seat belt would allow then they turned, grinned and sang, “But she always knows her place.”

Horrors! Not because of their childish fun at my expense, but because I’d never listened to the words.

Even as a kid I liked music with a good beat and chorus so the rest of the lyrics just got in the way. That’s why I sang “Shake Marilyn Monroe” instead of Bill Haley’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”

Hey, that was 1954 when I was 10.

After the past three years of daily road trips listening to the oldies I started listening to the words. Back in the 50s-60s you could actually understand what they were singing.

In the late 70s a co-worker thought Queen’s “We Will Rock You” was “Kicking your cat all over the place” instead “Kicking your can all over the place.” I guess they’d never played kick the can as kids, or did it mean kicking your butt?

Mondegreen is a word for those of us who mishear words of a song. I have no idea how to pronounce it, but I think my son had that problem early on.

He was three years old in 1968 and had just learned the names of his body parts when “Venus (my number one love)” was popular. Enough said.

Strangely enough our #1 Princess also had problems with that song in her teen years. She would sing, “Venus. I’m your Venus. I’m your fi re, at Jordan sire” instead of “At your desire.”

Go fi gure.

It’s been about 20 years since this lady’s place was in the back seat with a couple of young guys in the front. Now this great-grandma is in the driver’s seat. So just yell, “Slow, Granny, Slow,” when This Little Old Lady from Hennessey passes you on the highway.