Misheard Purity

The following conversation, or one very similar to it, is not uncommon in my family:

"Mom! You're singing again!"

"What? Was I singing out loud? Oh. But hey, I think I have the right to sing if I want to."

"But not in the grocery store/hallway at church/parent teacher conference/insert embarrassing public place here!"

"Well, excuuuuse me!"

"And that's not how the song goes, anyway!"



I love music of almost any kind. And I always like to sing along with the songs I hear on the radio, or on the CD player, or just what's in my head. I suppose this might be annoying to anyone who happens to be nearby. (I'm not really a good singer.) It certainly annoys my children.They get particularly cranky about it when I don't get the words right.

It's true that the fact that I don't actually know how the song goes is not a barrier to me singing it. When my husband and I were first married, we were listening to a song while we were in the car. One line of song goes, He gave her a shawl and a parasol from France.
My somewhat less romantic interpretation: He gave her a shawl and a pair of swollen glands.

Apparently I'm not the only one. A quick internet search reveals that many people believe that the lead singer of the band Toto sings I left my brains down in Africa. Another song is sometimes believed to contain the line Every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you.

Maybe singers need to enunciate a little better.

One of my children told us that when he was very young, he was confused by the meaning of a line in the song "I Am a Child of God."

     Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way;
     Teach me all that I must do, to live with Him someday.

Our son wondered for some time why he would want to be taught
that he is a stew.


But I think sometimes the misheard lyrics are better than the real ones. For me an example of this is "Don't Know Why," by Norah Jones. I like the song, and was especially fond of this (misheard) line: My heart is dressed in white. Turns out the actual lyric reads, My heart is drenched in wine.

I was disappointed to learn this, and I still sing along with my own preferred words.White has traditionally stood for virtue and purity, and the idea of a heart so sweet and pure and innocent that it can be dressed in white is very appealing to me.

Tomorrow, my daughter will attend the Logan Temple to receive her endowment. (For more info about Latter-day Saint temples and what happens there, click here) She – along with me and her father and her grandparents and everyone else there – will be wearing white. And I suppose their hearts will be dressed in white too.

This doesn't mean that everyone there will be perfect. Or that anyone there will be. But they will gather in faith, sharing in common their belief that through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, their hearts can be made pure – not just dressed in white, but pure through and through.

The scriptures have some things to say about hearts that are pure.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (New Testament; Matthew 5:8)

O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever. (Book of Mormon; Jacob 3:2)

Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART; therefore, let Zion rejoice . . . (Doctrine and Covenants; Section 97:21)


I am looking forward to tomorrow with all my heart.

I hope my heart comes home a little more white  – a little more pure.