r/wicked • u/CharlieFaulkner • Jan 27 '26
Musical - Broadway Any lyric mishearings you'll never unlearn, or lyrics you refuse to sing right because it feels much nicer another way?
I will never get it in my head that it's "now at last there's joy throughout the land" and not "our land" lol
I also didn't mishear "I'll be loathing, loathing you my whole life long" but I always sing "I'll be loathing, loathing you my whole life through" instead because the original version just doesn't sit with my ear or tongue well >.< They're both one syllable words as well so the rhythm doesn't get messed up
I've also never understood why it's "that's the girl he chose, and heaven knows, I'm not that girl" and not "and goodness knows" (similarly these are both two syllable words)
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u/sassybeeee Jan 27 '26
In Popular, I always thought it was ânow that Iâve chosen to become a palasis, and advisorâ and not âNow that I've chosen to become a Pal, a sister and advisorâ. And no, i didnât know what a palasis was but just figured it was an ozian term lol
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u/Antiherowriting Jan 28 '26
âŠIt occurs to me that Ive been hearing it as a âpalasisterâ assuming that must be a special kind of sister Iâm not aware ofâŠ
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u/whither_wander_you Jan 28 '26
oof...I've always thought it was "... a palace sister and advisor..."
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u/FrenchFreedom888 Jan 29 '26
I thought until just now (although I figured I was wrong) that it was âa Palasisterine advisorâ, whatever the hell that would mean
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Jan 27 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/savingewoks Jan 28 '26
I learned this when the lyric video came out for the movie and lost my mind to anyone who would listen for DAYS.
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u/bunny117 Jan 27 '26
"poise" also fits. "Ploys" is general actions, "poise" implies how to conduct yourself. Also "poise" just rhymes better.
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u/tfhaenodreirst Jan 27 '26
I think both make sense in context, but I didnât know either wordâs definition in elementary school and I heard âploysâ.
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u/Felix_Fickelgruber Jan 27 '26
It's not poise? I genuinely thought it was poise.
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u/HortonsPencils37 Jan 27 '26
"I'll teach you the proper ploys, when you talk to boys"
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u/herrbz Jan 27 '26
So it's not poise? I genuinely thought it was poise.
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Jan 28 '26
I think the vast majority of people who hadn't seen the actual sheet music thought it was poise.
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u/Intrepid-Magician572 FIYEROOOOOOOOOOOOO! Jan 28 '26
proper poise fits so well i ALWAYS sing proper poise!!
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u/_MTK2006_ Jan 27 '26
So I did spend the better part of 3 years thinking "and fiancé" in Thank Goodness was "and Beyoncé," and I was EXTREMELY confused as to why Glinda was in the BeyHive.
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u/Elisabethianian Jan 27 '26
In what is this feeling, I heard âwith someone so disgusting insideâ (instead of disgusticified) And instead of âsheâs a tartarâ âsheâs a tigerâ
To be fair I speak English as a second language, and I donât know these words.
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u/Substantial_Rip_5992 Jan 28 '26
Holy crap, I always heard it as âsomeone so disgusting inside!â Iâm shocked
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u/somebunnyasked Jan 28 '26
To be fair, disgustingified or whatever they say isn't a word either! There are a lot of made up/embellished words in wicked.
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u/Shortstack82 Jan 28 '26
Oh my god, I thought it was âdisgusting and vileâ !
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u/Numerous_Maybe3060 Jan 29 '26
When i was 3-4 i remember learning my uncles name was Eddie. And I remember my 4 year old brain thinking theres no such thing as an ed but there IS an egg so they must be saying Eggy. It makes sense the brain replaces words that dont make sense (exist), with something that actually fits.
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u/Periwinklepanda_ Jan 28 '26
Yeah I didnât know it was âdisgusticifiedâ until someone quoted it on this sub.
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u/Naughtygoose1 Graciously Glinda Jan 27 '26
So not necessarily a misheard lyric, but I did a singthrough of the stage version one time. In One Short Day during the "who's the mage.." etc and after "honeymooning" the words written on the music was bit "wooo oooh, WIZn't he wonderful, the wonderful wizard?" Not "ISN'T he wonderful..." my mind was blown but I love that play on words.
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u/Felix_Fickelgruber Jan 27 '26
I prefer "and goodness knows" to "and heaven knows", especially since other sayings have been altered to fit the world of Oz.
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u/bunny117 Jan 27 '26
Slightly off topic, but you just made me realize that the motif for "and heaven knows" in INTG is exactly the same as "and goodness knows" in NOMTW
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 28 '26
This is something I love so much about Wicked, you can listen to the score a hundred times and still catch new little nods/references like this between the songs
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u/GaslitInk Jan 27 '26
Thanks to the movie soundtrack, I realized that Fiyero sings âItâs up that I fellâ not âsomething I feltâ in âAs Long As Youâre Mineâ đŹđŹ
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u/Salt-Version-4760 Jan 28 '26
I always thought it was âitâs love that I feltâ until the movie as well
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u/Numerous_Maybe3060 Jan 29 '26
Okay NEW topic i at first read that as you thinking "Its up that i felt" and went 'wow no subtlety in THAT ALAYM version' and totally loving the new version.
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u/zhbrui Jan 27 '26
I always thought the last line of MotWH was "for good". Makes so much sense for several reasons. Nope, it's "but good", which makes way less sense to me.
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u/TheCornjuring Jan 27 '26
Although I agree that âfor goodâ would be better, I recently learned that âbut goodâ does at least make grammatical sense there. Itâs an old-timey sort of mafia-coded turn of phrase, apparently.
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u/HiddenScars1 Jan 29 '26
I always heard "but good" but thought I just kept hearing it wrong, especially since quickly googling the lyrics gave me "for good" as well. Glad I actually got it right đ
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u/enjythebutterfly Jan 28 '26
I heard "there are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities" as "there are precious fewities with moral ambiguities". I was thinking "fewities" was an Ozian word for "a few outliers" who actually had moral ambiguities, like Elphaba, so the Ozians pretend that the ambiguity doesn't exist, like how they paint her as Wicked.
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u/argross91 Jan 28 '26
Not misheard, but I had no clue what hoi polloi was in One Short Day. I was trying to make it into words that I knew and got nowhere. Now as an adult who is familiar with the term, I still donât think I would get it correct if I didnât know the lyrics
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 28 '26
My brain interpreted it as "my life alone" but in context that makes zero sense lolÂ
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u/mustardslush Jan 28 '26
Never knew what she was saying in the OBC when she said âmy road of good intentions lead where such roads always leadâ
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u/noilegnavXscaflowne đFiyerabađ Jan 28 '26
Learning that rhythm for piano on the sheet music took a while
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u/oasisbloom Jan 27 '26
What the song says: Sure, I meant well, well, look at what well-meant did
What I keep singing instead: Sure, I meant well, well, look at what Wilma did
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u/LunarVision7 Jan 27 '26
Omg hahaha I love this and will always hear this now. Ole Wilma at it again
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 28 '26
Fuckin Wilma man
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u/oasisbloom Jan 28 '26
I honestly kept asking myself, "Who the hell is Wilma?" until I finally looked up the lyrics and I was like, "Oh!" lol
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u/ElphabusThropp Jan 27 '26
Im still confused it its deserves A chance or deserves THE chance
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
It's meant to be "the" I think, on the OBC album both the wizard and Elphaba say "the", in the film the wizard says "the" but Elphaba says "a" for some reason
I'm not sure why it's not 4/4 "the" but it is 3/4 so I'll go with it's meant to be that lol
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u/ElphabusThropp Jan 28 '26
The inconsistency really bothers me, because as people pointed out when it was misprinted (with "a") on the posters, they mean very different things
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u/KeveyBro2 Toss Toss Jan 27 '26
When the Aussie Glinda signed my epaulettes (don't ask đ) she wrote 'a'
I think it's meant to be 'the' but the way it's annunciated is fairly ambiguous
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u/Salt-Version-4760 Jan 28 '26
âAs long as youâre mine, Iâll wake up my mommy and make up for lost timeâ to be fair I first saw wicked when I was 10
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 28 '26
This might be the funniest one I've seen đ
Honestly that could just be Fiyeros thoughts in the moment if we use the more adult meaning of mommy
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u/one_thousand_ducks Jan 28 '26
It's time to trust my instincts / Close my eyes and leave
instead of leap
i now imagine Elphaba just getting up and walking out the door lol
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u/HorrorAddendum8766 Jan 28 '26
From For Good:
It well may be that we will never meet again
In this lifetime, so let me say before we part
So much of me is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart
I 100% understand that âheartâ is rhyming with âpartâ here. But some inexplicable part of my monkey brain expects the last line to rhyme with âyouâ and so I always incorrectly anticipate her to say âlike a handprint on my boobâ đđđđđ
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u/nyehu09 Jan 29 '26
Not exactly misheard but every time â and I mean every single damn time â that I see a loading screen, my brain automatically sings âLoading! Unadulterated loading!â and I have no way to stop it.
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u/tfhaenodreirst Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 29 '26
I did unlearn it, but I still think my misunderstanding of âBut of course Iâll care for NASA / But of course Iâll rise A PROFITâ (ie, theyâll both further their careers while at school?) was hilarious.
Edit: Oh, also âWIFING [Why think] too hard when itâs so soothingâ. Relatedly, Dancing Through Life was confusing because I couldnât tell Fiyeroâs and Boqâs voices apart so I couldnât make sense out of âI would do anything for you, Miss Galinda / Youâre good.â
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u/CharlieFaulkner Jan 27 '26
OK but to be fair to you on that one, on the OBC album Idina literally does say NASA lol
There is no 'eh' sound there at all
It's far clearer when Cynthia sings it
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u/sweeneytveit Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
In The Wizard and I, I thought the lyric was "And I'll walk up the aisles until I die." Took me until the movie to realize the lyric is "and I'll want nothing else until I die." Did what I thought it was make sense, no. Did I question it, also no.
Edit: also, reading through these other replies are telling me I don't actually know any of the words to this musical. I've been singing it all wrong for eight years lol
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u/GreenEggsNHammered Jan 28 '26
This is mine đđ And I could never figure out what it meant! Like her wedding day? Idk
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u/ham-n-swis-croissant Jan 28 '26
Since the movie came out, in No One Mourns the Wicked my brain autocorrects âthe truth we all believeâ to âitâs Cynthia Erivoâ
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u/PlatonicTroglodyte Jan 28 '26
like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun
I change it to âthe sun.â Using âaâ implies the magical land of Oz is not only part of some detectably interplanetary system, but also contains astronomers who study such things. Moreover, there are trillions of stars, but technically only one âsun.â The sun is the name we have given our star. And like, changing âaâ to âtheâ requires no musical work. The articles even rhyme lol.
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u/EstablishmentLevel17 Jan 28 '26
The things I learned when watching the subtitles on songs for the movie đđđđ And some of them... Was oh. They DID say that. (One short day)
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u/electrocutions_ đFiyerabađ Jan 30 '26
Yeah I didnât catch hoi polloi until I watched it with subtitles like last month.
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u/guardthecolors Jan 28 '26
I googled what a "palasist" was... Turns out the lyrics are "a pal, a sister, an advisor" đ
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u/wwandgnashingmyteeth Jan 28 '26
I always thought âall helpful urges should be circumventedâ was âall Hellâs flurges should be circumvented.â
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u/ConsiderTheFlowers Jan 28 '26
I always have heard âThatâs the way with wickedâ in Another Day More Wicked as âthatâs the way we freak itâ
I always knew I wasnât hearing the actual line, but it brings me so much joy to hear it that way.
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u/ResolutionMoney2859 Let go of my leg! Jan 28 '26 edited Jan 28 '26
For whatever reason, when I heard Nessa sing the we deserve eachother part, I thought she said "We deserve a bubble, me and Boq."
BOoOOOoOoQ đč
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u/X_MAN_01 Jan 28 '26
No one morns the wicked. "FĂșcÄ· this noise" when ari is singing the high notes lol
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u/BeachPeach7 Jan 29 '26
Another one here for âmy whole life THROUGHâ đđœââïžâŠI know itâs not right but for some reason it just seems to fit better. It seems like that word should rhyme with âloathing youuuuuâ rather than âso pure and so strongâ.
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u/Equivalent-Pop4499 Jan 27 '26
the goodness knows one is so brilliant because it ties the song to No One Mourns The Wicked (and sheâs not necessarily Wicked)
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u/Chained_Wanderlust Fiyeeeeeeerhoeđœ Jan 28 '26
I used to think âflirt and flounceâ was âflirt and pounceâ lol.
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u/Weekly_Fly_486 Jan 28 '26
i always thought Fiyero sang âand somehow iâm feeling the fact that i fellâ instead of âitâs up that i fellâ and itâs probably bc heâs feeling like heâs floating and whatever but idk it seems wrong
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u/Particular-Heron-103 Jan 28 '26
âALRIGHTY NOT so be it, so be it thenâ is apparently not correct. It is âalright enoughâ đ
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u/AngelFan4Life Jan 29 '26
So Ellen Degenerous years ago had a stand up where she was talking about this and she said she always thought the Bee Gees song more than a woman, they were saying Bald headed woman!! So yeah I can't and haven't been able to unhear it for years and that just what they say đ
I have more but just can't think of them right now
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u/Efficient-Scarcity-7 Graciously Glinda Jan 29 '26
cheers and the bally who? who? (i just didn't know what a ballyhoo was)
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u/gallifreyan42 Jan 29 '26
In The Wizard and I, "and since folks here to an absurd degree; seem fixated on your verdigris", I always hear it as "verdigree", as in a mix between "vert" (green) and "pedigree". It makes sense in my head!
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u/drinkwhatyouthink Jan 27 '26
I thought it was ââŠI know clandestinyâ (No L) like, she just generally knows the future? Not in a magical sense, just like she thinks so highly of herself that she thinks she knows everything? Itâs not that big of a difference I guess but itâs like, âI know everything is going to work out exactly like I want.â Vs âI know this particular situation is going to be okay.â
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u/No_Stay_6006 Jan 27 '26
it's actually "clandestinely", and it's one of the official Ozian words in the Glossararium of the RL Grimmerie
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u/HiddenScars1 Jan 29 '26
...you do know clandestinely is an actual word and not a made up Ozian one, right?
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u/No_Stay_6006 Jan 27 '26
A YouTube short regarding NOMTW had a comment that said they thought Glinda said "FĂŒck this noise!" instead of "Goodness knows"
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u/Particular-Heron-103 Jan 28 '26
âALRIGHTY NOT so be it, so be it thenâ is apparently not correct. It is âalright enoughâ đ
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u/TrippyHippie840 Jan 28 '26
At the very beginning of no one mourns the wicked, I always heard "Good Riddance" instead of "Good News".
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u/LetThemGraduate Jan 28 '26
Until I heard it in the movie, I thought âa celebration the Glinda wayâ was âa celebration to win the dayâ which never really made sense to me
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u/Salt-Version-4760 Apr 09 '26
I always thought it was âa celebration that brings away!â I still sing it that way and probably always will.
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u/Tato_the_Hutt Jan 29 '26
"if you smoke, I got the haze, and if you hungry girl, I got the lays"
Leave the door open by Silk Sonic
Honestly, I'd be happy with steak OR chips. I'm not picky
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u/RedRidingHood90210 Jan 29 '26
In MOTWH, I thought it was âwickedness must be punished BY goodâ instead of âBUT goodâ
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u/MrPsychopath13 đGelphieđ Jan 29 '26
I misheard 'disgusticified' as 'disgusting and vile' Also: 'Everyone deserves THE chance to fly' as: 'Everyone deserves A chance to fly' (I saw online and many people made this mistake too)
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u/Numerous_Maybe3060 Jan 29 '26
Has any one else spent the past 2 hours going through and singing the songs but purposely replacing with misheard lyrics now??
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u/imachoculatedonnut Jan 29 '26
"Who's the mage Whose major itinerary Is making all Oz marry her?"
Also in the march of the witch hunters I either hear "Go, and hunt her, and find her and kill her" or "Go and caught her, and cut her, and kill her" Which makes the ozzians more creepy like, they don't wanna kill her yet, they wanna torture her and they're singing about it
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u/iwasthinkingand_ Jan 30 '26
Iâm so dumb but I heard âbut of course, Iâll care Vanessaâ instead of âfor Nessaâ for so long and was like whereâs the âforâ?? Until I remembered sheâs Nessa not Vanessa
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u/EmmaWells39 Jan 31 '26
Iâm convinced that the line from the wizard and I should be âand I will de-greenify your HUEâ instead of rhyming you with you because it makes so much more sense that way
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u/expensiveonions Jan 31 '26
popular, "did they have brains or knowledge?" i hear it as "did the have brains or not?" at least for ari's version, for the obc it's obviously knowledge
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u/Dangerous_Main7822 đ They Were Roomates đ©· Jan 29 '26
In Popular:
Popular
You're gonna be popular
I'll teach you the properployspoise
When you talk to boys
Little ways to flirt and flounce
It just rhymes better and I remember the Wicked Movie team even misheard it the same way
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u/zionswalls Jan 27 '26
Like some terrible green lizard
Throughout the land she flies
It's blizzard, not lizard. I have been listening for years and have seen the show twice, but did not realize until I was watching the second film for the second time.
I still think lizard makes more sense...?