They tried to sell us egg foo yong...

I come from a family of talented folks -- the Baker's can all sing (well, except for Kathy!), dance, act, play instruments -- even twirl flaming batons (only Kathy!)...we are a fairly musical lot. And with four kids, we were always putting on some kind of show or another...even if just for my parents.

Growing up there were plenty of music lessons, band competitions, trips to county chorus and plays -- shoot, two of us have even appeared in made-for-TV movies.

But we share one common musical fault -- not a one of us can ever remember all the words, or at least the correct words to a song.

It's sad really.

And I am at the top of this list. In fact, on any given day you can hear my husband "gently suggesting" that I "learn the words" to the song I'm desperately trying to sing!

This malady can be traced back to my Pop -- who also loved to sing, and just randomly substituted words that "sounded right" into whatever song he was singing. Thus - as the title of this missive suggests, I was in my twenties before I realized that the classic Nat King Cole song was NOT "They Tried To Sell Us Egg Foo Yong" but "They Tried to Tell Us We're Too Young!"

But Pop wasn't alone... My baby sister (possibly the best true singer of all of us) routinely butchered popular lyrics. To this day I can't hear Kenny Rogers "Lucille" without hear her little voice singing "Four hundred children in a washing machine" instead of "four hungry children and a crop in the field." Another classic -- baby sister in Sunday school at roughly 5 or 6 singing "He's got the whole world in his pants!"

Just picture the nuns trying to correct her.

And the seasonal "Hark it's Harold - Angels Sing!" I'll never forget the day she asked me who "Harold" was? I think I told her that he was the fourth, rarely mentioned Wise Man. (Yes, I was a smart alecky kid.)

Another classic -- "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- for years I sang "A girl with colitis goes by"...in my defense, this was during the time when my Mom was first diagnosed with Crones Disease. Of course, as a small child I thought the song title was "Lucy's in a Fight with Linus."

And my obsession with food clearly had a role in my singing the famous Rolling Stones song -- "I'll Never Leave Your Pizza Burning..." instead of "I'll Never Be Your Beast of Burden" (thanks to my first college boyfriend for pointing that one out!).

And I still do it...most recent mistake that entertained the masses? The Carrie Underwood song "Jesus Take The Wheel." I now know that the lyric is "...she was running low on faith and gasoline..." but for weeks I unknowingly sang "she was running low on faith and vaseline..." Who knows? Maybe Carrie had chapped lips?

To this day, to learn a song for any kind of performance requires repeated rote memorization.

And even then, I'll probably mess it up.

Oh, I'll hit all the right notes...but will inevitably repeat the first verse twice. Or change the words without realizing it. Or substitute something that "sounds right."

And hubby? The guy always trying to correct my mis-heard ways?

I figure he'll keep me around -- just last week I heard him singing "walking 'round in women's underwear..."