Hot Chowda?

If you haven't already, please listen to the first 5 seconds of this song:



To the uneducated undergrad ear the first line of the song could very easily sound like, "In December / Drinking hot chowder" especially if you're driving around the greater Boston area on a cold January morning with an empty stomach, much like I was when I first heard this delightful tune. Now, I know that in the world of misheard lyrics there are numerous far stretching accusations that don't quite make sense when a purportedly "misheard" line is perfectly intelligible, but I think in this instance I am completely justified in misconstruing an already abstruse lyric.

Horchata? How am I, the benighted day dwelling layman who can barely ask for a vanilla chai at Dunkin Donuts, supposed to know of a traditional Latin American beverage made from exotic spices I've never tasted? Nope! Sounds like HOT CHOWDA to me! And so, when driving to get a bagel with my girlfriend this morning I was quite confused as to why someone would want to drink their hot chowder instead of eat it with a spoon like a normal person.

Of course I couldn't just leave the subject alone and had to incessantly repeat my sentiments of confused disgust while my lady and I were waiting for bagels. "Hot chowder? Drinking hot chowder? What? Thats disgusting!" and so forth. Much to my lady's chagrin this revolving image of a man drinking chowder was starting to make her sick and even the woman behind the counter stifled a nauseas burp or two. Slurping hot chowder? Fine. Maybe even sipping it... but drinking it? Chugging it? The thought of the *glug* glug* *gurp* *gurp* sounds eminating from the throat of Vampire Weekend's lead singer as he takes down a hot cup o' chowder on a cold morning in December, throat muscles convulsing and straining to swallow creamy hot chunks of clam, white goop dribbling down the sides of his slightly stubbly cheeks. It starts dripping on to his ascot and then... well... uh... I suppose thats not what he actually meant in the first place because if you read the lyrics you'll discover the song takes place on the beach with crabs snipping at your sandals as you moon over some long lost tool shed.

You know what? I don't think I'll ever try horchata because of this song. I think Vampire Weekend should keep their lyrics simple and sing about tractors, love, and beer. If they want us to try horchata then at the end of the song they can add, "and yea, horchata is a pretty good drink from South America that you might want to try" instead of having to sing it with all the lyrical inflections and stylized syllabic adornments that do nothing more but confuse me, your regular every day chowder-minded Joe.