Must of Got Lost - J. Geils Band (1974) 5/26/21

The title of today's "Great Song of the '70s" is an eggcorn.

Yeah, I'd never heard of it either...so I looked it up.

An eggcorn is "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing or misinterpretation of another, an element of the original being substituted for one that sounds very similar or identical."

The word was coined in 2003 by linguistics professor Geoffrey Pullum after a colleague mentioned that he knew a woman who always said "eggcorn" instead of "acorn" and wondered why there wasn't a name for that sort of thing. Pullum suggested that "eggcorn" was as good a name as any, and it stuck. At least in linguistic circles.

Anyway, when the J.Geils Band released "Must of Got Lost" in late 1974, grammar police everywhere complained that the title SHOULD be "Must Have Got Lost" or "Must've" Got Lost."

While they were complaining, everyone else was enjoying one of the most "hook-filled" songs of '74-75. In fact, Billboard Magazine called it "one long hook" as it made it's way to #17 on the Hot 100.

"Must of Got Lost" by the J Geils Band: You can call it an eggcorn or bad grammar...as long as you also call it a "Great Song of the '70s!