Bachman Turner Overdrive

[jester at PANIX.COM]

>
> Frank Abate wrote:
> > Don't overlook mentioning the lyric in the Steppenwolf song of about 1970(?),
> > "Born to be Wild", which goes something like:
> >
> >     I like drinking lightning
> >     Heavy metal thunder . . .
> >
>
> Maybe it's a mondegreen, but I hear:
>
>     I like smoke and lightnin'
>
> or possibly:
>
>     I like smokin' lightnin'

Acocording to the printed lyrics, it's "I like smoke
and lightning,/Heavy metal thunder," and it's from 1968.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED