Woman thinks Eminem has re-edited classic song to ‘make it more appropriate’

When it comes to Eminem songs there are few as well known as 'My Name Is', with the 1999 track one of his most recognisable tunes ever.

However, some people are remembering the lyrics to it a little differently, and it turns out the original version varied slightly to the song we got.

TikTokker @thebigturnip spotted that the lyrics to the classic song weren't quite how she remembered and posted a video on the site running through the song.

At first she thought it might be a 'Mandela effect' – a false memory people collectively have, like the Monopoly man having a monocle or Walker's cheese and onion crisps originally being in green bags (even though they definitely should be).

Then she wondered if Eminem had changed the lyrics to 'My Name Is' to make them 'a lil more appropriate', especially since many rappers release 'clean' versions of their music which are more suitable for broadcasting.

In another video she played a much more explicit version of the track where she'd first heard the lyrics, leaving many confused about this version they'd never heard before.

ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

The real answer is that there's an unreleased (sort of, we'll get to that) version of 'My Name Is', in which the lyrics are pretty different.

If you're familiar with the song you'll know the part: "My English teacher wanted to flunk me in Junior High. Thanks a lot, next semester I'll be thirty five."

In the unreleased original version, that line goes: "My English teacher wanted to have sex in junior high. The only problem was, my English teacher was a guy."

Another changed lyric goes: "Extraterrestrial, running over pedestrians in a space ship. While they screaming at me 'Let's just be friends!'"

That line used to be: "Extra-terrestrial, killing pedestrians. Raping lesbians while they're screaming 'Let's just be friends!'"

The reason why the song got changed is because it contains a sample of Labbi Siffre's track 'I Got The...' and the openly gay musician refused to give his approval unless the homophobic lyrics were removed.

Tribune Content Agency LLC / Alamy Stock Photo

Later explaining his stance on the song, he slammed 'dissing victims of bigotry' as 'lazy writing' and said he should have demanded they be removed for 'all versions' of the songs, but didn't know enough about 'clean' and 'explicit' versions at the time to ask for it.

While the unreleased version wasn't supposed to see the light of day, it was accidentally put on compilation album The Source Hip Hop Music Awards 1999 instead of the updated version.

Inevitably, it also got released onto the internet as the file ended up on Limewire, which is what people in the early days of the internet used to download music, movies and also the occasional virus.

Topics: Eminem, Music

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker