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The theme song in the series "Monk" is "It's a jungle out there" by Randy Newman. You can listen to it here. When I listen to it, I always hear

People think I'm crazy, they worry all the time

But in the official lyrics it says:

People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time

No matter how often I try to hear the 'cause I, I just can't sound it out. When I try to sing along, I can't speak 'cause I' as fast as Newman does (if he really speaks/sings it, which I can't catch).

Do native speakers hear it? If they don't know the lyrics and listen to the song for the first time, would they be able to write it down correctly or is it just not there?

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    The version of a theme song that is actually broadcast very often differs from the "full" studio version of the song, especially if it is a reworked pop song (or other). Moreover, "official" lyrics tend to reflect the song as it was originally intended to be recorded, as opposed to actually recorded. Quite a few album jacket lyrics I've seen are quite wrong. Where can we find the "official" lyrics for this song, and is this clip from the song as used on the show or as recorded for album release or radio play?
    – choster
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 22:39
  • "Official" may be a bit exaggerated. But I've never seen another version. The clip is from the song as used on the show.
    – Sadık
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 22:59
  • It sounds edited, actually, like there was supposed to be more beats between "crazy" and "worry" but someone thought it sounded better with less. I don't hear "cause I" and I don't hear "they". I just hear "tha".
    – Andrew
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 23:12
  • It's not been edited. Newman sings th' worry all the time because, guess what? He can sing any words he wants! The producers liked that take, so it wound up as the theme.
    – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 23:26
  • Hardly any lyrics are canonical, not even the canonical ones. Singers change words all the time, even when they didn't write the lyrics to begin with. The changing has a name: "folk-processing". It is a fruitful source of the errors called, affectionately,"mondegreens" (q.v.)
    – MMacD
    Commented Nov 26, 2016 at 22:15

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Contemporary song lyrics vary from occasion to occasion, as the performer is inspired to modify them, and it's pretty meaningless to look for an authoritative version—even (or especially!) when the performer is the composer/lyricist himself.

In the recording to which you link what Newman actually sings at 0.35 is "People think I'm crazy to worry all the time". In this live performance, however, he sings "People think I'm crazy 'cause I worry all the time" the first time through, at 0:52—and he garbles the first clause somewhat; but the second time through, at 1.45, he sings "People think I'm crazy to worry all the time".

Wikipedia tells us that "Although the track remained consistent, the clips used in the title sequence changed over the course of the series. There are hence three different versions". It is possible that both versions of the line appeared in the original, longest version of the theme, as they do in the live performance.

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  • odd. I really don't here the differenc of 0:52 and 1:45
    – Sadık
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 23:34
  • @Sadik Odd. I just listened to 1:45 four times in a row: twice I heard /tə/ and twice I heard /zə/! There may be compression artefact here.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Nov 1, 2016 at 23:38

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