If you watched just one online video in the last two weeks chances are high it was the hugely successful lyric video for ‘Fuck You’ by Cee Lo Green. It has been a huge viral sensation with over 4.5 million views in 2 weeks. Now here’s a funny story about the lyric video.

Everyone fucks up at work, it’s human nature, but when your job involves musicians with millions of fans you set yourself up for very public fuck-ups. I haven’t made any hugely damaging mistakes yet but I was almost responsible for the Cee Lo Green lyric video going out with the wrong lyrics.

In the early stages of planning around the song I was briefing developers to come up with some ideas. A&R were keeping a tight lid on the song itself but I was allowed to send the lyrics to the developers. The only problem was that no-one had the lyrics on file. So I sat with my headphones on and the song on repeat, transcribing what I heard.

Now I’m the first to admit that I mishear lyrics. I scream gibberish at gigs all the time. So I sent my version of the lyrics on to A&R asking them to have it verified by Cee Lo’s management. No-one was overly concerned and next thing I knew the lyrics I transcribed had somehow become the official document.

This document was passed on, including my exact spelling and punctuation, to Terry Scruby to create the motion graphics video that would become a YouTube sensation. A few hours before it was due to hit the web someone questioned a line in the chorus.

I was almost responsible for this line:
Although there’s pain in my chest, I still wish you the best with a “Fuck You!”

Going out to the world as:
Although there’s pain in my church, I still wish you the best with a “Fuck You!”

Now that would have been a pretty momentous fuck-up.