I drove Abigail to pre-school this morning, while we listened to Florence + The Machine’s “Remain Nameless.” Toward the end of the song, Abigail asked me, “What kind of phone is a Needem?”

I had no response to this. Through investigations, questions, answers, and, yes, a few tears – tears come quickly these days when Abigail is frustrated by our lack of comprehension – I realized that she was misunderstanding some of the lyrics. As a lifelong lyric-mangler, I have a lot of sympathy for this point of view.

There’s a refrain in the song, “Call me when you need me,” which Abigail translated to, roughly, “Call me with your needem.” Hence, “What kind of phone is a Needem?”