Misheard Lyrics

[Gryffindorian]

Every once a while, you hear a song on the radio and you can't figure out what the artist is saying, so you just make up your own. What are some of the misheard song lyrics you've listened to? Here are a few of mine.

Get Lucky by Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams:
We up on Mexican lucky (We're up all night to get lucky)

I Really Love to See You Tonight by England Dan and John Ford Coley:
I'm not talking 'bout Millennium (I'm not talking 'bout moving in)
And I don't want to change your life ...

Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden
I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until this guy falls down on me (Until the sky falls down on me).

What say you???

 

[Spot261]

Who wants to live forever by Queen

"Our love must die" was for years "I love my style"

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

There is a technical term for this phenomenon. It's called a "mondegreen." The term comes from a Scots poem misheard by writer Sylvia Wright in childhood.

 

[PureCrimson]

I wish I could remember all the botched lyrics I used to think of when I was a kid, but man, I don't think anyone who knows English would ever come up with those botched interpretations.
I don't know why I didn't just look them up and kept on with the insane gibberish.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

“Ever since she put me down
There’s been owls pukin’ in my bed”
(I've been out doin' in my head)
- Beach Boys, ‘Help Me Rhonda’

“Livin’ with you’s just a pretty big phooey all of the time”
(...just a-putting me through it all of the time)
- Genesis, ‘That’s All’

 

[Owain Taggart]

I used to listen to a lot of sea chanties, namely by Great Big Sea, and because of their raucous fast-paced style, words would often come out sounding different than intended. An example on I'm A Rover:

Misheard Lyrics:
It's only me, your raunchy lover.
Original Lyrics:
It's only me, your one true lover.

I think I actually prefer the misheard lyrics I think it's interesting how our mind will fill in what we think we hear, as it's all based on context, and often happens with words that we are unfamiliar with. I used to have a whole personal list of these, but sadly I don't remember most of them anymore.

 

[TrickyDickie]

I thought the song by ZZ Top was about a farmer the girls all loved:

'Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sod bust man
('Cause every girl crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man)

Justin Timberlake's song sounded like this:

I can't wait to kick your ass you motherfucker
(I can't wait 'til I get you on the floor, good-lookin')

When I was little, I thought it was 'Hark, The Hairy Angels Sing'

 

[Balok's Decoy]

I was pretty disappointed when I found out that the line in Toto's song "Africa" is not "I miss the rains down in Africa" but "I bless the rains down in Africa." Like...what? Bless the rains? The fuck is he talking about?

I love that song but I still wish it was "miss the rains down in Africa."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There's that bit in "We Didn't Start The Fire" that sounds like "children of the little mind" but which I'm pretty sure is "children of thalidomide" (reference to the birth defects caused by that drug).

 

[Marynator]

I used to think the song "My Girl" was about "Magic".

What did you say? (Well I guess you'd say)
What can make me feel this way?
Magic, magic, magic (My girl, my girl, my girl)
Talkin' bout ma-a-a-gic, magic (Talkin' bout my-y-y-girl, my girl)

 

[TrickyDickie]

I used to think the song "My Girl" was about "Magic".

What did you say? (Well I guess you'd say)
What can make me feel this way?
Magic, magic, magic (My girl, my girl, my girl)
Talkin' bout ma-a-a-gic, magic (Talkin' bout my-y-y-girl, my girl)

Now that's just cool.

Reminds me of this song:

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[RandyS]

I was pretty disappointed when I found out that the line in Toto's song "Africa" is not "I miss the rains down in Africa" but "I bless the rains down in Africa." Like...what? Bless the rains? The fuck is he talking about?

I love that song but I still wish it was "miss the rains down in Africa."

I always (and still do) heard it as "I touched the rains down in Africa".

Someday I'll write out what I hear in the lyrics to the theme song of The Dukes of Hazzard.

 

[thestrangequark]

I'm hard of hearing so I have always misheard everything. I think my favorite was recent, though. It was an old song on a CD my mom had made. The lyric was you treat me worse than a worn-out shoe, but I heard, You treat me worse than a one-eyed Jew.

 

[thestrangequark]

I was pretty disappointed when I found out that the line in Toto's song "Africa" is not "I miss the rains down in Africa" but "I bless the rains down in Africa." Like...what? Bless the rains? The fuck is he talking about?

I love that song but I still wish it was "miss the rains down in Africa."

Holy fuck you just blew my mind. How is it not "miss"???

 

[Spot261]

Actually I've always thought it was "miss"

I think we need to petition Toto to change them. Clearly we can't all be wrong.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Haha, it does make more sense too. I guess blessing the rain would make sense in the context of not having had much rain, and doing a rain dance, but yeah.

 

[scotpens]

I Really Love to See You Tonight by England Dan and John Ford Coley:

I'm not talking 'bout Millennium (I'm not talking 'bout moving in)
And I don't want to change your life ...

I always heard that line as "I'm not talkin' 'bout the linen." Which kind of makes sense. Maybe the guy's girlfriend left her sheets and towels at his place.

Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden
I want to stand with you on a mountain.
I want to bathe with you in the sea.
I want to lay like this forever.
Until this guy falls down on me (Until the sky falls down on me).

That's like the classic misheard line from Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze": " 'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy."

 

[Refuge]

Theme to CSI Miami (The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again)

We don't get food again
Don't get food again
No, no!

(Yeah whatever )

We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!

 

[thestrangequark]

Theme to CSI Miami (The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again)

God, there's really like, a whole, massive group of people who know this song only as "Theme to CSI Miami", isn't there?

It hurts.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Obligatory mention of Manfred Mann Earth Band's cover of "Blinded by the Light":

"wrapped up like a douche" ("revved up like a deuce")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_by_the_Light#Lyrics