Misunderstood lyrics.

[Vanyel]

Dave Barry used to do a column about people hearing the wrong lyrics to a song, and then singing them that one. My favorite story from one of his columns was about a boy who was singing "Ain't no women like the one eyed gott" (Ain't No Women Like The one I've Got).

My mother, bless her heart, while driving her grand daughter to school heard the song "Hollaback Girl." Yes this was a few years ago. My mother asked me about the song, and in all seriousness, asked why the singer was saying "I aint no helicopter." I nearly fell over laughing and had to catch my breath before I could tell her the lyrics.

So tell me, was there any time that you, or someone you know, heard the wrong lyrics to a song? And what were those wrong lyrics?

 

[Gepard]

That's called a mondegreen, and, yes, it's quite common.

When I was a kid, my mom, brother and I once spent an entire evening trying to figure out the lyrics to all the Elton John pop versions of the songs from The Lion King. (This was back before Disney wisely put the lyrics in the liner notes.) Man, we were waaaaaay off.

 

[Hoser]

At work the speaker system is horrible, so we get these a lot.

"On a dark desert highway, cool whip in my hair......"
"Well I'm hot buttered, check it and see, I've got a fever of a hundred and three..."
"Whooah, were half way there whooah Livin on a prayer Take my hand and we'll make a nice sweater"
"Hold me closer Tony Danza, like the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in cheese a'plenty....."

 

[captcalhoun]

for years i was convinced it was 'anti-Russian head law' in the Queen song instead of 'and you're rushing headlong'...

 

[M'Sharak]

That's called a mondegreen, and, yes, it's quite common.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Jon Carroll for years devoted a couple of columns annually to mondegreens. At least some of those columns are archived here.

 

[Geckothan]

"Deadly patterns made my wreath" / "Deadly badgers invade my rim" (Opeth - The Drapery Falls)
"Won't let them fill me with fatalistic remedies" / "Won't let them feel me again with fail elastic rubber bands" (Dream Theater - Scarred)

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

"Scuze me while I kiss this guy".

 

[Turd Ferguson]

"Blinded by the light. Revved up like a douche, another runner in the night." -Blinded By the Light, Manfred Mann's Earth Band

"Don't go round tonight, it's bound to take your life, yeah, there's a bathroom on the right." -Bad Moon Rising, Creedence Clearwater Revival

 

[Hoser]

I love the douche song so much.

 

[Miss Chicken]

When I was a little girl I thought that the fourth line of "God Save the Queen" which is

"Send her victorious"

was

Send her to Victoria"

and I wondered what was so special about that state for everyone to send the Queen there.

 

[Hoser]

Not that it's a song, but I used to know a kid who thought God's name was Howard, because we said 'Our Father, Who art in heaven, Howard be thy name'

 

[DarkHelmet]

Def Leppard's "Animal" comes to mind. Wasn't till I karaoked it - badly - that I understood all the lyrics.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I do love the U2 song about "Shamu the Mysterious Whale".

 

[TheGodBen]

It's getting hotter, it's our burning love
but I just can't seem to get it up.

Seriously, for years I thought Depeche Mode were singing about impotence until a groups of friends corrected me by laughing their asses off.

 

[shivkala]

"Scuze me while I kiss this guy".

Which is also a title of a database of these mondegreens.

 

[sojourner]

"She's got electric boobs and mohair suits" - Elton John

 

[K'Ehleyr]

At work the speaker system is horrible, so we get these a lot.

..."Whooah, were half way there whooah Livin on a prayer Take my hand and we'll make a nice sweater"
..."

 

[CorporalClegg]

Some of them, like this one:

"Whooah, were half way there whooah Livin on a prayer Take my hand and we'll make a nice sweater"

I have a hard time really believing. Are people really that stupid?

But the Blinded By the Light is the one that really gets me. I think it speaks bounds of people's immaturity as well as their stupidity.

For starters, it's a freaking Springsteen song! Anyone who listens to it should be able to clearly understand what he's singing. And, yes, Chris Thompson has a very think Kiwi accent, but you can still tell what he's saying.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I have a hard time really believing. Are people really that stupid?

But the Blinded By the Light is the one that really gets me. I think it speaks bounds of people's immaturity as well as their stupidity.

For starters, it's a freaking Springsteen song! Anyone who listens to it should be able to clearly understand what he's singing. And, yes, Chris Thompson has a very think Kiwi accent, but you can still tell what he's saying.

Well, I'm usually at work when I hear it, usually listening to people bitch, so I usually don't get ask people to shut it so I can closely examine what the song is saying and download the lyrics. Jesus.

 

[exodus]

I was watching Prince in an interview recently, he was talking about meeting Selma Heyak for the first time and how she had a limited understanding of the English language at the time. So he said she thought the chours to "Little Red Corvette" was "Pay the Rent Collect".