Misheard Song Lyrics

[James Y]

I'm sure everyone has songs in which they misheard some of the lyrics. Especially in the past, when there was no internet access to everything, including song lyrics. Unless you owned the album, and IF they had the lyrics on the record sleeve.

Blinded By the Light was a big one for me. I loved the sound, but for decades I was repelled by the song, because I had misunderstood the lyrics starting from 2:07 as:

"And Little Early-Birdy gave my a**s curly-wurly, and asked me if I needed a ride."

If you're unfamiliar with the song and listen to that part, you'll know the word it sounds like.

I also thought the part at the beginning at 0:14 was:

"Wrapped up like a douche, another roller in the night."

For years, I thought this song was some thinly-veiled code about some old perv cruising around in his car, and always wondered how they could play it on the radio. I sure am glad I discovered the actual lyrics. Even though they're nonsensical (IMO), at least they're not what I thought they were.



https://youtu.be/Rpq35wyDi7I

Jim

[TheGiant80]

I used to think the Full House theme song started with "Whatever happened to your disability?"..

[TkoK83Spy]

Hahaha, great thread idea Jim!

I'll never forget this one, or live it down with a small group of friends I grew up with...

The ultra famous Bee Gees song "Stayin Alive" I spent up until I was around 15 years old thinking when they get singing "stayin alive" multiple times in a row...I always thought they were saying "stringing the lights"

We were hanging out at my friend's house skateboarding on his backyard pad while his parents had a cook out and that song came on. I remember saying "I love this song" and proceeded to sing it as "stringing the lights" and was immediately laughed at and called out. I didn't believe them until it was confirmed by his dad. Blew my mind I had it wrong all those years, or that I was never corrected before hahaha.

[kennbr34]

"And Little Early-Birdy gave my a**s curly-wurly, and asked me if I needed a ride."

Haha same!

I mostly mishear lyrics to various choruses...

I use to think Tiny Dancer was saying"Hold me closer, Tony Danza" but that's a really common one.

I also used to think "You're So Vain" was saying, "I had a dream there were clowns in my coffee."

Then there's the song "Rhiannon"... I use to think that chorus was, "Yeeeeeaaaahhhh,... No."

Probably the one I misheard that made the song the most disturbing was Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World"

" I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
There's an old street light (near a garbage can)
Near a garbage can (near a garbage can)
And now she throws the kid away and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she's done to it
There's one more kid that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool"
(Supposed to say " put )

Probably a lot more I can't think of but those are the greatest hits lol

[Naperville]

This is a funny thread. I don't recall all the songs, mostly from the 70's but just last week I was listening to one of the songs on YouTube with lyrics and I had at least 3 to 5 words wrong. I could have sworn that I knew the words to that song too.

[Manixguy@1994]

Louie , Louie by the Kingsmen , 1963 . Lyrics were clean but bad muffled recording at that time brought some rather raw connotations . FBI were actually involved investigating and found no proof because they could be positive anything sang was obscene . Dan

[Pokey]

In the Jimi Hendrix tune “Purple Haze,” he’d sing the lyrics, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky” as “Excuse me while I kiss this guy,” while gesturing towards bassist Noel Redding.

Tom Petty in “Free Falling” would sing the lyric, “She's a good girl, is crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too” as “and your boyfriend too.”

[Doc Dan]

For me it was John Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival, who was famous for poor diction, when he sang "There's a bathroom on the right". It was supposed to be a bad moon on the rise.

[James Y]

Thanks for the responses and great shares, everyone!

Rick,

I always misunderstood the Bee Gees when they sang falsetto. Then decades later, when actually finding the lyrics, I couldn't see how anyone could've understood them just hearing the song.

When "You Should Be Dancing" was first playing on the radio in 1976 (a full year before Saturday Night Fever was released), I misheard the part of the chorus that says, "What you doin' on your back? Aaaahhh" as:

"Uh shivi-divi-divot-dit, yeeeeaaaahhhh!
Uh shivi-divi-divot-dit, yeeeeaaaahhhh!"

I thought it was nonsensical vocal sounds, like when Little Richard sang "Wop bop a loo bop a lop bom bom" in Tutti Fruity.

The "shivi-divi-divot-dit" sounding part comes up several times in this song; first time is at 0:44:

https://youtu.be/FSbRDnYctL8

Jim

[ChrisinHove]

https://youtu.be/7my5baoCVv8

Bloomin’ hilarious!

[James Y]

https://youtu.be/7my5baoCVv8

Bloomin’ hilarious!

Jim

[James Y]

I'm Not in Love, by 10cc

Back in 1975, when this was new and was being played on the radio a lot, the part starting from 2:20, right after he whispers, " Be quiet," and repeatedly whispers, "Big boys don't cry, big boys don't cry," I misheard it as him whispering, "Be quiet...because-because, because-because" in a heavy New York accent. 10cc is a British band.



Later that year, I learned what he was really saying.

https://youtu.be/rwsVgXG_zyI

Jim

[SpyderNut]

In Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” I always thought the line was “rotten sons a bear” instead of the true lyric, “the Robinson’s affair.”

[legOFwhat?]

ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" Bruce is actually "Groos". I'm 51 and only learned this last year.

My screenname is part my initials and a misquote (by me) of the Van Halen song "good enough"

"Hey waitress, looka here mam!
You got any specials here tonight
Me and the fellas might be interested in?
What's that, what? ... Rack a' what?
Well I'll have some of that!"

I thought it said "leg-o-what?"

Got a chuckle from my BIL and the following day I registered here on the forum...

[James Y]

ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" Bruce is actually "Groos". I'm 51 and only learned this last year.

My screenname is part my initials and a misquote (by me) of the Van Halen song "good enough"

"Hey waitress, looka here mam!
You got any specials here tonight
Me and the fellas might be interested in?
What's that, what? ... Rack a' what?
Well I'll have some of that!"

I thought it said "leg-o-what?"

Got a chuckle from my BIL and the following day I registered here on the forum...

Jim

[James Y]

I Saw Her Standing There

The part starting at 0:14, where Paul McCartney sings "...and the way she looked was way beyond compare," I used to think he was saying "...and the way she looked was way beyond the mare." And I thought, "Well, I sure hope the girl was better looking than a horse."

https://youtu.be/pVV6udgqaJ4

Jim

[riclaw]

Seagull by Bad Co.

Every time he says "Seagull, you fly, across the horizon," I thought he said "Seeker of life, across the horizon". I think I like my version better, more upbeat.

[James Y]

For going on 43 years, I thought the part @ 0:55, where he says, "try to detect it" was "right through to Texas." Actually, my mistaken understanding of the lyrics makes more sense than the actual lyrics.

https://youtu.be/j_QLzthSkfM

Jim

[SG89]

My cousin thought the lyrics in Waterfalls by TLC where they sing “don’t go chasing waterfalls” was “GoGo Jason waterfalls”. This was like 10 years after the song came out.

[TkoK83Spy]

Hahaha, that's a good one SG. Definitely one our generation heard A LOT of. I can hear it that way if I'm thinking it that way