Misheard Lyrics (Mondegreens): There's A Bathroom On the Right

[KWalkerInc]

Lately the '80s channel has been playing "Don't Disturb This Groove" by The System, which reminded me of how much I liked the song in 6th grade.  Unfortunately, back then I thought the song was called "Don't Disturb This School."  When I eventually figured it out or read the correct title somewhere, I cringed over the times I had talked about the song with other kids and called it by the wrong name.  No one corrected me, so either they were really polite or they didn't have any idea what I was talking about.

[smittykins]

“We Didn’t Start The Fire,” Billy Joel:

WRONG:  AIDS, crack, burning jets

RIGHT:  AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz 

[GaT]

There's a Sam Smith song I don't particularly like, so if the video came on, I didn't watch, I just never paid any real attention to it. That's probably why I thought the lyric was "I'll never be kissed again". Today I happened to watch the video when it first started & they give the title of the song, turns out the song is "Kids Again" & the lyric is "we'll never be kids again". I wasn't even close.

[Dancing Queen]

In "Walk Like an Egyptian," I've always thought the Bangles were singing "All the Hardy Boys call the Kremlin," which never made sense. 

My husband and I have been singing this song with our at-home karaoke setup (with lyrics on our TV!!!) for over a year, and I JUST realized they are singing "All the party boys. . . ."  I'd been singing the right words during karaoke without rewriting the wrong lyrics in my head.  😊

[Anduin]

A crossover between two of my favourite things and one of my least favourite things. Tolkien, metal, and Jackson's changes to the Hobbit. Cruachan's track Beren and Luthien. I swear, it sounds like the elven rebel Tauriel. It's the elven realm Doriath. I desperately don't want them to mention that character in their music. Desperately.

[Swenson]

On 9/21/2014 at 12:14 AM, Jeebus Cripes said:

Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band

 

what I hear: Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche, another runner in the night

actual lyrics: Blinded by the light, revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night

 

And I know I'm not the only one...

You're not.....I ALSO thought it was "Wrapped up like a douche".....followed by "Another roar in the night"

[Swenson]

And an oldie but goody....Neil Diamond "Cracklin Rose"

I heard: "Cracklin Rose you're still a broad woman"

Correct: "Cracklin Rose you're a store bought woman"

[Swenson]

On 1/5/2015 at 1:25 PM, GaT said:

LMAO

I always thought "Sharif don't like it" was "Streak of lightning"

 

On Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" in the bridge.....I thought "Bite the dust.....bite the dust yeah".......was  "I'm a bust  ... "I'm ADOPTED!"

Edited April 2, 2021 by Swenson

[Swenson]

On 11/5/2015 at 8:40 AM, Sandman87 said:

Until this moment that's what I thought it was too.

I used to hear "So walk on your feet"

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight I heard "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" by Janet Jackson.  When she sings, "Your friends seem to think that you're so peachy keen," I remembered that back in the '80s, I would always hear and sing it as "Your friends seem to think that you're so picture keen."  I never thought that made any sense, but like many of my mishead lyrics from childhood, I figured there was some hidden meaning I didn't know about, that Janet knew what it meant so it didn't matter if I didn't.

[smittykins]

I just had a “How dumb can I be?” moment.

I was listening to Jim Stafford’s “Wildwood Weed,” and there’s a section that I *thought* went:

Next day, we picked a bunch of them weeds

And we put ‘em in the sun to dry

Then we mashed ‘em up and we cleaned ‘em off

And put ‘em in a corncob pie 

And for probably the first time ever, I thought “A corncob pie?  That doesn’t make any sense!”

Then it dawned on me that it was actually “corncob PIPE”!
 

DUH!

Edited June 1, 2021 by smittykins

[KWalkerInc]

A few months ago, I posted in the thread for Kelly Clarkson's talk show that she had seemingly screwed up singing "Weak" by SWV.  She sang, "I can't figure out just what to do / When the problem here is you," but I was confident that the lyric was "the cause and cure is you."  And whoever entered the lyrics that come up on Google had it that way; but when I heard the song tonight, I listened carefully and Kelly seems to be right.  It's also listed that way on one lyrics site, just not the one that comes up automatically on Google.  I'm disappointed, because I always thought that "cause and cure" was a cool lyric and that it made perfect sense, that the singer is torn about the relationship because it both causes so many problems but can also make everything seem better.

[KWalkerInc]

This afternoon, I heard "Careless Whisper" by Wham! and it reminded me of how I thought "And waste the chance that I've been given" was "And waste the chance that I'd be ill-given."  I should have eventually realized that "ill-given" was not even a word, but I never figured out the right lyric until someone sang it on American Idol in 2002. 

I was also listening to a Queen Latifah CD I made a long time ago, and in "Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here," I used to think she was going, "Trying to disdain, ah!"  She was saying, "Trying to diss Dana," as in her name, but I don't think I knew what her real name was when the song was first released.

[Anduin]

I have listened to Nightwish's Beauty and the Beast a hundred times or more. There was always one line that never sounded right. "I'll be there to piss on your grave."

Today, I finally looked it up. "I'll be there to ease up your pain." In my defence, Tarja sings in an operatic style on top of a Finnish accent. Okay, yes, my ears are crap too.

[WendyCR72]

On 6/28/2021 at 5:31 AM, KWalkerInc said:

This afternoon, I heard "Careless Whisper" by Wham!

Was always pleasantly surprised at how Seether managed to make that song hard rock by replacing the sax with grinding guitars - and that they covered it to start with and made it a hit all over again. (I know it's a signature Wham! tune, but I prefer the cover.)

[madmax]

21 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Was always pleasantly surprised at how Seether managed to make that song hard rock by replacing the sax with grinding guitars - and that they covered it to start with and made it a hit all over again. (I know it's a signature Wham! tune, but I prefer the cover.)

I prefer the Seether version, too, and I grew up with the Wham! version.  Seether does some awesome covers.  

Speaking of Seether, I had a mondegreen with them for a couple years.  

Rise Above This

"I'll rise above this, rise above this doubt" is the correct lyric, but for a couple years, I thought it was "I'll rise above this, rise above this town"

On 6/1/2021 at 11:54 AM, smittykins said:

And put ‘em in a corncob pie 

And for probably the first time ever, I thought “A corncob pie?  That doesn’t make any sense!”

Then it dawned on me that it was actually “corncob PIPE”!

DUH!

When I was a kid, I thought it was a corncob pile.  Like maybe they were hiding it...

Edited August 12, 2021 by madmax

[WendyCR72]

1 hour ago, madmax said:

"I'll rise above this, rise above this doubt" is the correct lyric, but for a couple years, I thought it was "I'll rise above this, rise above this town"

Oh, wow! I thought the word was "town", too. Huh!

[JustHereForFood]

I have been listening to a lot of The Cranberries lately, and I love this song:

I keep hearing "you can't tame the spirit", but I guess it is supposed to be "take the spirit", which fits more with previous lyrics.

But now I really want a song, any song, with lyrics "you can't tame the spirit", because I really like that phrase.

[madmax]

15 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Oh, wow! I thought the word was "town", too. Huh!

Glad I'm not the only one. 😁

[madmax]

OK, just remembered another one:

"All Along the Watchtower" -Bob Dylan

Correct Lyric - Business men, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth

What I heard - Business men, they drink my wine, come and take my herb

(meaning they were stealing his weed, 'cause all them 60s artists were potheads 😂 )

[Annber03]

I just thought of a couple more of my own to add, too. 

First, Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" - this was one I misheard when I was younger:

Actual lyric: "I'm gonna leave this world for a while."

What I heard: "I'm gonna leave this world full of wire." 

And then Oingo Boingo's "Stay":

Actual lyric: "If we get through one more night..."

What I heard: "If we get the room one more night..." Which, given the song was about asking someone to stay with them, makes a little more sense, at least :p. My mom and sister heard the same thing I did, so at least I'm not alone in that one, LOL!

Also, looking back through this thread, in regards to "Kiss from a Rose", I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who heard "Kiss from a rose on the grave" instead of "Kiss from a rose on the gray" :p. I think "grave" fits better, personally. 

[blackwing]

On 7/25/2019 at 4:39 AM, KWalkerInc said:

It is embarrassing to think of all the times I played "She Bop" by Cyndi Lauper on cassette when I was about 8 years old.  I don't know what I thought the song was about...maybe dancing?  I even played the Cyndi Lauper tape in my grandparents' car when we travelled out of town to watch my sister in a track meet, but fortunately, they didn't seem to know what it meant either.

Quote lifted from the Misinterpreted Song Meanings thread.  I was about 10 when the song came out, and back then, had no idea.  I think back then I just thought it was about dancing.  Especially at the end of the video when she's on the stairs and dancing.  She sure did love to hop and bop around!

I was today years old when I learned that in the chorus she says repeatedly, "I hope he will understand".  I have ALWAYS thought that she said "I don't even understand".  The song makes a lot more sense with the correct line!

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by blackwing

[KWalkerInc]

In "Come On Get Up" by Janet Jackson, she sings the lines "Sexually you please / Mentally, I like your style."  However, I did not hear it this way for 20 years.  I heard it as "Sexually you've peaked / Mentally, I like your style."  I guess I thought that she was trying to make the guy feel better about bad sex by assuring him she liked him for other reasons, but I wondered why she would even bring it up in the first place!

[KWalkerInc]

For an embarrassingly long time, both my friend and I (so I can throw her under the bus, ha) misheard the line "And that heaven is overrated" from Train's "Drops of Jupiter."  We thought Pat Monahan was singing, "And Van Halen is overrated."  Then I would wonder why they would throw a random diss of Van Halen into the middle of the song and why it didn't make a whole lot of people very angry.  (I think there actually is a different Train song where they randomly mention Winger for no apparent reason, and that may have helped reinforce what I thought I was hearing in "Drops of Jupiter.")

[janie jones]

On 8/14/2021 at 9:22 PM, madmax said:

Correct Lyric - Business men, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth

What I heard - Business men, they drink my wine, come and take my herb

I used to think it was "come and dig my earth." I didn't understand why the businessmen were digging his earth.

On 9/4/2021 at 2:42 AM, KWalkerInc said:

For an embarrassingly long time, both my friend and I (so I can throw her under the bus, ha) misheard the line "And that heaven is overrated" from Train's "Drops of Jupiter."  We thought Pat Monahan was singing, "And Van Halen is overrated." 

I know someone else who thought this.

[smittykins]

Larry Groce, “Junk Food Junkie”

Correct Lyric: And my friends is always beggin’ me to take ‘em on macrobiotic trips

What I heard:  And my friends is always beggin’ me to take ‘em on mackerel body trips 

(Yeah, I don’t know either. 😁)

[KWalkerInc]

In "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga, I would hear one line as "She hides true love super-sio!" which isn't really a word, so I looked it up and found it was "She hides true love en su bolsillo" (in her purse).  That makes sense, but given the trouble I often have understanding what Gaga is talking about anyway (though I like her), my brain just couldn't figure out that she had switched languages (though I think she speaks French in "Bad Romance" and I don't know that language, but did at least recognize it was French).

In "You and I," I didn't have any trouble understanding Gaga, but when a studio version by Haley Reinhart was released after she performed it on American Idol, she seemed to sing the line "On my birthday, you sang me a 'Heart of Gold" as "On my birthday, you sang me a hot Al Dole."  I don't know what that means, but that's what it sounds like.

[KWalkerInc]

In "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," Prince apparently sings the line "10:35 on a lonely Friday night," but until tonight, I always thought he said (of the woman he meets at the bar) "Turned 35 on a lonely Friday night."  I guess he wanted to be very specific about the time of his meeting with the woman.  At least what I thought it was made sense for a change!

[KWalkerInc]

When I first bought Patti LaBelle's Miss Patti's Christmas album last year, I thought that a line in her song "It's Going to Be a Merry Christmas" was "Holidays make you paranoid."  After the next line, it became obvious she had sung, "Holidays make you care enough" (because the next line ended with "stuff").  Not long after listening to the song, I heard a version of "'Zat You, Santa Claus?" and thought, "I guess in this case, the holidays did make someone paranoid."

[KWalkerInc]

In the case of another song that I misheard for decades before it finally dawned on me that maybe I should look up the lyrics, "Living in America" by James Brown.  It starts out, "Superhighways, coast to coast.  Easy to get anywhere."  That makes total sense, but I thought it was "Superhighways, Coca Cola.  Easy to get anywhere."  I guess I thought he was just naming off things that he liked.  What I found interesting was that the two sites listing lyrics for that song really diverged for a lot of the lyrics, but they both understood the part that I didn't!

Tonight I heard "Love Bites" by Def Leppard on Music Choice '80s, and I actually never had trouble understanding that one.  But it reminded me of the misheard lyrics books that came out around the late '90s or early 2000s, because there was one from this song that was my favorite.  The chorus is "Love bites, love bleeds.  It's bringing me to my knees.  Love lives, love dies."  But someone heard, "The price of beans.  It's bringing me to my knees.  The beans!  The price!"  It was the last part that really cracked me up.

[KWalkerInc]

R&B Classics is playing "Back in My Arms Again" by the Supremes a lot.  I understood that Diana Ross was referring to her groupmates when she sings about how "Mary" and "Flo" shouldn't tell her what to do, but I was always confused by the lines "It's easy for Vince to say, 'Let him go,' / But I'm the one who needs him so."  I wondered who Vince was, if he was a guy in the band or something.  Of course, it turns out that she was saying, "It's easy for friends to say, 'Let him go,'" not Vince.  At least I figured out before I started trying to research Vince's identity.

[Prairie Rose]

For whatever reason, my mother always hears "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight as "Mr. Big Shot".

[Rushmoras]

So, I was listening to Jon Bon Jovi "Blaze of Glory" album with the lyrics on, and in one of the final songs "Dying ain't much of a living", I always heard him say: "Jesus been a friend to me". But, what he actually saying "Desert's been a friend to me". Also, in another verse, I always heard him say "...Sayin' I lost serenity" (serenity in a horrible drawn out accent"), but what he really says is: "Singing outlaw's serenade".

[Rushmoras]

Another Jovi's song "Janie, don't you take your love to town". In one of the lyrics, I always heard him say "I didn't come this far to go to Tallin", nope, he's singing "I did not come this far to throw the towel in" 😆

[Tachi Rocinante]

When I was younger listening to crappy AM radio, I though the ZZ Top song was "Touch", because the previous line is "I ain't askin' for much . . . "

[janie jones]

I was an adult before I learned what that song was called. I'm assuming that you, like me, aren't from a place where "tush" is even a word. It's not surprising that one would instead hear a word one has actually heard.

[smittykins]

Plus, I’ve always heard “tush” pronounced more like “toosh.”

[janie jones]

Yeah, same here. I read somewhere once that "tush" is a play on tush (butt) and some slang word for luxury that exists wherever they're from. It's never been clear to me how the ZZ Top people pronounce the butt word.

[WendyCR72]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:48 PM, smittykins said:

Plus, I’ve always heard “tush” pronounced more like “toosh.”

Yeah, think "push" but starting with a "t".

[Anduin]

Here's an example of misreading something. This logo.

The first time I saw it, I thought it said Iron Nihil, like it was the band's label. On closer inspection, it's the band's name, Lorna Shore. But I still like Iron Nihil.

[smittykins]

The Stylistics, “You Make Me Feel Brand New”:

Correct Lyric: Whenever I was insecure 

What I heard:  Whenever I was in Syracuse 

(I was seven years old and I lived there at the time, so it kinda made sense…)

[janie jones]

I don't know why, but that reminded me of one from my childhood.

In All I Wanna Do, by Sheryl Crow, there's a line "Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard." But I heard it as "Until the sun comes up I'm 'onna sell 'em all a couple of farts." That made absolutely no sense to me, and I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't hear what it really was. If I recall, the first time I heard of Santa Monica Boulevard, independently of the song, it immediately clicked with me what that line really was.

[KWalkerInc]

Tonight I heard "All My Life" by K-Ci & JoJo and just now recognized that one line is "I praise the Lord above."  I'd never quite been able to decipher that line for some reason, but thought it was something like "I raised a lot of guff."  That doesn't really make any sense, but I thought he was talking about mistakes he'd made in the past?  This song always reminds me of a few years ago when I checked the answering machine for messages and there was one from some random (possibly drunk) woman singing this song not very well.  The message started with her mid-song and she also interjected comments about how her father supposedly wrote it.  I have no idea how she ended up calling, as caller ID said it was from another area code (maybe she got mixed up because of being drunk).  I was a little frightened at the time but now find it funny.

[smittykins]

Steely Dan, “Reeling In The Years”

Wrong Lyrics: You can tell a mirror genius since you were seventeen 

in all the time I’ve done you, I still don’t know what you mean 

Right lyrics: You’ve been telling them you’re a genius since you were seven

In all the time I’ve known you, I still don’t know what you mean 

[Giuseppe]

All right, I read this whole thread, and I refuse to believe nobody else has mentioned this. I KNOW I'm not the only one who, for YEARS, thought it was "Ruth is in the house" instead of "Groove is in the heart", right???  I mean, c'mon! "Ruth is in the houuuuu-ou-ou-ou-ouse" That makes sense, doesn't it? Like, the party doesn't start til Ruth gets there? Right? Haha...haha....right?

To be fair, this was long before I knew what the name of the song was, lol.

Also, from Jimmy Eat World's song The Middle:

Actual lyrics go: It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything, will be just fine. Everything, everything'll be alright.

What I always hear: It just takes some time, little girl, in a little house of rhyme. Elephant, elephant will be just fine. Elephant, elephant will be alright!

Now, I knew good and well those were not the actual lyrics (was surprised, tho, that I got the words 'little girl' correct), but until I finally looked it up, that's what I heard, and damn it, I still sing it that way to this day because I like it better and I'm glad that elephant will be just fine.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Giuseppe

[KWalkerInc]

4 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

To be fair, this was long before I knew what the name of the song was, lol.

I definitely fouled up some lyrics (especially pre-Internet) from not knowing what the name of the song was.  (Hence "Don't Disturb This School" at the top of this page.)  I used to visit my grandparents in the Bay Area in the summer and record songs off the hip-hop/R&B station because we didn't have a station like that.  I recorded "No Parking on the Dance Floor" by Midnight Star off an old-school show, but I thought the title was "It's So Easy" because they said that a bunch of times, so that's what I wrote down on the thing that came with the tape.  I misheard the part that's the real title as "no barking on the dance floor."  I didn't know what that meant, but thought it was just a trend at the club or something that the artist didn't like.  When I bought the song years later (long after I knew what they were really saying), there was this long intro at the beginning where they're honking at a woman, telling her "You can't park here," "Lady, move your car!" etc. that made it obvious, but of course they didn't have time to play that part on the radio!

[Popples]

Seeing @Giuseppe mentioning The Wallflowers "One Headlight" in the Favorite 90s songs thread just jogged a memory.

Correct lyrics: Me and Cinderella, we put it all together

What I heard: The incinerator, burn it all together

[KWalkerInc]

Today I finally looked up a lyric from ABBA's "Dancing Queen":  "You're a teaser, you turn 'em on." 

You mean it's not "Warranties still turn him on"?  I knew that couldn't be right, but I was too lazy to bother to find what it actually was until now.  (Also, it amused me.)

[Oosala]

My brother and I have both misheard lyrics from the chorus of The Clash's 'Rock the Casbah.'  And we both like the song.

Me

Real lyrics:  Sharif don't like it

What I heard:  Charlene don't like it

My Brother

Real lyrics:  Rock the Casbah

What he heard:  Rock the cat box!!  :-)

I must take a moment to compliment KWalkerInc on your incredible depth of music interests and knowledge.  Do you own a million albums/tapes/CDs/digital songs?  So many different genres, also.  I respect that.

[KWalkerInc]

12 hours ago, Oosala said:

I must take a moment to compliment KWalkerInc on your incredible depth of music interests and knowledge.  Do you own a million albums/tapes/CDs/digital songs?  So many different genres, also.  I respect that.

Thanks!  I do have a lot of CDs and iTunes purchases, and sometimes I'm reminded (or discover for the first time) misheard lyrics when a song I haven't heard for a while plays on Music Choice.