does anyone else have misheard lyrics which sometimes outstand the original singers notes or else are daft or hilarious?
― erik, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
This is mega-annoying because it's a really cool song but I can't listen to it anymore.
― jamesmichaelward, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Nitsuh, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chris Lyons, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Lyrics:
What is this song all about?Can't figure any lyrics outHow do the words to it go?I wish you'd tell me, I don't knowDon't know, don't know, don't know, oh noDon't know, don't know, don't know...Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'And I don't know what I'm singin'Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'I still don't know what I'm singin'We're so loud and incoherentBoy, this oughta bug your parentsYeahIt's unintel-ligibleI just can't get it through my skullIt's hard to bargle nawdle zoussWith all these marbles in my mouthDon't know, don't know, don't know, oh noDon't know, don't know, don't know...Well, we don't sound like MadonnaHere we are now, we're NirvanaSing distinctly? We don't wannaBuy our album, we're NirvanaA garage band from SeattleWell, it sure beats raising cattleYeahAnd I forgot the next verseOh well, I guess it pays to rehearseThe lyric sheet's so hard to findWhat are the words? Oh, nevermindDon't know, don't know, don't know, oh noDon't know, don't know, don't know...Well, I'm yellin' and we're playin'But I don't know what I'm sayin'What's the message I'm conveyin'?Can you tell me what I'm sayin'?So have you got some idea?Didn't think so -- Well, I'll see yaSayonara, sayonaraAyonawa, odinawaOdinaya, yodinayaYaddayadda, yaaahyaaahAyaaaaaah!
― Kodanshi, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― brains, Monday, 22 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
It brings visions of Rem Koolhaas searching hystericaly through his minimally futuristic loft for his knickers.
now another one for readers who understand Dutch (not many I guess). A friend of mine thought that in 'Vicious' Lou Reed actually sang the dutch word 'visjes' which means 'little fish'
Little fish You hit me with a flower
― erik, Tuesday, 23 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― helen fordsdale, Tuesday, 23 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Ah well. I used to hear "I'll get another job at night" from XTC's "Earn Enough For Us" as "I'll get another job at *nine*". (i.e. back to work at 9 am the next morning, which makes sense)
― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 23 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Gary Numan, his love is real, but he isn't? ;-)
― erik elektrik, Tuesday, 23 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Snotty Moore, Friday, 26 October 2001 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
MaybeI don't really wanna knowHow you got engrossed'Cause I just wanna play...
I marvelled at the way the guy with the eyebrows stretched out that syllable "gross", as if solely to disgust anyone who expected a sense of decorum from him. I had a new favourite great white hope. Of course, I soon found out the lyric was actually "how your garden grows", which is just so lame.
I never really got over that.
― B:Rad (Brad), Wednesday, 23 October 2002 20:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Prude, Thursday, 24 October 2002 01:24 (eighteen years ago) link
That's funny, I only count one per head.
It's great when misheard lyrics mean the opposite of the real thing. I spent months singing along to Wilco's "Radio Cure" as "distance has a way of making love understandable," when the lyric is "no way." Shucks.
― wl (wl), Thursday, 24 October 2002 22:57 (eighteen years ago) link
What an interesting life I lead.
― Callum (Callum), Thursday, 24 October 2002 23:06 (eighteen years ago) link
oops, but that's the way I heard that line, from Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower', listening to Mad Sheer Khan's live version of the song on the radio tonight
― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 15 May 2003 20:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 15 May 2003 20:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― emily bee (emilybee), Thursday, 15 May 2003 20:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 15 May 2003 23:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Can anyone guess which one this is? These might be the real words, for all I know.
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Jesus, I think you have ruined this one song for me. I used to love it but I have the feeling that since this day I'll be hearing John Foxx singing "underpants!" everytime.
― Diego Valladolid (dvalladt), Sunday, 22 August 2004 22:35 (sixteen years ago) link
― David N (David N.), Sunday, 22 August 2004 22:42 (sixteen years ago) link
― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 22 August 2004 23:08 (sixteen years ago) link
It sounded like she was singing "Your toxic come dripping down my body" or summat. That can't be right though can it? I mean, she's not putting (or rather, her songwriters aren't) THAT much innuendo in her songs yet are they? Although that thing where she fiddles with her breasts in the video clip lead me to believe that it's not far off.
― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 23 August 2004 00:31 (sixteen years ago) link
― Wooden (Wooden), Monday, 23 August 2004 00:33 (sixteen years ago) link
ihttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/kingoftheroad.gif
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 7 October 2005 17:22 (fifteen years ago) link
MOTHERFUCKER! A recent detour to a Beastie Boys lyrics site disabused me of the following lyrics to "Hold It, Now Hit It:
As transcribed: "Every day I drink O.E. and I don't go to work." As heard in my brain for the past 20 years: "Every day I take a wee and I don't go to work"
Goodgod y'all, is nothing sacred?
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 28 June 2007 17:43 (thirteen years ago) link
In Kristin Hersh's version of "Cuckoo" on Hips and Makers, I know it's "Oh the cuckoo / She's a pretty bird / She warbles / As she flies" -- but I always hear (prob bcz I want to hear) "... / She wobbles / As she flies".
― anatol_merklich, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 23:00 (thirteen years ago) link
As A kid I listened to Mariah Carey's Breakdown millions of times and I always thought the last line of the chorus was 'I tell my mother lies and then I breakdown and cry.'
― Christyles, Monday, 3 September 2007 08:37 (thirteen years ago) link
"just because of love what does?"
-devin the dude
― Lowell N. Behold'n, Monday, 3 September 2007 09:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I heard Unbelievable at Skate King and thought the chorus was "you're ugly and bald"
― musically, Thursday, 3 December 2009 16:51 (eleven years ago) link
the fact that I heard it at Skate King was very relevant btw
― musically, Thursday, 3 December 2009 16:52 (eleven years ago) link
Torche - "Across the Shields"
Can't be right:
Harsh mad anger all the time! Soothsay big on your dime! Send all your kingdoms porn! And pray mother keep us all!
― ksh, Friday, 4 June 2010 13:50 (ten years ago) link
I don't know if its right or not, but i like those Torche lyrics.
For a really long time I thought ZZ Top was singing "Every girl's crazy 'bout a shy gas mask." In fact, I found the actual lyrics quite disappointing.
― ImprovSpirit, Friday, 4 June 2010 15:01 (ten years ago) link
As heard in my brain for the past 20 years: "Every day I take a wee and I don't go to work"
Still prefer this.
― Otherwise you're kinda being comp-lit in his racism. (kkvgz), Friday, 4 June 2010 15:32 (ten years ago) link
there's another, longer thread on this
Misheard lyrics
― anagram, Friday, 4 June 2010 15:39 (ten years ago) link
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/lotr/images/d/de/Sword.jpg
well i crossed my old man back in Aragorn, don't take me alive
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 10 December 2016 15:48 (four years ago) link
The Jags - 'Back Of My Hand'
When I was younger, I kept hearing "you're not unreadable, you're not unbeatable" as "get out of Weinerville, get out of Weinerville"
― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Saturday, 10 December 2016 22:08 (four years ago) link
alan alda's all we are
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 28 June 2017 21:23 (three years ago) link
Someone in this usually very quiet Huntington Beach neighborhood is gettin' all crunk this Saturday evening, presently to the sound of C+C Music Factory's 1990 single 'Gonna Make You Sweat.' This has reminded me that, when the song was current, me and my ten year old friends had a joke that the lyric was actually, "Everybody, pants down!"
― he doesn't need to be racist about it though. (Austin), Sunday, 14 January 2018 05:10 (three years ago) link
I thought for years that the line in 'Daydream Believer' was 'my shaving razor's cold and it stinks'. That's when it's time to buy a new one, Davy. Gross.
― Senior Soft-Serve Tech at the Froyo Arroyo (Old Lunch), Thursday, 1 February 2018 19:48 (two years ago) link
"i'm just liberal nerves and feelings" - Joni Mitchell, "People's Parties"
― kolakube (Ross), Sunday, 11 February 2018 23:51 (two years ago) link
Nelly Furtado:
"I am like a bird, I'll only fly away. I don't know where my phone is."
― he doesn't need to be racist about it though. (Austin), Monday, 12 February 2018 00:01 (two years ago) link
she's little miss prissyand she love you, gene, baby, all the timebaby all the time!
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 18 March 2018 22:57 (two years ago) link
Let's danceLet's shoutShake your body and do the brown
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 14 April 2018 18:43 (two years ago) link
invest in a stool softener, man
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 14 April 2018 18:52 (two years ago) link
or, y'know, drugs are bad
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 14 April 2018 18:53 (two years ago) link
i did see this humorous transcription of Two Chainz's verse on Rick Ross's "Fuck Em":
"I'm chain smokin loudLike it's a newborn"
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Saturday, 14 April 2018 18:54 (two years ago) link
I've got a Japanese edition of R.E.M.'s Monster with a lyric insert included - of course, as with all R.E.M. albums before 1998, the UK/US edition didn't include the lyrics, so someone clearly was hired to write down what they thought was being sung. Stipe's lyrics are hard to make out in general, particularly when you consider that Monster's production is quite murky in places, so of course the lyrics printed in the book are completely wrong!
Here's an excerpt from 'Circus Envy':
Here comes that awful feeling againMake way for monstor (sic) jealousyThe strove man kicks in ending my breakfastCereal Bowl, I spell your name with OatiesOh, I messed it, messed it, messed it upI got my car stolen there in the haystackI am tired of your dark warm circus eyesPut pepper in my coffee, I forgot to bathEncore man
I got my car stolen there in the haystackI am tired of your dark warm circus eyesPut pepper in my coffee, I forgot to bathEncore man
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 14 April 2018 19:11 (two years ago) link
definetely an improvement.
― Ludo, Saturday, 14 April 2018 20:03 (two years ago) link
I'm in a state of shock. I just realized that the lyric of "The Bare Necessities" is not actually "Wherever I wander, wherever I roam, I couldn't be found there in my big home", as I'd thought for many years, but is actually "I couldn't be fonder of my big home".― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Friday, December 6, 2019 3:04 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
― van dyke parks generator (anagram), Friday, December 6, 2019 3:04 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink
My theory - Phil Harris sang "I couldn't be ... found? .. Of my big home", and they never corrected it.
When they made Jungle Book 2, they re-sang "Bare Necessities" and corrected it to what you said.
― Mark G, Friday, 13 December 2019 16:14 (one year ago) link
When i was a kid i thought "Soul Man" went..
COMIN TO YAON A CASSEROLE
― 100 Percent That Grinch (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 18 December 2019 16:37 (one year ago) link
I sang along with PJ Harvey's "O Stella" in the car this morning: "Baseball players only!". Had to look up what she's actually singing
― willem, Wednesday, 8 January 2020 17:48 (one year ago) link
Beyonce - Countdown 'Whoo-oah killing me softly / Caspar the Friendly Ghost'
― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 17:55 (one year ago) link
That seems to be how Casper would do it, very gently and with great kindness
― Drive Like a Demon From Steakhouse to Steakhouse (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 17:58 (one year ago) link
I always thought the first line of redemption song was “ oooh a pirate’s just a rabbi”
― dsb, Wednesday, 8 January 2020 18:04 (one year ago) link
Hahaha
― papa stank (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 18:49 (one year ago) link
True in so many ways.
― Frozen Mug (Tom D.), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 18:50 (one year ago) link
The mohel of the merchant shipsMinutes after they tookForeskin from the penis
― papa stank (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 18:50 (one year ago) link
It's all i ever had
― papa stank (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 8 January 2020 18:51 (one year ago) link
broadcast it: revolution don't payshacked up freaks on a lazarus planeand i can just by your client, and i can tell you bide your stylei was born to raise some venus, i'll be mating here awhilea meta-super-sonic jerk-off who forged into the gamea nearly sub-atomic genius who just deserves to payi will die nigh you, i will die nigh you, baby
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 14 February 2020 12:57 (eleven months ago) link
Can I GraduateCan I look into the faces that I meet, Can I get my podcast off the street, I've been living on for so long
― cajunsunday, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 16:44 (eleven months ago) link
Doolally - “Straight From The Heart”Show me that big sloppy dick! Show, baby, yeah yeah!
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 18 April 2020 08:55 (nine months ago) link
I was listening to Radiohead play "Just" on their recent concert stream, a song I hadn't heard in aaages, and I realised I didn't know whether the line in the last verse was "teach you how to get to purest hell" or "teach you how to get to purist hell". I think the second one is pretty funny.
― in twelve parts (lamonti), Saturday, 18 April 2020 09:15 (nine months ago) link
Glorified version of a pelican
― Unparalleled Elegance (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 26 May 2020 16:12 (seven months ago) link
Always keep it low fed!
― I am a free. I am not man. A number. (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 26 May 2020 16:13 (seven months ago) link
I'm not sure we can say with 100% certainty that Stereolab's 'Plastic Mile' doesn't contain the line 'twisty penis hand'
― Well, that's a fine howdy adieu! (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 14 July 2020 19:40 (six months ago) link
From 'Cherub Rock': Who wants that hiney?
― Why does this relates to Yoda? (Old Lunch), Thursday, 23 July 2020 18:24 (five months ago) link
Junior Byles, "Curly Locks"
"Curly LocksYour father is a *pork chop"
The real lyric appears to be 'Pope chap', which is, in itself, pretty weird.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 16:40 (five months ago) link
I thought it was poacher!
― Stanley Halfbrick (Noel Emits), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 18:00 (five months ago) link
LOL, it might be! I thought Pope Chap was a dismissive Rasta name for a Catholic - given that they really do not like Catholics very much.
― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 18:33 (five months ago) link
As long as we liveYou're chewin' me, babyThere ain't nothin' wrong with that
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Friday, 25 September 2020 16:57 (three months ago) link
dissed on the setlist!the nude drunk drivers!
― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, 27 September 2020 15:53 (three months ago) link
And when I felt like I was a narcotic and under someone's bed
― anatol_merklich, Monday, 5 October 2020 23:28 (three months ago) link
Just remembered another from when I was a kid:
Animals like Cheerios andThey feel the heat, the heat between me and you
(I think Al Jarreau's 'Mornin'' had given me the false impression that Cheerios were a common reference in pop songs.)
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Saturday, 24 October 2020 12:11 (two months ago) link
That's really good.
For a long time I thought "And She Was" included this line:
And she was lying in the grassAnd she could hear the highway breathingAnd she could see an earmuff factoryShe's making sure she is not dreaming
My (now)wife laughed at me for that, but then we discovered that her version of "I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues" went as follows
Laughing like childrenLiving like lovers Rolling like flounder
― fretless porpentine (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 24 October 2020 12:37 (two months ago) link
haha my Doves Cry mishear was“Add the most tri-curious poses...”Which, come on, it’s a pretty believable Prince lyric
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 24 October 2020 14:34 (two months ago) link
Xzibit, Paparazzi: "I don't believe the hype about Wolf Dickens"
I'd never heard of wolf (woof?) tickets (still not sure about them tbh); never heard of wolf dickens either obv but I figured he was just some rapper that xzibit had beef with.
― neith moon (ledge), Monday, 26 October 2020 10:21 (two months ago) link
"Night and day, uuh, stopping off at you, boy" (Chic, 'Le Freak')
Would never have guessed that it was a jazz reference: "Like the days of stompin' at the Savoy"
― Portsmouth Bubblejet, Monday, 26 October 2020 10:34 (two months ago) link
alan alda's all we are― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 5:23 PM (three years ago)
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 5:23 PM (three years ago)
Nah, I'm pretty sure it's "Oh no, Zoe goes"
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, 26 October 2020 18:23 (two months ago) link
Don't know much about historyDon't know much biologyDon't know much about the science popeDon't know much about the French-eyed pope
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 27 October 2020 23:20 (two months ago) link
Indiana Wants Me by R Dean Taylor was playing on an oldies station the other day. My wife was under the impression he was singing "In the end of Wall Street".
Meanwhile, my dad thought for years that Oliver's Army was in fact called I Love A Zombie.
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Tuesday, 27 October 2020 23:35 (two months ago) link
My mate, back when, thought the Dr Feelgood track "Milk and Alcohol" was a song about Al Capone
― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 00:10 (two months ago) link
Always thought "Like to Get to Know You" by Spanky and our gang went
Well I'd like to eat yr buttholeYrs i wouldWell I'd like to eat yr ButtholeIf i could
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 28 October 2020 00:40 (two months ago) link
Well do I have some good news for you
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 28 October 2020 00:48 (two months ago) link
Don't know much about historyDon't know much biologyDon't know much about the science popeDon't know much about the French-eyed pope― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:20 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Tuesday, October 27, 2020 11:20 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
This has been making be laugh for a good couple of days
― Specific Ocean Blue (dog latin), Friday, 30 October 2020 11:45 (two months ago) link
Look, I said I didn't know much about history.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Friday, 30 October 2020 13:25 (two months ago) link
Oh yeah, I also remembered the other day that, for an embarrassingly long time, I thought the line in the Friends theme song was 'your love life's the old way'.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Friday, 30 October 2020 13:28 (two months ago) link
We share the same biologyRegardless of our geology
― Anaïs Ninja (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 30 October 2020 15:25 (two months ago) link
my friend was convinced that Metallica's Unforgiven went
"new blood joins this earthand quickly he's subduedto constipate his gracethe young boy learns their rules"
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Friday, 30 October 2020 15:37 (two months ago) link
Not so much misheard as mis-scanned, but in 'Laughing' by the Guess Who, I just realized I've long heard
You took away everything I hadYou put the hurt on me
as
You took away everythingI had you put the hurt on me
So I guess it's not a song about sado-masochism after all.
― Some dads are not YOUR dad (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 November 2020 14:24 (two months ago) link
OH, Neanderthal's Metallica post reminds me (and I thought for sure I'd posted this before but I guess not in this thread) that I used to think the opening lines of 'Enter Sandman' were
Say your prayersIt's a won--derful gift, my sonTo include everyone
― Some dads are not YOUR dad (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 November 2020 14:27 (two months ago) link
'Say your prayers, little one' obvs
― Some dads are not YOUR dad (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 November 2020 14:28 (two months ago) link
“I walk in Coleraine, with my telescope in my hand…”
― wronger than 100 geir posts (MacDara), Thursday, 12 November 2020 16:54 (two months ago) link
for years I thought the Mr Belvedere theme began
"Streets on-a ChinaNever met him before"
― Lover of Nixon (or LON for short) (Neanderthal), Thursday, 12 November 2020 18:31 (two months ago) link
so I spent childhood thinking that Bob Uecker found Mr Belvedere on the streets of China and took him back to the US to be his butler
hard lol
― Some dads are not YOUR dad (Old Lunch), Thursday, 12 November 2020 19:01 (two months ago) link
There were plenty of lyrics in Christmas songs that never made any goddamn sense to me as a kid (or even now, tbph) so it never occurred to me to question who Crispin Even was or how the snow got deep inside of him.
― Wet Pretzels and Other Soggy Snacks (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 22 December 2020 20:24 (one month ago) link
real heads know it's all about Deep In Crispin Even 3
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 22 December 2020 21:00 (one month ago) link
I recall now upon hearing the song that there was a brief window of time when I thought the lyrics were
Find your tenderoniTenderonious, all right
― Meat Chew All the Way (Old Lunch), Friday, 8 January 2021 20:24 (two weeks ago) link