Misquoted Lyrics
69What would you do...If I sang out of....?
How many of us sing-a-long with the radio, our favorite CD, MP3, or iTune? How many of think we know the lyrics to our favorite songs? How many times have you listened to a song and have wondered "did I hear that right?"
Here (or hear) is a small list of some of the most mis-sung lyrics of all time. You can check out, www.kissthisguy.com which boasts over 102,000 misquoted lyrics, and find your favorites.
The Poor, Misquoted...
"The girl with colitis goes by." (Real lyric: "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes," Beatles)
"Olive, the other reindeer." (Real lyric: "All of the other reindeer.")
"The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind." (Real lyric: "The answer is blowing in the wind," Bob Dylan.)
"There's a wino down the road." (Real lyric: "And as we wind on down the road," Led Zeppelin.)
"In a glob of Velveeta, honey." (Real lyric: "In-A-Gadda Da Vida," a.k.a., "In the garden of Eden," Iron Butterfly.)
"How's about a date?" (Real lyric: Billy Idol's "Eyes without a face.")
"It means so much to me, like a birthday, or a preview." (Real lyric: Duran Duran's "A birthday, or a pretty view," from "Rio.")
"Hello, hello! I'm in a place called Oregon!" (Real lyric: U2's "Hello, hello! I'm at a place called Vertigo.")
"Even Dallas games, people play." (Real lyric: "In the jealous games people play," Go-Gos "Our Lips Are Sealed.")
"Sure as Kilimanjaro rises up like Memphis, above the Serengeti." (Real lyric: "Rises like Olympus," from Toto's "Africa.")
"Go hippie, go hippie, go." (Real lyric: "Go ahead, be gone with it," from Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack.")
"The sheep don't like it, rockin' the cat box." (Real lyric: "Shareef don't like it, rock the Casbah," The Clash.)
"Pour some shook-up Ramen." (Real lyric: "Pour some sugar on me," Def Leppard.)
"Hold me close, young Tony Danza." (Real lyric: "Hold me closer, tiny dancer," Elton John.)
"Round John Virgin." (Real lyric: "Round yon virgin," from "Silent Night.")
"Bald headed woman." ("More than a woman," Bee Gees.)
"Here we are now, in containers." (Real lyric: "Here we are now, entertain us," Nirvana.)
"Lucy's in a fight, with Linus." (Real lyric: "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," Beatles.)
"Who you gonna call? Those bastards!" (Real lyric: "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!")
"Desperado, you've been outright offensive, for so long now" (Real lyric: "You've been out riding fences," The Eagles.)
"If you change your mind (Jackie Chan), I'm the first in line (Jackie Chan)." (Real lyric: "If you change your mind (take a chance)," from Abba.)
"There's a bathroom on the right," as misheard for CCR's "There's a bad moon on the rise."
Obviously, "...while I kiss this guy" the famous misheard Hendrix lyric, which is really "kiss the sky."
*Do you know the actual lyrics to these often misquoted lines...?*
AC/DC
Dirty Deeds and the Thunder Chief
Robert Palmer
Addicted To Love
Might as well face it, you're a d**k with a glove.
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
Scallaboosh, Scallaboosh, will you do the banned tango...
Canadian National Anthem
Oh Canada
Oh Canada, we stand on cars and freeze...
R.E.M.
Losing My Religion
Let's pee in the corner, Let's pee in the spotlight.
Billy Ray Cyrus
Achy Breaky Heart
Don't break my heart,my eggy bready heart.
Lady Ga Ga
My My My Mom Broke Her Face... My Mom Broke Her Face
**Surprisingly commonly misquoted.**
Queen
Bohemian Rhapsody
Misheard
The algebra has a devil for a sidekick eeeeeeeeee....
Real Lyric
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me...
***One of my favorites I found posted... There's some possible truth to the misquote but I think to number may be kind of on the low side.**
Madonna
Like a Virgin
Misheard Lyric: Like a virgin touched for the thirty-first time.
Real Lyric: Like a virgin touched for the very first time.
CommentsLoading...
Some of my favourite
"You know you got a healthy owl, yeah yeah, don't you put me on a black bird, you know you got a healthy owl." - All These Things That I Have Done - The Killers
"Go fly fishing with a pelican... always keep it loaded!" - Glorified G - Pearl Jam
Although with Pearl Jam you never know.
Here's my two cents on lyric writing (well, not mine, more a penguin's):
This was great! Thanks.
From the song "Israelite" all the words sounded jumbled and the chorus sounded like "Is there a lighter"
lol. I used to sing this one song 'fat devil in the freezer isle'... unfortunatly I cannot quote the song at the moment, because Im having a brain freeze... dammit!!! lol. fun hub
We can add a country song to the list. My friend and I were talking about an oldie but goodie by Kenny Rogers, "Lucille". There is a line in the chorus of the song where he says "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with four hungry children and a crop in the fields". For at least 20 years my friend thought he said he had "four hundred children".
Cute hub--love the "Oh Canada we stand on cars and freeze."
So funny! I love this hub! You can really see how some of those get mixed up!
That was hillarious!!! Loved it!
Nice hub
whoa dude, whoa.
There have been a couple of tunes I've screwed up, like kasmir. Now I have a program that displays the lyrics as the song plays. Good writing.
I have a whole book of these!!! They crack me up!! After reading the book, I have the misheard lyrics stuck in my head, and I sing that, even though I know it's wrong!
Good hub. Perfect for me because my wife says I know every song but none of the lyrics.
I enjoy things like this, because (obviously) I am fasinated by words. Singing the wrong lyrics kinda shows one's mind and hearing at work. Strangely when someone mis-sings a song they never question the lyric.
How about the Eagle song "Take it Easy" correct lyric: Looking for a lover who won't blow my cover.... Mistaken lyric: Looking for a lover who won't blow my brother.
Hahaa! Hell ya, I love it...Thank you Cindy...where ever you are!
Funny! I have been singing the wrong words to Rio by Duran Duran for all of these years?? LOL!
I hate when that happens
You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel...400 kids that crapped in the field.
Hey , my best to you.
Much thanks to you Vlary.
Funny stuff, I actually sang "There's a Wino down the Road" for years, LOL.
In Red Rider's song "Lunatic Fringe" my brother always thought they sang - "Let me take french"
Sounds just like it too. ha ha
Good One!... I had a friend who thought the Simple Mind's song "Alive & Kicking" was "I like it Kinky" (an improvement if you ask me)
On Robert Palmer's Addicied to love another misquote. "My ass is a aching ,I'm addicted to love.'
The song Panama by Van Halen is misguoted by the wife as "Tananbaum"
"scrubbing my bear with his fingers. . " when it running my hair through his fingers.
That's one of my fav's
or "Secret asian man" instead of secret agent man. . .
Great ones Eddie. When I lived in Las Vegas in the early 90's there was a guerilla traffic watch guy on a radio station called the "secret Asian man." He would let people know where the speed traps were in the morning drive....
I know it has nothing to do with the Hub or the comments, but who cares... It's my Hub anyway
"I believe in miracles, Lets rock, You sexy thing you" Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" I just found out these were wrong after singing it like that forever!! lol
Thanks for adding yours, September
DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP!
I have a few that my family sing wrong. Oh we never new how dumb we sound till it's pointed out. "She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers" my son sang as "Smearing Jane Kapermin all along the bleachers." Next "Big old jet airliner don't carry me too far away" I sang as "Big old Jed and Lionel don't carry me too far away" and my friend sang it as "Big old jet had a light on" and or favorite from our daughter " This aint a scene it's a dead arms race" "This aint a scene it's a dead ostrich"
Mondegreen is a beautiful thing.
I used to sing:
"We like chocolate, boy" instead of:
"You're sweet like chocolate, boy"
Not the worst.
"It's not fair.. to deny me.. of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me." You Outta Know, Alanis Morisette
Dont forget "youre the one on the wall"... from Grease... instead of "youre the one that I want"
my aunt says cherry pie, cherry pie, no one can breathe in my pokerface
highway to hell ac/dc
real lyric is "season ticket on a one way ride"
mondegreen "she's a nigg*r on a one way ride"
I've actually come across a couple of idiots who think this is the real lyric...if ac/dc's writing style were like led zeppelins I might be inclined to agree but a I pointed out to him, "she's a nigg*r on a one way ride" makes no sense when the rest of the verses all telling a story.
When I was a kid I heard KISS song and thought "why do you want to 'potty all night'".
That's funny about Tiny Dancer! Was Tony Danza even famous when that song came out? Great Hub!
J. Reynolds 3 years ago
i think the word for this is Mondegreen, which just made its way into Webster's.