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What's your favorite misheard lyric?
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I love misheard lyrics, and with the Grammys this month, it seemed like a timely topic. Share your favorite and I'll collect the best for an MSNBC.com story.
A couple from Grammy-nominated songs, via the great KissThisGuy.com:
“Poker Face,” Lady Gaga
Real line: P-p-p-poker face, p-p-poker face
Misheard lyric: P-p-p-pump up the bass, p-p-pump up the bass
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Beyonce
Real line: All the single ladies, all the single ladies
Misheard lyric: All the cigarettes, all the cigarettes
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Beyonce
Real line: All the single ladies, all the single ladies
Misheard lyric: All the Pringle haters, all the Pringle haters
“Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Beyonce
Real line: If you like it, then you’d better put a ring on it
Misheard lyric: Is that your lighter? Then you’d better put your name on it
“You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift
Real line: Walking the streets with you in your worn-out jeans
Misheard lyric: Walking the streets with you and your one-eyed jeans
“Halo,” Beyonce
Real line: Hit me like a ray of sun
Misheard lyric: Hit me like a raisin
"Replay", Sean Kingston
Real line: Shawty's like a melody in my head
Misheard lyric: Chinese is like a melody in my head
Real line: It's like my iPod's stuck on replay
Misheard lyric: It's like an eyeball stuck on my plate.
Jimi's ''Scuse me while I kiss this guy' ['Scuse me while I kiss the sky'] is the one that comes to mind first.
It's not Kingston, but it's the same producer and label, guy's name is Iyaz.
From Hotel California by the Eagles:
Real line: Warm smell of Colitas rising up through the air.
Misheard as: Warm smell of colitis rising up through the air.
Credence Clearwater Rival
Real Line: There's a bad moon on the Rise.
Misheard As: There's a bathroom on the right.
Secret Agent Man
Misheard as: Secret Asian Man (could be the theme song for Jackie Chan!!)
Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven:
That's my all time favorite...
"Become a comedian" instead of Karma Chameleon, "wrapped up like a douche" instead of deuce. And speaking of Deuce, imagine my surprise when I got Kiss's greatest hits and found out the first line really was "take off and get your grandma outta here, always thought I heard that wrong.
rolling stones "beast of burden"... misheard by Art as "my feet's a burnin".
Alanis Morrissette's You oughta know "the cross I bear that you gave to me"...misheard by a 5 yr old Nick who asked "Mommy, why did someone give that lady a cross-eyed bear?"
hehehehe
I always thought "beasts of burden" was "pizza burning".
From AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap:"
I always thought it was "Dirty Deeds, Thunderchief."
I know it doesn't make sense, but I still hear it, if I listen carefully ;-)
From Rolling Stones:
Real Line :I met a gin-soaked barroom queen in Memphis
Misheard line: I met a "jigsaw" barroom queen in Memphis
When I was a kid -
From Eddie Murphy:
Real Line :I just want to party all the time
Misheard line: I just have to pottie all the time!
I always heard it as "Dirty jeans and the dungarees"!! Kinda works?
For years I have been singing "In the back of the roadhouse I've got someone below" or "...I've got someone to love" in my band.
I just recently found out they are really saying "In the back of the roadhouse I've got some bungalows"!
Same hendix line that tyler posted
except it went
scuse me while I kiss this fly
Can't believe no one mentioned Culture Club's 'Miss Me' Mincemeat, you know you're mincemeat.
Led Zeppelin, Fool in the Rain:
"When I'm breathless I run till I drop"
misheard as "When the peppers I bought I do drop"
Speaking of Culture Club's "Miss Me Blind," I had a friend who always sang, "I know you miss me, but I'm high."
The Four Tops: Sugar Pie Honey Bunch misheard as Sugar-Fried Honey Butts.
Rhianna (Jay-Z): Run This Town she says "can't be scared when it goes down," sounds like "can't be staring nickles down."
As a kid listening to AC/DC singing dirty deeds.
actual: dirty deeds done dirt cheap.
heard: dirty deeds dawnder cheap.
I could never figure out what the he// a dawnder was. Ended up thinking it was some crazy Australian word like tinny or bluey.
Perhaps Dawnder is the secret ingredient that makes vegamite so damned palatable.
"Bad Moon Rising" Creedence Clearwater Revival
Real line: There's a bad moon on the rise.
Misheard line: There's a bathroom on the right.
That's the first one I thought of. I think we may be showing our age.
haha im in my mid twenties and i even thought about that one! :)
"Stay'in Alive, stay'in Alive" came out as "Steak and a knife, steak and a knife..."
From: Ob-La-di Ob-La-Da "In a couple of years, they have built a home" Heard as "With a couple of beers, they have built a home"
"Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a lover"
Heard as: "Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a woman"
That's not the real line?
Thats the first one that come to mind for me too. I still get tormented for thinking that when I was 5 years old...
Zom Zom, I thought the lyric was "loner" - no? "Thought he was a "woman" was probably too PC incorrect at the time.
Amber, you're kidding me! Jo Jo didn't think he was a woman? Oh my gosh!
I guess I have NEVER heard lyrics well. Here are my very own misheard lyrics that everyone else knows, but me:
Nat King Cole's lyric- "Rambling Rose" My take-- "Rabbit and Rose"
The Who-- "Who are you? Who? Who? Who? Who?" My take-- "New Orleans, oo, oo, oo, oo" When CSI came out, about the 3rd season I asked my husband, "Why are they playing a song about New Orleans on a show about Las Vegas?"
Can't think who, 1980's-- "oh hot beaches, oh hot beaches" My take-- "oh rotten peaches, oh rotten peaches"
I guess I've always been a bit 'deaf' :-)
LOL! I can't believe it! My wife thought the exact same thing! That's precious!!
As a child, I thought there was a "Baboon on the right"... was very frightening to me because "it's bound to take your life"... still not a fan of baboons...
After I stopped laughing and dried my eyes, I felt compelled to admit that this is also what I thought the words were. Score 2 for fanless baboons!
Make that 3
My memory fails me, old age?
AnClar
Real line: Hold me closer, tiny dancer.
Misheard: Hold me closer, Tony Danza
I thought that too! I'm pretty sure I heard that on a tv show once too
Jo Jo was the loner, Sweet Loretta Martin was the woman:
Jo Jo was a man who thought he was a loner
but he knew it couldn't last...
Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
but she was another man...
I always thought the CSN song:
I have been around the world looking for that woman girl sounded like "one-eyed girl".
The other day we were in the car and "Killing Me Softly" (Fugees version) was on the radio. My 10 year old son looked at me and said, "Dad, is she saying killing me softly with his saw?"
"Dad, is she saying killing me softly with his saw?"
A rather gruesome thought. I hope you were able to explain the lyrics to your son. It would be sad to have him think that this is acceptable behavior!
Once I stopped laughing, we had a talk about acceptable saw usage. :)
Its okay, until I looked up the lyrics to sing this song for a talent show, I sang it as killing me softly with this saw. So it isnt just your son, the song isnt sung too clearly.
Kinda off topic...but kids miss a lot. I was driving down the freeway and we passed an amber alert saying "MINOR ACCIDENT ON RIGHT SHOULDER" and my step daughter 13 at the time says...."why do they care if a kid hurts their shoulder" I almost wrecked from laughing so hard.
That is funny! I used to think the song said, "killing me softly with insults"
From THE BEAT GOES ON by Sonny and Cher..
actual line..Bum still says 'anybody have you got a dime?'
misheard as, by me..Wall Street says 'anybody have you got a dime?'
The Verve Pipe "The Freshman"
Real line: She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Misheard Line: She, a punkarelley ever took advice
I always thought it was "Chia Pankerelly" - some variation of the Chia Pet product line.
I always heard "Cheater Punkarelley" and had no idea what the line was.
I totally thought it was punkarelly!
That's not the line I used to flub - until I looked it up, I thought it was ...we would die, forty cents... instead of ...we would die for these sins... in the chorus.
Oh my gosh, I thought it was 'forty cents' too, and wondered what the heck that meant.
From the Beatles:
Real Line :Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Misheard line: Lucy's gettin' high with Linus
Real lyric: the girl with kaleidiscope eyes
Misheard: the girl with colitis goes by
My wife always sang "Lucy's in the sky, with Linus". She was crushed when I corrected her, because she loves the Peanuts cartoon characters.
A friend of mine in high school thought Aerosmith's "Dude, Looks Like a Lady" was "Do the Naked Lady." No joke.
To be fair, with Aerosmith, this was certainly possible.
Yeah, I can hear that.
That one got me too! I always thought they were saying "Do the lucky lady"! LOL!
I always thought it was "You look like a lady!"
:o)
Until just now I thought they were saying "Do me like a lady" You learn something new every day!
AnClar - It took YEARS before I found out the real lyric. Couldn't figure out why they were giving directions to the loo..
I also thought the line Pour some Sugar on me was Pour some Juice on me.
I thought it was "Poison sure don't want me".
My brother thought it was "pour some shook-up Ramen"
"Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix
Real line: "excuse me while I kiss the sky"
Heard: "excuse me while I kiss this guy"
For years, my friend was convinced Jimi Hendrix was gay, because he misheard that lyric. He thought I was the crazy one, when I told him it was "excuse me while I kiss the sky." He said that made no sense.
Whoops, beaten. :)
Jimi Hendrix - The best that will ever live.
Until just now, I always thought "excuse me while I kiss this guy".
"Every Breath You Take" Police
Real line: How my poor heart aches
Misheard line: I'm a pool hall ace
It ISN'T "I'm a pool hall ace?" I still thought those were the lyrics.
I misheard that line too! I never knew that was the real line until now!
Sting isn't a pool hall ace?
I use to think it was "I'm full of heartaches..." rather than "How my poor heart aches..."
Supposedly, Jimi Hendrix would actually sing "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" instead of "kiss the sky" in some concerts.
Also, I frequently mishear Richard Marx's "Hold on to the Memories" as "Hold on to the Mammaries"
"Little Red Corvete" by Prince
Real Line: "little red corvette"
Heard: "pay the rent collect"
Perl Jam's "Better Man"
Real: She lies and says she's in love with him, can't find a better man...
Real: She dreams in color, she dreams in red, can't find a better man...
Real: Can't find a better man
Real: Can't find a better man
Heard: Repalce better man with butter man
"Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" AC/DC
Real line: Dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap
Misheard line: Dirty deeds and the Dunder Chief
Misheard by Tom Griswald of "The Bob and Tom Show" Nobody knows where he gets this from. Nobody wants to get into that mind of his...
Ooh. Me too. My hubby used to make fun of me over it.
I knew what the real words were, but I have always heard "dunder chirf."
AC/DC; "dirty deeds done dirt cheap"
I used to hear "dirty deeds & the dumb dont cheat"
Ha. In the car the just the other day I asked my son to explain that line to me. I always heard something to the effect of "dunder chief".
when I was young my sister and I thought then next line was "and a thunder jeep" not "and they're done dirt cheap"
My friend's band used to cover this song, except their version went: "Dirty deeds and they're done with sheep."
Classic.
Motherlovemelon, that truly is classic! And requires the immediate application of brain bleach.
The Eagles - Hotel California
Real Line "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air"
Heard: "warm smell of coleet dust rising up through the air"
Don't ask me what coleet dust is...
Funny! And I always heard that line from "Hotel California" as...
"warm smell of police gas rising up through the air"
Which doesn't make too much sense either. Maybe because "colitas" isn't a word in my everyday vocabulary, I didn't recognize it.
I heard it as "warm smell of caliche" because caliche is the soil around San Antonio, where I lived when the song came out
I heard the Hotel California line as "warm smell of caliche", because caliche was the main type of soil in San Antonio, where I lived when the song came out.
"one parapalegic rising up through the air". HUH??
perhaps colitas is really "coladas" like "pina colada" - that would make sense...
The word "colitas" means literally, "Little Tails", thus use of the slang, "colitas", (as referenced in the song) meaning the burning of little marijuana 'tails/buds'.
Does that make sense? :)
It's actually "warm smell of *caliche* dust". The printed album lyrics were wrong.
replace "coleet' with "caliche" and pronounce it "ca-leech" instead of "ca-lee-chee", and then go look up caliche. It's an alkali, yellow limestone dirt from the desert.
You're the closest one yet.
This E-mail just in from Eagles management honcho Irving Azoff: "In response to your [recent] memo, in 1976, during the writing of the song 'Hotel California' by Messrs. Henley and Frey, the word `colitas' was translated for them by their Mexican-American road manager as 'little buds.'
I always thought it was "warm smell of caribedas rising up through the air"
I assumed 'colitas' were desert flowers of some type - interesting what our ears hear and our minds picture!
"I'll tumble for you" by Boy George
Real Line: "I'll tumble for you"
Heard: I'll tell him before you"
Star Spangled Banner:
Real Lyric: By the Dawn's early light
seen written: by the dawnzerly light
I've seen the tiltle miswritten as "Stars Bangled Banner".
...what so loudly we hailed...
"Dance For Me" By Mary J Blige
My sister always thought the Lyric
"So Just Dance For Me..." said
"soldier's dance for me"
I can't believe it's not "soldiers" after all this time singing along "soldiers dance for me." i'm humbled
thanks!
Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal
Lyric - Annie Are You OK?
So, Annie Are You OK
Are You OK, Annie
Annie Are You OK?
Misheard Lyric - Karaoke Karaoke Kareoke Karaoke
Misheard Lyric - Annie Oakley Annie Oakley Annie Oakley
The Clash - Rockin The Casbah
Lyric - Rockin' The Casbah, Rockin' The Casbah
Misheard Lyric - Rock the catbox, rock the catbox
Robert Palmer - Addicted to Love
Lyric - Might as well face it your addicted to love
Misheard Lyric - Might as well face it your a dick with a glove.
Lyric - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Misheard - Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep
I always thought it sounded like "Annie are you walking?" LOL at myself.
What? That's funny, I thought the lyric was "Eddie are you okay?" until I read your post.
(The Clash - Rockin The Casbah
Lyric - Rockin' The Casbah, Rockin' The Casbah
Misheard Lyric - Rock the catbox, rock the catbox)
I always thought it was the catbox too!!!!
i thought it was cashbox!
what's a casbah?
From Wikipedia- I thought it was sort of a gathering place, like a bar without liquor... But not!
Rofl!!!
Quote from Garth:
Robert Palmer - Addicted to Love
Lyric - Might as well face it your addicted to love
Misheard Lyric - Might as well face it your a dick with a glove.
Lyric - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Misheard - Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep
--ROFL! Those are some of the funniest I've heard!
It's Annie
http://www.lyrics007.com/Michael%20Jackson%20Lyrics/Smooth%20Criminal%20Lyrics.html
I always thought it was
"Annie are you watching, are you watching Annie?"
I thought he was saying "Annie are you out there?"
"Rock the catbox".....
oh, I think I hurt myself laughing...!
As for the Clash... for the longest time I thought they were saying "Ali at the Casbah"
Boy George--I'll Tumble For You
My best friend used to sing: I'll tell him before you.