# Another Misheard Song Lyrics Thread. OR... Dogs DON'T say "Goodnight". **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864 "2004-10-12T20:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/61 "2004-10-13T22:22:22Z")
My second-favorite mishearing of mine of all time (I can’t think of my favorite, or I’d post that, too) is from Pulp’s “Mis-Shapes.” Pulp version: “We won’t use guns, we won’t use bombs” My version: “We want cheese scones, we want cheese balls” And if ones from childhood count, my dad has a recording of me singing “Silent Night” in which I clearly say, “Sweeping heavenly pee-eeeeeee.” ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/62 "2004-10-13T23:09:09Z")
I thought the part about “…and meanwhile back…” from Penny Lane was “…eat wild rice…” til just recently. My mom always heard “Don’t mess around with the guy in shads, oh no” from Sunglasses at Night was “Don’t mess around with the Diet Seven Up.” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/63 "2004-10-13T23:31:59Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > When I saw this title- I thought of this: > > “Blinded by the light- wrapped up like a douche…” As you probably know it’s “wrapped up like a deuce”, which goes some way toward explaining the confusion. Wrapping up a “douche” makes a modicum of sense, even if it sounds somewhat bizarre. But how on earth does one wrap up a “deuce”? Same goes for ELO and “Don’t bring me down ‘Bruce’”–really"DBMD ‘Groos’"–a bit of lyrical complete inanity for which I feel ELO has never been sufficiently excoriated. You’d wonder why they were singing to ‘Bruce’, but at least it made more sense than ‘Groos’. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/64 "2004-10-13T23:40:16Z")
When _Abbey Road_ first came out, I thought Paul McCartney was singing about racial equality in “You Never Give Me Your Money”: _One sweet dream: Here come the blacks, getting to live the scene_ For any young whippersnappers who might not know the song, it’s really “Pick up the bags, get in the limousine.” On a somewhat similar subject, I thought Dylan was saying in “Hurricane” that _If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street 'less you want to drive a heap._ It’s really “…draw the heat.” ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/65 "2004-10-13T23:56:32Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Make it three. I read the OP and thought… well then, what the hell ARE the lyrics? Dark sacred night, hmph. I like our version better. > > My personal mondegreen would have to be Peter Gabriels’ Games Without Frontiers - for the longest time (ie, until a few months ago) I thought the line “Jeux sans frontieres” was actually “She’s… so POPular!” Well, it _does_ kinda fit the song, in a really lateral-thinking kinda way. Yes on the dogs… and I always sung it sorta like She’s so fruc-ti-ay… I figured I was missing something and so aimed for some level of phonetic pronounciation! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/66 "2004-10-14T00:19:49Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > As you probably know it’s “wrapped up like a deuce”, which goes some way toward explaining the confusion. Wrapping up a “douche” makes a modicum of sense, even if it sounds somewhat bizarre. But how on earth does one wrap up a “deuce”? > > Same goes for ELO and “Don’t bring me down ‘Bruce’”–really"DBMD ‘Groos’"–a bit of lyrical complete inanity for which I feel ELO has never been sufficiently excoriated. You’d wonder why they were singing to ‘Bruce’, but at least it made more sense than ‘Groos’. Isn’t it “revved up like a deuce”? But for years I too thought it was “wrapped up like a douche.” Groos??? I swear, it never, ever occured to me that it WASN’T Bruce. It also never occured to me to wonder WHY it was Bruce. Groos. Screw that, I’m still gonna sing “Bruce” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/67 "2004-10-14T00:27:13Z")
I think it’s “revved” in Springsteen’s original, “wrapped” in Manfred Mann’s remake. Speaking of the Manfred Mann remake, I think the lead singer really did sing the word “douche,” knowing they could fall back on the authority of the lyrics to save their asses from trouble. Careful listening (to me) reveals the unistakable “ch” sound in “douche” in his vocal. Springsteen clearly sings “deuce” in his orginal. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/68 "2004-10-14T00:32:49Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > For years, whenever I heard the Police hit “Every Breath You Take,” I thought Sting was singing “I’m a poolhall ace” (like Minnesota Fats), when he was really singing “how my poor heart aches.” Yep. Yep, yep, yep. I don’t hear ‘poolhall ace’ any more after finding out what it really is, but I still sing it occasionally. Also, when I was a kid, I couldn’t figure out the chorus of Scarborough Fair. What I heard was: Partially save Rosemary in time… I had no clue what it meant, but it was a fun image. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/69 "2004-10-14T00:42:19Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Same goes for ELO and “Don’t bring me down ‘Bruce’”–really"DBMD ‘Groos’"–a bit of lyrical complete inanity for which I feel ELO has never been sufficiently excoriated. You’d wonder why they were singing to ‘Bruce’, but at least it made more sense than ‘Groos’. Jeff explained this on VH1’s Storytellers. He did say “groos”, which, to the album’s German engineer, sounded like the German word for “great”. He asked Jeff if spoke German and Jeff said no, he just made up the word. However, he was aware people thought he was saying “Bruce” because they would yell it out at concerts. So he decided to start saying it, too. Also, the French line from “Games Without Frontiers” is sung by Kate Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/70 "2004-10-14T00:44:10Z")
I recall listening to Sam Cooke’s “Twisting the Night Away” as a kid and thinking he was saying, “Man, you’ll find a whole in your arm, twisting the night away” instead of, “Man, you’ll find the old and young, …”. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/71 "2004-10-14T00:59:38Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Also, the French line from “Games Without Frontiers” is sung by Kate Bush. I almost made that claim when I originally brought it up, but I wasn’t 99% positive, so I deleted the comment and fixed it. Glad to know I wasn’t imagining it. ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/72 "2004-10-14T01:52:54Z")
I used to sing “Lets drink to London…” in ELO’s Last Train to London - pretty unforgiveable when the real lyrics are in the title to the song. :smack: For Australian Dopers, a friend of mine used to sing the chorus of Australian Crawl’s song Reckless “Shit on myyy… Fat Cat in the graveyard” (instead of “She don’t mi-i-ind… that kind of behaviour”). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/73 "2004-10-14T02:04:35Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Also, the French line from “Games Without Frontiers” is sung by Kate Bush. For those who need it (from the AMG): > [@](#): > > “Games Without Frontiers” opens with a textural, angular, sliding guitar, which hangs in the air over a deliberate, partly electronic percussion figure and a halting, off-kilter bass line. Kate Bush enters with the song’s eerie, haunting chorus hook, sung in French (“jeux sans frontières”), as more guitar figures interlock in the background. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/74 "2004-10-14T02:12:20Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > From “Cars” by Gary Numan: “It gives me staple for a dice in cars.” It keeps me stable for days In cars > [@](#): > > From “Down On Me” by Big Brother and The Holding Company: “Lipstick, everybody in the whole wide world…” Looks like… > [@](#): > > A couple from “Rocket Man” by Elton John: > > “And there’s no one there to raise them, if you dig” (hell, that one may be right) > > “Burning out the fuse to Heaven alone” … if you did Burning out his fuse up here alone. I’m not bothering with R.E.M. I’m fully convinced that Michael Stipe was never quite clear on what his lyrics were, and just made them up on his own. I still have no freakin’ clue what they really say in _Radial Free Europe_ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/75 "2004-10-14T02:32:38Z")
Gotta love some Simple Minds for misheard lyrics fun. A couple of my favorites: _Who’s got the touch to calm a storm inside? Who’s gonna save you? I AM THE DICKIE!!!_ Real lyrics: “alive and kicking”. It still sounds like “I am the dickie”, though. Who the hell pronouces “alive” as “eye-lahv”? My friend misheard this one too; he thought it was “I am the ticket”. _Promised you a miracle Beef is a beauty thing_ Real lyrics: “belief is a beauty thing”. Personally, I think it works either way. Give me a 9oz. filet mignon, cooked to perfect medium rare, and we’re talking a serious beauty thing. Then there’s Tears For Fears. Roland’s enunciation is a bit odd, so he’s fairly easy to mishear, for some pretty amusing results. _Hungry men, they close their minds Like deers on my pillowfold_ Real lyrics: “ideas are not their food”. Or, more accurately, “Eye deez ah nah they-ah fuuhd.” It’s one of Roland’s more bizzare vocal stylings. _White light, over the rainbow Stay bright, just a potato_ Real lyrics: “dressed up in day-glo”. I still want a glowing potato, though. _Whoa, slip and slide Did she go all chewy-eyed?_ Real lyrics: “did she go all dewey-eyed?” I’m sure eyeballs are quite chewy, but it’s not something I care to think about. And then, of course, there’s Radiohead. It’s probably better if I don’t start on Radiohead. First of all, most of my misheard lyrics are not actual words. Second, the ones that are tend to make more sense than the real lyrics, so it’s a bit anticlimactic. Suffice it to say that if you can tell what Thom Yorke is saying, please let him know; he still has no clue what the lyrics to Dollars and Cents are, so he makes up new words at each concert. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/76 "2004-10-14T02:49:03Z")
I thought for a long time that the Blues Brothers were singing, “I’ma so mad…” ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/77 "2004-10-14T02:53:04Z")
My most recent screw-up is Macy Gray’s “I Try”. She sings “my world crumbles” but for the longest time I heard “I blow bubbles”. I could have _sworn_ it was “I blow bubbles”. So certain was I of this misheard lyric, it left me bemused: Why in the _hell_ would one blow bubbles as a means of coping with a breakup? Is it relaxing? Is “blowing bubbles” a euphamism for something else, like smoking crack, or masturbating, or wanting to drown oneself? What…does…it…_mean_? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/78 "2004-10-14T04:12:57Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The Who’s “Athena” contains the line “She’s a bomb”, but to my knowledge no one in the world has ever heard this correctly without first being told what it was supposed to be. Interpretations vary from “She’s gone” to “She’s a boy”, but the most common one seems to be “She’s a whore”. :eek: Oh, I got this one! Still don’t like the song very much, though. A couple of people mentioned the “burning out his fuse” line in “Rocket Man” – this one, I could never figure out until I heard Stewie’s Shatneresque spoken-word rendition on _Family Guy._ 😉 > [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I’ll be damned, but I think Elton/Taupin’s lyrics are even more muddled than my own… This is usually the case, though, with their songs… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/79 "2004-10-14T09:18:44Z")
Back when I was a teen, WZLX, the local classic rock station, had a call-in contest where people would try to interpret unintelligible lyrics like these “burning out his fuse up here alone” took about half a week to solve, and “Turned around the corner, things got real hot, real fast” from Springsteen’s “10th Avenue Freeze-out” (or, as I always heard it “Tent Devil, You Free Now”) had to finally be retired after two weeks of flailing. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864/80 "2004-10-14T09:39:17Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > I think it’s “revved” in Springsteen’s original, “wrapped” in Manfred Mann’s remake. Are you sure Springsteen did that song first? I used to have a Manfred Mann album and I could’ve sworn that was the only song on it that he actually wrote. **astro** : I also thought it was “I’m a poolhall ace”, right up until I read your post that said it wasn’t! All of mine are of less popular songs, so they wouldn’t be as funny. These are cracking me up though! Wtf **IS** a Train Weaver?! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-misheard-song-lyrics-thread-or-dogs-dont-say-goodnight/268864.md?page=5)