I thought it was
“Where the poor boys were playin’,
playin’ ‘guitar happy feet’.”
“I’d never want a box of dust.”
Me neither, but who would give Freddy such a gift?
“I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” by England Dan and John Ford Coley.
I got that line, but it wasn’t until I was watching “The Captain and Tennille,” in which Toni Tennille sang it much slower that I understood “I’m not talking’ ‘bout [muh-VIN-in] ("movin’ in,” that is).
I think I got “Willy and the Po’ Boys,” but what followed it was gibberish to me, too.
Cheers, Earl.
Hrm…it does sound like he’s singing that, don’t it? (On the other hand, I disagree with Civil Guy - I really like the image.)
And I’m with you on the ‘movin in’ line…holy cow, that’s hard to understand… (My guess would have ‘not talkin’ bout the livin’’ which almost, but doesn’t quite, make sense. And I keep hearing ‘and I don’t want to change your mind’ for the line that is apparently ‘don’t want to change your life’…on the other hand, that does make sense.)
It’s closer to “PIN-eh”. That’s a Southern accent for ya, pronouncing “pen” as “pin”.
You’ve missed the biggest one in that song, which is:
I’m not talkin’ 'bout the linens, and I don’t want to change your life…
For years, I thought Peter Gabriel’s song Shock the Monkey was about a monkey named Jacques…
Speaking of Gabriel, how about Games Without Frontiers, people thought it was “She’s so popular” (jeux sans frontieres) my self included until I bought the LP.
“She is so frumpy now”. I knew that couldn’t possibly be it but I sing it that way to this day. The bigger surprise to me was that it’s Kate Bush singing that line and not Mr. Gabriel himself. Thank you Straight Dope for fighting my ignorance once again.
As a child I thought “The Miracle” by Queen went
I thought it was a song about the end of the world. :o
Possibly the worst line in rock music history is in Toto’s “Africa”:
Sure as Kilaminjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I used to think they were singing “a leopress” (a female leopard?) or “a lepress” (a female with leprosy?) instead of “Olympus.”
Hot Blooded…
Chicken of the Sea,
Gotta fever of a hundred and three!
I’m hot blooded,
do ya do more than dance.
Hot Blooded, Mama!
Uh, I thought it was “rises like an Empress” :o
I caught my 4 year old daughter doing the dancing and hand moves to Beyonce’s “single ladies” song singing,
“if you like a teddy bear put a ring on it!..oh,oh, oh, oh etc”
cute…wrong…but cute.
“I’m not talking 'bout millenium
And I don’t want to save your life
But there’s a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I’d really like to see you tonight”
I think these were pretty obvious lyrics to anyone growing up in the “Age of Aquarius”
Dirty deeds and the dungeon chief!
Until I read this just now, that’s what I thought he was saying.
I always heard “millennium” too. This is the first time I’ve heard “movin’ in”.
[quote=“Sparky812, post:28, topic:549771”]
I always thought this was “She’s so funky, yeah”. Never would’ve thought it was French.
I guess I never bothered to look up the lyrics to these songs (and probably a lot of others) because I never doubted in my mind that what I thought I was hearing was incorrect (although “millennium” is kind of stupid).
How about Rusted Root’s Simeon The Whale? (Send On My Way) 
My favorite mondegreen moment ever was when “Pour Some Sugar On Me” came on a jukebox at our favorite college watering hole. There were a good 10 of us at a table, drinking heavily, and we all started singing along. And then the song got to the chorus, where my friend Kay sang “Pour some sugar on me…in the neighborhood!” at the top of her lungs.
9 people at the table turned and stared at her and then busted out laughing.
Remember Seal’s song for that Batman movie?
I kept expecting him to say “kiss from a rose on the grave”, and so kept tuning out as he went on: *"kiss from a rose on the graaaaaaaaaa…
…aaaay."*
Attacklass and I were listening to the song Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones a few years ago.
To this day we still hear either “no more will my green sea gull turn a deeper blue,” or “no more will my creamsicle turn a deeper blue,” when the actual line is “no more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue.”
Makes about as much sense, though…
When Attacklass and Attacklad were little, I played Bikeage by The Descendents for them.
They heard: “Selling your money for a bag of bricks.”
The real lyrics? “Selling your body for another fix.”
The best part was that they managed to make the songs PG without my having to do anything.