# D'oh! Misheard lyrics in an oft-heard song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758 "2007-06-20T19:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![karma\_kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@karma\_kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/karma_kid)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/21 "2007-06-21T14:01:28Z")
My wife has some good ones. My favorite-- she always heard “Boys of Summer” as: _I can see you Your bra still drying in the sun_ ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/22 "2007-06-21T14:06:03Z")
[QUOTE=1point618] Imagine my surprise when I realized that Gaynor sings “I should have changed that fucking lock”! I guess radio censors have been making the same mistake I did for so long (that she sang “stupid”, not “fucking”), and thus let it slip through for radio play. That was sure a surprising one. [/QUOTE] Is this a whoosh? :o I’m pretty sure she says “stupid”, at least on the radio. Oh, yeah, I totally thought it was “you can call it thunder a lonely day”. Never mind that that makes no sense. **Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame But I know it’s my own Grandpa** ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/23 "2007-06-21T14:26:11Z")
“Hot town. Summer in the city. Back of my neck getting mighty Pretty” ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/24 "2007-06-21T14:39:08Z")
I always feel like a good portion of these are made up or at least heavily massaged. “At my erection”? It doesn’t sound at all like that. “In mod erection”, maybe. “In moderation”, OK. But “at my erection”, while hilarious, is not a plausible alternative interpretation to me. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/25 "2007-06-21T14:42:48Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Is this a whoosh? :o I’m pretty sure she says “stupid”, at least on the radio. [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t be surprised if Cake changed the line. It’s not unheard of. In the Foo Fighters’ version of “Baker Street,” they change “give up the booze and the one night stands” to “give up the crack and the one night stands.” And in the Ataris’ remake of “Boys of Summer,” “Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac” became “Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/26 "2007-06-21T14:43:30Z")
Does “good love” sound like “silly willy love”? Nevertheless, my mom was convinced. [This girl](http://www.kissthisguy.com/lyric.php?id=5193) had the exact same misunderstanding I did on “Lonely No More”. ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/27 "2007-06-21T14:46:11Z")
I can buy “silly willy love” actually. Because it’s not a punch line, one, and becuase it does sound something like that. I never knew it was “good”. I didn’t get “Silly Willy” but I thought it was a non-word intro like Oooweooowee love is hard to find. Basically it all revolves around my personal perspective. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/28 "2007-06-21T15:19:32Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver] And in the Ataris’ remake of “Boys of Summer,” “Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac” became “Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac.” [/QUOTE] Which irritates me to no end. :mad: Anyway, for one of my own, I once made my then-wife a mix tape that included Rancid’s “Sidekick.” A few weeks later, it was playing in the car and she was singing along: Rancid: _I had a dream I was a vigilante’s sidekick…_ Jill: _I had a dream I was a midget inside me…_ I laughed until I couldn’t breathe. And she’s famous for botching rock lyrics; I wish I coul remember some more of her humorous gaffes. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/29 "2007-06-21T15:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Which irritates me to no end. :mad: [/QUOTE] I can’t imagine why. It’s a sensible update, as opposed to the “Baker Street” change, which to me always seemed like an unnecessary inflation of the character’s vice. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/30 "2007-06-21T15:37:39Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] Basically it all revolves around my personal perspective. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Duly noted. 😛 I enjoyed the kiss-this-guy commercial where the guy is arguing that “Pour some sugar on me” was actually “Pour some shook-up ramen” which sounds like something I would think. I disenjoyed the one where the guys think “Rock the Casbah” was actually “Rock the Catbox”. That’s because the very product they were hawking, a phone or iPoddy thing, has as one of its features the song title prominently displayed. That’s just idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/31 "2007-06-21T16:20:13Z")
The Beatles: “All my luggage, I will send to you. All my luggage, darling I’ll be true.” Flashdance: “Take your pants off, and make it happen.” ---
**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:** [June 21, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/32 "2007-06-21T16:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] I have to assume you’re thinking of: You can call it a-_nuuuuu_thuh lonely day [/QUOTE] I’ll be jiggered. I always thought that was “You can call it thunder on a rainy day.” Mind you, I’ve heard that song as performed by bar bands more often than the original; maybe they’re really singing that. Dylan’s “Hurricane”: _In Paterson, that’s just the way things go. If you’re black, you might as well not show Up on the street 'Less you wanna drive a heap._ The Beatles’ “You Never Give Me Your Money”: _One sweet dream: Here come the blacks, getting to live the scene_ ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/33 "2007-06-21T16:45:21Z")
[QUOTE=Keeve] Flashdance: “Take your pants off, and make it happen.” [/QUOTE] I’m pretty sure I know better, but I sing it that way anyhow. It just fits. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/34 "2007-06-21T16:48:40Z")
There was song that played incessantly in the late 1970’s, i thought it went like: “its’ two o’clock, two o’clock, baby, gotta run for shelter, gotta stab the blade, …far away from the mess that she made… …so long ago, you were my blood…what hey!” I’m sure I’v misremembered a lot of this! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/35 "2007-06-21T16:53:54Z")
**Brown Eyed Girl sayz:** Whatever happened To Tuesday and so slow Going down the old mine With a transistor radio Standing in the sunlight laughing, Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall, Slipping and sliding All along the water fall, with you My brown eyed girl, You my brown eyed girl. **Diosabellissima said:** Whatever happened To Tuesday and so slow Going down **on the old man** With a transistor radio Standing in the sunlight laughing, Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall, Slipping and sliding All along the water fall, with you My brown eyed girl, You my brown eyed girl. My version was _much_ more exciting. Just sayin’. (And yes, that’s honest to God what I thought they were saying). ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/36 "2007-06-21T16:57:10Z")
In the Dire Straits song “So Far Away”, I used to interpret the opening line - “Here I am again in this mean old town” as “I hear that Armageddon is a mean old town” due to Mark Knopfler’s odd inflection of “am”. And, well, **wouldn’t** Armageddon be a mean old town? ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/37 "2007-06-21T16:59:33Z")
A girl I knew in college… I don’t know where she came up with this one, but it’s what she heard: Stevie Nicks: “Just like a white-winged dove…” She heard: “Just like a park ranger…” (or, “Just like a park range-aahhhhh”) ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/38 "2007-06-21T18:16:24Z")
And the Rascals- “life will be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/39 "2007-06-21T18:26:51Z")
[QUOTE=DiosaBellissima] Going down **on the old man** With a transistor radio [/QUOTE] :o That’s vaguely what I thought until this minute. Although I didn’t hear it in an oral sex kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/40 "2007-06-21T19:34:27Z")
When Pearl Jam hit with “Alive” I honestly thought it was a beer commercial ( I usually just hear the lyrics in the chorus the first few times I hear a song ) - Ohhhhhhahhohhhh Ahhhh Ahhh Ahhhh Ahhh Amstel Light… \* It pretty much ruined them for me, since all their songs sound like a beer commercial to me now. And, I thought Van Morrision was gunning down the old man with his transistor radio. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758.md?page=3)