# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/61 "2007-06-22T13:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] I was a big Elton John fan as a kid, but I never understood why _Someone Saved My Life Tonight_ had the following lyrics: “Someone saved my life tonight - Sugar Bear.” Of course it’s: “Someone saved my life tonight - should’ve they?” [/QUOTE] Whoa. News to me. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/62 "2007-06-22T13:45:03Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] I was a big Elton John fan as a kid, but I never understood why _Someone Saved My Life Tonight_ had the following lyrics: “Someone saved my life tonight - Sugar Bear.” Of course it’s: “Someone saved my life tonight - should’ve they?” [/QUOTE] BZZZZZZT–[Wrong Answer](http://www.eltonography.com/songs/someone_saved_my_life_tonight.html) I remember owning the LP and checking the lyrics. It’s definitely “Sugar Bear” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/63 "2007-06-22T14:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] BZZZZZZT–[Wrong Answer](http://www.eltonography.com/songs/someone_saved_my_life_tonight.html) I remember owning the LP and checking the lyrics. It’s definitely “Sugar Bear” [/QUOTE] Along those lines, I was sure “Hunting the horny back toad” was wrong, but not so. “Where the dogs of society howl” I didn’t figure out for years. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/64 "2007-06-22T14:08:53Z")
Well, I’ll be pitched in shit. “Should’ve they” makes a lot more sense… sugar bear, you know, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/65 "2007-06-22T14:55:10Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] Well, I’ll be pitched in shit. “Should’ve they” makes a lot more sense… sugar bear, you know, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Oh, well. [/QUOTE] “Sugar Bear” is a better rhyme for “Didn’t you dear” ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/66 "2007-06-22T14:58:45Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] sugar bear, you know, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Oh, well. [/QUOTE] Ditto. My guess has been that he originally wrote it as a jingle for a breakfast cereal commercial. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/67 "2007-06-22T15:34:18Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] “Sugar Bear” is a better rhyme for “Didn’t you dear” [/QUOTE] Yeah, but we’re talking Bernie Taupin here, who doesn’t necessarily “need” to rhyme every single line. Look at “Levon” for example… > **[Elton John - Levon lyrics | LyricsFreak](https://www.lyricsfreak.com/e/elton+john/levon_20046326.html)** > > Read or print original Levon lyrics 2026 updated! Levon wears his war wound like a crown / He calls his child Jesus / 'Cause he likes the ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/68 "2007-06-22T18:46:07Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] Well, I’ll be pitched in shit. “Should’ve they” makes a lot more sense… sugar bear, you know, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Oh, well. [/QUOTE] Well, and who’s Danny? “It’s four o’clock in the morning, Danny, listen to me good” ---
**Author:** ![el\_nombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9dc877/32.png) [@el\_nombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/el_nombre)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/69 "2007-06-22T20:00:44Z")
In general I can never understand lyrics but one instance in particular changes the entire meaning of a song for me. The song is by Jane’s Addiction and the chorus is “We’ll make great pets…” over and over. Turns out the song is about aliens enslaving the human race and making them pets, in a somewhat light hearted tone. For the longest time I thought it was a very depressing song because I thought the chorus was “We’ll make regrets…” over and over. Even the tone of the music changed once I knew what he was really saying. ---
**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 22, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/70 "2007-06-22T21:24:14Z")
[QUOTE=JohnT] Well, I’ll be pitched in shit. “Should’ve they” makes a lot more sense… sugar bear, you know, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Oh, well. [/QUOTE] I don’t know which is correct in this case, but I have definitley seen lyric sheets that were clearly written by someone jotting them down as they listen to the song- mistakes aplenty. FTR, I was thought it was “should’ve been (you)”, with the “you” not or barely audible. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/71 "2007-06-22T22:06:54Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady] The first time I heard Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman” I thought she was singing “Climb Every Woman”. Made me giggle. [/QUOTE] Me too! What gave the mis-hearing particular “props” was that the first time I heard the song was in a lesbian bar – made perfect sense! ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/72 "2007-06-22T22:11:54Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] Along those lines, I was sure “Hunting the horny back toad” was wrong, but not so. “Where the dogs of society howl” I didn’t figure out for years. [/QUOTE] And I thought he was going back to his “hidey hole out in the woods.” ---
**Author:** ![Freezair\_SilverEye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b2d939/32.png) [@Freezair\_SilverEye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freezair_SilverEye)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/73 "2007-06-23T00:57:30Z")
All this talk of “Blinded by the Light” and yet no one has yet been “revved up like a douche?” 😉 I once wondered aloud, next to my AC/DC-loving mother, what the “thirty deeds” of the Thunder Chief were. I wondered if it referenced some bizarre historical event I’d never heard about. I should listen more closely. :smack: I also made a radical mis-hearance of the Counting Crows cover of “Big Yellow Taxi.” The intro to the song, of course, goes thusly: _They paved paradise And put up a parking lot._ I, however, heard it as: _They paid paradise To put up a f\*\*king lie._ I didn’t think they could play stuff like that on the radio… until I learned what they were really saying. \>\< The fact that I’d never heard the original version before then didn’t help… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/74 "2007-06-23T03:09:35Z")
The thing is, the backup singers who repeat “sugar bear”… they, too, sound like they’re singing “should’ve they?”, even more clearly than Sir Elton. IMrevisedHO, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/75 "2007-06-24T00:54:57Z")
Listening to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” I always thought it was coming back from Summillin, Wisconsin. Only after many many listenings did it dawn on it. “Oh! Some mill in Wisconsin.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/76 "2007-06-24T01:24:14Z")
When I was little I thought there was a country called “Orientar.” Where the Three Kings came from. I also thought St. Mary was really fat. Because, you know, “Round yon virgin.” ---
**Author:** ![MerryMagdalen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/77 "2007-06-24T10:26:32Z")
By The Pretenders: Every day Every night time I find **Mystery Jesus** On my mind…on my miiiind. I still sing it that way when I’m not thinking about it. Giggle. You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/78 "2007-06-25T15:17:40Z")
[QUOTE=Freezair SilverEye] All this talk of “Blinded by the Light” and yet no one has yet been “revved up like a douche?” 😉 [/QUOTE] I avoid the Manfred Mann version and the Springsteen one is clearly “deuce”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/79 "2007-07-18T14:31:02Z")
Another one: I can’t imagine how many times I’ve heard “Down on the Corner”, but only this weekend did I realize he wasn’t saying You don’t need a pinhead just to hang around, But if you’ve got a nickel, won’t you lay your money down? The mystery is why I mentioned this to my friend. ---
**Author:** ![DudleyGarrett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d9b06d/32.png) [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758/80 "2007-07-18T14:36:06Z")
To the OP’er – I also thought for the longest time it was “I’m not talking bout the linen…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doh-misheard-lyrics-in-an-oft-heard-song/408758.md?page=5)