# Have you ever mis heard a song lyric? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680 "2016-08-03T20:11:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hbk4894](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e68b1a/32.png) [@Hbk4894](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbk4894)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/1 "2016-08-03T20:11:47Z")
If so , which one? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/2 "2016-08-03T20:27:50Z")
Nope, never. Now excuse me while I [kiss this guy…](http://www.kissthisguy.com/) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/3 "2016-08-03T20:28:07Z")
[Just one example of past threads on this subject.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760049&highlight=misheard+lyrics) If I can get any words at all out of lyrics they are invariably incorrect. My favorite is “There’s a bathroom on the right”. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/4 "2016-08-03T21:24:16Z")
Back when I was on a Mike Oldfield mailing list, there was a great debate about whether he says “some make chaos” or “some make cars” in On Horseback. Finally one of the members who worked for the BBC had reason to visit Mike for work and interviewed him - and it turned out to be chaos. Mike was surprised there was a question about this. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/5 "2016-08-04T02:20:04Z")
We’ve had many, many threads on this subject . . . . . . ever since someone first heard “the girl with colitis goes by.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/6 "2016-08-04T02:30:32Z")
[I swear to God, the chorus in this song goes, “I’m a leprechaun gangster.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl3J_AnDff4) Even when I know it’s “lyrical,” I still hear “leprechaun.” Similarly, [tell me this song isn’t about 100 black dolphins.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjA0WKAn9gI) ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/7 "2016-08-04T04:56:34Z")
I don’t believe so, but my wife certainly has. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/8 "2016-08-04T05:02:15Z")
Everyone needs to be revved up like a douche, right? ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/9 "2016-08-04T05:08:27Z")
The first time I heard that Bananarama song, I thought it was by by a fetus talking to her expecting mother. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/10 "2016-08-04T09:35:13Z")
I misheard “fist on my plate” in Pearl Jam’s _Rearview Mirror_ as “pissed on my face” - to be fair, I first heard it as a live recording and it suited the “surviving bullying” lyrical theme of the song just as much, if not more… ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/11 "2016-08-04T09:35:33Z")
I feel as though the “Pinball Wizard” becomes much more socially relevant if he is a “deaf, dumb black kid” who sure plays a mean pinball. Because really, why the fuck would you play pinball if you were blind? That black kid knows he’s not welcome in the arcade scene of the 70’s but he proves himself by being boss of the pinball machine. That blind kid? He has no idea where he is or what he’s doing or why his pinball wizardry would impress all the people around him that he can’t even see. I think my version works much better. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/12 "2016-08-04T13:04:04Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Just one example of past threads on this subject.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760049&highlight=misheard+lyrics) > > If I can get any words at all out of lyrics they are invariably incorrect. My favorite is “There’s a bathroom on the right”. John Fogerty will even drop in the line “there’s a bathroom on the right” when he performs _Bad Moon Rising_, then point offstage to the restrooms. Watch for it at around 2:00 in the video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tZozxZYGrm8/maxresdefault.jpg "Bad Moon Rising - John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZozxZYGrm8) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/13 "2016-08-04T14:37:53Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [URL=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760049&highlight=misheard+lyrics](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760049&highlight=misheard+lyrics)”] Hilarious! The very first post in that link mentions Margeritaville. When the song first came out, this 12 year old indignantly exclaimed to my parents - how can he get away with singing “…lookin for my, last nigger assault”? I used to think it was “wicket, wicket out” by the Beatles, and “windshield woman” by the Eagles. For the first week or so that Van Halen’s “Panama” came out, the only time I could hear it was on some distant fuzzy speaker in a store - you couldn’t hear the lyrics _at all_ when it’s muffled muzak, which is why I thought (believe it or not) he was singing “let it rock” instead of “Panama”. Yeah yeah yeah I realise they’re not even remotely similar sounding, but if you can barely hear it to begin with, your imagination can certainly take over. > [@DWMarch](#): > > I feel as though the “Pinball Wizard” becomes much more socially relevant if he is a “deaf, dumb black kid” who sure plays a mean pinball yeah I used to hear it like that too. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/14 "2016-08-04T15:16:21Z")
The song “Footsteps” by Steve Lawrence. I swear he is singing “Quicksand.” ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/15 "2016-08-04T15:30:44Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > Hilarious! The very first post in that link mentions Margeritaville. When the song first came out, this 12 year old indignantly exclaimed to my parents - how can he get away with singing “…lookin for my, last nigger assault”? > > I used to think it was “wicket, wicket out” by the Beatles, and “windshield woman” by the Eagles. > > For the first week or so that Van Halen’s “Panama” came out, the only time I could hear it was on some distant fuzzy speaker in a store - you couldn’t hear the lyrics _at all_ when it’s muffled muzak, which is why I thought (believe it or not) he was singing “let it rock” instead of “Panama”. Yeah yeah yeah I realise they’re not even remotely similar sounding, but if you can barely hear it to begin with, your imagination can certainly take over. > > yeah I used to hear it like that too. Speaking of fuzzy speakers in an otherwise noisy room, I hear “Don’t believe me, just fine!” ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/16 "2016-08-04T15:35:25Z")
Somewhat obscure, but in the Buffy musical, I thought in the first song Buffy was singing about feeling “The strangest strangement”, which seemed odd, but certainly not the weirdest combination of words ever put together on that show. I did do a :smack: to myself when I realized it was actually “This strange estrangement” that she felt. 😉 ---
**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:** [August 4, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/17 "2016-08-04T16:43:33Z")
For decades, I thought the line from Petula Clark’s I Know A Place was “the swingingest place this side of Illinois.” Made sense to me. It’s actually “a cellar full of noise.” ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/18 "2016-08-04T16:48:22Z")
"Groovin’ " by the Rascals: “Life would be ecstasy; you and me and Leslie” Who the hell is Leslie? (It’s you and me endlessly):smack: ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/19 "2016-08-04T17:32:02Z")
From my four-year-old, singing along with Hot Chocolate: _I’ve been eating Cheerios. Where you from? “In Texas state.”_ ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680/20 "2016-08-04T17:38:48Z")
As a very young lad I heard a song which was very uplifting, I didn’t really follow most of the lyrics, but it was such a happy song that I would sing along with the chorus of “Feeling Grooby”. It stuck with me. Even these days on a sunny Saturday morning strolling down to the pub with a few bob in my pocket I think to myself: “Feeling Grooby”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-mis-heard-a-song-lyric/761680.md?page=2)