# Holy Mondegreen, Batman or I've been stupid wrong for most of my life. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662 "2011-11-02T18:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/21 "2011-11-04T23:10:34Z")
I have a friend who thought that Robert Plant was singing “And my spirit is crying for _Cleveland_,” which she thought was a pretty odd place to be yearning for… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/22 "2011-11-04T23:27:19Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Wikipedia says this is a [“long held myth.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Theme) Adam West lied to me!!! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/23 "2011-11-04T23:33:05Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I know, right? Oops. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/24 "2011-11-04T23:58:26Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > What the hell is a crossfire hurricane? (IOW, I also have always heard that one as class 5) I have no idea, Class 5 is just a much better lyric. I reckon Mick was off his tits when he wrote it and his creative judgement was impaired. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/25 "2011-11-05T00:05:16Z")
When I was a kid, I thought: _I believe in Milkos It’s a kind of law You sense the pain!_ (_You Sexy Thing_, Hot Chocolate) _Colonel’s a doggie, too Soon disappear_ (_Go-Go Gophers_ cartoon theme) _Help me get my beans back on the ground!_ (_Help_, The Beatles) . ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/26 "2011-11-05T01:46:29Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Oops. :eek: …whoa indeed. that makes four of us. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/27 "2011-11-05T02:48:40Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Holy Mondegreen, Batman** > > Speaking of Bruce Wayne, I still hear it as “kiss from a rose on the grave”. It’s not??? ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/28 "2011-11-05T03:10:45Z")
Ah the 80’s, when The Buggles wrote an homage to a long-forgotten Irish queen of the early 20th century airwaves: Vicky O’Killdare, radio star. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/29 "2011-11-05T03:39:42Z")
I made it to about a year ago loving (and singing) “Just like a one-winged dove…” woo. woo. woo. Then I finally bought the song on iTunes, and thought to wiki Stevie Nicks, then “Edge of Seventeen”. whoops. :rolleyes: ---
**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:** [November 5, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/30 "2011-11-05T04:13:49Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > What the hell is a crossfire hurricane? I’ve always imagined him being born in the middle of a gunfight so intense, the bullets were like a hurricane around him. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/31 "2011-11-05T09:50:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve always imagined him being born in the middle of a gunfight so intense, the bullets were like a hurricane around him. But the next line is “and I howled at my ma in the driving rain” so it seems he is sticking with the literal meaning of hurricane. hang on… :smack: …are we quibbling about consistency and accuracy in song lyrics? We really need to get out more. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/32 "2011-11-05T10:54:41Z")
For about thirty years, I thought a line from Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue” was: _We drove that car as far as we could, abandoned it out west, split up on **the docks that** night both agreeing it was best._ Which made perfect sense to me - they drove that car as far west as they could, to the Pacific Ocean. That would be where the road would run out of pavement, after all. So of course they split up _on the docks_ that night, they’re at the freakin’ ocean. But when I got around to googling the lyrics, it turned out they split up “on _a dark, sad_ night.” :smack: At least I can understand why I got it wrong - they don’t all that different from each other, and my version made sense in the context of the song. And hey, getting only three words wrong in that entire opus wasn’t too bad, in the decades before it became possible to Google any song lyric you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/33 "2011-11-05T12:46:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I went looking to see if there was a youtube of a bubble gum song that came out when I was 8 or 9. [Here is that song.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpgsErJyAlY) > > What’s the longest you’ve gone singing the song wrong? I always thought that was a Jackson 5 song, until finding out about a month ago that it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/34 "2011-11-05T14:05:11Z")
Coincidentally, yesterday I learned the correct form of an old lyric I’d always been fuzzy on (but not interested enough to seek out the truth): the chorus of the song “I’d Really Love To See You Tonight” by England Dan & John Ford Coley is apparently this: _I’m not talking 'bout moving in And I don’t want to change your life But there’s a warm wind blowing, the stars are out And I’d really love to see you tonight._ I’d always heard the first line as _I’m not talking 'bout my linen_ which makes no sense at all, or possibly \* I’m not talking 'bout millennia\* which is slightly less nonsensical (albeit hyperbolic) being that he seemed to be angling for a one-night stand. Also thought (until just this moment when I looked up the lyrics to compose this post) that the penultimate line was _But there’s a warm wind blowing the stars around_ Which again doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny, but then it _was_ the 1970s, when a lot of things seemed to move around that normally wouldn’t… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/35 "2011-11-05T14:19:18Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > It’s not??? What I came in here to post. To the OP–wow, I never knew that singer even existed before your OP. Never heard that song before either. Enlightening! ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/36 "2011-11-05T15:02:15Z")
> [@Timchik](#): > > …whoa indeed. that makes four of us. Somehow, that makes me feel better… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/37 "2011-11-05T15:11:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Holy Mondegreen, Batman** > > Speaking of Bruce Wayne, I still hear it as “kiss from a rose on the grave”. > [@sco3tt](#): > > Until now I thought that was the correct lyric too. Me too. And if somebody doesn’t come across with the REAL correct lyric pretty soon, I’m going to go on thinking that. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/38 "2011-11-05T15:12:42Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > What I came in here to post. > > To the OP–wow, I never knew that singer even existed before your OP. Never heard that song before either. Enlightening! Well, how old are you? If you’re under 30, that’s quite understandable. If you’re a bit older and don’t listen to pop, that’s also understandable. [The Sylvers were pretty popular in the '70s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sylvers). I believe their biggest hit was [Boogie Fever](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHKCHvpYq_8) last heard in the movie Despicable Me. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/39 "2011-11-05T15:22:08Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Until just last month, I thought Gordon Lightfoot was singing “Every highway lets me slip away on you.” It wasn’t until I heard the song on Sirius XM radio and saw the title for the very first time that I learned he’s actually singing “_carefree_ highway.” Okay, I just listened to this again and I’m laying the blame solely at Gordon’s feet on this one. _At best_, he’s singing “hair-free highway” each time. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/40 "2011-11-05T15:28:52Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Speaking of Batman, for the longest time I thought the theme to the Adam West version of the show had a chorus singing “Batman” every once in a while. Nope, those were horns. > > A lot of people heard Stewie say “Effin’ cry” in the opening to Family Guy but I always heard “laugh and cry.” > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Wikipedia says this is a [“long held myth.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Theme) I’m sure that back in the '70s there must have been some variety show performance or “cover” recording in which the horn punctuation was replaced with the choral “Batman.” That kind of knockoff was pretty common back then. And I always heard it as “effin” too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662.md?page=3)