# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/61 "2011-11-06T14:55:27Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > This is thread is blowing my mind. Me too. I assumed the Seal song was about mourning and then celebrating the death of a friend (or relative, or even lover), in the end becoming a truly life-affirming coda. [I have the album in question BTW] But now, thanks to this thread, I have absolutely no frickin’ idea what it is about. MTA: Sometimes I swear that recording artists will substitute similar sounding words and phrases for each other, just to fuck with the heads of their listeners. On a few occasions I’ve had some very dark suspicions that they’ve actually changed them over the years (whether willfully or just because they’ve forgotten the originals and the lyric has mutated spontaneously, I don’t know-but I am still suspicious). ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/62 "2011-11-06T18:23:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > At the coda of _Scenes From an Italian Restaurant_, I like to imagine that Billy Joel leaves off singing about wine and sings: > > _A bottle of reds > Ooh, a bottle of whites > Whatever kind of mood you’re in tonight._ I’ve listened to that song a hundred times, and I swear that he _does_ pluralize it in the last repetition. I assumed it was a wry commentary on the times. And I always thought it was “Every highway…” ---
**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 6, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/63 "2011-11-06T19:17:30Z")
How could I have forgotten the one pointed out to me in this very forum not that long ago. _I’m not the world’s most passionate man But I know what I am and what I am is a man And so was Lola._ That’s nowhere near as clever as the actual lyric _I’m not the world’s most masculine man But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man And so is Lola_ Which leaves Lola’s gender still up in the air. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/64 "2011-11-06T19:22:22Z")
Are you living in the East? Strolling away the time? Are you gathering up the years? Do you have a diamond mine? I thought it was about a rich Eastern woman who was wasting her life. ---
**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 6, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/65 "2011-11-06T19:27:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Are you living in the East? > Strolling away the time? > Are you gathering up the years? > Do you have a diamond mine? > > I thought it was about a rich Eastern woman who was wasting her life. I thought it should have been used in a laundry detergent commercial. _Are you stringing up the cheese? Stowing away the Tide?_ Speaking of misplaced cheese, not my misheard lyric but a friend’s. _Big pimpin’ Ham and cheese_ ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/66 "2011-11-06T21:54:48Z")
In the lyrics to the theme song of The Partridge Family, for the longest time I thought it was “Danny got groovin’ to sell our songs” when it’s actually “Danny got Reuben to sell our songs.” Although Danny had to get groovin’ to get Reuben to do so. ---
**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 7, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/67 "2011-11-07T19:54:48Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > 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. LOL! I’d had no doubt in my mind that he was singing “every” all these years, so that messes with my head for a few minutes every time I hear it now. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/68 "2011-11-07T20:52:35Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Are you living in the East? > Strolling away the time? > Are you gathering up the years? > Do you have a diamond mine? > > I thought it was about a rich Eastern woman who was wasting her life. Speaking of Steely Dan, when _Hey, Nineteen_ came out I was not as well versed in the various types of booze as I am now and thought the line was: “The Cuervo Gold. The fine cold rum to you.” rather than what it actually is, which is: “The Cuervo Gold. The fine Columbian.” In the same song I also thought for a long time that the line “Make tonight a wonderful thing” was “Make tonight a wonderful dream.” To this day I think my mondegreen is better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/69 "2011-11-07T21:54:32Z")
Hey I looked up “Really Love to See You Tonight’s” _There’s a warm wind blowin’ the stars around_ and [this lyrics site](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dan_seals/id_really_love_to_see_you_tonight.html) claims these are the actual words! First hit on Google. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/70 "2011-11-07T22:31:02Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Hey I looked up “Really Love to See You Tonight’s” _There’s a warm wind blowin’ the stars around_ and [this lyrics site](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dan_seals/id_really_love_to_see_you_tonight.html) claims these are the actual words! First hit on Google. 😕 That’s the thing. Lyrics websites are far from the definitive word on this subject. They can be wildly and hilariously wrong sometimes. In fact, **Dr\_Chicago** ’s “wrong” lyrics to \*Highway to Hell \*turn up on every site I looked at, leaving me wondering what the actual line is… ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/71 "2011-11-07T22:55:00Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Hey I looked up “Really Love to See You Tonight’s” _There’s a warm wind blowin’ the stars around_ and [this lyrics site](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dan_seals/id_really_love_to_see_you_tonight.html) claims these are the actual words! First hit on Google. 😕 There is at least a musical precedent for wind blowing stars around: _They Call The Wind Maria_ has the line “Maria blows the stars around And sets the clouds a-flyin’; Maria makes the mountains sound Like folks was out there dyin’…” My parents owned the Kingston Trio’s _Live From The Hungry i_, which had their version of the song. My folks also had _Carefree Highway_, so I never had the “every highway” confusion that seems endemic in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/72 "2011-11-10T04:28:31Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I’m going to out my daughter, just because she hooted at me so hard and so long. The Rolling Stones’ _Paint it Black_, she claimed, starts with the line — > > _I see a rainbow and I want to paint it black._ > > I said, no it’s “red door,” not rainbow … and oh boy did I hear about how dumb I was. I had been singing “red door” since, what, the '60s?? > > So I looked up the lyrics: Red. Door. RED DOOR. Not rainbow. In your face, smug daughter! 😛 Until just now, I thought it was “I see a \*window \*and I want to paint it black.” Ouch. ---
**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 10, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/73 "2011-11-10T04:58:45Z")
Oh, how about the man that doesn’t want people to love? You know, the man with the fisted glove where the eagle flies with the dove? ---
**Author:** ![Sally\_Mander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Sally\_Mander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sally_Mander)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/74 "2011-11-10T17:12:58Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > Until just now, I thought it was “I see a \*window \*and I want to paint it black.” Ouch. Me, too. I’ve ALWAYS thought it was ‘window.’ :smack: ---
**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:** [November 10, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/75 "2011-11-10T17:27:50Z")
Not a song, but for over a year I thought there was a singer named “Fiancee” that I kept hearing about and one named “BEE-younce” that I kept reading about. One day I noticed that accent over the final E in the latter and realized 1 + 1 = 1 in this case. ---
**Author:** ![markm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/76 "2011-11-10T17:42:07Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Not a song, but for over a year I thought there was a singer named “Fiancee” that I kept hearing about and one named “BEE-younce” that I kept reading about. One day I noticed that accent over the final E in the latter and realized 1 + 1 = 1 in this case. When I was younger, I had the same thing with hearing this awesome singer “Shawday”, but only ever reading about the one named “Sayd” I’d never heard. ---
**Author:** ![Gesturing\_Mildly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@Gesturing\_Mildly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gesturing_Mildly)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/77 "2011-11-10T18:22:13Z")
My former co-workers and I all thought it was: \* I’m not talking 'bout new linen And I don’t want to change your life\* Like if they got married, they’d get new towels and sheets. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/78 "2011-11-10T18:26:50Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Hey I looked up “Really Love to See You Tonight’s” _There’s a warm wind blowin’ the stars around_ and [this lyrics site](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/d/dan_seals/id_really_love_to_see_you_tonight.html) claims these are the actual words! First hit on Google. 😕 The lyric sites seem to be equally divided about whether the stars are just out or being blown around by the warm wind. I prefer the latter myself. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/79 "2011-11-10T18:45:55Z")
Steve Miller has a song called _Jet Airliner_. Not knowing the title, the first time I heard it, I thought he was singing [QUOTE=Steve Miller] Oh, Oh big ol’ [del]jet airliner[/del] **chair that light on** Don’t carry me too far away Oh, Oh big ol’ **chair that light on** Cause it’s here that I’ve got to stay [/QUOTE] That doesn’t make any sense! Silly me, thinking that the song was about chairs and lights, hearing it for the first time. ..and the next 400 times too. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662/80 "2011-11-10T19:20:30Z")
The beginning to **Green Day’s** Time of your Life I’ve always heard as: “Another turnip truck goes over on the road…” I looked up the real lyrics and, nope, still hear it my way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-mondegreen-batman-or-ive-been-stupid-wrong-for-most-of-my-life/601662.md?page=5)