Holy Mondegreen, Batman or I've been stupid wrong for most of my life.

Cafe Society
61

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).

62

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…”

63

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.

64

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.

65

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

66

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.

67

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.

68

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. :slight_smile:

69

Hey I looked up “Really Love to See You Tonight’s” There’s a warm wind blowin’ the stars around and this lyrics site claims these are the actual words! First hit on Google. :confused:

70

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…

71

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.

72

Until just now, I thought it was “I see a *window *and I want to paint it black.” Ouch.

73

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?

74

Me, too. I’ve ALWAYS thought it was ‘window.’
:smack:

75

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.

76

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.

77

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.

78

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.

79

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.

80

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.