# Lyrics that almost everyone gets wrong...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 3, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150 "2009-03-03T16:08:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/1 "2009-03-03T16:08:07Z")
What are some lyrics on which almost everyone makes mistakes?
I can think of two:
For R.E.M.'s “Losing My Religion”, it seems that everyone (including Weird Al!) misquotes the line “Trying to keep up with you” as “Trying to keep a few”.
In Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”, I’ve most often heard “I can feel it coming in the air tonight, O’ Lord” as “I can feel it coming in the air tonight, hold on”.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/2 "2009-03-03T16:22:03Z")
" 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy…"
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/3 "2009-03-03T16:28:56Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> " 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy…"
Though that is a rather famous mis-heard lyric, I’ve never actually met anyone who thought those were the lyrics to the song.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/4 "2009-03-03T17:09:12Z")
“Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The online lyrics sources disagree with each other, and with the sheet music I saw back in the 90s. It’s not “Oh no I know a dirty word,” it’s “And all I know are dirty words.”
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/5 "2009-03-03T17:18:10Z")
“I’m a pool hall ace” for “how my poor heart aches” in that Police song. I felt really dumb for thinking that when I found out the real lyric, but then over the years I’ve realized that pretty much everyone else thinks it too.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/6 "2009-03-03T17:18:55Z")
Other than the Purple Haze lyric, I’ve never heard of any of these mistakes before.
But I’ve seen plenty of Dopers miss the "boo boo boo"ing of George Wallace in Sweet Home Alabama. The song stinks either way, but if you miss the boos it changes the meaning and tone substantially.
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### Author:  [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/7 "2009-03-03T17:41:41Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#):
>
> For R.E.M.'s “Losing My Religion”, it seems that everyone (including Weird Al!) misquotes the line “Trying to keep up with you” as “Trying to keep a few”.
I always thought it was “Trying to keep a view” and never knew what the heck he meant by that.
> [@](#):
>
> In Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”, I’ve most often heard “I can feel it coming in the air tonight, O’ Lord” as “I can feel it coming in the air tonight, hold on”.
Are you saying the actual lyrics are O’ Lord? Because I’m pretty sure it’s Hold on.
That song by Stevie Nicks where she sing “Just like the white winged dove” gets misheard a lot. I thought she said “Just like the one we love.” I don’t know why I thought that.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/8 "2009-03-03T17:43:46Z")
What about the Sara Lee jingle? Everybody (including me, for years) thinks it’s “Nobody does it like Sara Lee.” It’s actually “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.”
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/9 "2009-03-03T17:47:16Z")
Some other attempts at this thread concept:
[Name that tune Misheard Lyrics Edition](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=499762&highlight=misheard+lyrics)
[What song lyrics have you misinerpreted?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=489959&highlight=misheard+lyrics)
[Oh, so _that’s_ what they’re singing!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456726&highlight=misheard+lyrics)
[Worst misunderstanding of lyrics ever](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=439433&highlight=misheard+lyrics)
[D’oh! Misheard lyrics in an oft-heard song](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=425647&highlight=misheard+lyrics)
Enjoy reading.
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### Author:  [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/10 "2009-03-03T17:55:12Z")
There’s the Rolling Stones song “I’ll Never See Your Pizza Burning.”
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### Author:  [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/11 "2009-03-03T17:55:43Z")
See you, me, and Julio, down by the school yard
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/12 "2009-03-03T17:58:42Z")
Back to what the OP wanted: lyrics most people got wrong:
Seal. “I’ve been kissed by a rose on the grave” Actually, despite nearly everyone thinking it’s “grave” the actual word is **grey**. Which makes far less sense…
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/13 "2009-03-03T18:51:20Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Back to what the OP wanted: lyrics most people got wrong:
>
> Seal. “I’ve been kissed by a rose on the grave” Actually, despite nearly everyone thinking it’s “grave” the actual word is **grey**. Which makes far less sense…
Oh my god, are you sure? I’ve _always_ thought it was _gray_, and then someone recently told me it was _grave_ and I thought: :smack:. Didn’t the guy who sang it on American Idol this year say grave?
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### Author:  [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/14 "2009-03-03T19:24:56Z")
Seal himself has never said (to my knowledge) what the lyric he sang is. He HAS stated in the past that he doesn’t provide “jacket” lyrics because the song is whatever you hear, and what difference does it make what he actually sang? I’ve always thought that was a cop out for poor diction, myself…
By the way, we’ve discussed Seal’s lyric to death before…
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/15 "2009-03-03T19:40:39Z")
If my ears do not fail me, even Hendrix flubbed this line from "Watchtower’:
Buisiness men they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my Earth
But none of them along the line
Knows what any of it is worth…
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/16 "2009-03-03T20:00:24Z")
The second verse of “Yesterday”. Everyone in the world, including probably Paul McCartney, THINKS this verse goes as follows:
“Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be. There’s a shadow hanging over me; oh, yesterday came suddenly.”
I, OTOH, maintain that the lyric actually IS “… oh yes, today came suddenly.”
It makes more sense (because that verse is talking about now, not before) and is cleverer. IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/17 "2009-03-03T20:19:39Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> The song stinks either way.
I have personally smelled that song, and found the aroma quite pleasing.
Responding to the OP, from “Blinded by the Light”, the line is:
_Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night_
There is no reference to female cleansing products as many sing in bars.
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### Author:  [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/18 "2009-03-03T21:34:47Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#):
>
> There’s the Rolling Stones song “I’ll Never See Your Pizza Burning.”
None ever knew what I meant when I talked about Mick Jagger falling in love with a canadian football player.
“Yukon Runningback, Yukon Runningback, to me, me, oh me…”
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### Author:  [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/19 "2009-03-03T22:16:27Z")
AC/DC’s famous song: _Dirty Deeds, Thunderchief_
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-almost-everyone-gets-wrong/488150/20 "2009-03-03T22:17:16Z")
I always thought the R.E.M. line was “Trying to keep an eye on you.”
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