# Mis-Heard Song Lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 10, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831 "2002-09-10T18:51:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tygr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@Tygr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tygr)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/21 "2002-09-11T20:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Lump sat alone in a boggy marsh > Totally motionless except for her heart > Mud flowed up into Lump’s **vagina** \* > She totally confused all the passing piranhas Just head this one last week. Yes, this is what I thought they were singing. [sub]\* actually, it’s “pajamas”[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/22 "2002-09-11T22:14:50Z")
Back in the 70’s… “I’m Sally in a way” actually it was… “I’m sailing away” ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/23 "2002-09-12T05:43:44Z")
A friend in college thought that the Notorious B.I.G.'s “Hypnotize” went: “Biggie, Biggie, Biggie, can’t you see? Sometimes your words just hypnotize me. We just love your **fleshy waste** That’s why the others are broke and you’re so paid.” (Actually it’s "We just love your **flashy ways** ) In Sublime’s “Boss DJ,” my friend was convinced she heard: “But I won’t walk up upon the stage like I was John Denver. The Boss DJ, he ain’t nothin but a man.” (Of course it’s “I won’t walk up upon the sea like it was dry land,” which rhymes with “man,” and would make sense to anyone with a normal brain capacity…) ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/24 "2002-09-12T09:28:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fingolfin \* > **Peter Gabriel 'Games Without Frontiers’** > > Mis-heard lyric: > > “She’s so popular” > > Real lyric: > > “Jeux sans frontieres” No way, for real? Even if it does make more sense, I still maintain that it’s “She’s so popular.” Even if Peter Gabriel came up to me and told me it was wrong, I’d still maintain that it’s “she’s so popular.” ---
**Author:** ![jane\_says](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jane\_says](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jane_says)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/25 "2002-09-13T00:41:40Z")
My best friend in high school had a tag-along cousin who irritated the hell out of us. One of her best tricks was screwing up song lyrics. I can’t remember them all, but I do recall that when Michael Bolton covered “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” she thought he was singing “Sittin’ on Top of Pompei”. And kd lang’s “Constant Craving”, which I still love, was reduced to “Toss the Gravy”. And I’ll be damned if that’s not what it sounds like if that’s what you’re listening for. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/26 "2002-09-13T00:59:57Z")
I always hear “she’s so popular” as “she’s so funky, yeah”. I’m not sure I can wrap my head around “jeux sans frontieres” - although it certainly makes sense in the song… ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/27 "2002-09-13T14:51:34Z")
\*\*Elton John’s _Tiny Dancer_ \*\* _“Hold me closer Tony Danza”_ A friend of mine never misheard it, but pointed out how similar it sounds and now I can’t hear it any other way. What? ---
**Author:** ![knarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@knarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knarf)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/28 "2002-09-13T16:10:07Z")
From The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go” When the band is repeating the lead’s lyrics, but in Spanish, my sister swore they kept saying “peanut butter sucker” over and over. It’s easy to hear that if you try. ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/29 "2002-09-13T20:20:42Z")
My mother always interpreted Carole King’s “Stuff that Dreams are Made Of” as “Stuff that Green Tomato”. It really does sound like that, too! I get a hopeless case of the giggles every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/30 "2002-09-13T22:33:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by crazy4chaucer \* > \*\*My most memorable one was Lucille, by Kenny Rogers. > > “You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille, > With four hundred children > And this time they’re eating oatmeal.” \*\* When I was a kid I heard it the same way, except I heard: “And a COP in the field.” Which made some sort of crazy sense to me since the poor guy had 400 children and all. I just assumed they were running rampant. ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/31 "2002-09-13T22:41:57Z")
“I’m walking in Memphis I was walking with my feet ten feet off a beetle.” – Mark Cohn > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mooch_ > \*\*Elton John’s Tiny Dancer > > “Hold me closer Tony Danza” \*\* Next line: “Caught the headlice on the highway…” ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/32 "2002-09-13T22:53:25Z")
I liked the “Blinded by the Light” [skit](http://www.unoriginal.com/tvl/blinded.html) from the show **The Vacant Lot**. ---
**Author:** ![zephonith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@zephonith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephonith)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/33 "2002-09-13T22:53:32Z")
I always thought the Smashing Pumpkins song “Stand Inside Your Love” was saying Up yourself, and beautiful Which struck me as a funny sort of thing to say in a really romantic sounding song. I just assumed whoever he was singing about was pretty, but a real cow, and that he was really shallow. Until I found out it was actually A pure soul, and beautiful Which made a lot more sense. ---
**Author:** ![zephonith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@zephonith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephonith)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/34 "2002-09-13T22:55:23Z")
I wasted my 100th post on that?! :smack: ---
**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:** [September 13, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/35 "2002-09-13T23:07:19Z")
I’ve posted this mis-hearing from my daughter a few times, but it still cracks me up and she _hates_ when I post it-- another plus. We were watching The Wonder Years. My daughter starts singing along with Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends which goes: What would you do if sang out of tune . . . My daughter sings: Watch what you do with that stank attitude! Maybe she thought Joe was her dad trying to get her to wash dishes. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/36 "2002-09-13T23:44:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fingolfin \* > \*\*The Beach Boys ‘Help Me Rhonda’ > > Mis-heard lyric: > > “Since you put me down, there’s been owls puking in my bed.” :eek: LOL! > > Real lyric: > > “Since she put me down, I been all through it in my head.”\*\* Is that what they’re saying?!? I’ve wondered for years. The closest I could come was “since she put me down I’ve been out doing in my hand”…nah. Couldn’t be that. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/37 "2002-09-13T23:47:06Z")
Mosta mine’r from the late 70’s and early '80s. I was inhaling a lot of solvents back then 🙂 _Green peas and grated cheese_ (Sweet dreams are made of these) _I’m a pool hall ace, with heavy necks to break_ (How my poor heart aches, with every breath you take) _Reverend Blue Jeans_ (Forever in blue jeans) _Big old Jed had a Rhino, don’t carry his tooth on a chain_ (Big old jet airliner, don’t carry me too far away) _Bees came upon me, and it stings in me_ (Peace came upon me, and it breaths in me–The Hollies) …And the X-Mas classic that puzzled my addled wittle brwain all though childhood: _Join the hatred, you’ll fight Carol_ ("Who’s Carol, Mom? An’ why do they all want to fight her?) (Join the ancient yule tide carol) One of the funniest I ever heard someone else mishearing is: _My anus is the centerhole_ (My angel is a centerfold) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/38 "2002-09-14T02:09:01Z")
Actual lyric: “Sundown, ya better beware,” Lyric I heard: “San Bernardi-i-i-no,” ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/39 "2002-09-14T04:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monstre \* > \*\*A girl I knew in college thought Stevie Nicks was singing: > > “Just like a park ranger!” > > (Correct version, of course - “Just like a white-winged dove”) \*\* I used to hear this one as “Just like a one-winged bird.” But it makes sense, see, because a one-winged bird would be flying in circles… well, insofar as it could fly… and… um… ---
**Author:** ![tetsusaru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@tetsusaru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tetsusaru)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2002, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831/40 "2002-09-14T10:21:10Z")
The Doors, LA Woman: “cops in cars, the topless bars”, cheerfully misheard as “cops in cars, the tapas bars”. Oh, and they`re called mondegreens, as in “They killed the Earl of Moray, and Lady Mondegreen.” {laid him on the green.} Some Scottish folk song, apparently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mis-heard-song-lyrics/127831.md?page=3)