“Arboretum, won’t ya help me place this call?”
— James Taylor
A double whammy – the lyrics AND the artist threw you.
“Operator” is sung by Jim Croce (admittedly doing a damn good James Taylor impression on the chorus).
I heard the “Arboretum” line in my head, too, as we had a building on the college campus called the Arboretum.
I wondered for months about the '80s hit “Honest to See Ya.” Made no sense at all…
“Our Lips Are Sealed,” now that’s better…
I thought it was "no dark star chasm in the classroom" for a long time. Actually not too far fetched for Floyd lyrics.
WHen my little sister was very young, she thought the Lord's Prayer that we sang in church went "and lead a snot into temptation".Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name…
Well, you know Harold is an angel, too.
“Hark Harold Angel Sings…”
Heh. I always heard “All of Cecile”.
Whatever that means. 
“There’s a bathroom on the right.”
Quasi
“All in all you’re just another prick in the mall”
Q
“We were cool on Christ… (craze)
In our dance hall days”
Q
No way. God’s name is Andy, as in:
“Andy walks with me,
Andy talks with me,
Andy tells me I am His own.” 
For years I thought The Who’s “Who Are You?” was a song about New Orleans:
Neeewww Orleans… whoo hoo, whoo hoo!
Even today my mind still interprets this song the way I described above.
Those aren’t the lyrics?
Heh, nope. I kinda miss the dirty lyric.
This one got me laughed at.
“Jo-Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona.
Boston, California grass.”
I thought he was traveling around.
But I got her back for
“Now for ten years we’ve been on our own
and moss grows bad on a rolling stone.”
I just remembered why she thought that. Because it’s true. Moss does grow bad on a rolling stone.
We built this city
We built this city on the wrong damn road…
Grace Slick - how could you??
And from Jacko:
Keep on
like a porn star
don’t stop 'til you get enough
I had an argument with two people about 20 years apart about this lyric. They both heard “Someday I’ll see you.” In the latter case, the argument almost got violent! :eek:
I always thought the Go-Gos were singing about a friendly sea mammal, “Alex the Seal.”
“Hey there, Amigo…”
Quasi
I remember a DJ on WPLR out of Connecticut referring to the song as “It’s an M & M’s Front.” Guess what I can’t NOT think about whenever I hear that track?
My personal mis-hearing was Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, where he’s “Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt.” When I first heard it - on AM radio, no less - I thought he was searching for his lost Chippewa Squaw. I was 9 years old, fer chrissakes - what did I know about margarita drinking procedure?