# Misheard lyrics that, it turns out, you heard correctly **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 2, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830 "2007-09-02T19:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/21 "2007-09-06T13:51:56Z")
A little OT, but I’m convinced that in David Bowie’s “China Girl”: > [@](#): > > My little China Girl > You shouldn’t mess with me > I’ll ruin everything you are > Y’know, I’ll give you television > I’ll give you eyes of blue > **I’ll give you a man who wants to rule the world.** I’m sorry, but that last bolded line _has_ to be “man of wars to rule the world”. Googling that phrase in combination with “China Girl” yields _zero_ hits. So I’m quite pleased that I am the only person in the world who has picked up on the true words penned by Messrs Bowie and Pop. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/22 "2007-09-06T17:22:59Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] I’m sorry, but that last bolded line _has_ to be “man of wars to rule the world”. [/QUOTE] I’m with you, only I hear “I’ll give you a man o’war to rule the world”. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/23 "2007-09-06T18:39:25Z")
The moldy oldie “Wooly Bully” contains a phrase that as far as I could tell sounded like “let’s not be ‘el-seven’” which didn’t make any sense at all to me. Later I found that I was hearing it correctly, although the phrase is actually spelled “let’s not be ‘L7’”, although this made even less sense. Many years later I finally found out that “L7” is slang for square, as the two characters, written in the right way, form a square. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/24 "2007-09-06T18:43:10Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga] A little OT, but I’m convinced that in David Bowie’s “China Girl”: I’m sorry, but that last bolded line _has_ to be “man of wars to rule the world”. Googling that phrase in combination with “China Girl” yields _zero_ hits. So I’m quite pleased that I am the only person in the world who has picked up on the true words penned by Messrs Bowie and Pop. [/QUOTE] I always thought it was “Men of Mars to rule the world,” referring to his earlier incarnation of the Spiders from Mars, and imported American pop culture. Although it sounded more like “I’ll give you Mallomars to rule the world,” that interpretation seemed too silly for me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/25 "2020-11-05T17:58:56Z")
Was watching a gig by the great Roy Ayers (american jazz maestro) in tblisi (a city in europe)… I was sure he sang “We shop in Tesco” (a major supermarket in the UK) After much googlement, turns out he did sing that. Some sort of in joke, it appears. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830/26 "2020-11-09T20:38:32Z")
In “Commando” by The Ramones I kept hearing “eat kosher salami”. Ha ha, I thought, that’s a mondegreen and the real lyric is something else that rhymes with commies and Mommy. Nope, turns out it’s the actual line. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-lyrics-that-it-turns-out-you-heard-correctly/417830.md?page=1)