# Misheard Song Lyrics (aka eggcorns or Mondegreens) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977 "2018-06-29T06:05:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/1 "2018-06-29T06:05:58Z")
Per Google, there have been a number of threads about this on the SDMB over the years, but I can’t find any more recent than 2015 and people always seem to get cranky and make jokes about zombies when I try to be parsimonious and revive old threads. So here’s a new one! I wanted to join, and then as I say therefore to start, such a thread because I was stunned to learn just minutes ago that Sting does not brag about his billiards prowess (“I’m a pool hall ace…”) in the Police song “Every Breath You Take”. I wondered how many others have similarly conflated these lyrics, and it turns out that just among Dopers the number is easily into the double digits. How many of you thought that was the lyric until I disabused you just now? (Conversely, how many of you can’t believe anyone would really think that was what he said?) And, of course, feel free to offer up any other eggcorns/Mondegreens you feel like sharing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/2 "2018-06-29T06:22:54Z")
Whenever I hear “Hotline Bling” by Drake, I think the line “I know when that hotline bling/that can only mean one thing” sounds like: “Now I like women and I like men. To me they’re all the same thing.” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/3 "2018-06-29T11:44:08Z")
My wife’s had a few funny lyric mishearings over the years. One is in the chorus of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”. She says for years she thought the line was “I can see you / your bra still drying in the sun” (actual line: “…your brown skin shining in the sun”). I make sure to sing her version when we’re in the car and the song comes on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/4 "2018-06-29T12:08:42Z")
When they alter the voice of the chorus in Get Lucky, it sounds like “we’ll rob a Mexican. We’ll rob a Mexican. We’ll rob a Mexican. We’ll rob a Mexican monkey.” ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/5 "2018-06-29T13:19:19Z")
For decades I thought the line from the last verse of As Tears Go By was A"Doing things I used to do, thinking of you…" I thought the tears were from thinking of a long lost love. I recently found out the line is actually “They think it’s new.” Well, damn" ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/6 "2018-06-29T15:10:42Z")
> [@solost](#): > > My wife’s had a few funny lyric mishearings over the years. One is in the chorus of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”. She says for years she thought the line was “I can see you / your bra still drying in the sun” (actual line: “…your brown skin shining in the sun”). I make sure to sing her version when we’re in the car and the song comes on the radio. I don’t know why but I find that adorable. I never had trouble hearing the correct lyric for \* Every Breath You Take\*, but _now that’s what I hear_😛 Is it still a mondegreen if what you hear is not a real word? My usual contribution to these threads is about the Clash’s _Rock the Casbah_ Near the very end of the song: “He thinks it’s not Kosher Fundamentally he can’t take it” But I could / can never hear anything but “from the mental retardated”. At least one other Doper agrees with me. Along the same lines, The Commodore’s Brick house girl is built like an “Ekamasson” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/7 "2018-06-29T15:11:58Z")
One of the tiny people in my house sings Van Halen’s “Running with the Devil” as “Running with a Dead Mole!” I think it improves the narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/8 "2018-06-29T15:56:45Z")
Two common ones, I believe: “Hotel California”: _Mirrors on the ceiling depict champagne on ice_ instead of the proper _…pink champagne on ice_ “Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts”: _The door to the dressing room burst open and a Colt revolver clicked_ instead of the proper _…a cold revolver clicked._ In both cases, I continue to sing it the wrong way because deep down I know that I’m a better songwriter than The Eagles or Dylan and my way is better. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/9 "2018-06-29T18:01:44Z")
Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said” At around 2 minutes, I (and Mr. CK) swear it sounds like he’s singing “Drunken animal”. I know the correct lyric is “I’m in heaven”, but it will always be Drunken animal to us. It’s worth the laugh. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/10 "2018-06-29T20:10:12Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > “He thinks it’s not Kosher > Fundamentally he can’t take it” > > But I could / can never hear anything but “from the mental retardated”. At least one other Doper agrees with me. I always thought he said ‘fundamental retardation’ until I was corrected here on The Dope. One of my favorites was hearing my then young daughter sing along with the opening theme to The Wonder Years-- Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends-- “Watch what you do with that stank attitude, don’t you stand up and walk out on me!” I still laugh whenever I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/11 "2018-06-29T20:42:01Z")
We kids saw _Mary Poppins_ in 1964 when I was 5. Subsequently we got the original-cast soundtrack 33-rpm LP. I had difficulty with a line in “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” pattered by Mr. Van Dyke in his atrocious mockup of a London accent. It sounded like “My father gave me Nelson quick until me eye was bad” I had no idea what Nelson quick was, but guessed it must be some kind of medicine that hurts one’s eyes (as well as nose, because the next line said “saved me achin’ nose”). If Mr. Van Dyke hadn’t twisted his mouth up so strangely in a futile attempt to sound Cockney, I would have heard how his father gave his nose a tweak and told him he was bad. I was in my forties by the time I found out the real lyrics. When my kids were watching it on TV. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/12 "2018-06-30T00:51:11Z")
Anyone else hear John Lennon’s Beatles lyrics for “Norwegian Wood” as “I wanted a woman, or she wanted me” instead of “I once had a woman, or she once had me”? > [@CelticKnot](#): > > Van Morrison’s “Jackie Wilson Said” > At around 2 minutes, I (and Mr. CK) swear it sounds like he’s singing “Drunken animal”. I know the correct lyric is “I’m in heaven”, but it will always be Drunken animal to us. It’s worth the laugh. This one really intrigued me, both because I’m a big Van Morrison fan and because I had a really hard time imagining how those could swap for each other (unlike say “cold/Colt”). So I went to listen, and to me it sounds like “How can anyone”! Though that makes no sense of course. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I never had trouble hearing the correct lyric for \* Every Breath You Take\*, but _now that’s what I hear_😛 Hah! That’s awesome, like reverse fact checking or one of those illusions that shifts and then you can’t get it to go back. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/13 "2018-06-30T01:37:06Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > We kids saw _Mary Poppins_ in 1964 when I was 5. Subsequently we got the original-cast soundtrack 33-rpm LP. I had difficulty with a line in “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” pattered by Mr. Van Dyke in his atrocious mockup of a London accent. It sounded like > > “My father gave me Nelson quick until me eye was bad” > > I had no idea what Nelson quick was, but guessed it must be some kind of medicine that hurts one’s eyes (as well as nose, because the next line said “saved me achin’ nose”). > > If Mr. Van Dyke hadn’t twisted his mouth up so strangely in a futile attempt to sound Cockney, I would have heard how his father gave his nose a tweak and told him he was bad. I was in my forties by the time I found out the real lyrics. When my kids were watching it on TV. From “Feed the Birds”: “All around the cathedral The snakes and opossums Look down as she sells her wares…” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/14 "2018-06-30T02:17:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > My wife’s had a few funny lyric mishearings over the years. One is in the chorus of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer”. She says for years she thought the line was “I can see you / your bra still drying in the sun” (actual line: “…your brown skin shining in the sun”). I make sure to sing her version when we’re in the car and the song comes on the radio. My eldest daughter confided in me that for a long time she thought the lyrics went: “my love for you will still be strong stronger than poison, stronger than gum” rather than “after the boys of summer have gone”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/15 "2018-06-30T03:39:56Z")
I wondered what Steve Miller was saying when he sang “blah blah Carolina”. It was “big old jet airliner.” The best misheard lyric I ever heard of is “Feed the babies who don’t have enough to eat to the children with no shoes on their feet”. I read it on this board years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/16 "2018-06-30T03:44:08Z")
My best ones all happened when I was quite young and didn’t know that what I was “hearing” might not be a word at all. Most of them, I don’t remember. But one that has stuck with me was a mystifying French word in “Frère Jacques” - Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez vous? Dormez vous? Sawneylemmatina, sawneylemmatina… I also remember being in church as a small book-loving boy, and flipping through the very old-fashioned hymn book to see what it said. I got two Mindegreens (that was originally a typo, and then I realized it was a better term - these came from seeing and not hearing) in one title: “Before Jehovah’s Awful Throne” gave me completely the wrong idea - I only knew “awful” to mean “very unpleasant”, and I took “before” as a reference to time. And I wasn’t sure who Jehovah was, but if there was a very unpleasant throne involved then this was probably not a good guy. Except for the “Before” part - oh no, maybe back then before that throne existed, things were even worse! I didn’t ask any questions, the same way that when watching a movie you don’t ask “Why did he say that?” - you figure that you’re supposed to wait and see what happens. 🙂 ---
**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:** [June 30, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/17 "2018-06-30T03:45:22Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I wondered what Steve Miller was saying when he sang “blah blah Carolina”. It was “big old jet airliner.” > > The best misheard lyric I ever heard of is “Feed the babies who don’t have enough to eat to the children with no shoes on their feet”. I read it on this board years ago. Big ole Jeb had a light on. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/18 "2018-06-30T03:46:07Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I wondered what Steve Miller was saying when he sang “blah blah Carolina”. It was “big old jet airliner.” I didn’t get that one either! I figured “Big old Jarolina” must be a lady he knew. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/19 "2018-06-30T04:19:47Z")
What else does “awful” mean? ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/20 "2018-06-30T04:32:45Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > What else does “awful” mean? Awe-inspiring. Archaic usage though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977.md?page=2)