# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/41 "2018-07-02T06:36:37Z")
> [@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. Yeah, I used to think he was saying “I’m an animal.” Van the Man definitely sings with a mouth full of marbles, but he makes it work. There are sections of _Wild Nights_ where I seriously cannot understand what he was saying at all. I would have to look up the lyrics to tell you what they are. See also: _Domino_, _Caravan_, uh…pretty much everything he did, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/42 "2018-07-02T06:43:11Z")
One of my favourite Jim Croce songs is Lover’s cross. Actual lyrics: \*'Cause now it seems that you wanted a martyr Just a regular guy wouldn’t do But baby I can’t hang upon no lover’s cross for you \* Which to my bewilderment I had always heard as \*'Cause now it seems that you wanted a mother Just a regular guy wouldn’t do But baby I can’t hang upon no lover’s cross for you \* until I finally googled them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/43 "2018-07-02T06:43:38Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > I heard once that the recording studio didn’t have a windscreen (I think that’s what it’s called) for the mike. How that would make runner sound like rumor, I don’t know. Yeah that makes no sense. Also “another rumor in the night” would have just been a cooler lyric IMO so they should have just owned it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/44 "2018-07-02T06:45:26Z")
“Just like the one-winged dove, sings a song sounds like she’s singing…” “I’m not talking about the linen. And I don’t want to change your life. But theres a warm wind blowin’ and now I’m getting old. And I’d really love to see you tonight” (a 2fer). “Someone saved my life tonight, should’ve they?” (It’s actually “Sugar bear”. My change is SO much better.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/45 "2018-07-02T08:24:59Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > 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. Was it me? ‘Cause that’s what I’ve always heard! **AnnieXmas** , until this moment I thought that Stones line was “They think of you.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/46 "2018-07-02T08:39:40Z")
Especially since he’s retiring this week, we really should cite [Cecil’s classic column](https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1120/in-blinded-by-the-light-what-exactly-is-the-lyric-following-the-title-phrase/)when discussing the lyrics to “Blinded by the Light.” The response to a reader’s letter sort of set the tone for how we often deal with nitpickers on these boards. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/47 "2018-07-02T10:34:34Z")
I always heard the chorus of The Lion Sleeps Tonight as “a wiener whack a wiener whack a wiener whack a wiener whack…” I agree with the Blinded By The Light comments. I always heard “Wrapped up like a douche…” ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/48 "2018-07-02T14:26:43Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > Always had trouble with AC/DC. Misinterpreted “Dirty deeds and they’re done dirt cheap” as “Thirty thieves and the thunder genie.” My version is more interesting, IMHO. Not nearly as interesting as “Dirty Deeds and they’re done with Sheep” Right Hal? ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/49 "2018-07-02T14:58:22Z")
It’s been in maybe the last year or two that I finally realized that in Stairway to Heaven he’s not saying: And there’s a wino down the road He’s really saying: And as we wind on down the road ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/50 "2018-07-02T15:14:28Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > It’s been in maybe the last year or two that I finally realized that in Stairway to Heaven he’s not saying: > > And there’s a wino down the road > > He’s really saying: > > And as we wind on down the road Wow! You learn something new everyday. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/51 "2018-07-02T15:25:02Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I always heard the chorus of The Lion Sleeps Tonight as “a wiener whack a wiener whack a wiener whack a wiener whack…” I recall back in the 90s, there was a parody version of this song about Lorena Bobbitt and the chorus was “weiner whacker weiner whacker…” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/52 "2018-07-02T15:25:29Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > It’s been in maybe the last year or two that I finally realized that in Stairway to Heaven he’s not saying: > > And there’s a wino down the road > > He’s really saying: > > And as we wind on down the road I once won $50 of free beer by identifying the next line in the song in a bar trivia game, one of the proudest moments of my nerd life. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/53 "2018-07-02T15:37:27Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > 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. I heard the right words, I just heard them…differently. “shoo the children”, as in, get outta here, ya kids “How’s the people living in the streets?” Eh, not too bad, considering. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/54 "2018-07-02T15:46:20Z")
Some of mine over the years, in chronological order: I thought the Monkees were “the Umpteration”, rather than “the young generation”. Comes from only hearing it on the crappy speaker in the TV. And being 8. I thought Bowie was singing “Bang” instead of “Fame”. I never heard anyone say the title, never had the record in my hands. But I did get a serious ration of shit for it, and deservedly so. Head East to me has always sung “Woman with a sweet lovin’ better than a white lie”. Comparing a woman’s sexual prowess to a line of coke doesn’t make much more sense than my comparison, and neither word rhymes with “time”. Cream wanting to give the woman a “dull surprise” is much more poetic than the somewhat crass “dawn surprise”, and so it shall remain in my mind. And the Bee Gees have always been singing about the “Four-level woman”, who is indeed “more than a woman” to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/55 "2018-07-02T17:03:56Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Head East to me has always sung “Woman with a sweet lovin’ better than a white lie”. Comparing a woman’s sexual prowess to a line of coke doesn’t make much more sense than my comparison, and neither word rhymes with “time”. “Line” is a slant-rhyme with “Time”. “Lie” just doesn’t rhyme with it. Also, singing about white lines is always more interesting than a lie - but nobody will top Joni Mitchell’s “prisoner of the white lines on the freeway” in _Coyote_ in that department. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/56 "2018-07-02T22:54:47Z")
I mishear a lot of them, but the only ones that amuse me are: “Tennis Court” by Lorde: “It’s a new [del]art form[/del] iPhone showing people how little we care (yeah!)” “Walking on a Dream” by Empire of the Sun: “[del]Is it real now[/del] It’s a grandma / [del]When two people become one[/del] Too airborne to come home” ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/57 "2018-07-06T17:48:47Z")
[This song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-NWJ9OykJs) by Gomez; why is he singing about cat food? Sounds to me like “Oh cat food, cat food. Oh Let’s drink cat food.” Jump to about :30. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/58 "2018-07-07T04:18:48Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > I recall back in the 90s, there was a parody version of this song about Lorena Bobbitt and the chorus was “weiner whacker weiner whacker…” Hee, that one went: "In the bedroom, the mighty bedroom John Bobbitt sleeps tonight In the kitchen, the quiet kitchen Lorena grabs a knife A weenie-whack, a weenie-whack…" Anyway, my contribution is “Memories” by Elvis Presley. Real words: “Memories Of holding hands and red bouquets” What I hear: “Memories Of holding hands and rat bouquets” ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/59 "2018-07-07T05:21:02Z")
I just remembered one I had wrong for quite a long time: the song I thought was Aerosmith’s _Doin’ It Like A Lady_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977/60 "2018-07-07T11:01:49Z")
HAHAHAHA!! Funniest one I’ve read in a long time was “Let me take French”. Red Rider: Lunatic Fringe. 😃 Like, why?? “Let me take French / I know you’re out there” ??? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misheard-song-lyrics-aka-eggcorns-or-mondegreens/816977.md?page=4)