# Near-Mondegreens: Songs you misunderstood even though you heard the lyrics clearly **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689 "2010-12-10T19:04:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/61 "2010-12-15T03:38:42Z")
> [@Indyellen](#): > > :smack: Really? That’s the real lyric? I believe I always substituted “shouldn’t they”, but I just let myself not understand it. Boy, that’s a stupid lyric. I believe it’s supposed to be one of those overly cutesy nicknames the couple used that he detested and found clingy. Always made sense to me, but then I was obsessive about reading the lyrics, and Elton’s albums were wonderful in providing them. Wish all musicians did that. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/62 "2010-12-15T04:20:13Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > I believe it’s supposed to be one of those overly cutesy nicknames the couple used that he detested and found clingy. That’s what I always figured but [this site claims that Sugar Bear is a reference to the guy that saved his life that night](http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2453). ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/63 "2010-12-15T19:46:45Z")
“I am the sun, and the air.” Took me a long time to figure that one out. (son and heir) ---
**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:** [December 15, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/64 "2010-12-15T20:04:41Z")
Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”. How kind of the narrator’s sweetheart to care for him while he has a nasty head cold! (“She blew my nose and then she blew my mind…”) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/65 "2010-12-15T20:25:24Z")
When I was 10, The Eagles’ “Hotel California” gave me the creeps. I interpreted it literally, thinking it was about some scary haunted hotel with robot butlers (“we are programmed to receive”) and animal sacrifice dinners (“they stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast”) that killed you and trapped your soul forever (“you can check out any time at all but you can never leave”). It didn’t help matters that the first time I heard the song was while trapped in a nighttime traffic jam on a dark stretch of Pacific Coast Highway beyond Malibu. We were on our way to a Boy Scout campout in the Santa Monica Mountains when we hit Friday evening Malibu traffic. Dark hills on our right, dark empty void on our left where the ocean should have been, and nothing but red tailights ahead as far as we could see. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/66 "2010-12-15T20:36:03Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > “Knights in White Satin” > [@njtt](#): > > Yes! I absolutely believed that for ages. And so did I until, um, five seconds ago. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/67 "2010-12-15T20:48:18Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”. How kind of the narrator’s sweetheart to care for him while he has a nasty head cold! > > (“She blew my nose and then she blew my mind..”) Actually, there is a definite pause there: “She blew my nose and then she blew my . . . mind.” And in concerts, they have been known to sing slightly different words there. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/68 "2010-12-15T21:35:47Z")
“Afternoon Delight”. Which I’m sure I’m not unique in, considering that the idea that someone had NO IDEA it was about lunchtime sex pops up a lot of places, most notably in an episode of _Arrested Development_. I loved the song when I was a little kid (I was bout 6 or 7 when it came out). I’m sure my parents just gritted their teeth and thanked God I was too young to get it… ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/69 "2010-12-15T23:13:24Z")
In another thread I mentioned how for a long time I thought it was about a couple in a park watching a fireworks display. I never questioned why fireworks were being shot in the afternoon instead of the evening though. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/70 "2010-12-15T23:41:11Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Afternoon Delight”. Which I’m sure I’m not unique in, considering that the idea that someone had NO IDEA it was about lunchtime sex pops up a lot of places, most notably in an episode of _Arrested Development_. I loved the song when I was a little kid (I was bout 6 or 7 when it came out). I’m sure my parents just gritted their teeth and thanked God I was too young to get it… I was a little kid when it came out also. Since I spoke no English at the time, and the radio DJ translated only the song title, I thought it was about having some ice cream or some other snack after school. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/71 "2010-12-16T04:04:06Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > When I was 10, The Eagles’ “Hotel California” gave me the creeps. I interpreted it literally, thinking it was about some scary haunted hotel with robot butlers (“we are programmed to receive”) and animal sacrifice dinners (“they stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast”) that killed you and trapped your soul forever (“you can check out any time at all but you can never leave”). > It didn’t help matters that the first time I heard the song was while trapped in a nighttime traffic jam on a dark stretch of Pacific Coast Highway beyond Malibu. We were on our way to a Boy Scout campout in the Santa Monica Mountains when we hit Friday evening Malibu traffic. Dark hills on our right, dark empty void on our left where the ocean should have been, and nothing but red tailights ahead as far as we could see. This is still how I picture it. I can grasp it’s all a metaphor, and yet, I’m pretty sure he’s singing about a weird fucking hotel somewhere in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/72 "2010-12-16T06:28:53Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Afternoon Delight”. Which I’m sure I’m not unique in, considering that the idea that someone had NO IDEA it was about lunchtime sex pops up a lot of places, most notably in an episode of _Arrested Development_. I loved the song when I was a little kid (I was bout 6 or 7 when it came out). I’m sure my parents just gritted their teeth and thanked God I was too young to get it… ☹ I _was_ old enough to know what it meant, so I had to grit my own teeth when ever I heard it. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/73 "2010-12-16T08:44:56Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”. How kind of the narrator’s sweetheart to care for him while he has a nasty head cold! > > (“She blew my nose and then she blew my mind..”) I thought that couldn’t possibly be the right lyrics. So I substituted “hose”, thinking it was a euphemism for a BJ. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/74 "2010-12-16T11:23:37Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Afternoon Delight”. Which I’m sure I’m not unique in, considering that the idea that someone had NO IDEA it was about lunchtime sex pops up a lot of places, most notably in an episode of _Arrested Development_. I loved the song when I was a little kid (I was bout 6 or 7 when it came out). I’m sure my parents just gritted their teeth and thanked God I was too young to get it… I too thought it was about eating candy during the day. In another thread where I mentioned this, I also mentioned that I thought that Michael Jackson wanted to wake up early and run to his girlfriend’s house in the song Got To Be There. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689/75 "2010-12-16T16:00:18Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > It’s the boxer who is leaving – he has ‘passed on’, and only his still remains are left behind. Oops, missed that 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/near-mondegreens-songs-you-misunderstood-even-though-you-heard-the-lyrics-clearly/563689.md?page=3)