# Song lyrics I misunderstood **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985 "2011-06-27T03:15:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/61 "2011-09-05T23:42:38Z")
The real line in Rose Royce’s “Car Wash” was “You might not ever get rich But let me tell ya it’s better than diggin’ a ditch” I thought the line was “…But let me tell ya it’s better than bein’ a bitch” My version makes more sense anyway. Being rich often does cause somebody to be a bitch, but nobody ever got rich by digging a ditch. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/62 "2011-09-06T02:06:57Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > It’s very funny that Kim Carnes got the lyric wrong, but “make a pro blush” does make sense when “pro” is short for prostitute. I think “make a pro blush” makes sense. A pro has seen it all and doesn’t embarrass easily, yet this woman can even someone like that blush. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/63 "2011-09-06T05:48:37Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I think “make a pro blush” makes sense. A pro has seen it all and doesn’t embarrass easily, yet this woman can even someone like that blush. OK, I can see that but did you actually think she was saying “make a pro blush?” By the way, I think the song is full of unintelligible lyrics. For example, did you know the first line is “Her hair is Harlow gold”? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/64 "2011-09-06T05:53:09Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > OK, I can see that but did you actually think she was saying “make a pro blush?” For years I never understood the “pro blush” part. I don’t remember if I learned by seeing the lyrics or just one day I heard what she was really saying, but, again, for years it was unintelligible gibberish to me. > [@](#): > > By the way, I think the song is full of unintelligible lyrics. For example, did you know the first line is “Her hair is Harlow gold”? I’ve heard the song recently, and going by memory I’m not sure what she says in the beginning. Are those the actual lyrics? ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/65 "2011-09-06T06:14:11Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I’ve heard the song recently, and going by memory I’m not sure what she says in the beginning. Are those the actual lyrics? Yes, there are three old film stars referenced: [ol] [li]Jean Harlow: “Her hair is Harlow gold” (although half of the lyrics sites say “hollow gold”)[/li][li]Garbo: “She got Greta Garbo stand off sighs”[/li][li]of course Bette Davis[/li][/ol] Here is the song if you want to play guess the lyrics: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIS5taqA8&ob=av3n](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIS5taqA8&ob=av3n) I bet there are still several words that you won’t be able to make out due to Kim’s raspy delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/66 "2011-09-06T06:19:43Z")
Heh, that’s OK. There have been, and still are, a LOT of songs I’ve never understood. I’ve always wondered what it would be like if her, Bonnie Tyler, and Rod Stewart got together for a…uhm…triet? ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/67 "2011-09-06T06:24:38Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I’ve always wondered what it would be like if her, Bonnie Tyler, and Rod Stewart got together for a…uhm…triet? Yes, if the three of them covered “Louie Louie,” it might be the most unintelligible song ever recorded.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/68 "2011-09-06T06:42:07Z")
When I was a kid, I thought the line in the refrain to “Blue Tail Fly” was: _Gimme that corn, and I don’t care, the Master’s throwing it away!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/69 "2011-09-06T16:25:07Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > **Van Halen** - “Jump” > > Actual lyrics: > > Well can’t you see me standing here, > I’ve got my back against the record machine > > What I heard for years > > Well can’t you see me standing here, > I’ve got my back against the wrecking machine When I was little I pictured David Lee Roth hangin’ out in a junkyard too. 🆒 Until I was like 20 I thought AC/DC were doing “Dirty deeds in a Dunder Jeep.” ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/70 "2011-09-06T17:35:15Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > **Van Halen** - “Jump” > > Actual lyrics: > > Well can’t you see me standing here, > I’ve got my back against the record machine > > What I heard for years > > Well can’t you see me standing here, > I’ve got my back against the wrecking machine MAXWELL Jump! Go ahead and jump! ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/71 "2011-09-06T17:49:07Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > Yes, there are three old film stars referenced: > > [ol] > [li]Jean Harlow: “Her hair is Harlow gold” (although half of the lyrics sites say “hollow gold”)[/li][li]Garbo: “She got Greta Garbo stand off sighs”[/li][li]of course Bette Davis[/li][/ol] I’ve always heard it as “Greta Garbo Standard Sighs” which I thought was a neat pun on Standard Size. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/72 "2011-09-06T19:23:37Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > Until I was like 20 I thought AC/DC were doing “Dirty deeds in a Dunder Jeep.” On the morning radio show **Bob and Tom** , Tom use to think that they were saying dirty deeds for the Dunder Chief. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/73 "2011-09-06T19:35:31Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > I still think I’m right and the lyrics are wrong. > > Play the first 25 seconds of this: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43dJpNTuo80](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43dJpNTuo80) > > but don’t look at the lyrics. What do you think the last line before the orchestra starts is? > > I say it’s “Niggah, be a man.” I wouldn’t guess it’s what the lyrics claim in a hundred years. > > Fits perfectly with the context, unlike most misheard lyrics. And why show the lyrics, unlike most music videos, unless they’re trying to throw people off the track? I’ve never heard the song before, as far as I know, and I opened the link in a background tab so I’d seen nothing. It quite clearly says “Make up your mind”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/74 "2011-09-07T10:52:57Z")
Many years ago, the place where I worked always had a radio station playing in the background . . . not much volume and not good reception. I remember hearing Billy Joel singing: “I am an elephant man.” ---
**Author:** ![all1966](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@all1966](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/all1966)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/75 "2011-09-07T19:03:52Z")
Welcome Back (theme song to Welcome Back, Kotter from many moons ago): Actual: Who’da thought they’d lead ya… I heard: Oooda babba leeja… Then there’s always Bennie and her electric boobs, mohair shoes… ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/76 "2011-09-07T21:59:57Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Stevie Nicks, _Edge of Seventeen_: > > **Just like the one-winged dove!** > > Poor birdie. ☹ > > (Actual lyric: **Just like the white-winged dove!** ) Fell for that one. (It’s white-winged dove?) > [@](#): > > I still claim that my mondegreen for Elton John’s _Someone Saved My Life Tonight_ makes more sense than the original lyrics: > > **Someone saved my life tonight (Should’ve they?)** > > as opposed to the actual lyrics: > > \*\*Someone saved my life tonight (Sugar Bear) \*\* No, the song is Elton singing to the woman he almost married, and lamenting how she almost had him trapped, but in the end someone saved him from her grasp and convinced him not to marry her. Oh, and incidently, saved him from committing suicide by suffocating on gas (or at least making a rather poor attempt at suicide, maybe just a dramatic scene looking like a suicide attempt, but nevertheless an epsiode involving gas and something like suicide). Anyway, the “Sugar Bear” lyric is directed at the subject of the song, the lady he almost married. It was one of her sweet nicknames that she applied to him, something he actually found clingy and trite. He’s throwing it back in her face paired with the imagery about being “roped and tied” and having “your hooks in me, didn’t 'ya dear”. > [@AnalogSignal](#): > > OK, I can see that but did you actually think she was saying “make a pro blush?” Crow blush is somehow better? How? > [@](#): > > By the way, I think the song is full of unintelligible lyrics. For example, did you know the first line is “Her hair is Harlow gold”? Um, yeah, but I caught the reference. I submit that there is no way Adele is singing “rolling in the deep”. That sound is not an l sound, it’s a d sound. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/77 "2011-09-07T22:26:05Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I submit that there is no way Adele is singing “rolling in the deep”. That sound is not an l sound, it’s a d sound. Rodding in the deep? ---
**Author:** ![emu2swan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@emu2swan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emu2swan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/78 "2011-09-07T23:31:23Z")
Patti LaBelles “New Attitude” I thought she was singing “I got a new pair of shoes” it made perfect sense to me. Billy Idols “Eyes Without a Face” not being able to understand most of the lyrics anyway I thought he was singing “hows about a date?” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/79 "2011-09-08T03:57:44Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Rodding in the deep? She mangles the first syllable enough I can’t parse what it is. Sure, I can make out what the background singers are saying, but not her. I could maybe hear it as “hiding in the deep”. But not “rolling”. [QUOTE=brocks,13967719] I say it’s “Niggah, be a man.” [/QUOTE] Uh, no, not at all. I’d give you “Nigga your mine”, but only because you’ve primed the pump. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985/80 "2011-09-08T04:24:00Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Can anybody say that Rihanna isn’t singing “[Hazel’s Got the Music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZCubnJb9Fg)”? Nothing unclear with that clip. “Please don’t stop the music.” > [@](#): > > And in the original recording of “[I am your Venus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y51HlQJPhXI)” by Shocking Blue I was surprised that they let them sing a certain word that rhymes with “Venus” on the radio back then. (I am your fountain of joy desire?) So that’s what that line is. I always heard it as something like “I’m your Venus, I’m your fire at your desire” Um, yeah, yours works better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-i-misunderstood/586985.md?page=5)