# Song lyrics you deliberately sing wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444 "2012-04-30T20:12:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/141 "2012-05-09T17:23:52Z")
Romantics - What I like about Jews, They really know finance. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/142 "2012-05-09T17:30:39Z")
In the Annie Lenox and Howard Shore song “Into the West” from LOTR are these lyrics: _… Hope fades Into the world of night Through shadows falling Out of memory and time…_ I don’t think that fits the message and significance of the song, so I change the first two lines: _… Hope grows Against the world of night Through shadows falling Out of memory and time…_ Same number of syllables, but more appropriate in context. I also always look over my shoulder whenever Don Henley sings “Don’t look back, you can never look back” in “The Boys of Summer.” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/143 "2012-05-09T17:46:32Z")
Every time I heard “Bony Moronie”, I always wondered how Larry Williams could get away with singing about them making love on their knees behind the trees. Now that I know the real lyric, I still like mine better. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/144 "2012-05-09T19:25:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I also always look over my shoulder whenever Don Henley sings “Don’t look back, you can never look back” in “The Boys of Summer.” I always thought he was singing “ **I saw a dead head sticking out of a Cadillac** ” (Dead head sticker on a Cadillac). I like my version better. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/145 "2012-05-10T22:51:46Z")
> [@FalconFinder](#): > > A couple of lyrics sites have it the other way, but after getting thoroughly confused, I went and listened to the song. It is “blowing the stars around”. > > I confirmed this by watching the video where Dan Seals (England Dan) does a country version of this song and it’s much more pronounced. I did the lead sheets for some Dan & Coley abums in the 70’s, and I’m pretty sure it’s “blowing the stars around.” But I wouldn’t swear in a court of law because (1) I’m not sure I did that song for them, and (2) I’m not sure the composers supplied the lyrics for me. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t, then I had to cope like everyone else, although I had top-notch quality studio recordings to work from. I charged the publisher more if I had to guess. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/146 "2012-05-11T16:29:15Z")
> [@Soylent\_Juicy](#): > > [Eiffel 65 - Blue](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68ugkg9RePc&feature=related) > > My old roommate’s co-worker swore they were singing “I’m blue I’m in need of a guy”. So that’s how I sing it. I had a friend who would sing “I’m blue if I were green I would die.” Another of mine that I just did this morning is Zombie, by the Cranberries. With their tanks And their bombs And their bombs And their guns Eeyore head Eeyore head They are dying Eeyore heeeeeead Eeyore heeeeeead Zombie Zombie Zombie ee ee ee ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/147 "2012-05-11T18:18:39Z")
Owner of a _horse and cart_! Owner of a _dish-wash-er_! Much better than an… Owner of _the nuclear-powered fleet carrier USS Nimitz_! Owner of a _Mamiya C33 that’s generally in good condition except that the taking lens has a bloody huge set of gouges in the rear element, contrary to your description of them being QUOTE nice & clean & are also free of any scratches, dust, haze or fungus UNQUOTE, which disappoints me because it’s otherwise a decent albeit very heavy example of Mamiya’s fascinating attempt to mate the post-war medium format system camera approach pioneered by Hasselbald with the pre-war twin-lens-reflex design!_ And so on. Like all humour, it works because it’s subversive. You’re expecting me to sing “owner of a lonely heart”, but I replace “lonely heart” with something else that has four syllables. And then I _subvert the subversion_ by singing things that brutally, violently break the meter of the song. The more brutal and violent the subversion, the more unlikely the object, the funnier it is. Why stop at objects? Why not be the owner of a _growing, gnawing sense of alienation and disillusionment that can only be held at bay by harvesting souls_? I admit this isn’t a new idea. Mystery Science Theatre 3000 did [a whole skit on the subject](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5OzF-ZT6QI) of how to determine whether the owner of a perfectly functional cheese slicer is better or worse than the owner of a pi-ie. But I came up with this idea independently, before I’d heard of MST3K. The idea of singing things other than “lonely heart” when singing the chorus of Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, I came up with the idea by myself, because the pinballs on the great pinball table of my mind are in constant motion. I am tilting the board non-stop. But I feel I need a government grant to really explore the topic, though. 'frinstance, suppose I sing “owner of an owner of a lonely heart”, and then extend it so that I’m singing “owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of a lonely heart”, or “owner of an owner of an owner of an of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of an owner of a lonely heart”. Perhaps I could just concentrate on that one thing. With some kind of mathematical nomenclature. “[Owner of an owner x 4.6x1[9]] lonely heart”, for example. At what point does it stop becoming funny? After the first billion iterations, or beyond? Does it regain its funniness? That bit about the Mamiya C33 is true, by the way. Interchangeable lenses, bellows focusing which makes every lens a quasi-macro lens, physically built like a tank (e.g. it has blow-out panels in the rear and wet storage for HESH rounds, four crew, passive infrared, Chobham armour, flip-up viewing hood). But the taking lens has a set of gouges - not just scratches, but bits of glass missing - on the rear element, and although it might not affect image quality too much, why put up with it? And, is mathematical nomenclature actually _numenclature_? That was a pun. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/148 "2012-05-11T18:22:28Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > “But there’s a warm wind blowing the stars around/And I’d really love to see you tonight…” That’s the song that has the chorus start with the line “I’m not talking about the linen” right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_Ferguson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/97f17d/32.png) [@Harvey\_Ferguson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_Ferguson)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/149 "2012-05-11T18:47:11Z")
Slow talkin’ Walter, the fire engine guy. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/150 "2012-05-11T19:42:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > That’s the song that has the chorus start with the line > > “I’m not talking about the linen” > > right? 😉 I think he is too talking 'bout the linen. I got a real jolt (I think it was here on this very board) to learn that there is NOT a warm wind blowing the stars around. Also, “One.” Actual lyrics: “One…singular sensation…” (etc.) What goes in my head: “Step, cross, step, ball-change, KICK, step, KICK, hat…” ---
**Author:** ![Wayne-O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e47c2d/32.png) [@Wayne-O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wayne-O)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/151 "2012-05-11T20:26:58Z")
He’s dancin’ with the chicken slacks She’s movin’ up and back ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/152 "2012-05-11T22:46:06Z")
“…cause we are li-ving in a venereal world, and I am the venereal girl…” “Owner of a lonely fart…” ---
**Author:** ![LAV25](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@LAV25](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LAV25)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/153 "2012-05-12T14:36:58Z")
We are one in the Spirit We are one in the Lord We are one in the Spirit We are one in the Lord And we’ll take all God’s enemies and put them to the sword And they’ll know we are Christians when they die when they die Yes they’ll know that we are Christians when they die. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/154 "2012-05-16T02:06:36Z")
Found another one, by the _excellent_ slightly pop-punk band called Fireworks (they’re so good that all of their songs sound like album openers.) They have a lyric that goes “we’ll start having to cope with the fact that none of the things we say are making any sense at all” I originally heard it as “We’ll start having a Coke with the fact that none of the things we say are making any sense at all” Which doesn’t make any sense at all. Which I thought was the point of the line :smack: . But I’m singing it that way from now on cause mine is better dammit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Walking\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@The\_Walking\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Walking_Dude)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/155 "2012-05-16T16:33:03Z")
“My pony plays the bongo” I blame my wife for that. I will never hear it as, “Marconi plays the mamba” ever again. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/156 "2012-05-16T19:12:22Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > “What are the words to La Bamba?” > ~VOW LOL My old buddy Glen Sarcona taught me that version 😃 To Laibach’s [Tanz Mit Laibach](http://www.rathergood.com/laibach) we sing something along the lines of Eins, zwei, drei, vier Give the German Kittens Beer! [instead of Bruederchen, komm tanz mit mir] Eins, zwei, drei, vier German kittens want their beer! [instead of Beide Haende reich ich dir] and so on. mrAru also substitutes words in english that sound german in Rammstein songs:dubious:😃 I still insist on singing My Bonnie with the [Vietnam](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_M6h0PO9kU) variant and got my goddaughters doing it as well. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/157 "2012-05-16T20:28:02Z")
I do a couple of those already mentioned – Secret Asian Man, Tony Danza, and (occasionally) there’s a bathroom on the right. One of my own is from a Barry Manilow hit in regular rotation when I was a kid: “Looks like tomatoes!” That was my mondegreeen and I’m sticking to it. The one I find most fun is The Beatles’ Lady Madonna – in the break where they sing “ba ba bah, ba ba ba bababah…” I do it as chickens bawking. I always picture Gonzo leading his chicken chorus on The Muppet Show. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/158 "2012-06-16T21:31:48Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > "Children roasting on an open fire, > “Jack Frost nipping at their toes…” Jeff’s nuts roasting on an open fire… ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/159 "2012-06-16T22:09:23Z")
I like substituting “ba fangool” for “I love you”: I just called to say “ba fangool” ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444/160 "2012-06-16T22:16:44Z")
I actually heard it as this once, and now I can’t sing it any other way, Aretha Franklin: ‘Cause you make me feel, You make me feel, You make me feel like A mental old woman’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-you-deliberately-sing-wrong/620444.md?page=9)