There are a lot of well-known mondegreens. ‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy’ and ‘Wrapped up like a douche’ come immediately to mind.
This thread is not for those.
This thread is for lyrics that you, personally, have misheard. Not what other people have misheard; what you have misheard. Granted, you’ve probably misheard the well-known ones. If so, then go ahead and post them – just as long as you, yourself, heard the song and misheard the lyrics. For example, I misheard the line in Games Without Frontiers as ‘She’s so pop-ular!’
The ones I think of, that I, myself, misunderstood, come from childhood. When you’re five years old, you don’t have the database to figure things out.
Go-Go Gophers
Lyric: ‘Colonel, he vowed these two soon disappear.’
Heard: ‘Colonel’s a doggie too. Soon disappear.’
Green Acres
Lyric: ‘Times Square!’
Heard: ‘Down Scrown!’ (Makes no sense, but that’s what it sounded like to me.)
<and>
Lyric: ‘Good bye, city life!’
Heard: ‘Good bye to your life!’
I think the “Games Without Frontiers” one is pretty common.
I have a million of these. In fact just yesterday I discovered the “real” lyrics to a song I’ve known for years, but for the life of me right now I can’t remember which song! Anyway, others include:
"Desperado" (The Eagles)
Lyric: “You’ve been outriding fences for so long now.”
Heard: “You’ve been out, riding fences, for so long now.” (As a kid I always wondered what “riding fences” was!)
I’m pretty sure your confusion is due to some sort of mistranscription; “riding fences” is what cowboys and ranch hands do to make sure there aren’t any breaks in the fences that surround the ranch or pasture. Basically it’s long, boring and tedious, and more or less solitary.
And it makes sense as a lyric in the context of the song…
I apparently have Elton John aphasic syndrome, because I can barely understand any of what he sings. I guess the dumbest ones would be:
“I can’t find no more of your Augie-Dog-ness”
which in reality is, “I can’t light no more of your darkness”
Also, “I can’t find oh the rock almighty climb”
which is actualy, “I can’t find, ah, the right romantic line”
Also, “But these cups I have, oh I would love to have my me”
which is actually, “But these cuts I have, oh I need love to help them heal”
I’m not a big enough Elton John fan to know which songs those are (except the first one), but here’s a line from Funeral For A Friend that I misheard when it came out:
Lyric: ‘Love lies bleeding in my hands’
Heard: "Love that feeling in my hands’
I always thought AC/DC were doing “dirty deeds in a Dunder Jeep.” Like a “Dunder Jeep” was a type of Jeep, like a Rubicon or Wrangler, and they’re driving around in it causing trouble.
The Sheepdogs sing “I don’t know” but I hear “hot tub love.”
Lyric: Land spreadin’ out so far and wide
Heard: Land spreadin’ now, lotsa far a wide
Lyric: “Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue”
Heard: “Darling I love you but give me back avenue”
Don’t ask me what I thought “Times Square!” was supposed to be. I would assume a big part of the problem is Ms. Gabor’s accent* except* Gilligan’/s Island was also a little jumbled to me.
Lyric: “. . .that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship
Heard:”. . .that started from this tropic shore aboard this tiding ship
Lyric: The mate was a mighty sailing lad
Heard:The mate was a mighty sailing man
Lyric: They’ll have to make the best of things, it’s an uphill climb
Heard:They’ll have to make the best of things, it’s enough to climb
The Grateful Dead
Truckin’
Misheard: Errol’s an’ me are out flashing our keys out on Main Street
Actual: Arrows of neon and flashing marquees out on Main Street
I just imagined that Mr. Natural’s first name was Errol and he and Jerry had that laid-back walk down Main Street swinging their key chains. Didn’t matter which city, they are all the same (well, not Houston, it’s too close to New Orleans–only 350 miles).
