# YOUR misheard lyrics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166 "2015-08-06T16:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/461 "2023-12-07T20:43:19Z")
I thought Alanis Morissette was singing: > A traffic jam when you’re already late > A no-smoking sign on your cigareh-ate _i.e._, “A no-smoking sign on your cigarette,” with the last syllable stretched out and altered to rhyme with “late.” I still think my version is more ironic than what she actually sings (“…on your cigarette **break** ”). ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2024, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/462 "2024-04-05T12:55:17Z")
Elvis Costello’s song [“Less than Zero”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJygTz0gB6g) (1977) is famously about British fascist [Oswald Mosley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Mosley)’s attempt to rehabilitate himself and return to upper-class society. Until yesterday, I had always heard the opening couplet as > Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo > There is a vacancy waiting in the English _Who’s Who_ But the words are actually > …English voodoo [!] ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/463 "2024-07-22T12:05:12Z")
Resurrecting this old thread because I think this would be a hijack in a P&E thread, and it’s not really worthy of a thread of its own. But until today I always thought Britney Spears sang “Oh Biden, Biden” at the start of her 1999 hit ‘Baby One More Time’. Why, I do not know (Biden wasn’t a well known figure at that time, and practically unheard of here in the UK. I guess I thought it was some sort of nonsense lyric). Anyway, riffing off that, and with apologies for the earworm, I now give you this reworking. I’m a little late with it, something similar may be doing the rounds on social media already for all I know. #Oh Biden, Biden, How was I supposed to know, That you were gonna stop here? Oh Biden, Biden, You’ve said it’s your time to go, And now you’re out of fight, yeah Show me who you want it to be, Say it’s Harris, 'cause we need to know now: Who’ll beat Donald? Republicans kill democracy (and I), I must confess, I do believe (do believe), You’re getting old and might lose your mind, But your Veep is fine, Beat the Donald, one more time! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/464 "2024-07-22T12:14:09Z")
_ **Green Day: Good Riddance** _ Lyric: ‘Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road’ Heard: ‘Another turnip on a fork stuck in the road’ ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/465 "2024-07-22T12:53:31Z")
**Maria Muldaur: Midnight At The Oasis** Heard: “With fifty girls to attend him, they all send him to jump back against the wall” Actual Lyric: “With fifty girls to attend him, they all send him, jump at his beck and call” ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/466 "2024-07-22T13:32:41Z")
I’ve done these on another forum, but after a quick search apparently not here: Porcupine Tree, “Baby Dream in Cellophane”: lead singer Steven Wilson kind of slurs things in the first of three iterations, but it certainly sounds like this to me, at least in the last two: _In the rain in cellophane_ _Held a box of sticky glass_ [two dot A sound in that last word, British-style natch] _They won’t bring me down_ _The clocks go round, they never stop_ I thought it was him being clever, because cellophane could be said to be “sticky glass” (it certainly can be sticky, if opaque if you try to actually see through it)… But then the “They” lacks an antecedent: _In the rain in cellophane_ _Pale dogs and demigods_ Rather trite and boring, but OK fine whatever. * * * This one tho seriously bugs me each and every time it plays here (yes it is on my regular rotation): REM, “I Believe”: _When I was young and give and take_ _The foolish sent my fool away_ As in hidebound authority figures who try to corral your free spirit in school and church and such when you are young–goodness knows my grade school was chock full of such, in the form of sadistic nuns and disinterested civilian teachers both of whom clearly hated little kids. But looks like I whiffed again: _When I was young and give and take_ _The foolish said my fool awake_ HUH?! That makes absolutely NO semantic sense, and grammatically is a hopeless confusing mess to boot. The foolish authority figures would want you to _remain_ asleep figuratively, but literally wouldn’t want you taking a nap in class I guess. Alas the studio version has a discernable “k” sound there at the end, as do most live versions, sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/467 "2024-07-22T14:34:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > _ **Green Day: Good Riddance** _ > > Lyric: ‘Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road’ > Heard: ‘Another turnip on a fork stuck in the road’ Not misheard, but I always want to sing ‘Another turnip truck, a **pork chop** in the road.’ I think there’s another thread for ‘Lyrics you like to change’. If there isn’t, I’ve often thought there should be. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/468 "2024-07-22T16:09:18Z")
The thread about the song _Brandy_ reminded me that I thought “He came on a summer’s day bringin’ gifts from far away” was “be kind, on a summer’s day; bring her gifts from far away” Doesn’t fit with the lines that follow but that’s what my six year old self heard. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/469 "2024-07-22T16:48:48Z")
A few weeks ago I was listening to Pandora through my car’s infotainment system, when Pandora’s algorithm decided to play “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms. And seeing the song title displayed on my car’s infotainment screen was the moment I realized the title and chorus of that song are _not_ “Hey Chelsea”, which is how I’ve heard that song for the past 30+ years. I always just assumed the singer was talking to a girl named Chelsea. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/470 "2024-07-22T16:57:30Z")
Pearl Jam’s **Black** : Real lyrics: I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life I know you’ll be a star In somebody else’s sky But why can’t it be mine I thought it was: I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life I know you’ll be **somebody else’s guy** But why can’t it be mine I guess that’s the same as the famous **Purple Haze** mondegreen. I thought that it must have been a phrase in the goodbye letter, because the rest of the song uses “she” pronouns. But why would she say that if she was the one breaking up? Oh well, sky it is I guess. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/471 "2024-07-23T19:49:39Z")
Don’t feel bad; for the longest I thought it’s " hey Jessie" ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/472 "2024-07-23T20:08:05Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > A few weeks ago I was listening to Pandora through my car’s infotainment system, when Pandora’s algorithm decided to play “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms. And seeing the song title displayed on my car’s infotainment screen was the moment I realized the title and chorus of that song are _not_ “Hey Chelsea”, which is how I’ve heard that song for the past 30+ years. I always just assumed the singer was talking to a girl named Chelsea. Yeah, in exactly the same vein, REM comes to bat again (Michael Stipe must breed mondegreens by the busheload in his basement recording studio): “Me In Honey”: \*Daphne, look \* _What it’s doing to me_ But instead it is apparently _Left me to love_ _What it’s doing to me_ Again, contradictory and nonsensical (sounds like a good thing to me, so dunno what he is complaining about), but as said this is f. M. Stipe we’re talking about. ---
**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:** [August 12, 2024, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/473 "2024-08-12T14:01:20Z")
Bringing this old thread up because Facebook memories reminded me that I was well into my 50s when someone corrected me and told me that Stevie Nick was not singing just like her white fingers feels the dawn, sound like they’re scheming (or, alternatively, screaming) ooo baby, ooo said ooo. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/474 "2024-08-12T14:09:38Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Bringing this old thread up because… Yep. People (including me) will have songs suddenly pop into their minds or hear them playing and say, ‘Hey!’ 🙂 > [@Biggirl](#): > > someone corrected me and told me that Stevie Nick was not singing just like her white fingers… Which song was that? ---
**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:** [August 12, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/475 "2024-08-12T14:10:44Z")
Edge of Seventeen. Real words (apparently) Just like the white-winged dove sings a song, sounds like she’s singing ooo baby, ooo, said ooo. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/476 "2024-08-12T14:18:46Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Just like the white-winged dove Oh, yeah. I used to hear it as _Just like the way we love_. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/477 "2024-08-12T14:44:58Z")
I as well, heard it as _Just like the way we were_. EDIT: or also _Just like the world we know_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/478 "2024-08-12T14:45:23Z")
I’ve heard it that way too. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/479 "2024-08-12T19:35:06Z")
The first few times I heard it, I thought it was “Just like the wild wind blows”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166/480 "2024-08-12T19:59:01Z")
Being a birder, I was never fooled by that cut. Likewise with Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”: _Like the whippoorwill’s and the phoebe’s cry_ Most lyric sites alas will insist the latter is “baby’s” which is a non-sequitur (I’ve already documented the mondegreens you’ll find on those sites, where after one set of lyrics is posted, it gets copied to the others by bots or something, correct or not). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-misheard-lyrics/727166.md?page=25)