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I'm sure that we have all misheard a song lyric — thinking the singer says one thing, when he actually is saying something completely different. Sometimes this leads to an "A-ha!" moment when you hear the correct lyric. Other times you mishear the lyric for so long (or your version of the lyric is so much better) that you actually prefer it to the actual lyric.

This thread is to catalogue the most memorable misheard song lyrics for all of the tropers. Please post the actual song lyrics (if you know them) as well as what you thought the lyrics were at the time.

To get things started, here are a few among many of my own.

Everything Zen by Bush

They sang: I heard:

Machine Head by Bush(?)

They sang: I heard:

Sugar, We're Going Down by Fall Out Boy

They sang: I heard:

Stupify by Disturbed

They sang: I heard:

That's all I'll post for now. Anyone else have any you want to share?

edited 25th May '10 9:52:16 AM by Meeble

"Do Not" by John Reuben.

He sang:

I heard: Insert political joke here.

"Spy Hunter" by Project 86.

They sang:

I heard:

"Old" by Starflyer 59.

They sang:

I heard:

"When I Learn to Sing" by Starflyer 59.

The liner notes say that he's singing:

But when I listen to the song, this is all I hear, to the extent that I wonder if the liner notes were incorrect:

"Thin as a Needle" by Starflyer 59 features some wordplay that no sane person would catch without reading the lyrics sheet. And there were no lyrics, until an official fakebook was published.

They sang:

Which sounds identical to:

edited 25th May '10 12:41:43 PM by MetaFour

I think you very much weren't alone on that one - it's partially because of Gavin Rossdale's accent turning "way" into "why" and partially because he kind of squishes "try to see it" into two syllables in order to not throw the rhythm of the song off.

Some I can think of:

Devo - "Girl U Want"

They sang:

I heard:

The logic being that... he was so distracted by her sexiness that he missed the bus that he was supposed to catch, I guess? I'm glad I wasn't right, because that wouldn't be a very good lyric.

At The Drive-In, "Quarantined"

They sang:

I heard:

Going by that song's shoutbox on last.fm, I'm definitely not alone. Yes, ATDI lyrics are weird, but not quite that weird. It's a little funnier if you've actually heard the song, because it's part of the chorus and it's screamed very passionately.

edited 25th May '10 11:32:40 AM by MikeK

Oh, also:

Is it just me, or would this be A Good Name for a Rock Band?

edited 25th May '10 11:42:29 AM by MikeK

I whole-heartedly agree. cartoon party murder and I missed-a my bus were both fantastic, by the way.

How to forget...

She shoots my blog beyond main door/Full moon is on disguise and he's on a man/And it moans/See the chainsaw in my cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCsCAeMtgmQ As a non-native english speaker, and knowing the original lyrics, this made me laugh a lot.

edited 25th May '10 12:03:20 PM by htfcuddles

"The Bird and the Worm" by The Used

They sang:

I heard:

Given that I heard the opening line "He wears his heart safety pinned to his backpack / His backpack is all that he knows" perfectly, I decided that anything was possible for the rest of the song.

"I Am the Highway" by Audioslave

Oh, you want misheard lyrics? Eurobeat has a ton.

Example: The Race Is Over by Dave Rodgers.
What you hear:

What it's really:

edited 25th May '10 7:51:43 PM by Zeether

"Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days.

Actual lyric: "...when you look in the mirror/So how do you choose?"

I heard: "...when you look in the mirror/Say hi to your shoes."

I heard that too, I thought maybe they meant she was insecure about her looks and every time she passed a mirror she'd look down at her feet to avoid seeing herself.

edited 25th May '10 9:06:19 PM by MikeK

"Icky Thump" is nigh-incomprehensible unless you listen to it non-stop.

What Jack was singing:
"Red-head senorita lookin' dead
Came and said 'Need a bed?' en Espanol"

What I thought he was singing:
"Red-head singin' Rita lookin' dead
?????

Looking up the lyrics helped a ton.

My favorite is Glorified G by Pearl Jam. He sings:

Glorified version of a pellet gun

But you hear:

Glorified virgin on a pelican

Argh, that one ^ almost made me spit yogurt all over my monitor. Thanks for that. ^_^

Doublepost....

edited 26th May '10 8:36:17 AM by KitsuneInferno

Bleed it Out by Linkin Park:

• Actual lyric: "Shotgun, I pull, lock and load"
• I Heard (and Prefer): Shotgun opera, lock and load"

I wouldn't mind seeing a shotgun opera. Would that be anything like a space opera?

Another one of mine:

Over You by Daughtry

They sang:

I heard:

edited 27th May '10 7:03:46 AM by Meeble

This one's really vulgar, but what the heck. The swing number Jump, Jive and Wail by Louis Prima. The chorus goes:

You gotta jump, jive and then you wail

I hear:

You gotta jump, vagina, then the whale

Oh, I've got a good one from one of my mum's old friends. Jimmy Hendrix's Purple haze:

Which became:

I remember mishearing this one when I was 11 or so; however, since it was the only time I've heard it, I don't know what the original was like:

What made this especially hilarious is that it sounded like a stereotypical American trucker was singing it, and it didn't help that he seemed to be a large ham.

This is probably the earliest one I remember having, for Amy Grant's "Every Heartbeat":

-> Guess I thought she was throwing a gratuitous shout out to some friend of hers in the chorus or something.

Oh, I also just remembered a couple for "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows:

->

->

In my defense I had no idea what a barrio or flamenco dancing were at the time.

edited 27th May '10 4:31:06 PM by MikeK

To the person who mentioned Pearl Jam above, I have some for "Even Flow".

The actual lyrics are:

• Even flow
• Thoughts arrive like butterflies
• Oh, he don't know
• So he chases them away

What I heard was:

• Even though
• Clothes are wrong, my butterflies
• Oh, eaten road
• So he chases them away

edited 28th May '10 5:23:34 AM by Yon Troper

Discussed this last night at her gig, on Buttons by Sia, she sings:

My mate knows this but only hears

But then, goats are funny.

^^ I hear "Oh he don't know" as "Oh evil gnome".

Here's a famous one, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven:

• And as we wind on down the road / Our shadows taller than our soul

But I hear

• And there's a wino down the road / I should've stole his Oreos

I had almost forgotten about it, but I have some fond memories of reading through this book full of mondegreens as a kid. The illustrations were generally pretty funny - I remember they had "Sunday monkey won't play piano song" from "Michelle" by The Beatles illustrated with a monkey dressed up for church standing by a piano and looking indignant as someone tries to hand him sheet music for "Sympathy For The Devil".

That's hilariously cute. Everything's Better with Monkeys!

edited 28th May '10 4:34:05 PM by Rottweiler