Misheard Song Lyrics

"Drink You Away" by Justin Timberlake

He sang: Do they make a medicine for heartbreak?

I heard: Have you ever had a simple heartbreak?

"Negasonic Teenage Warhead" by Monster Magnet

Actual Lyrics:

I can tell just by the climate and I can tell just by the style

I was born and raised on Venus, and I may be here a while

Cos every supersonic jerkoff who plugs into the game

Like every subatomic genius who just invented pain

What I thought the lyrics were:

I’m contentious by the planet, I’m contentious by the style

I was born and raised on peanuts, and I may be here a while

I’m a supersonic Jekyll who punches out the game

I’m a subatomic genius who just admitted pain

edited 13th Feb '16 1:57:15 AM by Anddrix

Blind Guardian - Valhalla the version from "Memories of a Time to Come"

I thought it said: Just you wait, the fate of everyone...

The actual lyric: "Persuade the fate of everyone..."

It doesn't help that I'm used to persuade being a two syllable word and they turn it into a three syllable word.

Phoenix - 1901

Actual lyrics: "It's not a miracle we needed"

I heard: "It's not America we needed"

So DNCE's "Cake By The Ocean" keeps playing on radio station at work, and in sort of an inversion, I was convinced I was hearing things and the chorus couldn't actually be about eating cake by the ocean because that's sort of a weird, nonsensical pick-up line to use ^note I kind of still don't get it, unless it's something about having a wedding party on the beach. However, I was sort of mishearing it after all, because it's "I keep hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean, uh", and not "...cake by the ocean floor" - I was imagining going scuba-diving while eating cake or something, rather than just eating cake on the beach.

From Wikipedia:

edited 30th Apr '16 6:32:30 AM by Spinosegnosaurus77

Some songs I used to mishear when I was younger.

Tool - Schism

Actual Lyrics: "I know the pieces fit"

Misheard Lyrics: I know that he says shit

Genesis - Home by the Sea

Actual Lyrics: "Sit down, sit down"

Misheard Lyrics: See how, see how

California Dreamin' by The Beach Boys

They sang:

I heard:

I didn't notice this one was wrong for, like, ever because despite being somewhat tautological, there's nothing particularly unusual with the misheard version of the statement. It's true. It makes sense within the context of the song and surrounding lyrics. Grammar and syntax both fine. That could easily be the correct lyric, if it weren't for the fact that it just isn't.

edited 24th May '16 4:13:35 AM by BrokenEye

Pearl Jam-Glorified G Actual Lyrics- Glorified version of a pellet gun

Misheard Lyrics-Glorified version of a pelican

Nirvana-Stay away

Actual Lyrics-god is gay

First time I ever heard this song, I thought Kurt was saying

gotta stay

Originally The Mamas And The Papas, but not techincally wrong because The Beach Boys did do a version in the eighties, it's just not the most famous one in most circles. The whole topic kind of makes me think of The Dead Milkmen's "Punk Rock Girl" - they call "California Dreamin'" a "Beach Boys song" in the lyrics, and according to them they were in fact making reference to the Cover Version.

For some reason I found myself making reference to "She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain" in conversation the other day and slipped up and used my childhood mondegreen of "six wide horses" instead of "six white horses". At the time I was just picturing this woman being pulled up a mountain by these six poor obese horses who were probably struggling the whole way.

Well the Beach Boys version is the version I heard, so it's also the version I misheard.

It's entirely possible that if I'd heard the original, I wouldn't have misheard it at all. Or I might've misheard it as something else. Or misheard a different part. I know that when The Bonzo Dog Band sang "Bang! Bang!" (My Baby Shot Me Down), I misheard the word "seasons" as "Jesus", but when Sinatra originally sang it I understood all the words perfectly.

edited 26th May '16 4:52:46 AM by BrokenEye

Maxwell Murder by Rancid

I heard: he straight jacked a stripper he's in your neighborhood. Call him Maxwell and he'll murder for you.

Actual lyrics: "he ain't Jack the Ripper he's your ordinary crook calling Maxwell Murder for you"

"Frankie Sinatra" by The Avalanches (with Danny Brown and MF Doom) has been my current earworm lately, and the first time I listened I heard "little marijuana" as "little bit of water". I like my mondegreen better because it clashes comically with the rest of Danny's Ode to Intoxication-themed verses, and if the lyrics were in a slightly different order it could be Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking. In context:

Off his rocker, he's off his rocker

Please Mr. Officer, I only had some vodka

Little bit of water

Just a few Vicodin...

From the cover version of I'm The Leader Of The Gang (I Am) by The Spice Girls from Spiceworld:

Actual lyrics:

Do you wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang

Do you wanna be in my gang, oh yeah

Do you wanna be in my gang, my gang, my gang

Do you wanna be in my gang

What I heard:

Do you wanna be in margate, margate, margate

Do you wanna be in margate, oh yeah

Do you wanna be in margate, margate, margate

Do you wanna be in margate

I think I've talked about noticing mondegreens making it into karaoke prompters before. I witnessed a particularly strange one when someone was singing "Bust A Move" by Young MC:

"They're lyin' on a beach perpetratin' a tan" —> "The lion and the beast will make an attempt"

In context, he was rapping about women sunbathing in order to attract rich suitors, whereas the misheard version sounds like some sort of cryptic prophecy: "Mad Oracle, will anyone usurp me from my place on the throne?" "The lion and the beast will make an attempt".

Wrong Way Kids by Bad Religion

They sang:

I heard:

In Van Morrison's Sweet Thing, I heard the line "And I'll drive my chariot down your street and cry" as "drive my chariot down your street of crime"

Blood Brothers from Papa Roach

I heard: Corrupted antidotes the salesmen of our blood... it's human nature to destroy our cells, it's human nature to kill our cells, it's human nature to kill each other, it's human nature to kill kill kill.

Actual lyrics: "Corruption and abuse the salesmen of our blood... it's in our nature to destroy ourselves, it's in our nature to kill ourselves, it's in our nature to ill each other, it's in our nature to kill kill kill."

I thought they were singing about destroying cells because the song is called Blood Brothers.

Until just now, I was hearing the recurring line "and they come unstuck" in Vance Joy's "Riptide" as "and the car won't start". I guess it's sort of funny to mishear a song that includes the line "you're gonna sing the words wrong". Anyway, I kind of liked the implications of my mondegreen in this verse, which makes it sound like the guy got up the nerve to quit his job and start a new life in a new city, only for his transportation to break down on him before he gets there:

There's this movie that I think you'll like

This guy decides to quit his job and heads to New York City

This cowboy's running from himself

And she's been living on the highest shelf

Oh, and the car won't start

edited 19th Jul '16 9:03:01 PM by MikeK

Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

They sang:

I heard:

So there's that version of "Cheap Thrills" by Sia that features Sean Paul, who is sort of noted for his Indecipherable Lyrics: There's this one part that always sounded like "masturbation, sex control" to me, and it turns out it's "make the beat just take control".

I guess Freud Was Right

Centerfold - J. Geils Band

I heard: I wish I'd turned away before she caught my eye.

Actual lyrics: "I was shy, I turned away before she caught my eye."

Bob Dylan - "Subterranean Homesick Blues":

"Keep a clean nose / watch the plainclothes" —> "Keep a clean nose / wash the clean clothes"

My mondegreen makes about as much literal sense as some of the real lyrics. I figured "wash the clean clothes" could mean that you should be so cautious about other people "airing your dirty laundry" that you should cover everything up even if you don't have anything to hide.

I had the same one from that song, too. Although my interpretation of it was some kind of reference or joke about something being redundant and a waste of time.

I remember the first several times I listened to Milo Goes to College by The Descendents, I thought the song "Marriage" was called "Hope." Not only are both songs back to back on the album and have non-appearing titles, but in "Marriage," I kept mishearing the chorus "I don't know why it's so but it's true" as "I don't know why, here's hoping it's true." So instead of a straight up love song, I thought it was a mildly subversive love song, like he doesn't know why he finds this girl attractive or why he wants her to like him, but he wants them to be together regardless.