The other morning my daughter was singing in the front room. I love listening to her sing to herself but it was funny too because she was mangling the words so badly. But it didn’t bother her at all.
It got me remembering times when either I or my idiot friends completely misunderstood song lyrics. For years, I thought that song by Dobie Gray called “Drift Away” that goes, “Gimme’ the beat boys and free my soul I wanna’ get lost in your rock and roll and drift away.”
Well I thought it said, “Gimme the Beach Boys and free my soul.” I was singing along with it one night years ago and one of my buddies called me out on it and I was mocked mercilessly for weeks.
I admitted this recently at a get-together with friends and people were pretty forthcoming about their mix-ups as well. One girl said she thought “Big Old Jet Airliner” by Steve Miller was actually, “Big Ol’ Jed Left a Light On.” So I mocked her mercilessly for the rest of the night.
Another guy I’d never even met before said he thought for years “Rock the Casbah” was “Rock the Cash Bar.”
Hey, that makes just as much sense if you ask me so I left him alone as I didn’t know him all that well. I just made fun of him a little so he wouldn’t feel left out. What? Some people like being mocked.
Wondering if you’ve got any more. So we can all mock you mercilessly.
May 20, 2009 at 3:33 am
My younger sister thought that “Hey, where did we go” (the first line of Brown eyed-girl) was “Hey, Roderigo!” I am still mocking her for that one!!
May 20, 2009 at 3:39 am
I always thought it was “Rob the cash box” (assuming I’m not thinking of an entirely different song).
I thought Merle Haggard’s “My Own Kind of Hat” was “My Own Cowboy Hat”
May 20, 2009 at 4:16 am
There’s a whole raft of misheard lyrics over at kissthisguy.com (from the famous Jimi Hendricks song Purple Haze).
May 20, 2009 at 4:18 am
I’m relieved. I used to sing “Bingo Jed had a light on.” Though I now know differently, it’s still what I HEAR when I listen to this song.
May 20, 2009 at 4:23 am
I forgot one. My brother thought “Forever in Blue Jeans” was “For Reverend Blue Jeans” about a cool priest who wore jeans.
May 20, 2009 at 4:24 am
Oh Bennie she’s really keen
She’s got electric boots and mole hairs tooYou know I read it in a magazine
May 20, 2009 at 4:38 am
Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach” I thought said “Barbazon Queen”.. yes, I had hearing loss even as a kid (at least that’s what I claim). My oldest sings Little Big Town’s “Boondocks” lyrics by singing “I was born and raised in the boneyard” instead of “boondocks”.
May 20, 2009 at 4:42 am
I used to think Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” started off with the line,` “Purple HANDS all in my brain…”
May 20, 2009 at 5:04 am
I also thought it was “Gimme the Beach Boys”! I remember my sister singing along to Bon Jovi – instead of “You give love a bad name”, she sang, “You make love a bad man”.
May 20, 2009 at 5:07 am
Oh, I have a whole list of these.
“Constant Craving” sounded to me like “Ghosts and Gravy.”
These lyrics from Elton John’s Tiny Dancer:
“Hold me close, I’m trying to dance here”
And from Celine Dion’s rendition of Ave Maria:
“The monkey caverns, they’re so happy”
I also thought El Shaddai was a song about somebody who died the other night (“El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El Elyon na Adonai”) but to be fair, that wasn’t English in the first place.
May 20, 2009 at 5:13 am
For a long time I thought “How my poor heart aches” in The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” was “I’m a pool hall ace.” I knew it didn’t make sense, but that’s what I heard coming out of Sting’s mouth.
May 20, 2009 at 5:55 am
There was a hilarious book of these about 12 years ago. I think it was titled after Jimi Hendrix, “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy”.
May 20, 2009 at 7:02 am
I’ve got two:
1. I once told my sister that I’d heard one of her favourite Don Henley songs on the radio – Poison Summer. You know the one, “…after the poison summer has gone”
2. For some strange reason, I heard “Spider Maree) instead of “Despite all my rage, i am still just a rat in a cage” in the Smashing Pumpkin’s Bullet with Butterfly Wings.
May 20, 2009 at 7:50 am
When Prince was singing ‘She wore a Rasberry beret’, I thought it was “she wore rags, very glad rags.’
(And if it consoles you, I was singing ‘Give me the beach boys’ too!)
May 20, 2009 at 12:25 pm
My wife used to think Aretha Franklin’s “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” was “Who’s on the roof.”
May 20, 2009 at 12:26 pm
I always thought that the bit in The Little Mermaid which goes ‘bright young women, sick of swimming, ready to stand’ was ‘pregnant women…’.
I knew it didn’t make much sense, but that’s what I heard. I only worked it out when I heard my sisters singing it and, even though I know the truth now, I still here ‘pregnant women’ whenever I hear the actual song.
May 20, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I, too, sang “gimme the Beach Boys”. My dad was nice about it. He told me that would make sense, too. Hahaha
May 20, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Oh, I’ve got a goodie!
From The Cars’ “Just What I Needed”, the real lyrics:
“I dont mind you comin here
And wastin all my time
cause when youre standin oh so near
I kinda lose my mind
Its not the perfume that you wear
Its not the ribbons in your hair
I dont mind you comin here
And wastin all my time…”
What I thought it said:
“…Its not the perfume that you wear
OR LOGARITHMS in your hair…”
I couldn’t figure out what logarithms had to do with anything.
Regards,
Jenny
May 20, 2009 at 1:04 pm
“hold me closer Tony Danza?”
May 20, 2009 at 1:07 pm
And speaking of which, the prog-metal band I used to play in once opened for a band named (no joke): The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza.