What Are Your Most Misheard Song Lyrics?

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SUMMARY

This forum discussion centers on humorous misheard song lyrics, showcasing various examples from well-known artists. Participants share their personal experiences, such as mistaking Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star" for "Ketchup on your stocking" and the Beach Boys' "Help Me, Rhonda" for "Help me eat her out in my car." The conversation highlights the comedic value of misinterpretations, with references to songs by Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Weird Al Yankovic, among others. The thread illustrates how these lyrical misunderstandings can lead to laughter and shared nostalgia among music lovers.

PREREQUISITES
  • Familiarity with popular music from the 1960s to the 1990s
  • Understanding of song lyrics and their cultural significance
  • Knowledge of humor and comedic timing in storytelling
  • Awareness of artists like Perry Como, The Beach Boys, and Weird Al Yankovic
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the lyrics and meanings of "Blinded by the Light" by Bruce Springsteen
  • Explore the comedic works of Weird Al Yankovic, focusing on his parodies
  • Investigate the cultural impact of misheard lyrics in music history
  • Analyze the lyrical content of "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam and its interpretations
USEFUL FOR

Music enthusiasts, lyricists, comedians, and anyone interested in the intersection of humor and popular culture will benefit from this discussion.

Tsu
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When I was a kid, my parents had an old Perry Como album with the song "Catch a Falling Star" on it. The first words were 'Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day...'
Well...I always thought he was singing 'Ketchup on your stocking, put it in your pocket...' Just cracked up my parents big time.
Anyone else out there with any good ones?
 
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When the Beach Boys sang: Help me Rhonda, help me get her out of my heart; I thought they said, help me eat her out in my car. My aunt finally set me straight after she stopped laughing.
 
20 bucks to anyone who can tell me the lyrics to yellow ledbetter WITHOUT cheating by looking it up on the net-I've yet to find anyone who can understand that song without looking up the lyrics.
 
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
When the Beach Boys sang: Help me Rhonda, help me get her out of my heart; I thought they said, help me eat her out in my car. My aunt finally set me straight after she stopped laughing.
This would be hysterically funny if you hadn't been 35 at the time.
 
Anyone translate this:Mayorzy dotzin dozey dotzin
Liddle lamzy divey
A kiddely divey do wooden chew oo?
A kiddely divey do, wooden chew?
 
Mares eat oats and does eat oats
and little lambs eat ivy.
A kid'll (kid will) eat ivy too. Wouldn't you?
A kid'll (kid will) eat ivy too. Wouldn't you?

Njorl
 
In the Rolling Stones 'Street Fighting Man', there's a line:

'Hey, said my name is called disturbance'

that sounds just like:

'Hey, so my name is Gorgeous Gervis'

I'm sure if my name was Gorgeous Gervis, I'd have gotten into plentty of fights.

Njorl
 
Right, Njorl. And this dates your origins to the cretaceous or thereabouts.
 
Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Right, Njorl. And this dates your origins to the cretaceous or thereabouts.
Watch it, Methusela! I know that song, too.
 
  • #10
People must believe I am from the Cretaceous Period, too. This might explain why they keep telling me I'm a Cretin.
 
  • #11
Originally posted by BoulderHead People must believe I am from the Cretaceous Period, too. This might explain why they keep telling me I'm a Cretin.
In your case any competent geologist ought to be able to match your head with known formations and give you a ball park figure.
 
  • #12
Jimi Hendrix:

"'Scuse me while I kiss dis guy"
 
  • #13
The 70s gave us these lyrics that have reduced cryptologists to wailing and hair pulling ever since:

Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.
 
  • #14
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.

No no! That was: Wrapped up like a doosh an then I roll her in the night.

Gees!
 
  • #15
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.

There was a skit by 'The Vacant Lot' about this song. Four guys are playing cards, and one guy starts singing this, screwing it up completely. The next guy ridicules him, then screws it up worse etc.

They were a funny comedy team, but they never really made it big.

link:
http://www.unoriginal.com/tvl/blinded.html

Njorl
 
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  • #16
Thanks Njorl; god that is hilarious. I laughed so hard my stomach hurts.

Zooby, we could have been failed comedians.


Originally posted by Njorl
There was a skit by 'The Vacant Lot' about this song. Four guys are playing cards, and one guy starts singing this, screwing it up completely. The next guy ridicules him, then screws it up worse etc.

They were a funny comedy team, but they never really made it big.

link:
http://www.unoriginal.com/tvl/blinded.html

Njorl
 
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  • #17
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking
No no! That was: Wrapped up like a doosh an then I roll her in the night.

Gees!
NO NO NO! It's : Wrapped up like a DOUCHE (like 'douche' bag!) another roller in the night!

GEEZ!

edit: well, I wrote this before I saw the link, so I'm not so weird after all. SEE?! Someone ELSE thought they were saying DOUCHE, too! Yeah! They ARE saying douche!
 
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  • #18
Originally posted by Ivan Seeking Zooby, we could have been failed comedians.
If we'd only risen high enough to fall that far.
 
  • #19
I still don't know the correct lyrics to this one:
Mammaries...lick the corner of my mouth
Mister where'd you get those mammaries
of the way we were


Oh, and what the heck is "the pompatous of love?"
 
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  • #20
Hey, was the VL the show which features clips from Jesus' days in high school? They aired that on CBC briefly a long time ago.
 
  • #21
Yep, that's the one. I saw it a few times on Comedy Central.

Njorl
 
  • #22
Originally posted by Njorl
There was a skit by 'The Vacant Lot' about this song. Four guys are playing cards, and one guy starts singing this, screwing it up completely. The next guy ridicules him, then screws it up worse etc.

They were a funny comedy team, but they never really made it big.

link:
http://www.unoriginal.com/tvl/blinded.html

Njorl

Funny, the Kids in the Hall did an almost identical sketch.

Would you like some chicken with your egg?
 
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  • #23
Originally posted by tribdog
Oh, and what the heck is "the pompatous of love?"

It's something that a space cowboy thinks of right after midnight.
 
  • #24
Originally posted by Zantra
20 bucks to anyone who can tell me the lyrics to yellow ledbetter WITHOUT cheating by looking it up on the net-I've yet to find anyone who can understand that song without looking up the lyrics.

Well, I'll grant you that one, but besides that Mr. Vedder is utterly impeccable in his enunciation!
 
  • #25
Then there's Weird Al Yankovic's take on "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana...

What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?
I wish you'd tell me, I don't know
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Now I'm mumblin' and I'm screamin'
And I don't know what I'm singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still don't know what I'm singin'
We're so loud and incoherent
Boy, this oughta bug your parents
Yeah

It's unintel-ligible
I just can't get it through my skull
It's hard to bargle nawdle zouss
With all these marbles in my mouth
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Well, we don't sound like Madonna
Here we are now, we're Nirvana
Sing distinctly? We don't wanna
Buy our album, we're Nirvana
A garage band from Seattle
Well, it sure beats raising cattle
Yeah

And I forgot the next verse
Oh well, I guess it pays to rehearse
The lyric sheet's so hard to find
What are the words? Oh, nevermind
Don't know, don't know, don't know, oh no
Don't know, don't know, don't know...

Well, I'm yellin' and we're playin'
But I don't know what I'm sayin'
What's the message I'm conveyin'?
Can you tell me what I'm sayin'?
So have you got some idea?
Didn't think so -- Well, I'll see ya
Sayonara, sayonara
Ayonawa, odinawa
Odinaya, yodinaya
Yaddayadda, yaaahyaaah
Ayaaaaaah!
 
  • #26
My friend used to make minor mistakes with Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. In the lyrics 'Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me', he mistook it for 'beware the cook has a devil put aside for me' and with 'thunderbolts and lightning' was '7 bolts of lightning'. Not very funny but i laughed.

I thought he said Gorgeous Gerbels in 'Street Fighting Man'

I guess I am going to have to find some odd lyrics now uhhh how about Guns N Roses - Garden of Eden. The song lyrics are hard to understand and have no real relevance at all...THEY DONT MAKE SENSE! ill give u a random sample from one verse.

"you got a glass jawed toothache
of a mental disease
and they be runnin round back
see em line up on their knees
cause the kiss ass sycophants
throwin penance at your feet"

Then the other verses have don't even follow on with the rest of the song...find the lyrics n u'll see what i mean
 
  • #27
I think weird al and his group have got to be among the best musicians out there. Now there music annoys the heck out of me after to much, but the way they can go from genre to genre in a blink of an eye has always impressed me.

As to funky lyrics, when I was younger, I though "The Who's" song "Who are you" was saying "Uhwarrie Ooh ooh, ooh ooh" which is the national forest I grew up nearby.

Remember the cheasy pop song "I want to be rich" My little cousin used to run around the house singing "I want to be a bi*ch".
 
  • #28
How about:

Kaun Hai Jisne Dubaara Mudke Mujhe Nahin Dekha
Who Is He? Oh My Gosh
Deewana Hai Dekho Bekaraar Woh
Sambhalo Sambhalo Na Pyaar Ho
Deewana Hai Dekho Bekaraar Woh
Sambhalo Sambhalo Na Pyaar Ho
Apna Bana Ke Dekho Dil Na Churale Woh
Aisa Kyon Lage Hai Bolo Na
Jhoom Chiki Chiki Jhoom Tum Bolo Hai Woh Kaun Jo
Baar Baar Yeh Dil Khota Hai Dekh Ke Usko
Jhoom Chiki Chiki Jhoom Tum Bolo Hai Woh Kaun Jo
Baar Baar Yeh Dil Khota Hai Dekh Ke Usko

Ok, I admit, I'm into Hindi music..
 
  • #29
Speaking of Mr. Vedder, I always thought the lyric from "Glorified G" that goes "glorified version of a pellet gun" was "glorified version of a pelican." Needless to say the song makes a lot more sense now.

edit: especially the "always keep it loaded" part.
 
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  • #30
This, from weird Al:(1990s?)

What is this song all about?
Can't figure any lyrics out
How do the words to it go?

posted by Hypnagogue
reminds me of this, from the chorus of a song in Ruddigore by Gilbert and Sullivan: (1890s?)

This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter,
isn't generally heard,
and if it is ,
it doesn't matter
 

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