What Are Your Most Misheard Song Lyrics?

[Tsu]

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?

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[zoobyshoe]

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.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Anyone translate this:Mayorzy dotzin dozey dotzin
Liddle lamzy divey
A kiddely divey do wooden chew oo?
A kiddely divey do, wooden chew?

 

[Njorl]

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

 

[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

 

[zoobyshoe]

Right, Njorl. And this dates your origins to the cretaceous or thereabouts.

 

[Tsu]

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Right, Njorl. And this dates your origins to the cretaceous or thereabouts.

Watch it, Methusela! I know that song, too.

 

[BoulderHead]

People must believe I am from the Cretaceous Period, too. This might explain why they keep telling me I'm a Cretin.

 

[zoobyshoe]

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.

 

[quartodeciman]

Jimi Hendrix:

"'Scuse me while I kiss dis guy"

 

[zoobyshoe]

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.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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!

 

[Njorl]

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

 

[Ivan Seeking]

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

 

[Tsu]

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!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by Ivan Seeking Zooby, we could have been failed comedians.

If we'd only risen high enough to fall that far.

 

[tribdog]

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?"

 

[Eh]

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.

 

[Njorl]

Yep, that's the one. I saw it a few times on Comedy Central.

Njorl

 

[hypnagogue]

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?

 

[hypnagogue]

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.

 

[hypnagogue]

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!

 

[hypnagogue]

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!

 

[jimmy p]

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

 

[megashawn]

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".

 

[Monique]

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..

 

[hypnagogue]

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.

 

[zoobyshoe]

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

 

[Artman]

Creedance Clearwater Revival:

"There's a Bad Moon on the Rise"

"There's a bathroom on the right."

The love theme song from the movie "Top Gun" has a line in it that is something like:

"Through the hourglass I found you, in time you slipped away..."

My wife always thought it was:

"Julio at last I found you..." (Which makes about as much sense!)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

When I moved to Oregon I was held at gunpoint and forced to listen to country music. Garth Brook's Shameless: It sounded to me like he was Shavin. Whenever possible I would sing along; I'm shavin! At least two people have complained that all they can hear now are my lyrics.

Also, this just occurred to me yersterday. I know a guy who loved Fleetwood Mac. He named his daughter after her song Rianna; he thought she said Riannan. Years later he was quite surprised to realize the mistake.

 

[Njorl]

It's Rhiannon.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Originally posted by Njorl
It's Rhiannon.

Hah! So I got it backwards again. That's my wifes fault.


Edit: LOL. Now she's stomping her feet and saying that I screwed it up...
you get the idea.

Troublemaker.

 

[phoenixthoth]

what gets me is how often people misunderstand these lyrics (sung forwards, not backwards):

Sacrificial Suicide by Deicide
Satanized, crucified, feel the warth of suicide
Incus fear of the sphere, angel darkness disappears
Covenant, blasphemous, open up unhollness
Father Satan, let me just unholy sins

Chorus:
Suicide sacrifice
Desrtuction of holy life
Blood of unholy knife
Satan I sacrifice

Behold the crucifix, symbol of sterility
I am crucifix - Satan
Suicide sacrifice, profeasting evil night
Lust into reality - Satan
Angel of the black abyss, Satan lord i hall
Insane blasphemous - Satan
Sacrifical suicide, Ritual to end my life
Behemoth incess my fate - Satan

Dammed to tell, end of my life
Warth of God - Satan
Sin my soul, blesses with fire
Throne of stone - Satan
I must die, in my wake
Seventh gate - Satan
Suicide, end my life
I must die - satan

Suicide sacrifice, thrust of evil deep inside
Lucifer never lies, take away thee mortal life
Demigod, Satan son, commend to body to the ground
Father Satan, I'll find peace when I am God

***

 

[zoobyshoe]

Now, isn't that special.

 

[Mentat]

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
Now, isn't that special.

LOL! Don't do this to me, I've barely recovered from tribdog's comment in another thread (the other people in the library must think I'm a nut).

 

[sandinmyears]

Two TV Show themes come to mind. I put in bold the parts I think are hard to understand.

The Flintstone Theme
Flintstones... Meet the Flintstones,
They're a modern stoneage family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.

Let's ride with the family down the street.
Thru the courtesy of Fred's two feet.

When you're with the Flintstones,
have a yabba dabba doo time,
a dabba doo time,
we'll have a gay old time.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Those Were the Days
(from: All in the Family)
Boy, the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade
Guys like us, we had it made
Those were the days.

And you knew who you were then
Girls were girls and men were men
Mister, we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again

Didn't need no welfare state
Everybody pulled his weight
Gee, our old LaSalle ran great
Those were the days.

 

[abhishek]

Toto - Africa

Original: "I bless the rains down in Africa"

Misheard #1: "I miss the rains down in Africa"
Misheard #2: "I piss the rains down in Africa"

 

[jimmy p]

Originally posted by sandinmyears
Two TV Show themes come to mind. I put in bold the parts I think are hard to understand.

The Flintstone Theme
Flintstones... Meet the Flintstones,
They're a modern stoneage family.
From the town of Bedrock,
They're a page right out of history.

Let's ride with the family down the street.
Thru the courtesy of Fred's two feet.

When you're with the Flintstones,
have a yabba dabba doo time,
a dabba doo time,
we'll have a gay old time.
-------------------------------------------------------------


With the Flintstones thing, with the courtesy of Fred's two feet would be to do with the car. If you remember, the 'Flintstone-mobile' had holes in the bottom so that it could be driven by Fred running along! that's probably the reason for it even if the lyrics sound stupid

 

[Doc]

I never had an inkling to Pink Floyds Another Brick In The Wall:

You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat.
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

I finally read it somewhere and now I can't imagine not being able to understand it.

So I would be interested in seeing how butchered up THOSE lyrics have gotten. Actually, they don't need to be butchered to sound DAMN FUNNY. They are hillarious on their own.

 

[Andy]

It's a critical solution
And the east coast got the blues
It's a mass of confusion
Like the lies they sell to you

You got a glass jawed toothache
Of a mental disease
An they be runnin' round back
See 'em line up on their knees
'Cause the kiss ass sycophants
Throwin' penance at your feet

When they got nowhere to go
Watch 'em come in off the streets
While they're bangin' out front
Inside their slammin' to the cruch
Go on an throw me to the lions
And the whole damn screamin' bunch
'Cause the pissed-off rip-offs
'R' everywhere you turn
Tell me how a generation's
Ever s'posed to learn
This fire is burnin'
and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop
It's rock n' roll

I read it on a wall
It went straight to my head
It said "Dance to the tension
of a world on edge"
We got racial violence
And who'll cast the first stone
And sex is used anyway it can be
Sometimes when I look out
It's hard to see the day
It's a feelin' you can have it
It's not mine to take away

Lost in the garden of Eden
Said we're lost in the garden of Eden
And there's no one's going to believe this
But we're lost in the garden of Eden
This fire is burnin'
and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop
It's rock n' roll
Suck on that

Looking through this point of view
There's no way I'm going to fit in
Don't you tell me what my eyes see
Don't you tell me who to believe in
I ain't superstitious
But I know when somethin's wrong
I've been draggin' my heels
With a ***** called hope
Let the undercurrent drag me along

Lost in the garden of Eden
Said we're lost in the garden of Eden
And there's no one's going to believe this
But we're lost in the garden of Eden

Most organized religions make
A mockery of humanity
Our governments are dangerous
And out of control
The garden of Eden is just another graveyard
Said if they had someone to buy it
Said I'm sure they'd sell my soul

This fire is burnin'
and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop
It's rock n' roll
Lost in the garden of Eden
(An we ain't talkin' about no poison apple or some missin' rib you hear)

Said we're lost in the garden of Eden
And there's no one's going to believe this
Said we're lost in the garden of Eden
This fire is burnin'
and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop
It's rock n' roll


Could it be that some crazed fool is trying to work out how Axl Roses mind works?

Does it matter what the lyrics to a song are if it sounds good?

 

[jimmy p]

some crazed fool? I am not crazed...merely fazed! It doesn't matter whether we try to understand the lyrics of these artists just that they odd. not all lyrics are simple like 'i f**k like a beast' (courtesy of WASP) lol

 

[megashawn]

Well, for me, I'm more interested in the musical aspect of songs then the lyrics. I tend to listen to the voice as another instrument in the band, where others give the majority of there attention to the singer.

Whats cool about a musical note, is there is no misunderstanding or open interpretations. It is what it is. I think some of the best songs ever made have not one spoken word.

 

[Beren]

I never had an inkling to Pink Floyds Another Brick In The Wall:

You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat.
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

I finally read it somewhere and now I can't imagine not being able to understand it.

So I would be interested in seeing how butchered up THOSE lyrics have gotten. Actually, they don't need to be butchered to sound DAMN FUNNY. They are hillarious on their own.

Those come all the way at the end. They're probably the easiest parts of the song to understand (since they're not really part of the song, just the random noices the bands likes to throw in)

And no one has said Louie Louie! The most famous "I have no idea what they're saying" song of all time. XD

 

[jimmy p]

Originally posted by megashawn
Well, for me, I'm more interested in the musical aspect of songs then the lyrics. I tend to listen to the voice as another instrument in the band, where others give the majority of there attention to the singer.

Whats cool about a musical note, is there is no misunderstanding or open interpretations. It is what it is. I think some of the best songs ever made have not one spoken word.

I have to agree with that but i think that lyrics express the song. With most songs, they are written with lyrics in mind so the only way to explain the title and bring out the emotion and opinion of the song writer is to add words to it. But then again with some musicians eg, Slash or Yngwie Malmsteen, i could listen to them play guitar all day because their emotions are expressed through the guitar and each note means something, just like each word in a poem is written for a reason.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by megashawn
Whats cool about a musical note, is there is no misunderstanding or open interpretations. It is what it is.

You would think, but in actual practise there are a few famous singers who sing out of tune. You never can tell what note they meant to hit. Dylan, is probably the most famous example. My favorite is the great Brian Wilson, of the Beach Boys, who bent the pitches of his melodies slightly, not meaning to, but with beautiful effect. His song "The Girls On The Beach" is virtually atonal music, the way they performed it.

I think some of the best songs ever made have not one spoken word.

Just a note on terminology: a song is a piece of music with singing in it. You wouldn't expect to find any spoken words in a song. Music without the component of a human voice isn't, technically, a song at all. In popular music the best term for this would be an "instrumental".

 

[selfAdjoint]

In classical music there is the "vocalise", a piece of music without words but sung with all the resources of the human voice, usually with orchestra accompaniment. Tastes differ but I consider the vocalise by Villa-Lobos to be very beautiful.

 

[Tsu]

Originally posted by Beren
Those come all the way at the end. They're probably the easiest parts of the song to understand (since they're not really part of the song, just the random noices the bands likes to throw in)

And no one has said Louie Louie! The most famous "I have no idea what they're saying" song of all time. XD

Well, I always thought (and SOMEONE out there had better jump in and say that THEY always thought it said this, too! - I can't be the only one with a dirty mind!) that they were saying "I felt my bone in her hair". But, NO! The words are "I smell the rose in her hair".

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by selfAdjoint
In classical music there is the "vocalise", a piece of music without words but sung with all the resources of the human voice, usually with orchestra accompaniment. Tastes differ but I consider the vocalise by Villa-Lobos to be very beautiful.

You get the same effect from listening to any music sung in a foreign language you don't understand. A couple times I've been disapointed when I read a translation of what they were actually saying. I would think it takes a lot of discipline to write for the human voice without words.