A friend of mine used to make this mistake with Natalie Merchant's 'Wonder'...you know the song "I must be one the Wonders; God's own creation", anyway, there is a part in the song where she sings "She'll make her waaaay, hey hey...she'll make her waaay". Well, my friend thought she was saying "Shoe-maker man...yeah, yeah, yeah, shoe-maker man". Of course this makes no sense at all and I've never let her forget it.

I have a similar mishap from my college days which was recently remembered at a wedding I attended with some old roommates. You know the song 'Big Poppa' by the Notorious B.I.G.? Well, the main chorus of the song is "I love it when you call me Big Pop-pa"...I thought he was saying (and I belted out at a party) "I love it when you call me David Copper-fuck"...in my mind, he was likening himself to the magician David Copperfield, but instead he wanted to be David Copper-fuck which sounds way hipper. This made sense to me, because the entire song is about how he hypnotizes women with his flashy ways.

The Beach Boys song "Help me Rhonda" has always confused me. There's a part where he says something like "since you let me down there's been something something in my head." See, I don't even know the real words. For the longest time (up until a few months ago) I thought it was "since you let me down there's been owls pooping in my bed." It made sense to me because not only did she leave him but now he's got this owl problem that he needs help with. I was singing it in the car a couple months ago and my boyfriend was laughing so hard we almost got in a wreck. Now I still sing it the same way, just under my breath so no one else can hear.

A few (actually, many) years ago, a song came out by a UK band called "Cornershop". A friend of mine genuinely mistook a line from the chorus "Brimful Of Asha On The 45" to "Put another rasher on the 45" ('rasher' being bacon). He convinced me of this too since it didn't make much sense to us in its original form either.

Don't get me started on New Kids On The Block...

How embarrassing to admit this, but I used to think that Prince's "Little Red Corvette" actually said "Living for it." It wasn't until my husband pointed it out to me.

And a few years ago, there was a popular song with the lyrics "you're in the middle of the ride" but I actually thought it was "You're in a little alcove now."

I'm awful when it come to music. :)

This is so funny I actually wish it was my embarassing story, but I read it in a coffee table book of misheard lyrics. When Kiss sings, "I wanna rock and roll all night, and party every day," this poor soul apparently heard, "I wanna rock and roll all night, and part of every day." Which I guess seems more practical in the long run...

Also, my boyfriend sings the chorus of CCR's Out My Backdoor as, "Mammaries and elephants are playin' in the band." We assume the mammaries must play the bongos.

My favorite part of Ace of Base's "I Saw the Sign" was the line "I'm a puppy dog living without you"

It wasn't until years after loving these lyrics that I realized that they are actually "And I am happy now living without you"

I've recently discovered a few other misheard lyrics, but can't remember them now.

i love that song, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, but when i was a kid i would sing over and over "Sugar Fried Honey Buns" my parents never let me forget it!

I thought the Bangles' "Eternal Flame" was about burning the American Flag.

"Is it burning? An eternal flag?"

Obviously, I was a politically minded 12 year-old.

Well, I got the effing STAR SPANGLED BANNER wrong while hollering it out on the 4th...

I sang "gave truth to the night that our flag was still there" instead of "gave proof through the night...."

And now that I'm writing this, I am not even sure THAT's right.

in college in the south, there were many MANY songs that came out when we were "pre-partying" that I'm ashamed to admit now. However, I would sing along with everyone ;)

One of these was Friends in Low Places... It was SOOO definitive of our motley group that a friend recently dedicated it to us at her wedding reception... OH - the embarrassment!

I think that the reason that it stuck was one SOBER car trip - with a tagalong who wasn't a part of the regular group - and who was OBVIOUSLY a yankee (gasp!)

When it came to the line "I'm not big on social graces..." she BELLOWED "I'm not big on SAUSAGE GRAVY"

Oh My GOSH! I'm sure that we got more than a few sideways glances out and about screaming out those wrong lyrics and then falling into piles of laughter.

I also just remembered the time I belted out, "Why do you fill me up, Buttercup, baby..." in college, but I think that had more to do with being drunk than not understanding the words. My also-drunk friends misheard ME as saying, "Why do you FEEL me up, Buttercup," to their vast amusement.

I used to think the words, "Walking in a winter wonderland" were, "Walking in the river on the land". I actually thought that was a pretty neat little play on words - except that it wasn't, and I am in fact dillusional.

For years I sang it "Save the dance" instead of "SAFETY Dance"!!

Even more humiliating considering the spell out the S-A-F-E-T-Y in the the song!!!

Okay, I had to go look up the name of the song and band, b/c I couldn't remember either. But a LONG time ago, a band by the name of "Breathe" came out with a song called "Hands to Heaven". I was about 8 years old and singing along to the song in the car with my mother. And when it got to that lyric - "tonight I need your sweet caress, hold me in the darkness"...I belted out "Tonight I need your sweet cool ass, hold me in the darkness". And my poor mother is just looking at me in the rear view mirror like, "Why is my 8 yr old daughter singing about needed some sweet cool ass?"

I always thought "Little Red Corevette" was "Little Rhett Come back!" I could never figure out who Rhett was.

The Traveling Wilbury's "Handle Me With Care." I know someone whose garage band did this song for fun years ago. The singer really didn't know the lyrics and used to sing "And the Weenies Curl". He had to know that was wrong.

I misheard a line in the infamous Alanis Morrissette song, "You Oughta Know" as "the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me" rather than "the cross I bear"... I liked the idea of him giving her a messed-up teddy bear.

Um, Bananarama, "Venus"? I was 8 when that song came out and my neighbor told me that the lyrics were the obvious "I'm your penis, I'm your fire." I believed him because I was that kid who only had access to public radio and PBS...the first time heard it playing somewhere in public I belted out the lyrics. My mother was not impressed.

This is my best friend's story, but I love it. When she and her cousin Jaime were young they used to get together and make videos of themselves putting on shows. Usually, they sang along to the beach boys and things like that. Well, in the one beach boy song they talk about a "contact high"-- in the tapes on their shows they always point to their eye during that part of the song and sing "contact eye." You know, because where else do you put a contact but in your eye.

in the elton john song "Don't let the sun go down on me" there's a line... "I can't find all the right romantic lines"...my husband to this day sings it as "i can't find oh the rocko mighty gline"....what ever that means

I always thought that in the song by the Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" she said "Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi and then Donna..." I alway thought she said Dolce & Gabanna, Cindy and Madonna. I had no idea who this Cindy was thought she must be someone big to be in the company of Madonna! I found out I was wrong when my sister started laughing at me histerically in the car oneday!

When I was younger I used to think that the lyrics in "Rocking the Casbah" by the clash were actually 'f---ing the asphalt' it kinda made sense with the video.. you know the band standing on a lot of asphalt...

In Good Charlotte's song I Just Wanna Live, where they say "Fake ass girls all know your name" I always thought they were saying "Lakers girls all know your name".. hey, it made sense, rockstars, living in Cali... my 12 year old daughter still won't let me live it down. And, she actually said ASS when she was correcting me, and it was hilarious. I laughed at my kid cussing.

My sister, also a loud, out of tune radio sing-a-longer, was very stubburn in her insistance that Terence Trent D'Arby's, "Wishing Well" contained the lyric "wishing well of crock of dog shit." She said that "wishing well of crocodile tears" made no sense at all.

Now her seven-year-old son has learned to sing Shaggy's "It wasn't me" with the lyric "Picture this we were both butt-naked, banging on the bathroom *door*" instead of floor. My sis has encouraged the misunderstanding.

Growing up in TX, I listened to a lot of country - and not always by accident. Sometimes I listened on purpose.

When I was 8 or 9, my friend and I were listening to Garth Brooks and the song "Shameless" came on. My friend's mother came into the room and took her hairbrush, ready to sing the chorus and belted out, "I'm shavin'!"

OMG..it's not "the crossed-eyed bear that you gave to me"??? OK..well I just learned something.
My friend in high school thought the Everything But The Girl's song Miss You, had the lyrics "the desert mystery" when it is actually "deserts miss the rain"

my boyfriend: Korn's Freak on a Leash "A cheap f--- for me to lay" "Archie fought for me to lay"

Mine was Boy George's karma chameleon, which I had 2 big error's...I thought the song was 'Come a Chamaleon' like you are changing into a lizard, and I thought it was "These golden dreams" rather than Red, Gold and Green. Which I sang loudly at my 10th? 11th? birthday party to the amusement of my friends.

You know the song "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince? Well, ever since it came out (a long time ago) I've thought the chorus was "Summer summer summertime, time to sit back in Des Moines". That's how I sang along. Well, recently loaded the song on my laptop, and one day while listening, I realized it's actually "time to sit back and unwind".

I'd always wondered why they were talking about Des Moines, which I was pretty sure was not near Philidephia, but now I know, and it makes so much more sense!

And yes, I owned up to it. To myself :).

My sister always thought that the refrain to George Harrison's "I Got My Mind Set On You" was, "I got my new Say-la-voo", the Say-la-voo being, of course, a car that George had just purchased. Or so she insisted.

You know the song "Hit me with your Best Shot"? Well I dated two guys, years apart, one sang it "Hit me with your Sweat Socks," and the other sang it, " Hit me with your wet -rhymes-with-swat!" One too nice, one too scandalous! LOL

Oh, yeah, and "cross-eyed bear" was the lyric of choice for MANY people, myself included. LOL

Okay. As part of Alanis's song "You Oughta Know," I used to think that the line "cross I bear" was "cross-eyed bear." And even worse, in her song "Ironic," my friend used to think that the lyric "an old man, turned 98, won the lottery and died the next day" was "an old man, turned and he ate..." I still tease her about it to this day.

p.s. Have you seen this site, Am I Right? www.amiright.com

As a kid I always thought the Fine Young Cannibals were singing about bologne in the song "Good Thing." When they were singing "good thing, where have you gone" I was hearing "tube steak, where have you gone" as though they had lost their bologne.

And, as a human (talent-less) juke-box I always love singing the misheard lyrics instead. I still love singing "bathroom on the right," and, for "Beast of Burden by the stones I always sing "I'll never leave your pizza burnin'." Cause sometimes the misheard ones are more fun than the originals.

Ok so this isn't a mis-heard lyric but it is still pretty funny. When my little brother was about 4 we were walking around tasrget, and for no apparent reason he started belting out Jimmy Buffet's "Get drunk and screw"

Imagine a little boy all but screaming "Why don't we get drunk and screw?" My dad immediately told my brother he was wrong, the words really are "Why don't we party and eat cake" To this day I still sing that song with my dad's new and improved lyrics.

OK so I can't type with a band-aid on - I meant we were in Target. Geez

One that is mine:

Thompson Twins: Hold My Heart.

I thought it was, "OOOHH Hold me now..OOH OHH Hold my heart. My whole entire heart."

It is: "Hold me now...Oh OH Warm my heart, my cold and tired heart."

One that belongs to a friend:

Dancing With Myself by Billy Idol.

Thought it was "I dance and whip myself, ow ow oww oww."

Which I think is pretty awesome!

I was on a trip to the Daytona 500 with a friend and he'd brought along London Calling by the Clash. . .
There's a song on there called "Spanish Bombs". . .
And I couldn't for the life of me figure out why The Clash had written a song about Spanish Bongs and why they were singing about empanadas. . .I was promptly made fun of for the remainder of our time in Florida.

Great topic and having visited so late I also get the benefit of having cleared up, via the previous commenters, a lot of songs I CURRENTLY sing incorrectly. (thank you Susan for the Elton John)

A friend used to sing Van Morrison's opening line "Hey where did we go" as "Hey now Rodrigo".

For the longest time I thought Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" was "Livin' it in La Vita." With La Vita being some fabulous place where they were living it up!

Couple others from a college friend that we still don't let her forget almost 10 years later: Melissa Etheridge's "I Want to Come Over" has a line "to hell with the consequence" that she swore was "to hell with the concert plans," which does actually make sense. Also James' "Laid" has "messed around with gender roles" that was "messed around with Ginger Rose."

i wanted to add that "hey now rodrigo" is the funniest thing i've heard in a long time.

and the aerosmith one reminded me that my 7-year-old self thought that "dude looks like a lady" was "DOOOOO IT LIKE A LAAADY" which, why not?

This may be only funny to people who know french but maybe not... I don't know if anybody know a song by Feist called "Leisure suite." But my friend thought that she just randomly switched to french in the song and was saying "in my lit je suis" instead of "in my leisure suite." I laughed my ass off!

omg Luba! I had the exact same thing happen to me with the "desert's mystery" thing. Haha. And I was sure I was right too until I realized that the only one sounds sooo much better!

I just thought of another. Now keep in mind that I was young and Canadian. In the US national anthem I thought that instead of "by the dawn's early light" they were saying "by the donzer we lie." I just thought that 'donzer'was a word I didn't know.

I also screw up the Clash's "Rock the Casbah".... for years, i SWORE they were singing, Rock the CASH BAR!

Remember that song from the mid-90s, sort of faux-techno-y, with the chorus that went "I'm blue, da da da dee da da da," etc? I insisted to my friends that he was saying "I'm blue, if I was green I would die, if I was green I would die" and so on. I never was much good at understanding techno.

hey e., you still have it wrong, it's "why do you build me up, Buttercup baby" not "Why do you fill me up, Buttercup, baby...".
Oh, and I also made the same mistake about the chameleon song.

CCR--I see a bad moon a rising

my version: I see a brand new horizon

always the optimist, I guess!

My favorite was a friend of mine in junior high who thought Edelweiss in "The Sound of Music" was "Hazel Eyes"

Hazel Eyes, hazel eyes...every morning you greet me...

still makes me laugh :)

Laura- I guess you could be in bed while in your leisure suite? lmao

My boyfriend just told me two nights ago that Beck's "Loser" said: Sore on my genitals, I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me. We googled it and found out that it's Spanish for I'm a loser, but I lose it when I think of him singing sore on my genitals. Also, grody huh?

Gay Music Friday Update: A guy who had never voiced an opinion either way about what music was played, brought in his music collection today. Bob Seger's Greatest Hits, Journey's Greatest Hits, and Bon Jovi's Greatest Hits. Which leads me to the song, "Bed of Roses." There's a line in there that says, " I want to lay you on a bed of roses.For tonite I sleep on a bed on nails.I want to be just as close as the holy ghost is. And lay you down on bed of roses." To me it sounds like "I want to be just as close as ho-o-ly clothespins." I knew these words couldn't be right, but I had to look them up. Just so happens it's your blog topic today. Crazy. Freaky. Weird. And remember, "Every Day is Like Sunday."

So, my song is Dancing Queen. And for somereason I always think the line is "you can dance, you can drive" instead of "you can dance, you can jive". I think this is mainly because I mostly listen to this song while driving. Still, I can't help thinking that it's drive and not jive.

There is a section of an Argentine radio show that is called "canciones locas" (crazy songs), which is basically misheard English lyrics by Spanish speakers... phrases in Spanish within English songs. Albeit most of them require quite a bit of abstraction by someone who speaks English, and some other would even require some sort of chemical influence to be able to hear what these people have heard hahaha

Anyway, here is the link in case some of you speak Spanish:
http://www.luisbonini.com.ar/blog/2006/05/30/canciones-locas/

TLC. don't go chasin' waterfalls. thought it was "don't go jason waterfalls" as in TLC hating a guy named jason waterfalls. hey i was young

I also thought that the techno song "i'm blue ah da da dee da da" was "i'm blue if I were green i would die." And a friend of mine in high school thought that Dave Matthew's intro to "crash into me" that says "you've got your ball you've got your chain..." said "you've got chiffon, you've got sure change." Also, my uncle swore that Steve Miller's chorus "big ol' jet airliner" was "bigo jet and a lighter." (whatever a bigo jet is?!) And one last, a roommate of mine in college swore that Outkast's line "shake it like a polaroid picture" was realy "shake it like a homeroom teacher," but then he is a teacher.

I thought the Van Halen song Panama's chorus was "Animal!" until I started singing along to the radio at work and people started laughing at me.

I was totally wrong with Metallica's Fuel. It acutally says "gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimma that which i desire" and my sweet little self thought it was "Gimme two, Gimme five, Gimme that which i'm alive." Yeah I know.. Pathetic. Also another one. Led Zepplin's Ramble On?? I always swore it was "Rannabon". Kill me now. lol.

Courtesy of my dad, Steve Miller's "Big ol' jet airliner" beacame "big hotel with the light on" and Cyndi Lauper's "True Colours" became "poo garden".

...there's a bathroom on the right...
(there's a bad moon on the rise)

"Hot Buttered!"
(Hot Blooded)

both courtesy of my college roommate

So in that oldie "Groovin' (on a sunny afternoon)", they say, "Life would be ecstasy, you and me endlessly", but I thought they were saying, "You and me and Leslie."

At least I can make an argument that my version makes sense, right?

I switched the line "you and me, endlessly" in "groovin'" by the young rascals to "you and me, and leslie," but, no, i don't do threesomes ...

Laura--I'm with your friend on Feist. I would totally believe that woman slips into French unexpectedly from time to time, I can't make out a work she says. Mushaboom? What?

Medha--I know the correct words, "fill me up," was my mistake. I didn't put the correct words in my comment because, well, they are relatively self-evident to all but the terribly, tragically drunk, I think.

And I had the same thought on the Blue techno song. Like Smurfs, right? They don't want to be green, it'd be dangeous business!

My mom really likes to be hip and cool, but when Gwen Stefani's song came out "Ain't no hollarback girl," my mom started singing along with it and went "...and I ain't no Harlem fat girl." I was laughing so hard it hurt. And she was serious.

Ok... Dou you all remember that song by Macy Gray where part of the chorus said "My world crumbles when you are not there"..
I used to think she said "I wear goggles when you are not there".

I thought "Little Red Corvette" was "Libby, Come Back. Baby your much too fast... Libby, Come Back..." I still catch myself singing it wrong sometimes out of old habit.

My other one is the B-52's "Love Shack." At the end I thought she sang "En route. Breathless!" But I recently discovered it is "Tin Roof. Rusted!" I kind of like my version better :)

A few weeks ago Good Vibrations by Marky Mark came on the radio and my husband was singing along..."its such a good vibration, its such a sweet dixie charm." I thought I misunderstood and said "um, don't you mean its such a sweet sensation?" He was like, oh that does make more sense. I always wondered why they were talking about dixie in a rap song. I couldn't stop laughing the whole way home.

I completely RUINED the Tiny Dancer song for this girl I use to work with. She use to listen to the classic rock station for everyone in the general vicinity to hear, and every time that particular song came on, I would sing "Hold me closer, Tony Danza!" (thanks to the beloved Friends episode). It got to the point where she started singing that verse the same way, and man was she PISSED! She got so irritated with me because I ruined on of her favorite songs (thanks to the Movie "Almost Famous").

little borther when he was 3, now 28 and still teasing him - Eagles "There's a heartache tonight, a heartache tonight, I knoooowwww..." He sang in our VW van "There's a hornet tonight, a hornet tonight I knooooowwww...." which made complete sense to him because he feared the hornets living in the nest on our front porch. Haha!

me when I was 11 - Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" - my BFF and I sang "the chair is not my son" and couldn't figure out what a chair had to do with it. Then we decided it was "the chid is not my son" thinking "chid" was just like a cool slang way to say "kid"???

And my sister at 16, me at 13 - Til Tueday "Shut up! Just shut up now, why can't you keep it doooowwwwn?!" My older sister belted out "Shut up! Just shut up now, why can't we go to toooowwwwn?" And me being the younger of the two and forever being teased for everything under the sun was absolutely thrilled to finally have one on her:)

My dad, growing up, thought Petula Clark's "Downtown" refrain was "Dog Chow."

And I thought "She'll have fun fun fun till her daddy takes her t-bird away" was "She'll have fun fun fun till her daddy takes her TEETHER away. . ." what's worse is that when I finally figured out the lyric was "t-bird," I still didn't understand.

I thought it was "how sweet it is in the love bayou" instead of "how sweet it is to be loved by you."

A country song has the line "made our own ice cream" and for the longest time I tried to figure out how they "made our own eyes green" because I wanted to try having green eyes.

When I was about 3, I thought Frosty the Snow Man "danced this mess around."
I thought Rock the Casbah was F-ing A-hole, when I was...not much older. My parents do not know that.

there's a song called "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" that i used to play when my 11 year old sister was in the car and one day she asked me why the 'potties' were hitting the floor... i call her everytime i hear that song, just to tease her!
also in the song "I want to be sedated" when it says 'I can't control my fingers, I can't control my toes' my whole family used to sing along in the car with 'ketchup on my fingers, ketchup on my toes' and even though i now know the real words i still sing about ketchup!

HAHAHA...These entries are really funny! For the sake of not embarrassing yourselves anymore, check out the lyrics of your favorite song http://www.letssingit.com!

Dido, White Flag
I never really listened to the song but one time when it was on the radio, (in the car with my husband) I was singing along. For the part, "I will go down with this ship
And I won't put my hands up and surrender" I sang, I won't go down with this s*&t, I will put my eyes out and surrender..." then asked him if he didn't think those lyrics totally ruined the rest of the song...

ok, heres a stumper...I was at Karaoke loosing my virginity the other night and wanted to sing that song "Ball and Chain" and cannot for the life of me remember who sings it...c'mon, Brytenie, you should know this? Please help me butcher this song to a room full, well, ok, in front of 3 gay guys and that one dyke chic. Thanks.

“Hungry Eyes”/”Hungry Alex” from the Dirty Dancing Sound Track. Not such a blunder except I commanded my entire families attention for a "Dance Routine" I had put together. I was dressed as a homeless man kicking around a can of bean with bacon soup for 3 minutes.

Holy crap there are a ton of comments!!

My favorite screw up is the song "How bizarre" actually I am not sure if that is what it is called but my Aunt Jackie thought it was "Papa John's" Like the pizza place for those of you who dont have one!

Oh I've got loads of these:

Song is by Blackstreet, I think:
Actual lyrics: "I like the way you work it, no diggity, I'd like to bag it up...", but guy in college heard: "I liked it when you worked here, no diggity... (to which another friend quipped, "Did you think she worked in a grocery store? I like to BAG IT UP?!")

While watching a talk show, Ricki Lake or similar, a woman says: "Like my girl Lauryn Hill says, 'How you gonna win when you ain't white and thin? How you gonna win when you ain't WHITE and THIN?'" Actual lyrics are "How you gonna win when you ain't right within?"

All time favorite:
Fugees "Killing Me Softly"
Guy friend thought the song was SO gross, until we found out he thought the words were "strummin' my thang with his fingers..." Not really radio appropriate, for sure.

I can't read this stuff without crying...
Deb, you're probably the funniest person on the planet.

I don't think I've ever sung a song with the correct lyrics, but at the moment the only true lyrical horror that stands out is that somehow "Rock the Cash Bar" is not what The Clash were actually singing in "Rock the Casbah." Go figure...personally, I'd love to rock the cash bar.

In Highschool, Snoop Dogg I forgot the song, but in it he says "As the sun rotates and my gang grows bigger" I was trying to be cool and rap and said "As the sun rotates and my head gets bigger." Everyone laughed and I thought it was because I looked cute...No one ever told me I had the wrong lyrics. Jerks.

Oh...and it's probably not "Hot damn, summer in the city" either...

I'd look it up, but I don't know who sings the song...or the name of it...

Okay, for 'Hang on Sloopy', I always thought it was 'Hang on Snoopy.' Who the hell is Sloopy anyway?

My other favorite: 'Swing Low, sweet Cheerio" !

For LMB: It's "Hot TOWN, summer in the city", though hot damn kinda works.

And Rachel, it's funny that you posted that, because when my little sister was about three, she piped up from the back seat: "Put Sweet'n'Low in your Cheerios, comin' for to carry me home . . ." instead of "Swing low, sweet chariot". Our other family favorite (also from my baby sister) is from the country song "Grundy County Auction" in which the lyrics are "She's got ruby red lips, blonde hair, blue eyes". My sister sang "She's got boogers, red lips, long hair, blue eyes". Boogers! We haven't let her live it down.

ok so something of a latecomer here but just had to post (after sitting here at work laughing to myself): I used to think that Prince's 'I will die for you' was 'Apple Zapple you'...and all of this reminds me of one of the Ramona books where Ramona thinks the national anthem is 'the dawnzer lee light'...

just couldnt stop reading this