Imagine, you go your whole life thinking that Elton John was singing 'Hold me closer, Tony Danza.' Your brain must go through the process of inventing some lore to explain why Sir Elton John has a whole ballad about some American actor until you learn that you have simply been wrong your entire life.
So one person wanted to know what other examples of misheard lyrics are out there and the internet delivered. So if you aren’t afraid of having a song reinvented when you figure out how it actually goes, get comfortable, scroll down, and be sure to upvote the more hilarious examples.
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She was a fax machine
She kept her modem clean
[Original lyrics: She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean
AC/DC - "You Shook Me All Night Long"]
I guess it rains down in Africa?
StoopidTumbleweeds replied:
I’m still somewhat embarrassed to say that I thought it was “god bless the maids down in Africa”. Thought it was some sort of weird political statement.
Is_What_They_Call_Me replied:
I felt some brains down in Africa up until a couple years ago..
milkpen replied:
I always heard it as "I miss the rains down in Africa" and thought that sounded so lovely and melancholic. I was so disappointed by the real lyric lmao
[Original lyrics: I bless the rains down in Africa
Toto - Africa]
I left my brains down in Africaaaaaaa! Additionally, I always heard, “there’s nothing that a hundred men on mars could ever doooo!”
My favorite misheard lyric is 'Hold me closer, Tony Danza' instead of 'Hold me closer, tiny dancer' by Elton John.
The examples here all fit into the category of a mondegreen, which sounds like a plant from Harry Potter. In reality, it’s when a person mishears something in such a way that a phrase or lyric gets an entirely new meaning. The origin of this strange word is somewhat more understandable. In a 1954 essay, a woman named Sylvia Wright recalled misremembering the last line of a poem, where she substituted “and laid him on the green” with “Lady Mondegreen.”
Even after discovering the mistake, she liked the new version so much that she decided to give the phenomenon a new name, after the entirely imaginary “Lady Mondegreen.” In this particular case, the substitution somehow worked within the context of the poem, "The Bonny Earl of Murray," for those who are interested. But even a nonsensical addition can still be a mondegreen.
Robert Palmer
"You might as well face it, you're a d**k with a glove"
My sister thought the Beatles lyrics “the girl with kaleidoscope eyes” was “the girl with colitis goes by”.
As a kid I thought it was "we'll rob a mexican monkey" and not "we're up all night to get lucky"
[Daft Punk - Get Lucky]
The reasons our brains sometimes ‘autocorrect’ lyrics are varied. Often, if we don’t know the meaning of a word or have never heard it before, our brain will want to add something to that gap. This is how ‘like a G6’ can so easily become ‘like a cheese sticks,’ if the listener is not familiar with the names of private jets. Our brains want to make sense of things, so they will try, desperately to not leave any blank spaces. Though one has to question how a brain could think ‘like a cheese sticks’ made more sense than ‘G6.’
“It's not fair, to deny me
Of the crosseyed bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know”
-Alanis Morissette
How could you take her crosseyed bear Dave Coulier
[Original lyrics:
"It's not fair to deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You, you, you oughta know"
Alanis Morissette -"You Oughta Know"]
There are a lot of bears in Canada so someone might be giving them away.
I want to know, have you ever seen Lorain?
PheonixKernow replied:
As a child I used to sing 'I can see clearly now Lorraine has gone' and always wondered what poor Lorraine did that was so bad.
[Original lyrics: I can see clearly now, the rain has gone
Johnny Nash - "I Can See Clearly Now"]
This is similar to what my bf thought TLC’s Waterfalls was about. A guy called Jason Waterfalls, who just needed some encouragement (“go, go, Jason Waterfalls!”)
Hit me with a wet sock, FIRE AWAY!!!!!
[Original lyrics: "Hit me with your best shot"; Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"]
Other psychologists believe that sometimes we’ll just mishear a lyric and ‘lock’ it in, even if it doesn’t make much sense at all. There is no reason for Ozzy Osborne to sing “I'm Justin Bieber,” yet some people believe this is a real lyric on ‘Dreamer.’ We just tend to not question our established beliefs and go around thinking that Ozzy really does feel like he is a Canadian pop star, which wouldn't be the strangest thing he's done.
We were in the car and Guns ‘n Roses Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door was playing and after a minute my then four year old son asked ‘Who’s Kevin?’ It took us a beat to understand the question but from now on, for me this song will always be ‘Knockin on Kevin’s door’ 🤣
Sweet dreams are made of cheese, who am i to disagree
[Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)]
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dogs say goodnight
[Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World]
Mondegreens are actually more common when listening to something in a language you are fluent in. In a more unfamiliar tongue, your brain, correctly, understands that it doesn’t understand everything and will just leave certain ideas blank. If you are learning a language and you listen to music in it, you’ve probably had the experience of knowing a handful of words while the rest fly past you. Since your vocabulary is limited, you can’t just start making up new phrases and words to ‘explain’ the gaps in the lyrics.
My three year old thinks "Like a G6" is "Like a cheese sticks"
[Far East Movement and The Cataracs - "Like a G6"]
Lmao my 52 yo uncle thought that too and was singing it that way in his car a few years back.
Jimi Hendix - "Purple Haze": 'scuse me while I kiss this guy.
corvid_booster replied:
Roommate back in the day, who would have been about 18 in 1970, told me that Hendrix was aware of the alternate interpretation, and he would gesture at Noel Redding and say "'scuse me while I kiss this guy."
My 7th grade teacher had a real hatred for Gwen Stefani and when we finally asked him it was because he thought she was saying “I ain’t no Harlem black girl” in her hit song “holla back girl”
In our defense, some groups or artists have a style that practically begs to be misheard. The overly synthesized Blue Man Group comes to mind, while older recordings might not be as crisp, leaving some room for interpretation. And it’s not like all artists have perfectly logical and sensical lyrics, indeed, some are pretty eyebrow-raising by themselves. As Hillary Duff once sang, ‘if the light is off, then it isn’t on.’ Which is technically correct I suppose. If you want to see some other examples of nonsense lyrics, check out Bored Panda’s article here.
When I was 14 my dad was driving me to my boyfriend's house. On the way over “Applause” by Lady Gaga came on & my dad sang “I live for the applesauce applesauce applesauce”. I busted out laughing and mocking him. Laughed so hard he turned the car around and took me home.
Gotta think Wierd Al was SO excited the first time he heard "My polka face." (And yes, he did name his medley that.)
As a kid, I didn't get the chess references in Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok".
So when he sang "One town is very like another with your head down over your pieces, brother.", I thought he was singing "One town is very like another with your head down over your *feces* brother"
I remember wondering what the hell goes on in Bangkok that would find you with your head down over your own poo.
I never understood that song until I saw the musical Chess, where it came from, & now that’s all I can think of when I hear One Night in Bangkok. Such a phenomenal show & would be buying tickets SO fast, if it came back. Though this song is really different from the rest of the show.
Blinded by the light
Wrapped up like a douche
A running lover in the night
Steely Dan, instead of "Are you reelin' in the years?", got "Are you really into yeast?"
Concrete jungle, wet dream, tomato.
[Original lyrics: "In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made, oh... "
Jay Z and Alicia Keys – "Empire State of Mind"]
Song: "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
Lyric: "Like a drifter I was born to wear cologne"
CCR - bad mood rising
There's a bathroom on the right
Warm_Fox1937 replied:
Same
And then my siblings tried to convince me it said “there’s a Batman on the rise”.
Abba- Take a chance on me. The beginning sounds like they are saying Jackie Chan.
Johnny rivers- Secret agent man- secret Asian man
“remove my jacket”
Instead of
“moves like jagger”
Boy I felt dumb.
If I want to move like Jagger, naturally first I gotta remove my jacket.
Lion King's Circle of Life:
Pink pajamas penguins on the bottom.
Get your free cone.
[Original lyrics: "Get your freak on", Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On"]
"Got along with Starbucks lovers" - Blank Space by Taylor Swift
Even when I know the lyrics and listen closely, I still can't hear anything else!
I fight with Dorothy & Dorothy always wins...
[editor's note:
Original Lyrics: "I fight authority, authority always wins", John Mellencamp's,"Authority Song" ]
My little sister thought Royals by Lorde said, "You can call me creepy" instead of "You can call me queen bee" I thought that was hilarious. My teacher's son would say, "You can call me green bean" So I guess that was a tricky line for kids lol
Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon"- Comma comma comma comma comma chameleon.
Go, go Jason Waterfalls. In my defense, I was like 5.
[Original lyrics: "Don't go chasing waterfalls"
TLC - Waterfalls]
There goes my hero, he’s old and hairy.
[Original lyrics: "There goes my hero, he's ordinary"
Foo Fighters - "My Hero"]
Now have this song playing over clips of Mermaid man and Barnacle Boy from Spongebob.
It took me too long to realize "All my friends are eating steak and snow" is actually "all my friends are heathens take it slow" I always heard it on the radio and they were all eating together.
[Twenty One Pilots - Heathens]
Give me The Beach Boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your Rock and Roll…
Kate bush’s Running up that hill, was convinced as a kid that it was “get into small hard places” and not “get him to swap our places”
"Every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you".
[Original lyrics: Every time you go away, You take a piece of me with you", Paul Young's "Every time you go away"
“Mama say mama saw mama coo saw”
-Michael Jackson
My mother used to think in pink Floyd's song "Brick in the wall" they said "if you don't clean your feet how can you have any pudding? How can you have any pudding if you dont clean your feet?" Made me and my dad crack up when she was singing it one day
"And you! Yes, YOU!!! Staaaand STILL laddie!!!"
Slipknot's Liberate sounds like they're saying "LIBERATE BANANAS" instead of "liberate the madness"
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. Instead of "later we’ll have some pumpkin pie“ I always hear ”later we’ll have some f*****g pie“
I heard a morning dj bit where they bleeped Pumpkin just to make it sound dirty.
Maxwell Jump
While listening to Van Halen my mom asked me who Maxwell was. I was so confused. She said, In this song, Maxwell jump!”
I died
My supervisor ruined "rock you like a hurricane" for me. She thought it went
Raunchy like a hurricane!
And now I can't unhear it every time it plays.
Blinded by the Light
Springsteen
"Revved up like a deuce"
I don't know a human being who didn't have to look that one up.
I just realized it's "Band on the run" and not "Man on the run".
WendyWindfall replied:
I always thought it was “banned on the run.”
The Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” “I’m a pool hall ace….every breath you take!”
10,000 Maniacs’ “Because the Night.” “….the way I feel, I’m the Orkin man!”
My mom legit thought it was "oh daddy oh I know" instead of "four dead in Ohio"
[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio]
Regulate - Nate Dogg + Warren G.
"I can't believe, they're taking Lawrence Welk".
I used to hear this song and wonder "Why is a smooth Gangsta like Warren G listening to Lawrence Welk, and why are these thugs stealing his Lawrence Welk records specifically?"
Then someone corrected me. "They're taking Warren's wealth".
Free - All Right Now - “let’s move before they raise the f*****g rent” vs “let’s move before they raise the parking rate”
Ladies leave your man at home
The club is full of ballers and their c**k is full grown
-Destiny’s Child
I will always hear Edge of Seventeen as “just like the one-winged dove”
whelp..now I know what is SHOULD be...always thought it was one-winged dove.
I'm not uptight
Not on a tractor.
Turn me on tonight.
I'm radioactive.
[The Firm - Radioactive]
Alice In Chains "Rooster," when he says "Walkin' tall, machine gun man," I swear he was saying "the chicken man."
I LOVE Alice In Chains, but it is quite difficult to understand Layne Staley (R.I.P.). And anything sung by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam
“ I’m sure you’ll have some sort of cosmic rash, y’know.”
Pressure by Billy Joel.
Ozzy Osbourne "I'm Just a dreamer" sounds like "I'm Justin Bieber"
Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth
Actin' like a robot
It's metal brain corrodes
You try to take his balls
Before the head explodes
In the House of Stone and Light - "And when I go, with a lump of poop in my eyes!"
I know that she knows that I’m not from Nebraska - Kooks, Naive
Periphery - Ragnarok. "It clings to the palm of our ninja turtle way"
Original is "it clings to the palm of my hand eternally"
RHCP - "with the birth of Cher, it's a lonely view."
I always kind of know what the right lyrics are, but when I think of the opening theme of Late Night with Craig Ferguson as "It's hard to stay up It's been a long long day And you've got a madman at your door" instead of "the sandman at your door".
It makes it seem like the penultimate scene of a horror movie. You've reached the house, locked the door, think you can relax for a moment, but the killer isn't done with you yet
Chiming in for the most well-known example in K-Pop, there’s a girl group called Twice that are among the biggest names in the industry. About five years ago they had a single called “Heart Shaker” where one of the lyrics is “**isanghagae**” (it’s weird). It’s commonly misheard as “**Is Sana gay?**” and is extra appropriate because one of the group’s members, Sana Minatozaki, is affectionate towards other members of the group (she’s the girl who puts her arms around another girl’s hips in the music video).
'Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, there's nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do.' - Africa, Toto
Not a misheard lyric per se, but my mother can never hear Stranger In Paradise without thinking of the Ken Dodd version: "Take my hand, I'm a strange-looking parasite"
Wow, it’s been a long time since I heard that name!
Load More Replies...
It's even funnier if your own language isn't English Just a 'mama appelsap' in Dutch ;)
'Gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, there's nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do.' - Africa, Toto
Not a misheard lyric per se, but my mother can never hear Stranger In Paradise without thinking of the Ken Dodd version: "Take my hand, I'm a strange-looking parasite"
Wow, it’s been a long time since I heard that name!
Load More Replies... It's even funnier if your own language isn't English Just a 'mama appelsap' in Dutch ;)
