What song lyrics did you get completely wrong?

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

I always thought AC/DC's Shot Down in Flames was "Shotgun in face".....I still sing it that way.....lol

[Lunabell]

1. From Grease,

I've got SHOES, they're multiplying." Instead of CHILLS, lmao. I wondered as a kid why his shoes were multiplying.

[elleng]

61. LMAO!!!

[leighbythesea2]

2. Anything by The Scorpions

Back when you just had to listen to something over and over. If no lyrics in album. Remember buying a magazine to try to find lyrics for them.

[Atticus]

3. When, as a child, I heard the hymn "Gladly the Cross I'd Bear", I pictured a

Cross-eyed bear named "Gladly".

[Tanuki]

27. I mis-heard and mis-sang "Bringing in the Sheaves" as

"Bringing in the Sheeps." In my defense, it was common to see Jesus depicted metaphorically as a shepherd, sometimes holding a little lamb. And I had never heard of such a thing as a sheaf.
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🌾🌾🌾🌾🌾

[Tanuki]

28. In point of fact...

[unc70]

32. Raining in the shoes

[NurseJackie]

78. I sang it as "cheese".

[Clash City Rocker]

4. "Been Caught Stealing" by Jane's Addiction

When I first heard it, I thought he was singing “When I want a thin mint, I don’t want to pay for it.” Stealing from Girl Scouts, that’s pretty low.

[hlthe2b]

5. Like nearly everyone else, I'd imagine, "Blinded by the Light"

I still hear it occasionally and think

[Wawannabe]

16. Is it douche or duece?

[rsdsharp]

29. You know. . .

Little douche coupe.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

60. I dont know, that entire line of the song is complete garble to my ears ! Spoze I could

google it, but that would ruin the mystery for me - LOL..

[mr_lebowski]

6. Roughly 80% of the lyrics on the first 3 R.E.M. albums

Course it's more fun to make up your own mumbling

[Coventina]

64. Orange Crush: We are ancient Sophocles....

[mr_lebowski]

66. Come to think of it, maybe it's more than just the first 3 albums ...

Coventina

Funny you mention that line cause I still don't know what he says right there 30+ years later.

[DFW]

82. They confused me too at first

That‘s me and Ramona
That‘s me in the spotlight
Choosing my green pigeon

[mr_lebowski]

83. That's one of the least cryptic REM passages of all time ...

First time I heard it I heard the real words.

Try spinning up the Murmur album sometime ... I promise you'll be confused at first, and at 100th, and 500th, etc

[DFW]

84. I heard it on German MTV

While trying to help my wife with our first one year old. I‘m amazed I even heard the group‘s name right.

[mr_lebowski]

85. Are you sans 1 year olds at the moment?

See what you make of this one, with your full attention

[DFW]

86. I am (she turns 38 in March)

But the link you sent has the usual „this video is not available in your country“

[mr_lebowski]

87. The song is called Sitting Still from the Murmur album ...

If you can find it, the vocal delivery is hilariously cryptic.

And ... it's a GREAT freaking song nevertheless.

[DFW]

89. Next time I get out of the EU. N/T

[Loge23]

7. Billie Jean

Except for the name Billie Jean, just about everything else in this song.

[mitch96]

8. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" came out to me as.......

It's my party and a High pappa wa-tu... I was never good at getting lyrics right in my '57 Plymouth radio.. Or was it the ear wax? mood and mind altering substance? who knows but I definitely got some weird looks..
m

[kcr]

72. I thought it was "It's my body and I'll cry if I want to"

[Wolf Frankula]

9. The Guess Who Song 'Albert Flasher'

For fifty years I thought a line was 'And Michael was a movie maker.' Nope, he made moonbeams.

Wolf

[flor-de-jasmim]

10. Maresy dotes and dosey dotes n little amsy dysey

I must have been in my 30s or 40s when my mom told me the lyrics were

Mares eat oats and does eat oats
and little lambs eat ivy.

Hmmm, I see I was not the only one:

In my defense - this was also a period a skat singing - here's a bit of Ella Fitzgerald:

[Biophilic]

15. Almost laughing too hard to type this.

I'm in my 70s and you just told me the correct lyrics.

[mr_lebowski]

67. And the next line is ...

A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?

Kid as in a juvenile goat, or the like.

[Biophilic]

69. Oh, good grief. Nope I had no idea. Thanks for the laugh to wake up to.

I actually was wondering about that last night but didn't have the energy to look it up then. Now I'm going to to get the whole story. Dang, the things I learn on DU.

[consider_this]

11. OMG - check this out

someone posted this last week and it is just hilarious!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1034&pid=47483

[Wawannabe]

18. Haha!

I had to look up lyrics after first hearing this tune.
Very hard to understand!

[jls4561]

12. Another Credence lyric...

As a kid, I heard “Oh Lord, sucking on old tires again.” To be fair, I was a little kid who had never crossed the Mississippi or the Mason-Dixon Line.
Then I grew up, moved to the Bay Area, and bettered my geography knowledge.
I learned the song actually went: “Oh Lord, stuck in old Lodi again.”
I think both versions carry the same emotion.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

13. "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals...

I head "You and me and Lesley" instead of "You and me endlessly" and wondered who Lesley was, LOL.

[XanaDUer2]

47. it's not Lesley? That's what I thought, too nt

[50 Shades Of Blue]

49. I double-checked the lyrics before I posted, LOL.

[SeattleVet]

48. Yep - that was mine, too.

For a LOT of years, until I finally got it!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

50. ROFL! Welcome to the club!

[Wawannabe]

14. Bush. Glycerine

Damnit. I thought he was singing.

I’ll kiss her ring!

[central scrutinizer]

17. Louie, Louie

My version is NSFW

[link:http://

|

[forgotmylogin]

19. Apparently a common one, but Britney Spears "Radar"

She's saying "on my radar" but I swore she was saying "operator". There's also a vocal distortion on the repeat so I thought the "operator" was talking back to her and it was a song about her on a phone trying to call her boyfriend!

[lkinwi]

20. I thought "Bad Moon Rising" was "Bad Mood Rising".

[Goonch]

21. Cool Change Little River Band

If there's one thing in my life that's missing
It's the time that I spend alone
Sailing on the cool and bright clear water
There's lots of you friendly people
They're showing me ways to go
And I never want to lose their inspiration
Time for a cool change
I know that it's time for a cool change
And now that my life is so prearranged
I know that it's time for a cool change"

I heard: Time worn pull chain ;-{)

[Piasladic]

22. No woman, no cry

I heard "love bled my nut dry"

[Turbineguy]

23. Excuse me

while I kiss this guy

[Wawannabe]

31. Forgot about that one!

I am sure that I did the same until I finally was corrected.

[Shermann]

24. Megadeth - Holy Wars...The Punishment Due

At the very end I thought Mustaine was yelling "Cowards! Cowards! Cowards!"

That was my favorite line in the song. I would visualize the band chasing a fleeing, vanquished enemy from the battlefield. Epic! Of course, it's "Killings! Killings! Killings!"

I was disappointed when I learned of the actual lyrics. They aren't as good.

It still kind of sounds like "cowards" to me.

[rickyhall]

25. When was inexperienced I couldn't get most of Hendrix's lyrics, then I got experienced & understood.

[Cirque du So-What]

35. 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy

I read that Jimi was aware of the misunderstood lyric and had fun with it.

[Midnight Writer]

41. That was mine. I heard it this way for decades, always puzzled because it didn't fit the song.

[consider_this]

26. Creedence again...

the actual lyrics:
Down on the corner
Out in the street
Willy and the Poor Boys are playin'
Bring a nickel, tap your feet

What i heard and sang:
Down on the corner
Cloudy in the street
Well the folks out on the pavement
Singin', here comes snappy Pete.

[Wolf Frankula]

55. You don't need a pinhead just to hang around

It's 'You don't need a penny.'

Wolf

[consider_this]

56. Yeah, exactly that too!

[North Shore Chicago]

30. The Go-Go's

Lyrics: "I've got the beat I've got the beat.'

What I heard: "I've got big feet I've got big feet."

[rsdsharp]

33. England Dan and John Ford Coley I'd Really Love to See You Tonight.

A friend thought the lyric “I’m not talking’ about
movin’ in,” was “I’m not talkin’ about millennium.”

We were both working as disc jockeys at the time. This was the guy Harry Chapin signed an album for after an interview, saying “Thanks for listening so closely.”

[DFW]

88. I had always heard

I‘m not talkin‘ ‚Meridian
And I don‘t want to change your life
There‘s a warm wind blowin‘ the stars around

I was soooo disappointed to hear it was,
„There‘s a warm wind blowin‘/the stars are out

I always thought „blowing the stars around“ was such a brilliant evocative line.

[Aristus]

34. "Just call me Angel of the Morning, baby...

Just pack my Jeep before you leave me!..."

[Freddie]

36. No! It's "just brush my teeth before you leave me, baby" 🎶

[dawg day]

37. "All we are saying.... is kissing's a drag."

[yonder]

38. This non-disco listener always heard the BeeGees song

as "Four-legged Woman" instead of "More than a Woman" whenever it might come up on the radio.

[dweller]

39. Debra Debra's cadaver

I want to reach out and grab her ...
🤔

✌🏻

[tblue37]

40. Oops. I accidentally posted my answer as an OP, but I am too lazy to retype it. Here it is:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181469913

[Hassin Bin Sober]

42. Until like two weeks ago, I thought it was Pretty Little Love Song

[Hassin Bin Sober]

43. Whoa Nipsey Russell......

Not really but once you hear it...

[Iggo]

58. Me too. Swear to gawd.

[mucifer]

44. The song "carry on my wayward son" I thought they sang:

"If I claim to be a white man, it surely means that I don't know".

[targetpractice]

45. "Mama, say, can you sew my moccasins?" -- Michael Jackson

I still don't know what the lyrics are.

[XanaDUer2]

46. Born to Run

my cousin thought the lyric was slam, bam, thrust! Baby, we were born to run!

[consider_this]

53. OMG -LOL! n/t

[ironflange]

51. CCR - Up Around the Bend

There's a place up ahead and I'm goin'
Just as fast as my feet can fly
Come away, come away if you're goin'
Leave this stinkin' shit behind

[TomSlick]

52. Elton John: Bennie and the Jets.

Real lyrics: "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit..."

What I heard (still hear): "She's got electric boobs, her ma has too."

[rsdsharp]

54. You're closer than I was with Rocketman.

Instead of “Burnin’ out the fuse up here alone,” I heard “Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.”

It took a VW commercial a few years ago for me to get it right.

[Iggo]

57. There's a song by Death called Symbolic.

He says "We're invisible! (We're invisible!)"

But I heard "No vegetable! (No basketball!)"

I didn't even know those two words rhymed...lol.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

59. Well just the other dayI found out that a Gordon Lightfoot song from 1975 was not "every highway,

let me slip away on you." Its CAREFREE highway. Which sounds STUPID, and nowhere near as poetic as "every" highway.

The funny thing is, when I googled it to find the lyrics (thinking it was "every" ) I saw many references to "every" ie lots of other people made same mistake.

So maybe if enough of us complained - I wonder if he would change the lyrics. It would be a much better song if he did!!!!

Theres also some lines to Solsbury Hil by Peter Gabriel that I was really disappointed with, when I found out what they wer e - cos I really liked my misheard version MUCH MUCH BETTER!!!!

Say ....IS it possible that the lyrics that are found on the internet are WRONG??? I mean,isnt it kinda strange that my song lyrics would be better than Peter Gabriel's?????

[kcr]

73. Until I read your post just now, that's what I thought it was

You're right. It should be Every Highway.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

79. Yes thank you - lets do a petition! I was bummed cos Im typing up a journal I kept while

hitching in Europe in the late 1970s and in it quoted many song lyrics of the time that pertained to travel and the places where I was travelling The phrase "every highway" was so meanful to me, it said exactly what I was feeling at the time. "Carefree highway" does not! There's nothing "carefree" about hitchhiking - it can be hard work!

Im thinking I'm going to leave it as "every" and let the reader be either puzzled by it, or chances are most won't even realize it's not the correct word!

[elleng]

62. THANKS for this thread!!!

[cemaphonic]

63. Paul Simon's "All Around the World"

"Elvis is a Watermelon"

[Coventina]

65. Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" - "Give me an iron lung"

There was a fairly obscure 80s song called "Holiday Rap" by two Amsterdam DJs that rapped over Madonna's "Holiday"

The chorus went:

"We're going to London
and New York City
And we'll take a little piece of Amsterdam"

my best friend at the time swore it was:

"we're going to London
And New York City
and we dig a little piece of S&M"

[zanana1]

68. Roy Orbison's Only the Lonely.

When I was a little kid, I thought it went "homemade baloney".

[skypilot]

70. The lyrics to EVERY Cocteau Twins song.

*

[malaise]

71. Great thread

Skip the lights fandangle

[mikeargo]

74. When the GoGos

Sang "Our Lips Are Sealed," I heard "I Love Cecile."

[Mad_Dem_X]

75. A hilarious one from my sister - "I'm On Fire":

(The Bruce Springsteen song) The lyrics are, "...Cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my soul."

My sister thought he was saying, "...Cut a six-inch belly though the middle of my stove."

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

77. But that makes no sense! Neither does Bruce version for that matter LOL

[Celerity]

76. petty much everything on Pay To Cum by Bad Brains

Label:
Bad Brain Records – BB001
Format:
Vinyl, 7", Single
Country:
US
Released:
Jun 1980
Genre:
Rock
Style:
Hardcore, Punk

[NameAlreadyTaken]

80. "Ahhh, look at all the lovely people."

Eleanor Rigby

[UTUSN]

81. This (half of one line; guess) - never heard the rest, but am not lyrics-driven anyway.