One of my favorite roller skating songs from my preteen years was Medieval Woman by ELO. Of Course, that’s not the actual name of the song – but that’s what it will forever be to me.
“Excuse me while I kiss the sky” is what I always heard listening to Hendrix’s Purple Haze – then I read an article about misheard lyrics and every time I hear it now – it’s “excuse me while I kiss this guy.” Can’t. Unhear. It.
What are some of your fave mistaken lyrics, my friends? And as always, thanks for stopping by and your continued support.
Ohhh…many, many. I was singing in a happy mom voice while driving my son somewhere, “Lights out! We’re on the radio!”…I thought the band was happy to get airplay.
speaking of Rage Against The Machine, I wonder what lyrics Pual Ryan thought he was hearing…
There’s a bathroom on the right.
Haha – haven’t heard it like that before.
And Kasabian Cutt Off does not include the line “I saw your sister in the bathroom selling comics”. (Chew the backbone solar system these clever convicts.)
Wrong – Don’t make me wait for you at the corner of Eat N’ Park.
Correct – corner of Eden Park.
Wrong: In a cold n’ active river
Correct: Gonna go to that deep river
I overheard a co-worker singing this as you’re the wizard of Oz, ooh, ooh, ooh.
That’s new to me and hysterical.
Bruce Springsteen is such a mumbler, I never know what the fuck he is saying. Dead devil in the freezer?
…cut loose like a douche in a rotor in the night? My sisters used to yell at me when I would sing that as a kid having no fucking idea what the real lyrics were. I still don’t know what the fuck this song is about.
I always thought it was – wrapped up like a douche and I rode her in the night.
Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night. The “deuce” is a reference to a deuce coupe hot rod.
This song was the original Rorschach rock song. The lyrics were whatever happened to be in your filthy mind. I remember when I was about 10 my two best friends and I spent most of our free time (and a considerable amount of school time) making up dirty lyrics to popular songs. This practice was based on what our forebears did with Louie Louie by The Kingsmen a generation earlier.
Years later, Iggy Pop would continue the tradition of just making up lyrics to Louie Louie. Surprisingly, they weren’t dirty, but had something to do with capitalism vs communism and Bush v Gorbachev.
My friends and I would make up parody lyrics to our choir songs as tweens. They ranged from utter nonsense for secular music to downright blasphemous if we were singing sacred texts.
“Louie Louie” actually had to fend off a wave of censorship when it was released because the Powers That Be were certain that the lyrics were pornographic.
Our version of it was extremely pornographic. I dimly remember seeing The Cramps do a nice dirty version live, too.
I’ll never not be able to hear this as The Simpsons intended, “In the Garden of Eden”. And I suppose they’ll also forever be I. Ron Butterfly to me, and I’ll somewhat conflate them with L. Ron Hubbard as a result.
Fun fact: that was the actual name of the song, but Doug Ingle was so drunk that In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is what came out of his mouth.
Ah, figures. I kind of like it styled as a hymn with organ accompaniment.
Be honest: none of you knew that the chorus went like this:
So goodbye yellow brick road
where the dogs of society howl.
You can’t plant me in your penthouse.
I’m going back to my plow.
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
hunting the horny black toad.
Oh I’ve finally decided my future lies
beyond the yellow brick road.
I can’t believe I found this. We used to play this gag at the radio station I worked at for a few years.
Stevie Nicks: What the hell is she saying?
Ha – I listened to REM for years without knowing what most of the lyrics were – especially on Fables of the Reconstruction and Document. I would sing along all the time – my friends were always like “you have no idea what the words are to that song”. I finally looked up all the lyrics and my friends were right. I was singing completely different lyrics to most of their songs.
PSA: I have decided that the post pandemic era (whatever that means) will be an age of disco and none of you can stop me. I am ready for excess, nonsense, and shamelessly pursuing partying.
Since I can’t post literally every single song, because that’s how many songs I don’t know the lyrics to, I’ll post this one I was listening to earlier. I can’t understand half of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhXQXuIksXY
Side note, I have a friend who “meows” whatever words she doesn’t know in songs and it’s a great solution. Hard recommend.
Lmao well I can’t get it to embed because brain worms I guess.
I’m driving my daughter to school and she’s singing along with Adele:
“Peanut butter balls, rolling in the deep.”
I defy you to hear anything different.
Ha – that is awesome.
Oh here’s a major don’t know the words situation. It was so bad I couldn’t even gather enough information to look it up in my youth bc I didn’t know who sang it.
The first or second time I heard this song I asked my daughter, why is Gaga warning us about Romans? They haven’t fielded so much as a cohort in 1500 years.
“Watch out for Romans.”
Not me! But a friend thought this was “I ain’t no Harlem Black Girl”…
Hahahaha!
Get the Fuck out of my face!!!!