Do you hear what I hear: The mondegreen thread

[rockland6674]

We haven't had a mondegreen (misheard lyrics) thread in quite a while, so I thought it was time for another one.

The first time I heard The Who's "Eminence Front," I listened to the lyrics as closely as I could on my car radio, and decided they were singing about "Livin' in a swamp."

Kurt Cobain's slurred delivery led people to all kinds of mondegreens. Here's a couple of mine: On "In Bloom," I thought the "Bruises on the fruit" line was "Losers armed with fruit." Also, I interpreted the "Amazes me, the will of instinct" line in "Polly" as "And maybe later we'll convince Sting."

My late mother never understood one line in Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye." She thought "There's a very strange vibration kissing me right to the core" was "There's a very strange vibration lifting me right through the floor."

[Embra]

In MIA's Paper Planes, I always hear "If you catch me at the border I've got bees in my mane" (instead of "visas in my name").

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

I don't know the name of the song, but the line is supposed to be "jump inside your love." Even knowing that, I always hear "Germansize your love."

Seaboe

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by rockland6674

My late mother never understood one line in Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye." She thought "There's a very strange vibration kissing me right to the core" was "There's a very strange vibration lifting me right through the floor."

I thought it was "pinning me right to the floor," which at least goes along with the theme of the song.

[Phantom]

I thought that the OMC song "How Bizarre" was saying "Balthazar". Ironically, I found the song so bizarre that I didn't question whether this was right.

[Pinecone]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I thought it was "pinning me right to the floor," which at least goes along with the theme of the song.

It's 'piercing me right to the core', according to results from Googling.

[Richard Davies]

The happens to me all the time, I'll hear a song & think those lyrics sound a bit odd.

REM seemed to be singing about Zoe Wanamaker in The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight.

I wondered why Sade kept mentioning "Fools Of The Red Eye" in Smooth Operator.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

It's 'piercing me right to the core', according to results from Googling.

That makes far more sense than my version or Rockland's.

[rockland6674]

When I was a kid, I thought the protagonist in Stories' cover of "Brother Louie" had taken a sudden interest in sailing. Why else would they sing "Louie nearly crossed the sea"? Sure, it didn't make much sense, but my young imagination pictured Louie bravely trying to cross the sea on a rickety raft. Fifteen years later, I bought a reissue 45 and heard the correct line: "Louie nearly caused a scene."

Another one from my youth: In "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel, I thought Gerry Rafferty was singing "Clowns to the left of me, toucans to the right." That conjured up a really strange image in my mind. Years later, I thought I got it right: "Aha! It's 'Two kids to the right!'" I finally read the correct "Jokers to the right" line in a political article, of all places.

[knurd]

Before I knew the name of the song I thought 'Bette Davis Eyes' was about a sex worker who could keep up the act because she had better days aside.

[LizardWizard]

I always heard, "then good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye." Because that's grammatically correct and all. Apparently it's actually "them good old boys..." But I still sing "then"; I'm not a barbarian.

A few years ago, I read someone who had thought that the song was "Secret Asian Man." That surprised me since I had always heard "Secret Agent Man." But then I heard the song again, and by golly, it does sound like "Secret Asian Man." Now I can't hear anything else. Thanks for the mondegreen, man.

[Lainie]

I thought it was "and good old boys. . ."

[Saint James]

Perhaps my favorite - because of the odd mental image it gives me - is from Uninvited by Allison Morissette:

"To watch the stoic squirm" which I tend to hear as:
"To watch the stoic squirrel"

Then there's Elton John's Benny and the Jets where I have generally heard as:
"She's got electric boobs, I'll know her soon, I read it in a magazine"
instead of the actual lyrics:
"She's got electric boots, a mohair suit, you know I read it in a magazine"

I also heard 'Betty Davis eyes" as better days aside, though I didn't assign the same meaning as knurd did.

[LizardWizard]

Looking up the lyrics on the internet, I find:

And them good...
Them good...
And good...
Then good.

old boys...
ole boys...
ol' boys...

drinking...
drinkin'...

whiskey and rye...
whiskey in rye...
whiskey 'n' rye...

So take your pick, I guess.

[Tootsie Plunkette]

There's a song being used in a radio ad right now, I think for tires. My husband says it was from one of the National Lampoon movies. I don't know the song and can't tell what they're really singing, but I'm sure what I'm hearing is a mondegreen; it sounds like "Onna we gooooo... onna we gooooo..."

[KingDavid8]

Just today, I realized the first line in ZZ Top's "La Grange" was "Rumors spreading 'round". I always thought it was "Room was spinning 'round". I only caught it because I heard a cover by someone else, who sings a little more clearly.

[rockland6674]

For most of my life, I thought the first line of The Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday" was, "The local rock group down the street is trying hard to learn this song." Turns out, it's "their song."

[Spamamander]

Originally Posted by Tootsie Plunkette

There's a song being used in a radio ad right now, I think for tires. My husband says it was from one of the National Lampoon movies. I don't know the song and can't tell what they're really singing, but I'm sure what I'm hearing is a mondegreen; it sounds like "Onna we gooooo... onna we gooooo..."

I'm pretty sure it's "Holiday Road", from National Lampoon's "Vacation", if it's the same commercial I just saw today.

[rockland6674]

The French language was lost on my young ears. On "Ma Belle Amie" by The Tee Set, I heard the line, "Apres tous les beaux jours" as "I've got two-level shoes." I didn't know what two-level shoes were, but I thought they sounded really cool.

[rockland6674]

For the longest time, I thought the line in Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" was "Remember what the doorknob said." After all, there's a talking doorknob in Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland.

What? It's "Remember what the dormouse said"? Okay, then.

*wanders off to look up "dormouse"*