There's a bathroom on the right

[indra]

That's right folks...misheard lyrics. What are some of your favorites?

I have a new cd which has a song (Musidora by Isidore) which has a line "like a pawn shop Fender" which weird enough when used to describe someone's lover, but what I first heard is even more strange. I heard "like a porn shop vendor." Well, I guess someone would find that delightful....

** For those of you who are still wondering, "there's a bathroom on the right" is really "there's a bad moon on the rise" from Bad Moon Rising by Creedance Clearwater Revival. **

 

[Pinball Wizard]

The ultimate has/will always be...

'scuse me while I kiss this guy.

~purple haze

 

[U2Kitten]

I have actually been disappointed at times when reading the lyrics to songs, I liked the way I heard them better than the real words

I have a ton of these, just can't think of them right now

I saw something on this in a magazine once. They had the bathroom thing, but they also had the verse before it as 'don't go round with Ike, he's bound to take your wife'

 

[alia612]

The only one I can think of at the moment is from "The Empty World" by the Cure which has a line about "the armies marching in her head"--for ages I swore it was "the Amish marching in her head".

 

[BAW]

courtesy of my brother-in-law: "captain midnight" instead of After Midnight by Eric Clapton

courtesy of Mr. BAW: "let's move before they raise the f*ckin rent" instead of "let's move before they raise the parking rate" from Alright Now by Free

"dressed up like a cockroach" instead "dressed up like a car crash" from Stay

courtesy of yours truly: "honest I see you" instead of "Our Lips are Sealed" by the GoGo's


Mr. BAW keeps me in constant supply of misheard lyrics, I just wish I could remember them all

 

[Bonochick]

"Riding On The Subway" - Jesse Malin

Correct lyric:

A man sells pretzels in the heat

~~

I heard:

A man sells pencils in the heat

~~

I thought that mayhaps outdoor pencil vending was a profession I'd never heard of...

 

[Bonochick]

"Hard Luck Story" - Whiskeytown

Correct lyric:

'Cause I got a bucket full of tears

~~

I heard:

'Cause I got a bucket full of tators

 

[Bonochick]

Oh...and my favorite...

Hold me closer, Tony Danza!

 

[Cute Irish Bono]

I like what I heard myself so much better too. lol. I can't think of any great misheard lyrics of mine at the moment.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I saw something on this in a magazine once. They had the bathroom thing, but they also had the verse before it as 'don't go round with Ike, he's bound to take your wife'

...that's a good one!

Originally posted by Bono's American Wife
"let's move before they raise the f*ckin rent"

Haha, not a bad idea....

I've also heard that "Bad Moon Rising" one.

My sister fell victim to that one from Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" that a lot of other people have heard: "The ants are my friends, and they're blowin' in the wind". We joke about it with her anytime we hear that song.

And in Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", instead of "You need coolin'", my mom thought he was singing, "You need Kool-Aid". Now every time I hear that line, I get this image of a guy dressed up in a Kool-Aid pitcher costume jamming along to the song with Led Zeppelin.

A couple of my own that I've heard:

"Moonlight on the avenue" instead of "Blue light on the avenue" from "Angel Of Harlem"

and

"I'm gonna leave this world full of wire" instead of "I'm gonna leave this world for a while" from Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" (when my sister heard me say that one, she really got a kick out of it...).

There's a few I can think of.

Angela

 

[Sweet Tart]

** For those of you who are still wondering, "there's a bathroom on the right" is really "there's a bad moon on the rise" from Bad Moon Rising by Creedance Clearwater Revival. **

tha's hilarious...it kinda does sound like that.

i used to always mishear one lline in don't look back in anger by oasis. i still sing it wrong even though i know the right words now cause i was doing it for so long i can't help it.

i was on a site about misheard lyrics a while ago and the funniest one i read was that disco song "freak out"...they thougth it said "free cow". now i can't help but to sing that everytime i hear it.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Re: Re: There's a bathroom on the right

i was on a site about misheard lyrics a while ago and the funniest one i read was that disco song "freak out"...they thougth it said "free cow". now i can't help but to sing that everytime i hear it.

...free cow...ahahahahaha...that's hilarious.

I read one for that song "U Can't Touch This" in which somebody had thought he was saying, "Kentucky". And that one just made me crack up-the thought of M.C. Hammer in baggy pants coming out and saying in his deep voice, "Kentucky", and then the music starts up and he starts dancing around...that just amused me to no end.

Angela

 

[indra]

I like the "free cow" Wow, what a deal!

Years ago my mom thought the Bee Gees' song "More than a Woman" was "Bald Headed Woman."

Another Steve Kilbey lyric I got wrong I only missed by just one letter. Unfortunately, it was an important letter.... The actual line is "Congratulations, gorgeous blue tints." Who would ever thing a single "n" could change the meaning so much? I was actually pretty sure it wasn't right, but I couldn't NOT hear it. It was driving me nuts -- I mean, I just kept picturing him having this kinky Smurfette obsession.... (And of course, you really do deserve congratulations if you have gorgeous blue ones!)

But apparently I'm not the only one to mishear SK's lyrics. Here are a few others that make me laugh.

From "Why Don't You Love Me?"
Actual: Carry a Derringer under your vest
Heard: Carry a denture under your vest

From "Into My Hands"
Actual: Like happy, awful and absurd
Heard: Like Cathy, awful and absurd
(heard by someone named...yep, Cathy)

From "Myrrh"
Actual: New Christ beneath the drumkit moon
Heard: We crap beneath the drunken moon

From: "Night of Light"
Actual: Dishwater cafe on a torn paper street
Heard: Dishwater cafe on a toilet paper street
(these last two were heard by the same guy. hmm...a bit of a scatalogical obsession here perhaps?)

From: "Day of the Dead"
Actual: She asks the spirits for a romance
Heard: She asks the spirits for an egg roll man

And then there are the people who, like my mom, get the titles wrong. These are both Marty Willson-Piper songs.

Actual: Russian Autumn Heart
Heard: Russian Bottom Park

Actual: Scandinavian Stare
Heard: Standing Naked and Scared

 

[fah]

I lost a bet on a U2 song. I feel ashamed. This web site proves I am not alone.

http://www.amiright.com/misheard/artist/u2.shtml

 

[Danospano]

Destiny's Child:

from "Bootylicious"...

"I don't think you're ready for spaghetti"

 

[Basstrap]

oh, but I'm always ready for that!

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Another one I just remembered:

Duncan Sheik's "Barely Breathing":

Actual lyric-"I am barely breathing, and I can't find the air"
I heard-"I am barely breathing, and I can't find Pierre"

I was always wondering who this Pierre person was he was trying to look for. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized what he was saying.

Angela

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I saw something on this in a magazine once. They had the bathroom thing, but they also had the verse before it as 'don't go round with Ike, he's bound to take your wife'

yeah, it can be hard to understand john sometimes. there's that one ccr song, "down on the corner," i think it's called. i thought they were saying, among other things, "you don't need a pinhead just to hang around, but if you've got a nipple, won't you lay your woman down?"

i should just post what the hell i thought he was saying when i was little. needless to say, i think i misheard every single line in the song.

 

[kellyahern]

Oh...and my favorite...

Hold me closer, Tony Danza!

. . . count the head lice on the highway





My favorite though is one I read on a misheard lyrics website for Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl".

The person wrote that instead of "You my, brown eyed girl" the lyric was:
"You my, four eyed squirrel"

not because they misheard it, they just thought the song was "more interesting that way"

Now whenever my sister and I hear that song on the radio, we always sing it as "You my, four eyed squirrel!"

 

[IWasBored]

i misshear lyrics daily.

bruce springsteen--loose ends, actual lyrics:

"it's like we had a noose and baby without check/ we pulled until it grew tighter around our necks"

what i heard:
"we poured some liquid tied (sp...tyed? you know, the laundry detergent) around our necks"

 

[IWasBored]

yeah, it can be hard to understand john sometimes. there's that one ccr song, "down on the corner," i think it's called. i thought they were saying, among other things, "you don't need a pinhead just to hang around, but if you've got a nipple, won't you lay your woman down?"

i should just post what the hell i thought he was saying when i was little. needless to say, i think i misheard every single line in the song.

i never could figure out the words to that song, and it used to drive me nuts.

i think i got them now, but there's probably something i'm still hearing wrong.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I just posted this one on the Now Playing thread I didn't know this one existed!!

The first time I heard the NYC live version of 10th Avenue-Freeze Out I thought that duing the chorus instead of "10th Avenue-Freze Out!" the band was singing "Gimme power, gimme freedom!" Now I only sing that way!!!!!!

Also:

Bruce Springsteen's Atlantic City:
Lyrics: "Now our luck may have died and love may be cold but with you forever I'll stay!"

Me: "Now love may have died and faith may be cold but with you forever I'll stay!"

I like mine better! I had many others but I forgot them all.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I just remembered another one.

At the end of Bruce's Backstreets instead of "Hiding on the backstreets, hiding on the backstreets...", I thought it was "I've become a backstreet, I've become a basktreet..." I still sing like that too.

 

[IWasBored]

just as long as you don't sing that you're a backstreet boy