50 Misheard Lyrics You May well Have Been Singing Incorrect

There are a lot of aspects about rock ‘n’ roll music that are up for interpretation. Lyrics — as in the actual words a songwriter place to web page and copyrighted — are not one particular of them.

Even if a songwriter sings a thing diverse in concert, it’s the recorded version — the one particular that gets played on radio stations and turntables all about the globe — that fans commonly latch onto and find out the lyrics from.

No musician is protected from the phenomenon identified as misheard lyrics. Occasionally it really is a matter of poor enunciation, other instances it boils down to merely hearing it a distinct way and not becoming in a position to “un-hear” it soon after.

So if you have ever found, soon after years of singing the lyrics one particular way, that it really is actually something totally else, please know you happen to be not alone. The possibilities are frankly endless, but below we’ve gathered 50 examples of oft-misheard rock lyrics. Some are completely understandable blunders, other individuals are just plain hilarious.

1. ABBA, “Dancing Queen”
From: Arrival (1976)

There is practically nothing to recommend ABBA is against citrus fruits, but the lyric to “Dancing Queen” is not “really feel the beat on the tangerine” — it’s “really feel the beat from the tambourine.”

two. AC/DC, “Dirty Deeds Completed Dirt Low-priced”
From: Dirty Deeds Completed Dirt Low-priced (1976)

There is additional than one particular way to mishear the title lyric to “Dirty Deeds Completed Dirt Low-priced” — “dirty deeds and the thunder chief” (or “jeep“), “dirty deeds and they are completed with sheep” amongst them.

three. The Beach Boys, “Assist Me, Rhonda”
From: The Beach Boys Currently! (1965)

What do the Beach Boys have to do with owls? Fundamentally practically nothing unless you count the from time to time misheard lyric from “Assist Me, Rhonda:” “Properly, because you place me down there is been owls pukin’ in my bed.” It is in fact “Properly, because she place me down I’ve been out doin’ in my head.“

four. The Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
From: 1963 Single

There is an totally separate list that could be created of ’60s songs that had been incorrectly assumed to be drug references, but we’ll save that for a different time. Right here is just one particular instance: the bit exactly where the Beatles sing “I can not hide” in “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was typically confused for “I get higher.” (So typically, in reality, that even Bob Dylan, renowned for his own muddled enunciation, reportedly believed the lyric was “I get higher.”)

five. The Bee Gees, “Additional Than a Lady”
From: Saturday Evening Fever (1978)

The point about the Bee Gees is that it really is genuinely quick to get swept away in their irresistible falsetto harmonies, leaving much less interest for the lyrics. Take, for instance, “Additional Than a Lady,” in which some listeners have mistakenly believed the title lyric was “bald-headed lady.”

six. Black Sabbath, “Paranoid”
From: Paranoid (1970)

What is it with metal songs becoming misinterpreted as pro-suicide anthems? Some have heard the lyric “I inform you to take pleasure in life” in Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” as “I inform you to finish your life.” (This would not be the final time Ozzy Osbourne was accused of releasing a self-harm associated song. In the ’80s, he faced a lawsuit which claimed a teenager had taken his personal life soon after becoming inspired by the song “Suicide Resolution.”)

If you or a person you know is in distress, enable is obtainable 24/7 through the Suicide &amp Crisis Lifeline.

7. Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind”
From: The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)

It is sort of a longstanding joke in rock ‘n’ roll that Bob Dylan’s singing is difficult to fully grasp, especially in reside settings. It is feasible that this can be traced all the way back to one of his most iconic songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Dylan sang that the “the answer, my pal, is blowin’ in the wind,” although some persons heard “these ants are my pal, blowin’ in the wind.”

eight. Bob Marley, “Stir It Up”
From: Babylon by Bus (1978)

Some persons shed a lot of their accent when they sing, but not Bob Marley. His Jamaican cadence came via strongly in his music, and there may well not be a greater instance of this than with 1978’s “Stir It Up.” Some listeners heard “stir it up, tiny darling, stir it up” as “cereal, tiny darling, cereal.”

9. Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer”
From: Slippery When Wet (1986)

You know, thinking of “Livin’ on a Prayer” appeared on an album titled Slippery When Wet (which was inspired by an unclothed stripper in a shower), it really is not unreasonable that some fans mistook the line “it does not make a distinction if we make it or not” for “it does not make a distinction if we’re naked or not.”

ten. Bryan Adams, “Summer season of ’69”
From: Reckless (1984)

According to Bryan Adams himself, the title “Summer season of ’69” is in itself an innuendo to the sex position. So it tends to make some sense then, with that in thoughts, that listeners have mistaken the line “I got my initial genuine six-string” for “I got my initial genuine sex dream.”

11. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Poor Moon Increasing”
From: Green River (1969)

John Fogerty has gotten so utilized to hearing persons error a particular line in “Poor Moon Increasing” — “there is a negative moon on the rise” sounds like “there is a bathroom on the correct” — that he will from time to time sing it that way. “Not only does it not bug me, I sing that myself these days,” he said to a New York radio station in 2021. “Have enjoyable with it! People today had been mishearing the words, as we all do, specially in rock and roll with singers who get excited and sort of rush their words.”

12. The Clash, “Rock the Casbah”
From: Combat Rock (1982)

To be fair, the word “casbah” is not utilized typically in rock songs, so you may well be forgiven if you happen to be a person who misheard the Clash for saying “money bar” in this 1982 song. (Complete disclosure: the writer of this piece was one particular of these persons for quite a few years till she discovered otherwise.)

13. David Bowie, “Sound and Vision”
From: Low (1977)

This one particular is a tiny out there, but after you hear it the incorrect way it really is difficult to get it out of one’s brain. Some eccentric listeners have heard the title lyric to “Sound and Vision” as “salmon fishing.”

14. Deep Purple, “Highway Star”
From: Machine Head (1972)

When one particular thinks of road meals, coleslaw is not necessarily on the list. But some persons have heard the lyric “she stays close on every single bend” in Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” as “she eats coleslaw every single day.”

15. Dire Straits, “Dollars for Practically nothing”
From: Brothers in Arms (1985)

Possibly never listen to Dire Straits’ “Dollars for Practically nothing” when you happen to be hungry — you may well finish up hearing it as “income for practically nothing and your chips for cost-free” rather of “chicks for cost-free.”

16. Eagles, “Hotel California”
From: Hotel California (1976)

Here’s a different snack-associated misunderstanding: the appropriate lyric in Eagles’ “Hotel California” is “on a dark desert highway / cool wind in my hair” not “cool whip in my hair.“

17. Electric Light Orchestra, “Do not Bring Me Down”
From: Discovery (1979)

Quite a few, quite a few persons have listened to ELO’s “Do not Bring Me Down” and wondered who this Bruce character is. The truth is: it really is no one particular, it really is not even a genuine word. “When I was singing it, there was [a] gap in the vocals, so I just shouted out ‘groose,'” Jeff Lynne told Rolling Stone in 2016. “It was a word that came to my head.”

18. Elton John, “Tiny Dancer”
From: Madman Across the Water (1971)

This lyrical mixup probably has a thing to do with an episode of Good friends in which Phoebe Buffay incorrectly sings Elton’s John’s “Tiny Dancer” with the lyrics “hold me close young Tony Danza.” Years later, when HBO hosted a Good friends reunion, John played along with the joke and sang Phoebe’s version of the song for social media.

19. Elvis Presley, “Suspicious Minds”
From: 1969 Single

We’re not genuinely certain what it suggests to be “caught in a trout,” but this is what some persons have heard in Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds” rather of the appropriate “caught in a trap.”

20. Europe, “The Final Countdown”
From: The Final Countdown (1986)

The lyrics to Europe’s “The Final Countdown” took inspiration from David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” which would clarify the line “we’re headin’ for Venus.” That tends to make these who have mistaken the line for “we’re functioning for peanuts,” incorrect.

21. Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Created of This)”
From: Sweet Dreams (Are Created of This) (1983)

In fairness, the way Annie Lennox pronounces the title of this song comes across much less like “this” and additional like “these,” which would clarify why some listeners have heard it as “sweet dreams are created of cheese.” (This joke has been extended into pro-cheese T-shirt type.)

22. Fleetwood Mac, “Say You Enjoy Me”
From: Fleetwood Mac (1975)

Christine McVie is not “begging you for a tiny sip of tea” in 1975’s “Say You Enjoy Me.” She’s in fact “begging you for a tiny sympathy.”

23. Foo Fighters, “Pretender”
From: Echoes, Silence, Patience &amp Grace (2007)

“1 of These Points (Is Not Like the Other)” is the title of a song that appeared in the extremely initial episode of Sesame Street in 1969 and has been a staple segment ever because. It also takes place to be the line persons error for “what if I say I am not like the other individuals” in Foo Fighters’ “Pretender.”

24. Guns N’ Roses, “Paradise City”
From: Appetite for Destruction (1987)

There are many other methods to hear the opening line — “take me down to paradise city” — to this 1987 GNR track. Amongst them: “extremely good city” (how boring) and “prairie dog city” (sounds adorable).

25. Jefferson Starship, “We Constructed This City”
From: Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985)

There is a lot of persons who never care for Jefferson Starship’s “We Constructed This City,” one particular of the most prominent hits of the ’80s. Maybe part of it is due to the fact they mistakenly had been hearing the line “we constructed this city on rock ‘n’ roll” as “we constructed this city on sausage rolls.”

26. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Purple Haze”
From: 1967 Single

The appropriate lyric in Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” is “‘scuse me whilst I kiss the sky,” but due to the fact Hendrix’s singing style was such that his words pretty much melted into one particular a different, it came out sounding additional like “‘scuse me whilst I kiss this guy” to quite a few persons.

27. Johnny Nash, “I Can See Clearly Now”
From: I Can See Clearly Now (1972)

In his 1972 hit, Johnny Nash sings “I can see clearly now, the rain has gone.” But some have heard it as a thing a tiny additional individual: “I can see clearly now, Lorraine has gone.”

28. Journey, “Open Arms”
From: Escape (1981)

There is a fairly massive distinction amongst welcoming a person with “open arms” and “broken arms” — Journey is certainly describing the former choice in this Escape hit.

29. Kiss, “Rock and Roll All Nite”
From: Dressed to Kill (1975)

In this 1975 track, some persons hear Kiss singing “I wanna rock ‘n’ roll all evening and element of every single day.” But what enjoyable would only rocking out for a portion of the day be? The genuine lyric is “I wanna rock ‘n’ roll all evening and celebration every single day.”

30. Led Zeppelin, “Complete Lotta Enjoy”
From: Led Zeppelin II (1969)

More than the course of their profession, Led Zeppelin did incorporate a handful of vehicular references in their songs, but to set the record straight for these who have misheard the starting lines to “Complete Lotta Enjoy”: Robert Plant is singing “you need to have cooling,” not “you need to have coolant.”

31. Madonna, “Like a Virgin” 
From: Like a Virgin (1984)

When you assume about it, it would not make sense for Madonna to be singing “like a virgin, touched for the 31st time,” as some persons have misheard — that negates the definition of virgin. The appropriate lyric, of course, is “like a virgin, touched for the extremely initial time.”

32. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, “Blinded by the Light”
From: The Roaring Silence (1976)

1st, it should be stated for the record that the party eventually accountable for the lyrics to “Blinded by the Light” is not Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, but Bruce Springsteen. But it really is Mann’s 1976 version that triggered confusion. They edited the lyrics slightly, altering “reduce loose like a deuce” to “revved up like a deuce,” but the way singer Chris Thompson delivered the line created it sound like “wrapped up like a douche.” “It wasn’t written like that, and I screwed it up entirely,” he told Record Collector in 2006. “It sounded like ‘douche’ rather of ‘deuce,’ and due to the fact of the technical method – a faulty azimuth due to tape-head angles – it meant we could not remix it.” Oh effectively, it was a hit anyway.

33. Metallica, “Enter Sandman”
From: Metallica (1991)

Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” is supposed to be chilling — that is why the lyrics are “enter evening, exit light.” But some persons have heard it as “enter evening, eggs and light,” which is decidedly much less eerie than the genuine lines.

34. The Monkees, “I am a Believer”
From: Additional of the Monkees (1967)

The Monkees meant effectively when they recorded the Neil Diamond-penned “I am a Believer” — the lyric is supposed to go “Then I saw her face, now I am a believer.” But some, additional pessimistic persons rather heard “Then I saw her face, now I am gonna leave her.”

35. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
From: Nevermind (1991)

Kurt Cobain wasn’t precisely the clearest singer in the globe. With “Smells Like Teen Sprit,” the chorus has yielded some intriguing lyric interpretations. The original and appropriate is as follows: “With the lights out, it really is much less risky / Right here we are now, entertain us.” But some heard “With the lights out, it really is Las Vegas / Hear me all now, entertainers,” or possibly even stranger, “Right here we are now, in containers.”

36. Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, “You happen to be the 1 That I Want”
From: Grease (1978)

John Travolta’s enunciation in “You happen to be the 1 That I Want” is in fact really superb, but if you happen to be notalready familiar with the song, you may well finish up like other listeners who could have sworn the initial line in the song went “I’ve got footwear, they are created of plywood,” and not the appropriate “I’ve got chills, they are multiplying.”

37. Pearl Jam, “Jeremy”
From: Ten (1991)

Eddie Vedder’s voice is quickly recognizable amongst ’90s rock fans, but that does not imply it was constantly completely understandable. Case in point: “Jeremy” from 1991’s Ten. In the chorus, Vedder sings “Jeremy spoke in class these days,” not “Jeremy’s smokin’ grass these days.”

38. Pixies, “Monkey Gone to Heaven”
From: Doolittle (1989)

The major lyric to Pixies’ “Monkey Gone to Heaven” is, of course, “This monkey’s gone to heaven.” But if you happen to be not paying that a lot interest or you missed the song title, it can be heard as “This donkey’s gone to Devon.” (Devon is an location of southwestern England, identified for its beaches, cliffs and harbor towns.)

39. The Police, “When the Planet Is Operating Down, You Make the Most effective of What is Nevertheless About”
From: Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)

According to polls, this Police song consists of one particular of the most routinely misheard pop lyrics. As the title suggests, the lyric is supposed to be “you make the finest of what is nevertheless about,” but quite a few persons have mistook it for “you make the finest homemade stew about.” Nevertheless a fairly uplifting message, although.

40. Queen, “We Will Rock You”
From: News of the Planet (1977)

Everyone who believed Queen’s “We Will Rock You” integrated a lyric that goes “kicking your cat all more than the location” clearly is unaware that Freddie Mercury would in no way do such a point to a feline — he reportedly had ten of them as pets: Tom, Jerry, Tiffany, Dorothy, Delilah, Goliath, Lily, Miko, Oscar, and Romeo. The line is “kicking your can all more than the location.”

41. R.E.M., “Losing My Religion”
From: Out of Time (1991)

“That is me in the corner / That is me in the spotlight, losing my religion,” Michael Stipe declared on 1991’s “Losing My Religion.” But some listeners heard a thing a lot additional uncommon: “Let’s pee in the corner / Let’s pee in the spotlight, losing my religion.” No, thank you.

42. Robert Palmer, “Addicted to Enjoy”
From: Riptide (1985)

However another mind-in-the-gutter mishearing. “You know you happen to be gonna have to face it, you happen to be addicted to appreciate,” Palmer sings, but that second element has from time to time been mistaken for “you happen to be a dick with a glove,” what ever that suggests.

43. The Rolling Stones, “Beast of Burden”
From: Some Girls (1978)

The Rolling Stones did have a lyric about pizza in their 1969 song “Monkey Man,” so possibly that is why some listeners heard the lyric “I will in no way be your beast of burden” in 1978’s “Beast of Burden” and mistook it for “I will in no way leave your pizza burning.”

44. Rush, “Tom Sawyer”
From: Moving Images (1981)

The appropriate lyric in Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” is “a modern day-day warrior,” but some have mistaken it for “Monday warrior.” So possibly give this song a spin subsequent time you happen to be back at the office fighting these corporate demons soon after a weekend off.

45. Steve Miller Band, “Jet Airliner”
From: Book of Dreams (1977)

The way Steve Miller delivers the line “massive old jet airliner” is so smooth that some persons have confused it for other items, like “massive old Jed had a light on,” although we’re not certain who that is.

46. Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen”
From: Bella Donna (1981)

When Stevie Nicks wrote “Edge of Seventeen,” she had in no way even heard the get in touch with of a dove, but she’d taken inspiration from a menu that described the “white-winged dove” that “sings a song sounds like she’s singing ooh.” But when she sang that in lyric type, it sounded to a lot of persons like “one particular-winged dove.”

47. Stone Temple Pilots, “Creep”
From: Core (1992)

Possibly it really is due to the fact of the way Scott Weiland sang it, or possibly it really is due to the fact the preceding line has the letter “R” in it a handful of instances — “assume I will begin a fire — but some listeners have mistook “Bobby’s got a gun” for “Barbie’s got a gun” in Stone Temple Pilots’ “Creep.”

48. Toto, “Africa”
From: Toto IV (1982)

Toto’s “Africa” continues to permeate pop music culture these days, some 40 years on from its release. Let’s take a appear at the chorus for a moment, which attributes the following lyric: “There is practically nothing that a hundred guys or additional could ever do.” But some listeners have heard this as “There is practically nothing that a hundred guys from Mars could ever do.” Which begs the query: if they had been guys from Mars rather of common Earth guys, would that make a distinction to Toto?

49. U2, “Mysterious Methods”
From: Achtung Infant (1991)

This one particular demands some background explanation, bear with us. There after was an orca whale named Shamu, who was captured in 1965 and sold to SeaWorld San Diego exactly where she became a significant star attraction. Chaos unfolded, on the other hand, in 1971 when she attacked a Sea Planet employee. Shamu ended up dying a handful of months soon after the incident. Most of that has completely practically nothing to do with U2’s song “Mysterious Methods,” except for the reality that some listeners have mistaken the line “she moves in mysterious methods” for “Shamu the mysterious whale.”

50. Van Halen, “Panama”
From: 1984 (1984)

Provided David Lee Roth’s stage presence, you’d be forgiven if you have ever mistakenly sung the title to this Van Halen song as “Animal” rather of “Panama.” Close adequate.