Mondegreens

[LE Greys]

Does anybody else get them? I have no idea how many times I've listened to somebody singing something and heard absolute nonsense, everything from Madonna's bizarrely contraversial hit "Like a Budgie" :? to the strange Michael Jackson one that goes "Killer, killanize". Apparently these are called Mondegreens (type the word into any search engine for a cheap laugh). So, does anyone else get them?

With referance to this post for a few examples. Feel free to post any other good ones.

 

[Zoe]

When I first heard "Wonderwall" by Oasis I thought he was singing "You're gonna be the one at Sainsbury's."

 

[Zamracene749]

"Sue Lawley, Sue Lawley, Sue Lawley"

Sting/ the Police classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaNt9-QkiHI

For those under 30, Sue Lawley was a smart BBC newsreader around the time this song was released....

 

[EM2]

It's not quite a mondegreen, but I always think The Verve song will go 'The drugs don't work, they just make you burp', even though I KNOW what the lyric is!

 

[Minilad]

Is it Chestnuts roasting on an open fire or Jeffs nuts !!

 

[sprinterguy]

A friend of mine could never make sense of one of the songs in "The Wizard of Oz": "Somewhere over the rainbow, weigh a pie..."

And while I'm on the subject of pie related misheard song lyrics, there's also a Fear Factory song that features the line "Can't tear me apart", but every time I hear it I swear they're saying "Just give me a pie!" and it seems that I'm not alone on that one.

 

[deltic1989]

and that old chesnut from "another brick in the wall" ......."HEY Ginger .........leave them kids alone" .

 

[Schnellzug]

Does anybody else get them? I have no idea how many times I've listened to somebody singing something and heard absolute nonsense, everything from Madonna's bizarrely contraversial hit "Like a Budgie" :? to the strange Michael Jackson one that goes "Killer, killanize". Apparently these are called Mondegreens (type the word into any search engine for a cheap laugh). So, does anyone else get them?

With referance to this post for a few examples. Feel free to post any other good ones.

Jacko's songs stopped making any kind of sense in about 1982, didn't they?

 

[90019]

The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite - it sounds like he's singing 'coming in to rape her'.

 

[EM2]

The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite - it sounds like he's singing 'coming in to rape her'.

I always thought it was 'calling Cheryl Baker'

 

[red circle]

From years ago,Sylvia's mothers dead.

 

[Eagle]

One that always gets me is in the song "Vlad the Impaler" by Kasabian:

You can't miss me, I'm still alive

becomes

You can't mince me, I'm still alive

Also an acquaintance of mine recently told me he'd genuinely believed that Damien Rice had written a song about "floating like a camel", until he heard this year's X Factor winners' cover of it.

 

[Tracked]

It's not quite a mondegreen, but I always think The Verve song will go 'The drugs don't work, they just make you burp', even though I KNOW what the lyric is!

when I first heard it I was driving down to Cornwall & it kept getting played on the radio, even the DJ's were saying it was "The Trucks Don't Work" and as a song moaning about the absence of a long-distance lorry driver it made perfect sense in my mind

 

[Cruithne3753]

I only recently found out that Feargal Sharkey (with the Undertones) was singing

"My perfect cousin, what I like to do he doesn't"
and not
"My perfect cousin, I like to do his dozen"

Also

"Now he's making lots of noise, playing along with the art school boys"
and not
"Now he's making lots of noise, playing along with the orchestral boys" (rather mangled pronounciation of "orchestral", referencing OMD)

 

[Michael.Y]

Abba's Chiquitita

"You'll be dancing once again, and the pain will end"
became
"You'll be dancing once again, like a penguin..."

There's also the classic "Alf Garnett" line in "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child.

I misinterpreted "red gold and green" in Karma Chamaeleon's chorus as "them golden dreams".

Also I thought the chorus for Eiffel 65's Blue went "I'm Blue.. I believe I can fly...I believe I can fly....I believe I can fly." Sadly it's "I'm Blue...Ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah by dye..."

 

[AlterEgo]

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded by the Light

'Revved up like a deuce' sounds like 'wrapped up like a douche'...listen to it.

 

[Minilad]

Abba's Chiquitita

"You'll be dancing once again, and the pain will end"
became
"You'll be dancing once again, like a penguin..."

There's also the classic "Alf Garnett" line in "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child.

I misinterpreted "red gold and green" in Karma Chamaeleon's chorus as "them golden dreams".

Also I thought the chorus for Eiffel 65's Blue went "I'm Blue.. I believe I can fly...I believe I can fly....I believe I can fly." Sadly it's "I'm Blue...Ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah by dye..."

You have missed the obvious one with the Abba song.
Replace Chiquitita with Chicken Tikka

 

[Schnellzug]

Also I thought the chorus for Eiffel 65's Blue went "I'm Blue.. I believe I can fly...I believe I can fly....I believe I can fly." Sadly it's "I'm Blue...Ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah ba dye ah ba dee ah by dye..."

No it's not, it's "i'm blue in Aberdeen and Dubai".

 

[LE Greys]

I misinterpreted "red gold and green" in Karma Chamaeleon's chorus as "them golden dreams".

I heard that as:
Cumma, cumma, cumma, cumma kaleeg inlaa,
Kalleg in gree, kaleeg a choo, :?

Something I remember singing at school (that made slightly more sense) was:

Dancer, r-rather you than me,
I am the lord of the dance settee,

 

[90019]

I heard that as:
Cumma, cumma, cumma, cumma kaleeg inlaa,
Kalleg in gree, kaleeg a choo, :?

 

[Schnellzug]

I thought it was "become a come a come a come a come a come a come a comedian".

 

[Michael.Y]

I have absolutely no idea what the first line of the second verse of Dancing Queen is.

You're a cheese and journey morn?

 

[EM2]

I have absolutely no idea what the first line of the second verse of Dancing Queen is.

You're a cheese and journey morn?

You're a teaser, turn 'em on

 

[deltic1989]

lol .
found a whole website dedicated to these here.

http://www.kissthisguy.com/

 

[Tracked]

probably the wrong place for my habit of replacing the words "rock & roll" in any song with "Sausage Rolls" :?

 

[Michael.Y]

probably the wrong place for my habit of replacing the words "rock & roll" in any song with "Sausage Rolls" :?

We Built This City on Sausage Rolls -- a song about Newcastle (home of Greggs)

God Gave Sausage Rolls To You

Sausage Rolls Aren't Noise Pollution

Sausage Roll Suicide -- erk!

I Love Sausage Rolls

Another Sausage Roll Christmas -- which I intend to have.

 

[GM078]

I used to think Prince's Raspberry Beret was "Raspberry Parade"! (I was thinking it meant "parade" in terms of a street/road rather than a procession of marching berries). Of course the lyrics that followed it made no sense to me as a result.

 

[Tracked]

God Gave Sausage Rolls To You

My song