Misunderstood/confused lyrics

brady

Platinum Member
Inspired by the 'Song lyrics and cloaked references' thread, and Fuzrock's idea what are some of your misunderstood lyrics?

When I was younger, I thought the Roling Stones were singing ''I was raised by two lesbians...'' in Jumping Jack Flash' instead of ''I was raised by a toothless bearded hag.'

Another classic lyric mix-up in "I left my brains down in Africa". Toto.

I remember a commerical a few years ago where a guy was singing the wrong lyrics to 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' as 'Pour Some Shook-up Ramen'.
 
New Fang by Them Crooked Vultures:
"Sometimes you break the finger on the upper hand," is often mistaken for, "...on the other hand." I've also seen it misheard in a rather racist way. :p
 
Bad Brains - Rock for Light

I always thought he was saying "Brocc-O-Li" until I got a car that displayed song titles on the stereo. And i hate broccoli.
 
I used to think The Who's Who are you? was saying blue olive.
 
The Beatles "I am the Walrus" near the end where they really are saying "Everybody's Got One" but darned if it doesn't sound like "Everybody Smoke Pot".
I saw a interview w/ Lennon and he clarified what the real line was.
 
I always heard the chorus in Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit as bunch of nonsense mumbo-jumbo, but after Google-ing the lyrics, I now hear it as comprehensible nonsense. What is that song about anyway?
 
Antiperspirant.

QFT.

Apparently, one of Kurt's friends told him he "smelled like Teen Spirit". Teen Spirit was a popular female deoderant at the time.


Back to lyrics, a common misheard lyric is CCR's. Up Around The Bend.

'Come on the risin' wind, we're goin' up around the bend' is often misheard as 'Come on arsie and win......'
 
What is it about CCR and jacked up interpretations of lyrics?

Ever listened to 'Down On The Corner' and heard "You don't need a pinhead just to hang around"?
 
What is it about CCR and jacked up interpretations of lyrics?

Ever listened to 'Down On The Corner' and heard "You don't need a pinhead just to hang around"?

Yes, yes, yes....oh LMAO!!

Forgot that one Brady, but yes, that's exactly what I thought it was when I was younger.
 
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - LSD, by The Beatles.
 
The classic "scuse me while i kiss this guy" - Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze

"There's a bathroom on the right" CCR, Badmoon

"A girl with colitis goes by" The Beatles, Lucy in the sky with diamonds.

"Big ol' jet had a light on" Steve Miller Band, Jet Airliner

And my wife's classic misunderstanding: "shake it like a kindergarten teacher" Instead of "shake it like a polaroid picture" by Outkast.
 
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - LSD, by The Beatles.

I thought that one had been disspelled?

Long thought to be a coded reference to the drug, but wasn't it revealed that it actually came about when John was looking at a picture his son Julian had drawn. John asked who the girl in the drawing was and Julian replied, "that's Lucy (a school friend) in the sky with diamonds"?

Happy to be wrong here, but I'm sure I've heard this explaination in several different sources.
 
"There's a bathroom on the right" CCR, Badmoon

That's exactly what i was going to say! I've seen a video of John Fogerty actually singing those lyrics as a joke in concert...

Vampire Weekend- Campus, right at the beginning of the chorus "I saw you, you're walking 'cross the campus, cruel professor studying romances"-- until my band covered it I had always heard "bulletproof vests are studying romances" without a doubt in my mind
 
Elton John has gotto be the chamion of mangling a syllable. For 35 years or more I never knew until now that in "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" the lyric goes "Back to the howlin' old owl in the woods, after the horny black toad"...
 
Pretty much the entire song Yellow Leadbetter by Pearl Jam. I have no idea what's going on in that song.

My wife and i were listening to Running with The Devil by Van Halen one day. She was singing along and all of the sudden she says "Running with an apple". I laughed so hard i almost broke my ribs.
 
Blinded by the light...everyone always argues about the second line.
 
Blinded by the light...everyone always argues about the second line.

Love that track......in fact, it won me a $500 bet many years ago. I knew for certain it was a Springsteen penned track and the soon-to-be 'poor man' that I lifted the cash off, just wouldn't accept it wasn't Manfred Mann.

For the record "Revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night".....nothing to do with personal hygene via invasive cleansing methods!!
 
Pick pretty much any song by REM, but Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight wins the lot. I always thought the refrain said "Don't even try to wake her up".
 
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