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Misunderstood Song Lyrics - that make sense... 9

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jancebk

jancebk

MIS
Jan 13, 2003
73
US
One of the threads in this forum made me think of song lyrics that people sing incorrectly, but yet sort of make sense...

For example - for years I thought that the line in The Eagles song "Take it Easy" that goes "Looking for a lover that won't blow my cover" was actually "Looking for a lover that won't blow my brother".

Any contributions?
 
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The Momma and Pappas, "California Dreamin'"

what it SOUNDS like...

"Walked into a church, and began to pray."

what is REALLY is...

"Walked into a church, and pretend to pray."



Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] Researchers have found another Descartes trueism, "Cogito ergo spud."
"I think; therefore, I YAM! [tongue][/sub]
 
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I love these.

I had a friend in college who thought the words to Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion were “wheels in motion”. He apparently didn’t know the name of the song.

A guy in high school couldn’t be swayed from his belief that Jimi Hendrix was singing, “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” instead of “Excuse me while I kiss the sky”.

When I first heard Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know, I wondered why she was so upset about “The cross-eyed bear that you gave to me.” I thought someone had given her a differently-abled teddy bear. It didn’t take too much thinking for me to realize that she actually said, “The cross I bear that you gave to me”.

[tt]-John[/tt]
________________________
To get the best answers fast, please read faq181-2886
 
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These are called Mondegreens!

Just a reminder... this thread probably should have been in the Making An Impression forum. But oh well for now.

In the 80s song "Pump Up The Volume," I thought they were singing,

Pump up the vol(?)!
Yo! Pump up the vol!
Yo! Pump up the vol!

I couldn't figure out what that "vol" word was, though.

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)
 
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Sorry ESquared - I thought this topic fit in WordPlay - but as it is your forum, I guess you can make the rules!

;-)

So - are you going to make us guess what the real lyrics were to "Pump Up the Volume"? (or is it just "Pump up the volume" on each line?)

Do you know why these are called Mondegreens?

Thanks!
Jan
 
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Jan,

Your contributions are gratefully received! It's just that the Making An Impression forum was here first, and it's for general language discussion. I carefully avoided competing with it by restricting this forum to wordplay... a game to invent new Mondegreens would (and did) fit here, but reciting known ones would be more in line with the other forum. [smile]

Yes, I do know why they are called Mondegreens, but I was at work and too lazy/busy to post a link as Zathras has so helpfully done! See his post for why!

-------------------------------------
It is better to have honor than a good reputation.
(Reputation is what other people think about you. Honor is what you know about yourself.)
 
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My favorite one came from my nephew. He went to a church school when he was little, where they sung a hymn with the chorus "I will make you fishers of men!".

Jonathan thought it was "I will make you vicious old men!".

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd
 
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I have this problem all of the time! My husband loves to correct me on these! One that sticks out in my head right now is I thought it was until this past summer (sorry I can't remember the song name or artist!!):
"Here I am, raunchy like a hurricane!"
It is really:
"Here I am, rock you like a hurricane!"

Sad part is, I remember when the song came out and have been singing it wrong for years!!


[ponytails]
 
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jennuhw,

R U? ;-)

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] Researchers have found another Descartes trueism, "Cogito ergo spud."
"I think; therefore, I YAM! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Sorry to come bursting in here, just wanted to add this one. The AC/DC song "It's a long way to the top, if you want to rock'n'roll" - I once read of someone thinking it was "It's a long way to the shop, if you want a sausage roll"...
 
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...I never sausage an outrage! ;-)

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses] [red]Be advised:[/red] Researchers have found another Descartes trueism, "Cogito ergo spud."
"I think; therefore, I YAM! [tongue][/sub]
 
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Brilliant!

"I think, therefore I am confused
 
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A guy in high school couldn’t be swayed from his belief that Jimi Hendrix was singing, “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” instead of “Excuse me while I kiss the sky”.
Click to expand...
I always thought both were correct depending on your frame of mind at the time back in the 60's, if you know what I mean.

[pipe][afro]

Glen A. Johnson
If you're from Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin/Central Florida feel free to join the Tek-Tips in Chicago, Illinois Forum.
TTinChicago
Johnson Computers
[xmastree]
 
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Queen - 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

i sang:
"sparing his life for his pork sausages"
it actually is:
"Spare him his life from this monstrosity"

 
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If we extend it to Christian hymns, there's Gladly my cross-eyed bear. And A green hill far away, without a city wall is not an error, just an old-fashioned use of 'without' for 'outside'.

------------------------------
A view [tiger] from the UK
 
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I teach 4- and 5-year-olds in Sunday School. Last Christmas, the assignment I gave the children was to draw a picture of something that they learned in Sunday School that day. One child drew a picture of the Nativity scene that included a stable, a stick-figure Mary, a stick-figure baby in a manger, a stick-figure Joseph, stick lambs and cows, and a big, bulbous creature that looked like the Michelin Man. I didn't recognize this last character, so I asked the child to tell me about their picture.

True to their interpretation of the carol "Silent Night", they explained that the bulbous creature was "Round John Virgin."

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
@ 17:12 (29Nov04) UTC (aka "GMT" and "Zulu"),
@ 10:12 (29Nov04) Mountain Time
 
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This experience discloses my age, but in high school, we thought Credence Clearwater was singing "There's a Bathroom on the Right" instead of "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise".

When Archie and Edith sang their opening "hymn" on "All in the Family", the closest we could figure they were singing was a nonsensical, "G R Ola Sow was Gray" instead of the actual lyrics, "Gee, our old La Salle was great".

We always had a strange mental image of Dionne Warwick's mis-heard lyrics, "Strummin' my face with his song" until we found out it was "Strummin' my fate with his song".

Worst of all, perhaps, was our over-sexed teenage brains hearing Credence sing their Proud Mary lyrics as "Humped a lotta babes down in New Orleans" instead of "Pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans".

I guess we never should have listened to Credence, huh.

[santa]Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
@ 17:38 (29Nov04) UTC (aka "GMT" and "Zulu"),
@ 10:38 (29Nov04) Mountain Time
 
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