Songs we get wrong

[panamania79 2]

Excuse Me While I Kiss That Guy"

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:17am PST by Shawn Amos in GetBack

We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don't know what we're singing. We're making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice. We presume that our secret is safely buried under the pumping bass coming through the speakers. Or else we're certain that NO ONE really knows the lyrics, so it's cool that we're winging it.

Wrong. Everyone knows. They may not know the exact words, but they know it's definitely not what you're singing. In fact, there's a word for this phenomenon. It's called "mondegreen," and it means "the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase, such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song." (There's a great website called kissthisguy.com that's named after the frequently misheard Hendrix song listed below and is dedicated to the cataloging of mondegreens.)

So now that you've been outed, here are a few favorite misunderstood lyrics. Who was it that said, "No one pays attention to the lyrics?" Well, here's the proof.

I picked more messed up lyrics in the GetBack Mondegreen Gallery. Check them out then tell me yours. We're all in this karaoke bar together.

TOM PETTY: "American Girl"

What people sing: "That Wonderbra that she was gonna keep"

The actual lyric: "She had one little promise she was gonna keep"

This is the second single from Petty's 1977 debut album. Frankly, Tom mumbles so much when he sings that one could be forgiven for misunderstanding him.

QUEEN: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

What people sing: "Scare a moose, scare a moose, will you do my fan Van Gogh?"

The actual lyric: "Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"

Immortalized by everyone from Wayne & Garth to Mig (from "Rock Star: INXS"), Queen's 1975 six-minute single is a lesson in rock grandiosity and made-up lyrics. When the band is coming up with words like "Scaramouche," who can blame someone for writing their own lyrics?

JIMI HENDRIX: "Purple Haze"

What people sing: "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"

The actual lyric: "Excuse me while I kiss the sky"

The granddaddy of famous misunderstood songs, this one has been a joke for over 40 years since its 1967 release. Hendrix said the lyrics were inspired by a dream in which he was walking under the sea. Between the crazy dreams and the crazy stuff running through his veins, Jimi himself probably wasn't sure what he was singing.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: "Blinded by the Light"

What people sing: "Wrapped up like a douche, another loner in the night"

The actual lyric: "Cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night"

Springsteen's tune from his debut album is full of inside Jersey references and non sequitur silliness. A listener can misinterpret lyrics for days. It's the '76 Manfred Mann's Earth Band cover that's responsible for the signature mondegreen on this one.

BECK: "Loser"

What people sing: "Someone get the door"

The actual lyric: "Soy un perdedor"

Beck only has himself to blame for going bilingual here. No one was ready for that one in 1994. He started a Spanglish craze.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: "Plush"

What people sing: "Where you going with the master plan?"

The actual lyric: "Where ya going with that mask I found?"

Frankly, I like the made-up version better. Stone Temple Pilots could use a little help anyway in the lyric-writing department. There's some questionable stuff going in their songs, aside from the stolen Zep sounds.

Click here for Pearl Jam, the Clash and other confusing lyrics.

[Jasman0717 9]

I never sang any of them like that Of course I don't sing or would be arrested

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

life in the fastlane - eagles

my mom thought they were singing "flies in the vaseline"

[Mrs. Diaz 1]

Excuse Me While I Kiss That Guy"

Posted Fri Feb 13, 2009 11:17am PST by Shawn Amos in GetBack

We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don't know what we're singing. We're making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice. We presume that our secret is safely buried under the pumping bass coming through the speakers. Or else we're certain that NO ONE really knows the lyrics, so it's cool that we're winging it.

Wrong. Everyone knows. They may not know the exact words, but they know it's definitely not what you're singing. In fact, there's a word for this phenomenon. It's called "mondegreen," and it means "the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase, such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song." (There's a great website called kissthisguy.com that's named after the frequently misheard Hendrix song listed below and is dedicated to the cataloging of mondegreens.)

So now that you've been outed, here are a few favorite misunderstood lyrics. Who was it that said, "No one pays attention to the lyrics?" Well, here's the proof.

I picked more messed up lyrics in the GetBack Mondegreen Gallery. Check them out then tell me yours. We're all in this karaoke bar together.

TOM PETTY: "American Girl"

What people sing: "That Wonderbra that she was gonna keep"

The actual lyric: "She had one little promise she was gonna keep"

This is the second single from Petty's 1977 debut album. Frankly, Tom mumbles so much when he sings that one could be forgiven for misunderstanding him.

QUEEN: "Bohemian Rhapsody"

What people sing: "Scare a moose, scare a moose, will you do my fan Van Gogh?"

The actual lyric: "Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?"

Immortalized by everyone from Wayne & Garth to Mig (from "Rock Star: INXS"), Queen's 1975 six-minute single is a lesson in rock grandiosity and made-up lyrics. When the band is coming up with words like "Scaramouche," who can blame someone for writing their own lyrics?

JIMI HENDRIX: "Purple Haze"

What people sing: "Excuse me while I kiss this guy"

The actual lyric: "Excuse me while I kiss the sky"

The granddaddy of famous misunderstood songs, this one has been a joke for over 40 years since its 1967 release. Hendrix said the lyrics were inspired by a dream in which he was walking under the sea. Between the crazy dreams and the crazy stuff running through his veins, Jimi himself probably wasn't sure what he was singing.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: "Blinded by the Light"

What people sing: "Wrapped up like a douche, another loner in the night"

The actual lyric: "Cut loose like a deuce, another runner in the night"

Springsteen's tune from his debut album is full of inside Jersey references and non sequitur silliness. A listener can misinterpret lyrics for days. It's the '76 Manfred Mann's Earth Band cover that's responsible for the signature mondegreen on this one.

BECK: "Loser"

What people sing: "Someone get the door"

The actual lyric: "Soy un perdedor"

Beck only has himself to blame for going bilingual here. No one was ready for that one in 1994. He started a Spanglish craze.

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS: "Plush"

What people sing: "Where you going with the master plan?"

The actual lyric: "Where ya going with that mask I found?"

Frankly, I like the made-up version better. Stone Temple Pilots could use a little help anyway in the lyric-writing department. There's some questionable stuff going in their songs, aside from the stolen Zep sounds.

Click here for Pearl Jam, the Clash and other confusing lyrics.

I know! I used to do that a lot when I was a kid.... Well, only to the songs that were in English, cuz I didn't speak English at the time.... I laugh sometimes when I hear those songs(today)!

[panamania79 2]

life in the fastlane - eagles

my mom thought they were singing "flies in the vaseline"

There is a song called "flies in the vaseline"

I always used to sing Aerosmith's "sweet emotion" as "feel the ocean."

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I always used to sing Aerosmith's "sweet emotion" as "feel the ocean."

Surely you jest.

[amberdima 6]

the other day somebody posted a song title as "i smell sex and candied hair." i thought that was fun; however, i've certainly done worse. i'm guilty of the "wrapped up like a douche" faux pax in the OP's list. never quite made sense

[Sprailenes 47]

Ray of light by Madonna, for the longest time when she sang:

"And I feel like I just got home.."

I thought she was saying:

"And I feel like a disco ball..."

[Nagishkaw 510]

Louie, Louie. Somebody please translate it. :wacko:

[panamania79 2]

I always used to sing Aerosmith's "sweet emotion" as "feel the ocean."

Surely you jest.

No,I'm serious

[Mina76 0]

I remembered buying magazines that had lyrcis of popular songs when I was a kid cause I couldn't make out the words of some of my favorite songs on the AM/FM radio back then I have too many to list here!

[pedroh 21]

shoot, try to listen to gay, i mean, fallout boy.. u can't understand jack

[Soancika+Brian 0]

Hi,

There is a nice Hinder song - Lips of an angel, wich i used to love. But instead of hearing and singing- my girl's in the next room , I used to hear and sing -my cousin's in the next room. Could not understand at first why was he singing about his cousin, because the rest of the song when didn't make sense.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Louie, Louie. Somebody please translate it. :wacko:

Impossible. Doing such is like attempting to understand the lyrics in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

As for misinterpreting song lyrics... this happened to me with "Jingle Bells," of all things. When the line "bells on bobtails ring" came about, I thought it said: "bells on bobcats ring." That's not a huge mistake, but it certainly brings to mind some very different imagery.

[NickD 203]

It takes practice practice practice in the musical world, with the piano or guitar, get entirely bored with a song, even before I learn how to play it, singing is no different. Briefly got involved with a music crowd in my young days, no different than working a production line doing the same task a zillion time a day, no wonder why they take drugs.