Rock the Casbah misheard as Rock the cash-bar. I thought it was a song about people drinking and being punished for drinking. In my defense, I was 4, and sadly I knew what a cash-bar was.
Blinded by the light, revved up like a “douche” another runner in the night
Had no idea what they meant by that
What have I become my Swedish friend?
People are Strange by the Doors “Streets are up when you’re going down.” I.E. “The whole world is happy when you’re depressed.”
George Thoroughgood’s Bad to the Bone. Thought the line was "The head nurse spoke up. She said, leave us alone. " Instead of “Leave this one alone.”
I thought, damn, that new born is gonna screw the head nurse. That IS bad to the bone!
FYi, these are called Mondegreens after a famous song that was mis-heard by pretty much everyone. I think it was Welsch.
Mine is England Dan and John Ford Coley’s I’d really love to see you tonight.
Thought he sang, “I’m not talkin bout my linen.”
Instead of, "I’m not talkin bout movin in "
Made up a whole story in my mind about how they met in a Laundromat.
Ever since I was a kid I thought in Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive” he sang “on a stale horse I ride”. I figured he had been riding his horse out in the desert a long time, it’s all tired, no water… yeah it’s a stale horse. My partner will never let me live it down.
Also my niece and nephew thought Lady Gaga sang “I don’t want to be French” instead of “I don’t want to be friends” in Bad Romance. It fit too, as she sings in French right before that.
When I was a kid I heard The Go-Go’s Our Lips Are Sealed as “Alex the seal”.
Doesn’t matter what they say
In the jealous games people play
Alex the seal
I thought it was about a sad bullied seal.
To this day I hear “Diarrhea Jane” instead of “Diary of Jane”
I… Didn’t listen well to the flip in Valhallalelluja and misheard the whole rest of the song for like 6 years until I saw the videoclip. If you know, you know. I didn’t even hear the word IKEA.
Billy Jean is not my lover
She’s just a girl that thinks that I am the one
But
The chair is not my size
Jeff Davis of Who’s Line is it Anyway has a story about a friend of his mishearing “reach down, ease the seat back” in Van Halen’s Panama as “reach down, ease the seed bag”, as in adjusting his nuts. Always cracks me up when I think of that or hear the song
I thought “Teen Spirit” was about Imitators and mashed potaters
I thought the velvet underground “run run run” was
Run run run run run take your jacket too
Instead of “take a drag or two”
Good advice when it’s cold out!
Well I know how I’m singing this song from now on.
“Sharp dressed man” always heard it as “Shy best man” this may have had a minor counterproductive impact on my behavior when I was a teenager.
Every woman loves a shard glass man
Not a mondegreen, but I like to sing it as “Shark dressed man.”
What you thought it was a song about being popular with bridesmaids?
No, my stupidity went further than that, “best man” was just “good guy”
Billy Talent’s “Viking Death March” is a song about religious hypocrisy, capitalistic exploitation and doing something about it.
I initially understood the chorus as singing “crosses to bend, axes to fall” and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. The crosses in churches being torn down could fit with the axes, but you wouldn’t bend them so much as break them. The only usage for bent crosses I could think of were Swastikas, but that also didn’t quite seem to fit the rest of the song, nor the impression I had of the band.
Later, I figured out that it wasn’t “bend”, but “burn”, which still didn’t clear things up: Burning crosses also isn’t exactly a leftist symbol, and following up “You preach about love and teach about faith, but all your beliefs are still rooted in hate” with a call to burn crosses just doesn’t really track.
It’s not a call to action. It’s “Crosses still burn, axes still fall”. It’s calling attention to the fact that these hateful evils haven’t disappeared.
