Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I just realized that I have another Mondegreen to contribute:
In Expectations by Belle and Sebastian there's this bit that goes

"Do you want to work in Debenhams, because that’s what they expect
Start in lingerie, and Doris is your supervisor"

...and I always hear that as "and Doris is your sympathizer", even though I know the correct lyrics.

I can see you
Your breadsticks shining in the sun!

That's what I hear every time the refrain from "The Boys of Summer" starts.

In "U Got the Look", I used to think the lyric was "colour me takin' a bath" rather than "colour me taken aback".

My friend has a song with a line about "your innate value" and I totally just heard it as "urinate value".

When I was small, I used to think the words to the Fine Young Cannibals (who I called the Fine Young Cannonballs) song "She Drives Me Crazy" were "She drives me crazy/Like long white hair" (instead of "Like no-one else").

Also, in The National's "Racing Like a Pro", my boyfriend and I always hear "Your mind is racing like a pronoun" instead of "like a pro now". Maybe because we're both trans and involved in gender activism stuff....

Ha! This is the best one I've ever heard.

Tonight, Tonight by Smashing Pumpkins - We'll crucify the incest here instead of We'll crucify the insincere

LOVE IT!!

A couple of my favorites:

"You can't always get a chihuahua,
But if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get Pekingese."
~ The Rolling Stones

"Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly;
The girl with colitis goes by."
~ The Beatles

When I was a wee tot, I thought Annie's song by John Denver started with "you fill up my bedspread, like a night in the forest".

Oh, and a recent and embarrassing one - in The Mountain Goats' song Sept. 15, 1983, I totally used to think it went "If I forget Israel/Let me forget Iran", and he was just pronouncing it weirdly. (The actual lyrics are "If I forget Israel/Let me forget my right hand").

I'm so bad with mishearing lyrics! These are ones that I only found out were wrong within the last few years:

"Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, she's a slut, oooh more than you can know"

"Wastin' away again in Margaritaville, searchin' for my lost chigger and saw"
(I knew chiggers were little bitey bugs, and I didn't know why anyone would search for one!)

"Look around, leaves are brown, and the sky is a hazy shade of winter, in your Salvation Army bag..."
and later in the same song:
"Look around, leaves are brown, there's a black joke store on the ground."
I spent YEARS thinking that "black joke store" must have some deep meaning that I couldn't figure out.

There's a song called "All My Life" by Nizlopi...I've been listening to the Ed Sheeran cover a lot, and I realized, '"wait, that lyric couldn't possibly be 'I drink Evian from your lips, darling, Evian from your pants', could it?"

Looked it up. Sure enough. Evian from your pants. No Mondegreening.

John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance: "Ahh, we are sailing. Let's give Jesus pants!"

Song: You Won't Feel a Thing by The Script

What I heard:
Cause I've been taking all the time
So lay your guns and roses on the line
I promise you won't feel a thing . . .

Actual words:
Cause I would take it on the chin
so lay your cuts and bruises over my skin
I promise you won't feel a thing . . .

I've been listening to this song constantly for months and I just figured this out.

"If your gonna play the Gameboy, you gotta learn to play it right." -Kenny Rogers, The Gambler

Very late mondegreen, wouldn't have been possible when the song was just out, I guess.

This is from the original lyrics of Nada Surf's Firecracker:

...and I keep hearing "no network page". (Argh. The internet is bad for your brains.)

The radio station at my work plays all kinds of old-timey songs. The other day, I heard "Praise the Lard and pass the ammunition" as "Pray for love and happy happy knickers". Obviously, my version is way better.

Pretty sure the chorus of this song is "I need Daiya to stop moving, I need Daiya to stay useless".

Oh, my god - that is hilarious (and yes, much better)!

When I was little, I thought the opening words of Mystery Train ("Train I ride...") were "ham on rye." My older sister heard me singing once and took the mickey out of me for ages.

my sister and I used to love a song that went "everybody's got a hungry butt" for the chorus. (which means a wedgie). turns out everyone has a hungry HEART.

My friend's foster kids are currently running around singing "He is a nightmare! Rock the cat box! Rock the cat box!"

when "voices carry" first came out, i thought aimee mann was saying "mrs. carrie" and that the song was about a guy yelling at his mom to shut up.

I think she was saying "This is scary." Like, she's hiding in a closet and telling her friend to shut up, because, shiitake, he might hear us....

either one makes sense in the song, in a sad "i've seen some shiitake" way.