Comments on: Weekend Word Wrap: mondegreens

By: Mateo

Mateo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:25 +0000

My uncle introduced me to this one a while ago, and to this day I still hear it.

At the beginning of The Rolling Stone’s “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, when the choir is singing the aforementioned title, you can also imagine they are singing “You Can’t Always Get a Chihuahua”…

By: katie

katie — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0000

the song tubthumping by Chumbawamba my cousin and i always thought it was
i get knocked down like and elephant
when its actually i get knocked down but i get up again

By: Alyssa

Alyssa — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:10:00 +0000

I had a friend who has a friend (I swear this is true, I’ve met the guy) who you to think the lyrics to “Taking care of business” was “baking a pair of biscuits.” True story.

By: D

Mon, 18 May 2009 22:29:00 +0000

Correct: Chill’s in the air
Heard: Children, behave!
and/or
Children, the Egg!
(Tiffany version of I Think We’re Alone Now)

What about a false mondegreen–I always thought I was mishearing, in “I will survive”: “And so you’re back, from outer space” couldn’t be right, it had to be “And now you’re back, ran out of space”. But it really IS “from outer space”…

By: Dawn123

Dawn123 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:26:00 +0000

“Karma Chameleon” is “Come-uh Comedian” or “become a comedian” by the Culture Club. haha susan!

By: Blu

Blu — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:44:00 +0000

The Pipettes had a popular song in the UK called Pull Shapes, which – thanks in part to the lead singer’s Welsh accent – features not one but TWO mondegreens.

Correct: There’s a whole floor before us, just for you and me…

Heard: There’s a hot floppy forest, just for you and me…

Also, the UK version is kinda low-fi, so when they all sing “Pull Shapes!”, it sounds like “Bullsh*t!”
The remixed US version is clearer, so there’s no mistaking the Sss sound in “shapes.”

By: Lorian

Lorian — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 06:49:00 +0000

The first one i think of right off the bat is one that was in an episode of Dharma and Greg, and they were having a party at their house. The song was “I Wanna Rock and Roll All Night” and continued “…and party every day. BUT Greg, in his infinite dorkiness was singing at the top of his lungs “…AND PART OF EVERY DAY.” Dharma cracked up, because it also summed up his practicality – he’d never rock ‘n’ roll all night and then also party every day!

love it -

By: tam

tam — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:55:00 +0000

I always thought they said:
Small cousin Walter…
then i found out it was Smoke on the water

By: kim

kim — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:18:00 +0000

When I first heard “Hey Ya” by OutKast I could’ve sworn they said “shake it like a corduroy pigeon.”

I know, it makes no sense at all. No idea where my brain got that one from.

By: Poor College Student

Poor College Student — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:09:00 +0000

Invisible Touch by Genesis…

My friend thought the lyrics were:

“She seems to have a busy little talk show.”

The correct lyrics:
“She seems to have an invisible touch.”

Still my favorite misheard lyric.