ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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Comments

  1. I needed a good laugh! Reminds of the Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze” “Excuse while I kiss this guy” instead of the actual lyric: Excuse me while I kiss the sky

    • What!?! What is this “kiss the sky” business!?? Uh. 3 out of 4 of us here had that one wrong. Lol.

    • I remember reading an article about that.

      from the mishearing in a Scottish ballad of “laid him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen”

  4. I adore the song “Blinded by the Light” and misunderstood some of the words for many years.

    • Sarafina, my husband and I went crazy trying to figure out what the words really were – “wrapped up like a douche” just didn’t make sense. I didn’t hear the Springsteen original until years after I heard the Manfred Mann cover. We had a lot of fun when we played it for our great-nephew when he was in college (I think freshman year). By then, we’d found out what the correct words were. He couldn’t figure it out, and couldn’t stop laughing about it. He then started playing songs for us – all with problematic lyrics.

      Ilona, you got us all into a fun mode. Thank you!

  5. Thanks for sharing! Loved it! Now the wrong lyrics will probably stick with me, especially Mercy/birdseed one as it is in my playlist.

  6. Hubby ruined Enya for me forever by misquoting one set of lyrics as “Skippy the moose.” Arrrgh.

  7. I am so chuffed you know Peter Kay! I didn’t know he was known in the US, this is just another reason why you and your husband are my favourite authors!

  8. My favorite is between my roommate and I – Fall Out Boy, Dance, Dance – we heard “two poodles in a hard hat” instead of “I’m two quarters and a heart down.”

  9. I so needed this today ? It reminds me of a song that came out when I was in middle school. I have distinct memories of listening to it on the school bus’s radio wondering why they were singing about baked beans. Of course I can’t remember the name of it or who sings it when I need to.

  10. Yep, I’ve had this experience. For years I thought the song was “’Cause every girl crazy ‘bout a shy best man”. Turns out he’s not shy and he’s not the best man, he’s a sharp dressed man. It wasn’t until I bought my current car, which has an HD radio and displays the song info on the screen that I realized they were singing sharp dressed man.

  12. Whenever Huey Lewis would come on the radio when my sister and I were kids, she would sing, “I want a new truck!” at the top of her lungs. It wasn’t until years later that we learned that it wasn’t a truck that he was after.

  13. *looks up Blinded by the Light lyrics* Whoa. Who knew? (I kind of expect that for most music I’ve been passively exposed to, I’ll have picked up the lyrics, at least a verse or two and the refrain, but in this case – nothing!)

    Another good one in Louie Louie – there was a movement some years back to make it Washington State’s song. Which would be pretty hilarious, because how many people know the lyrics? (Then again, how many people know the lyrics to “Washington, My Home”? Louie Louie wins hands down for fun.)

  15. Love that you found Peter Kay! He is a national treasure. And you will never hear these lyrics the same again! LOLOLOL xx

  16. My daughter was about 5 or 6 when ThatDon’t Impress Me Much was released, I was driving and listening to the song on the radio when a little voice piped up from the back, ‘Mummy, what’s cock?’ I was a little shocked and asked where she had heard that word and she said on the radio, the lady said kiss your cock at night. After I finished laughing I told her the word was ‘car’ not cock but she always sang her version. Whenever I hear that song it makes me smile.

  17. My best friend said as a kid she thought “Secret Agent Man” was “Secret Asian Man”. ?

  18. From the first time I heard it I thought the opening lyrics for the DragonForce song “Soldiers of the Wasteland” were “Burning Fires, Burning Liars”. Finally saw the lyrics last week and realized they are actually “Burning Fires, Burning Lives”.

  19. When I first heard We Don’t Run by Bon Jovi (Live at the London Palladium) on my ipod there is one part of the song that could be misunderstood. It’s “…message clear as the dirt I was born in…”, but if you hear Jon Bon Jovi singing it sounds like “….message cheer as the dirt I was born in…” I had to buy the recording studio version and listen to both a lot to hear the lyrics correctly. ?

  20. Hilarious!!!

    When he was three, my son invented a new word when he misheard the song “Bright, sunshiney day”. We spent years looking for “awe wobsticles” in our way and still get the giggles 18 years later when we hear the song play…

  21. Wow a lot of canucks are misheard!!! I have seen this before but well enjoyed no matter how many times it’s listened too.

  22. I about peed in my pants when I first watched this video. And a lot of LSS moments after.

    It still can make me laugh.

  24. Peter Kay is hilarious – recommended viewing is TV programme Car Share – a comedy about a blossoming friendship between co-workers whilst on their way to and from work. Sounds unlikely but a real gem.

  25. When I was a kid I spent a lot of time at my grandfather’s full service gas station and garage. I thought “Smooth Operator” was “Ooh, Carburator” which made start laughing every time, but she wouldn’t explain it. Probably a good thing as I was 4 or 5 when the song came out in the 80’s.

    • I remember when that song came out too. When I heard it I really wasn’t listening to the lyrics so I thought “Ooh, Carburator” too. 😀 I laugh so hard if I hear it now.

      It’s hilarious what the human ear will pick up, and how the brain interprets lyrics especially when they can go in all sorts of directions.

  27. Another classic is from Credence Clearwater Revival: Instead of “there’s a bad moon on the rise” we all sang “there’s a bathroom on the right”. sigh*

    • A lot of my high school friends use to sing that song with those lyrics. I remember looking at them in bewilderment since I knew it was “there’s a bad moon on the rise”. They kept telling me that the way they sang the lyrics was correct until they actually listened to the song. Their faces turned tomato red after that. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

      • And of course, John Fogarty occasionally intentionally sings the wrong lyrics in concert, just because…

  30. We always thought Kenny Roger’s Lucille was 200 children just crapped in the field. Could never figure out what he had 200 children in the field in the first place or how they synchronized their bowel movements.

  31. I always liked Rainbow’s “I surrender to your armpit” and Madonna’s “eyes like potatoes” (apparently the line is actually “eyes like the desert”!)

  32. This is great! My hub had me thinking I was the only one who misheard lyrics. When I was a kid I heard Neil Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans” as “Reverend Blue Jeans.” Believe me, this is not the only time I have done this, but for some reason he still thinks it Is particularly laughable. Might be the context?

    • OMG! I’ve made some of the other errors mentioned here. Sometimes you know it sounds wrong and can figure it out. Sometimes, you know, but can’t figure out what it really is (Blinded by the Light). Then I learned some years ago that I could look questionable (to me) lyrics up on the internet. However, you have to know or suspect that you are mishearing them to want to look them up. I am about to turn 66 and until I read your comment, MagicTrix, it never occurred to me that it was NOT “Reverend Blue Jeans.” I had a double take. I just googled it, wondering whether there WAS a “Reverend Blue Jeans” song. Guess what comes up? Yup. “Forever in Blue Jeans.” ROFLMAO. Clearly enough of us heard “Reverend Blue Jeans” to get Wikipedia to list it, and Google to find it. I’ve never paid attention to the rest of the lyrics, and really, considering other songs, how strange is “Reverend Blue Jeans?” I love it!

      Just read the entry at Wiki. Aside from the general history of the song, they say: “The song was referenced on an episode (“Parent Trapped”) of The King Of Queens, in which Doug Heffernan incorrectly refers to it as “Reverend Blue Jeans”, thinking it was a song about a hip reverend that wore jeans.” No, I did not see this show, I misheard on my own.

  35. It took me a while to figure out what Charlie Puth is saying in the song Attention. It sounds like he’s saying “You’ve been runnin’ round, runnin’ round, runnin’ round throwin’ that turtle on my knee.”

    I finally had to Google the lyrics to discover he’s actually saying “throwin’ that dirt all on my name.”

  36. Lucille by Kenny Rogers. The line is “You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with 4 hungry children a crop and a field.” As a young child I would sing along: “…with 4 hundred children a crop and a field”.

    Made perfect sense.

  38. I would hate to know how many lyrics I have misheard through the years, fortunately I’m usually singing along with the radio alone in my car. These were really funny, glad to know it’s just not me! When I was doing medical transcription I used to hear some strange stuff too, it takes a while to educate your ears to what is actually being said. I sort of miss that job now, really enjoyed it. We typed dictation from all over the country. Many different accents along with bells, phones, laughter, stuff dropping onto the floor, you name it we heard it in the background. I think the absolute worst was an exhausted intern, I tried three times and simply could not understand what he said and had to send it back. I hope he got some sleep and tried again. I had one doctor who, I swear, could dictate for 25 minutes and never take a breath. It was amazing. Interesting stuff.

  39. Oh my goodness!! This was hysterical!! I will never forget the time I was at my sister in laws and we had some sap song playing that I had listened too several times and at the top of my lungs I sang white banana white banana and both her and her sister just stopped and died laughing I learned that day that it was white bandanna!

    Thank you for the laugh!

  40. For more diversion, if you haven’t seen it, look up “cats stealing dogs’ beds” on YouTube. So sad lol

  42. Katherine Heigl singing “Benny and the Jets” in the movie 27 dresses. Exactly what we sang in our dorm when it first came out. There was no internet so it was decades before I learned what Elton John really sang.

  43. Ah….the joys of an American Singer to English Listener language barrier. We thought it was bad when we were just talking!!

  44. Love Greetings from Asbury Park and I looked up the lyrics ages ago. Still don’t get a lot of the lingo but it was fun figuring it out.

  45. Or how about Africa by Toto? All these years I’ve missed the rains down in Africa when it was really bless. Still think it makes more since to miss them!

  46. Oh goodness! Such fun! I am so tired tonight and a good laugh is a great to relax. Thanks!!!!! ?

  47. I could never figure out why John Travolta and Olivia Newton John kept singing, “You’re the Wizard of Oz, oh baby, hoo, hoo hoo honey.” For you young ones, that was from the musical “Grease”.

  49. So much fun. Thank you for the joy. I appreciate you so much! Keep joy in your heart! When I think you I smile. Laughed out loud this quiet Sunday morning.

  50. One night my husband and I were out at a smallish steak house when I brought up the “blinded by the light issue.” I don’t remember what he said that it was but to me it sounded like “wake up like a douche and motor in the night.”

    While we were laughing ourselves silly over our idiotic lyrics, a couple at the next table chimed in with their version, and before long the whole restaurant had started in on the impromptu game.

    Don’t remember the meal but the people were great!

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