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Mondegreens / misheard lyrics

Discussion in 'Tilted Entertainment' started by Street Pattern, Mar 1, 2014.

  1. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    If you don't know what a mondegreen is, here's the Wikipedia entry.

    The Everlast song "What It's Like," contains the lines "Liked to get shit faced / And keep pace with thugs," meaning, to drink alcohol at the same rate as guys with greater body mass.

    Until I saw the lyrics, I misunderstood "keep pace with thugs" as "keep the basement dug".

    I thought this meant to raise enough money, by selling drugs on the corner, to keep a household going -- a "wife and kids" are mentioned a few lines later.

    To "keep the basement dug" seemed to be an expression that reflected the Sisyphean task of earning a meager income, only to have it all spent. The basement was a metaphor for a family's shelter. You keep digging, because if you stop, the basement will fill up again.

    It turns out there is no such expression. :oops:
     
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  2. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    I posted this one before maybe last year or so, but it's relevant:
    [​IMG]

    Of course, I don't like to re-post without working in some fresh material, so here's more misunderstood lyrics, for those familiar with the Steve Miller Band and their hit, "Big Old Jet Airliner":
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  3. Katia

    Katia Very Tilted

    Location:
    Earth
    [​IMG]
     
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  4. omega

    omega Very Tilted

    One of the great classics is Jimi Hendrix singing "excuse me, while I kiss this guy". From metallica's song "one"the lyric is hold my breath as I wish for death, and I know it is, but I always hear it as for my breakfast I wish for death.
     
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  5. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    Just remembered another one: The Police's "Spirits of the Material World", when Sting sings "Cause we are spirits of the material world" sounds like something else entirely...

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  6. Levite

    Levite Levitical Yet Funky

    Location:
    The Windy City
    Robert Palmer, "Addicted to Love:" Lyric actually is "Might as well face it, you're addicted to love." I consistently hear "My anus will fix it: you're addicted to love."

    Steely Dan, "Reelin' in the Years:" Lyric actually is "Are you reelin' in the years/stowin' away the time/Are you gatherin' up the tears/have you had enough of mine." I consistently hear "Are you reelin' in the yeast/stowin' away the thyme/are you gatherin' up the cheese/have you had enough of mine."

    REM, "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight:" Lyric actually is "Come on in, try to wake her up." First three years of college, I heard "Chicken vibrator."

    Simon and Garfunkel, "The Boxer:" Lyric actually is "Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh avenue." My friend in high school thought it was "Just a come-on from the horse on Seventh avenue."

    Jethro Tull, "Living in the Past:" Lyric actually is "Walk a mile to drink your water." I totally thought it was "Walk behind me, drink your water."
     
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  7. redravin

    redravin Cynical Optimist Donor

    Location:
    North
    I was at a friends house and she had a Karaoke machine that they had brought with them from the Philippines.
    After a few drinks we all started to do 'Hotel California' but couldn't get past the first couple of lines when this came up.

    "On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
    Warm smell of colitis, rising up in the air"

    One person started giggling and by the time someone said "That must have been more than a warm smell." the entire party was on the floor.

    I guess you had to be there.
     
    • Like Like x 5
  8. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    I always wondered what word that was supposed to be.

    The lyric sheet says "coleus", which is nonsense, given that coleus (a common house and garden plant with colorful leaves) doesn't have much if any odor. Moreover, as sung, the word has a crystal clear T in it.

    Here's the real answer (found just now): it's the plural of "colita", Spanish slang for a cheap clipping from a marijuana plant.
     
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  9. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    Recently, I was listening to Gordon Lightfoot's "Ghosts of Cape Horn" and realized the title sounded much like something else:[​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  10. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    Someone posted a link to this on a music forum where I used to be active (don't ask what a tone deaf hack was doing on a music forum).

     
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  11. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    Hey, I remember another one: Neil Diamond's "Forever in Blue Jeans"

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  12. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    And let's not forget the song "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals:
    [​IMG]

    P.S. - 1,000th post!
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  13. My daughter, when she was young, referred to Sade's "The Sweetest Taboo" as the sweetest baboon.
    It still makes me laugh when I hear it.
     
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  14. Street Pattern

    Street Pattern Very Tilted

    I always understood the first line of "December," by Collective Soul, to be:

    Why drink the water from my wound?

    This is entirely congruent with the being "contagious" in the following line; I imagined it to be a deliberately provocative reference to clear pus, the "water" that would gather in a wound.

    The song is addressed to someone who verbally rejects the narrator, but is desperate to get physically close. Extremely close.

    But I happened to look up the lyrics recently for other reasons, and found that line given as follows:

    Why drink the water from my hand?

    Supposedly this is a Christian allusion, and Collective Soul is thought by some to be a Christian band. Um, really?

    But I listened to the song again, and the word sure sounds like "wound" to me.
     
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2014
  15. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  16. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    Sorry, can't leave this thread alone.

    Not when I misheard a line from Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle":
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
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  17. Tully Mars

    Tully Mars Very Tilted

    Location:
    Yucatan, Mexico
    Actually according to a documentary, which I believe is available on Netflix, both Glenn and Don claim the line resulted from them asking their Spanish speaking road manager how to say "little buds" he thought they were asking how to say "little butts" so he told them "colitas" which would roughly be Spanish for little butts. My Mexican girlfriend laughed her ass off, as did I.
    --- merged: Jun 13, 2015 4:48 PM ---

    Making Johnathan Swift proud.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 20, 2015
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  18. MeltedMetalGlob

    MeltedMetalGlob Resident Loser Donor

    Location:
    Who cares, really?
    Well, it was a modest proposal... ;)

    And now for my mangling of the Fabulous Thunderbirds' "Why Get Up":
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2018
  19. Chris Noyb

    Chris Noyb Get in, buckle up, hang on, & be quiet.

    Location:
    Large City, TX
    I must have a specific hearing problem. If the singing is even slightly garbled, distorted, or buried in the music, I can't make out the lyrics. Somewhere here I started a thread about a commercial for a certain make of cell phone that features teenagers playing (or pretending to play) The Pixies Gigantic. I was the only person who misheard what they're singing.
     
  20. ratbastid New Member

    I want to rock and roll all night.

    And part of every day.
     
    • Like Like x 3