Rock and roll has introduced many cultural phenomena, not the least of which is the misheard lyric. Maybe I’m better at understanding poorly enunciated lyrics than other folks, but there aren’t a whole lot of lyrics that I’ve misunderstood over the years. The notable exception is “Last Child” by Aerosmith. I always thought that “I was the last child/just a punk in the streets” was really “I was the last child/just a bucket of sleaze,” which I still think is a much better lyric based on who’s singing it. I really regret that I couldn’t find a decent cover of that song to post.
At any rate, here are a few of the most famously misheard lyrics.
Florence and the Machine “Addicted To Love” (Robert Palmer)
I’ve seen a couple of misquotes for the line “you’re addicted to love:” “you’re a dick with a glove,” and “you’re a dickhead in love.” Either of those makes the song better, but I like the first one. It sounds like an indictment of Michael Jackson.
The Cure “Purple Haze” (Jimi Hendrix)
“‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy,” perhaps the most famous misheard line in all of rock and roll. There’s even a website at kissthisguy.com devoted to misheard lyrics. I’ve had people use that lyric to try to prove to me that Hendrix was gay.
Walter Jackson “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” (Elton John)
Originally it didn’t sound to me like “someone shaved my wife tonight,” but after I heard that interpretation that’s the way I’ve heard it ever since. That line gets even more interesting when you consider that the song is about Elton John’s suicidal thoughts over his pending marriage. His pal Long John Baldry (the “someone” in the title) convinced him not to go through with the marriage and so he didn’t have a wife for someone to shave until years after he recorded the tune. Walter Jackson squeezes soulful blues out of this song that I never suspected was lurking within.
Pinkertone “Louie Louie” (The Kingsmen)
The stunningly inarticulate singing on the original version of this song has turned it into a sort of Rorschach test of rock and roll. People have imagined that the guy was singing all sorts of perverted stuff, probably colored by each individual’s deepest secrets. Pinkertone chicken out and only sing the refrain, treating the verses as instrumental passages. And what does that tell us about them?
The Reels “Bad Moon Rising” (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
This is another one that I had no trouble understanding, but I can see why somebody might think he’s saying “there’s a bathroom on the right.”
Love this version of Bad Moon Rising.
It’s always a bit of a let down when you eventually decide to actually read the lyrics of a song you’ve known forever. Like with “Billie Jean”, I finally got around to reading the lyrics and they were nothing like I was hearing them. Oh well.
Man, this is some good stuff! My wife’s a big Beach Boys fan, and I’m sure she’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you’ve collected under “Surf’s Up”.
I am, however, having some problems with the Walter Jackson rendition of Elton John’s “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.” If I just click on it, it won’t play, and if I download it, it won’t get saved to my iTunes library. In short, I’m getting nowhere with it. Can you please re-upload? Thanks.
It works now! Thanks!
I have to say that this latest batch of songs is a terrific selection. I had heard the Cure’s “Purple Haze” before, bur the others were all new to me, though less so now that I’ve played them all over and over again.
A bit if useless trivia. A misunderstood lyric is known as a mondegreen.
Misheard lyrics: someone mentioned to me this week that they heard someone’s interpretation of “Big Yellow Taxi” as “A gay pair of guys put up a parking lot” :)
Pinkertone was from Montreal. This Louie Louie was done around 1981-1982.
One of my favorites is AC/DC’s Dirty Deeds. The original line is “dirty deeds, done dirt cheap” but a friend told me he heard a guy singing along with the words “thirty thieves and the thunder chief”.
The wonderful cover version of White Rabbit by Karen Abrahams with The Austin Lounge Lizards (was that from this site, or somewhere else?) does a clever bit with the incomprehensible line of the song that follows, “When logic and proportion have fallen…” In different choruses of that in the song their line is “Grateful Dead” and “Paul is dead”.
My friend thought the lyrics to Polices’s “every breath you take” included “I’m a pool hall ace” instead of the correct “how my poor heart aches”.