An investigation into the fun world of misheard lyrics

[Another post from Elisa F.G. The official term for misheard lyrics is a “mondegreen.” Here are ten examples.- AC]

Do. Do has. Du has mesh. Du has mesh mishow.

Those are the correct lyrics to Rammstein’s Du Hast and the only reason they are correct is because I looked them up in a fraction of a second, had I not been able to the song would have been butchered to smithereens.

What about that Billy Joel song? You know the one, where he goes through historical events to prove we aren’t the ones that started the fire and that its was always burning said the worst attorney? No?

Lyrics aren’t the easiest to recite, especially if a song has half of our attention or if no-one has caught or corrected our lyrical fumbles and now we must go the rest of our adult life humming “Don’t go Jason Waterfalls” or believing that “We built this city on cabbage rolls.”

Google won’t save the day every time so here’s 10 common misheard lyrics just in case you have to sing your heart out and don’t know the words or think you do. Yikes.

1. Rome wasn’t built in day, nor was it built on cabbage rolls – no city was! The correct lyric is “We built this city on rock and roll” from the debut single off Starships’ album Knee Deep in the Hoopla.

2. You’re stuck in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic, belting out songs with Adele is how you cope, so you crank it. Make sure to hit that high note while everyones car windows are rolled down and remember the lyric is not “Should I give up? Or just keep chasing penguins?” The correct lyric is “Should I give up or just keep chasing pavements?” From the third track Chasing Pavements off Adeles debut album, 19.

3. Let’s be clear, Alicia Keys and Jay Z do not want to make it known that “In New York, concrete jungle wet dream tomato.” The lyric that is commonly misheard is “In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of” from Empire State of Mind, track 5 off Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3.

4. “Last night I dreamt of some bagels” could have been a dream Madonna had at some point or another but in this case she dreamt of San Pedro – La Isla Bonita was Madonnas first track with latin vibes, safe to say it was a success. Bagels for everyone!

5. There are those that believe “there’s a wino down the road” in Stairway to Heaven but sadly there is not,“as we wind on down the road” is the correct lyric to Led Zeppelin anthem.

6. Across the Universe ranks pretty high on the list of greatest Beatles songs, in fact John Lennon felt “Jai guru deva, om” was one of the best lyrics he’d ever written, I don’t know what it means but I know it doesn’t translate to (but somehow sounds like) “Giant hooters for David.”

7. The Eurythmics and lactose intolerant people will both agree that sweet dreams aren’t made of cheese, the correct lyric is “Sweet dreams are made of this.” (Why would some cheese want to get used by you?)

8. Mmmbop by Hanson – not a clue what any of us are singing when attempting to sing along, but what I do know is “Chilling out with Stu’s top”, “Big rock, little rock” and “Mmmbop beatdown fondue bop” are not the words.

9. “Here we are now, in containers. Avocado, hell if I know. I’m a skittle. I’m a beetle, yeah!” would probably get a good laugh out of Kurt Cobain but the lyric in Smells Like Teen Spirit

Is “Here we are now, entertain us, a mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido, yeah!”

10. Lifting weights at the gym. Spotify shuffles your playlist. You are still lifting. You finally lift your way to your goal. Taylor Swift is playing. You drop the weights to celebrate your achievement and burst out singing “…and I got that Brad Pitt classic thing that you like!”

True story. (“…I’ve got that red lip classic thing that you like” is the lyric, so you too don’t embarrass yourself.)