Misunderstood lyrics.
- Thread starter Vanyel
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The old classic by Madonna:
"Young girl with eyes like potatoes"
(the first line's misheard line I once heard is way more offensive)
Incidentally, I believe one of the most misheard songs is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I still don't know what on earth he's saying in the chorus, something about "I feed two pigs in containers"...
"Young girl with eyes like potatoes"
(the first line's misheard line I once heard is way more offensive)
Incidentally, I believe one of the most misheard songs is "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I still don't know what on earth he's saying in the chorus, something about "I feed two pigs in containers"...
English is not my first language and, while my listening comprehsion got better, most songs are still a challenge to me. So I actually think i mishear almost all lyrics, since half of the words are made of "eeh", "uhm" and "yeah". 
My two favourites from KissThisGuy:
#Got my first real sex dream/I was five at the time/played it 'til my fingers bled/It was the summer of sixty-nine...
and
#The ants are my friends/They're blowing in the wind/ The ants are a-blowin' in the wind
I cannot unhear them.
My mother recently misheard that dreadful 'Leader of the Pack' song by The Shangri-las
Real line: He stood there and asked me why.
New version: He stood there and effed my blind.
I think her version makes for a much more realistic song.
#Got my first real sex dream/I was five at the time/played it 'til my fingers bled/It was the summer of sixty-nine...
and
#The ants are my friends/They're blowing in the wind/ The ants are a-blowin' in the wind
I cannot unhear them.
My mother recently misheard that dreadful 'Leader of the Pack' song by The Shangri-las
Real line: He stood there and asked me why.
New version: He stood there and effed my blind.
I think her version makes for a much more realistic song.
English is not my first language and, while my listening comprehsion got better, most songs are still a challenge to me. So I actually think i mishear almost all lyrics, since half of the words are made of "eeh", "uhm" and "yeah".
Songs are a huge challenge in foreign languages, which is partly why the "numa numa" song became such a target for a 'misheard lyrics' video - You can pretty much make up lyrics which sound in English like the words being said in whatever-language-that-damn-songs-in. It saves people going "But actually I think you'll find..!"
Queen.....Bohemian rhapsody
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
Miss miller No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Miss miller We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Miss miller We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
Oh mama mia, mama mia Mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard me, for me, for me
How many years was i singing those lyrics for....
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
Miss miller No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!) Miss miller We will not let you go
(Let him go!) Miss miller We will not let you go
(Let me go) Will not let you go
Oh mama mia, mama mia Mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard me, for me, for me
How many years was i singing those lyrics for....
God, I was so disappointed when I found out the real lyrics to We Are 138 by the Misfits. I still like my version of them much better!
My version:
We are 138, We are 138
In the eye of society
Do you think we robots breed?
Does it pay to become a fiend?
It is time to be an android, not a man
All pleanantries are wrong
We're stripped of all we've won
In the eye of society
Real version:
We are 138, We are 138
In the eyes of tiger
Do you think were robot clean
Does this face look almost mean
Is it time to be an android not a man
The pleasantries are gone
Were stripped of all we were
In the eyes of tiger
Oh, and I don't see how anybody can be blamed for misunderstanding Blinded by the Light. It seriously sounds EXACTLY like douche. And "revved up like a deuce" isn't exactly a common phrase.
My version:
We are 138, We are 138
In the eye of society
Do you think we robots breed?
Does it pay to become a fiend?
It is time to be an android, not a man
All pleanantries are wrong
We're stripped of all we've won
In the eye of society
Real version:
We are 138, We are 138
In the eyes of tiger
Do you think were robot clean
Does this face look almost mean
Is it time to be an android not a man
The pleasantries are gone
Were stripped of all we were
In the eyes of tiger
Oh, and I don't see how anybody can be blamed for misunderstanding Blinded by the Light. It seriously sounds EXACTLY like douche. And "revved up like a deuce" isn't exactly a common phrase.
I mostly stopped trying to understand lyrics back in the mid-80s, when I got into the punk scene.
But there was one song I thought I was misunderstanding, for years.
Slayer's "Angel of Death" has the following lines during the slow part (2:45-2:55):
"Seas of blood
Bury life
Smell your death as it burns
Deep inside of you
Abacinate
Eyes that bleed
Praying for the end
Of your wide-awake nightmare"
Like I said--for years, I thought I was mis-hearing "abacinate". WTF is he saying, I wondered. I couldn't think of an interpretation that made sense.
Then, one day, I looked it up. Turns out that "abacinate" is a real word--it means, "to torture someone by burning their eyes with a red-hot iron."
I wasn't sure which surprised me more--the fact that there was a technical term for this activity, or the fact that someone actually used it in a song.
But there was one song I thought I was misunderstanding, for years.
Slayer's "Angel of Death" has the following lines during the slow part (2:45-2:55):
"Seas of blood
Bury life
Smell your death as it burns
Deep inside of you
Abacinate
Eyes that bleed
Praying for the end
Of your wide-awake nightmare"
Like I said--for years, I thought I was mis-hearing "abacinate". WTF is he saying, I wondered. I couldn't think of an interpretation that made sense.
Then, one day, I looked it up. Turns out that "abacinate" is a real word--it means, "to torture someone by burning their eyes with a red-hot iron."
I wasn't sure which surprised me more--the fact that there was a technical term for this activity, or the fact that someone actually used it in a song.
^ Cool. I always thought it was "Bachanal"
Abacinate is way cooler, especially knowing the meaning.
Abacinate is way cooler, especially knowing the meaning.
And I always kinda thought it was "I'm not talkin' 'bout millenium".
But I also always kinda thought I had it wrong.
Oh, come on, a thread about misunderstood lyrics and nobody's mentioned the Cocteau Twins at least ONCE? 
My favorite is the Go-Gos' "Alex the Seal" (Our Lips Are Sealed). I swear it really does sound like that.
Others:
"Baking Carrot Biscuits" (Taking Care Of Business)
"Thirty Thieves And The Thunder Chief" (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap)
My favorite is the Go-Gos' "Alex the Seal" (Our Lips Are Sealed). I swear it really does sound like that.
Others:
"Baking Carrot Biscuits" (Taking Care Of Business)
"Thirty Thieves And The Thunder Chief" (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap)
I know the words to the song from years ago, (shit, can you believe the song's been around for so long?)
From memory, chorus:
With the light's out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious,
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
I think that's right. I don't have the liner notes handy
^ Meh, Weird Al's version is funnier... 
^ Meh, Weird Al's version is funnier...
Funnier, sure. As poignant to an entire generation? No.
I could care less about poignancy. The song is funny. That's all I need...
You have them correct.
Now, then: Did you learn them from the liner notes.....or did you learn them by listening to the Tori Amos version?! ADMIT IT. ADMIT YOUR PAIN!
(I learned them from Tori.
Y Kant she Read, anyway? 
)
You have them correct.
Now, then: Did you learn them from the liner notes.....or did you learn them by listening to the Tori Amos version?! ADMIT IT. ADMIT YOUR PAIN!
(I learned them from Tori.
Honest answer?
Kurt Loder on MTV News saying them spoken word after Cobain's death when I was a teenager.
Often people here this, from "Armor and Sword" by Rush
"...at the feet of a garden gnome'
it's really "
at the feet of a god unknown."
"...at the feet of a garden gnome'
it's really "
at the feet of a god unknown."
(I learned them from Tori.
I don't know which is stranger: Tori Amos, of all people, recording that Teen Spirit song, or the fact that somebody actually remembers Y Kant Tori Read?
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