We’ve all had those moments—embarrassing for us but hysterical for everyone else—when we realize we’ve been singing the wrong lyrics to a song. Possibly for years. Out loud. In front of others. Yyyyyyeahhhh.
My broadcast partner Bill Doyle, for the longest time, thought the line in “Every Breath You Take” was “I’m a pool hall ace” instead of “how my poor heart aches.” It makes no sense in the context of the song, but that never stops us when we have a misheard lyric, does it?
Okay, if I’m outing him, it’s only fair for me to confess that in Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me,” I always thought the real line “I can’t find oh the right romantic line” was “I can’t climb oh the Rocky Mountain climb.” I thought it was a metaphor!
Don’t feel too bad. Not only do we all do it, but New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen was also apparently singing the wrong line in one of his OWN songs for years! How could that happen? He confessed to Jimmy Fallon that even he had gotten confused with the “Thunder Road” lyric debate over whether it was “Mary’s dress sways” or “Mary’s dress waves.”
The most humiliating lyric fail is when the lyrics you’re getting wrong are literally the title of the song. Many have thought the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” was singing “take the back right turn.” I personally spent years somehow thinking the song “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms was singing “Genesee” like Genesee Cream Ale.
So what are the all-time classic misheard lyrics? Here’s a solid list put out by popcrush.com. If you say you’re not guilty of the 9th one down, I don’t believe you, because I know I was.
From time to time, Bill and I will do a round of misheard song lyrics on the show. You know, when you’ve been singing “hold me closer Tony Danza” at the top of your lungs for all these years until you finally realized Elton John was singing “hold me closer tiny dancer.” Well, a listener just turned me on to one in an old song. In “Live Your Life” by rapper T.I. featuring Rihanna, there’s a line that says “cause I’m a paper chaser.”
Here’s the problem. When you know that’s the line, you can clearly hear it as such. If you don’t know the words ahead of time, it can absolutely sound like “cause I’m a big f***ing slut.” Keeping in mind this is NOT safe for work, NOT safe around children, (in fact, maybe just go down into a dark corner of your basement) check out this clip.
This is almost as good as The Dress that different people saw as different colors. Except here, if you think about one set of words then play it, you’ll hear them. If you concentrate on the other set of words and play it again, you’ll swear you hear those. It’s like an audial illusion. What doesn’t help is that the words “paper” and “chaser” are sung phonetically like “papuh” and “chasuh,” allowing your mind to change them. Obviously, we couldn’t play this one on the radio, so I thought I’d share it here.
What we think we hear and what we do hear are two different things, and these are the most misheard lyrics ever by a New Jersey artist. There are so many songs we’ve heard over the years that we think we know the lyrics to, but when we belt them out in the car or shower, we often are singing a completely different tune, literally.
If you’ve been in your car cranking up “Livin’ On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi and singing the line, “It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not,” then you are the victim of a misheard lyric. The actual line from the song goes like this: “It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not.” Don’t you feel a little embarrassed about that dirty mind of yours? No worries, you are not alone when it comes to misheard lyrics.
Our favorite misheard lyric on the list comes from the song “Africa” by Toto. The correct line is “There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do,” but what the guy in the car next to you might be singing while drumming on the steering wheel is, “There’s nothing that a hundred men on Mars could ever do.”
Here’s what I think. It doesn’t matter what lyrics you sing, as long as you’re singing. Crank it up and enjoy.
Source: New Jersey 101.5, Popcrush.com
