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Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Bob Dylan
Misheard lyrics (also called mondegreens) occur when people misunderstand the lyrics in a song. These are NOT intentional rephrasing of lyrics, which is called parody. For more information about the misheard lyrics available on this site, please read our FAQ.
This page contains a list of the songs that have stories about their misheard lyrics submitted.
Song names are sorted by first letter, excluding A and The. This is sorted by song title only, not by song title and performer. So if two different performers preformed the same song, you'll see misheard lyrics for both on the same page (provided the song title was spelt the same both times, and misheard lyrics have been submitted for both!).
Blonde on Blonde album at Amazon.com
Bob Dylan's, "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Well, I've got the fever down in my b******s.
The Real Lyrics:
Well, I've got the fever down in my pockets.
The Story: Although I was certain that Bob Dylan wouldn't use crude anatomical slang in any of his songs, I nonetheless felt great relief upon learning the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Lenka
Bob Dylan's, "All Along the Watchtower"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Please don't just sit there and drink my wine
Come and dig my herb.
Come and dig my herb.
The Real Lyrics:
Businessmen, they drink my wine
Plowmen dig my earth.
Plowmen dig my earth.
The Story: This actually has more to do with the Hendrix version, but listening to Dylan's didn't fix things. It wasn't until I found the written lyrics that I realised. Sooooo, it was, say, some ten years of misunderstanding. Still think my version's best. - Submitted by: Jeff Dean
Bob Dylan's, "Blowin' in the Wind"
The Misheard Lyrics:
How many seats must a wife doth set, before she sleeps in the sack?
The Real Lyrics:
How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand?
The Story: I figured complaining about the hard work of a homemaker made sense (having to set seats at the dinner table before she could go to bed), that it was a feminist song. Also, I first heard it at a "folk mass" in church, so the "doth" made total sense to me. Weird how we try to make sense out of unknown things as kids. - Submitted by: Frank
Bob Dylan's, "Dirge"
The Misheard Lyrics:
In this age of Fabergé,
I'm searching for a gem
I'm searching for a gem
The Real Lyrics:
In this age of fiberglass,
I'm searching for a gem
I'm searching for a gem
The Story: This made sense..... at the time. Still does. - Submitted by: Robert Woodrow
Bob Dylan's, "Forever Young"
The Misheard Lyrics:
May you pay
Cold egg fu yung.
Cold egg fu yung.
The Real Lyrics:
May you stay
Forever young.
Forever young.
The Story: I was very young, and had just eaten Chinese food for the first time. I had... Egg Fu Yung. Gee! Wondered how I made that mistake. - Submitted by: Carly
Bob Dylan's, "From a Buick 6"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She keeps this Ford Ten, all loaded with lead
The Real Lyrics:
She keeps this four-ten, all loaded with lead
The Story: There was a Ford Ten in the UK at that time - old 1930/40s style, as I recall. - Submitted by: Robert Woodrow
Bob Dylan's, "Highway 61 Revisited"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Ill-fated poverty wouldn't give him no clothes
Ill-fated poverty wouldn't give him no clothes
The Real Lyrics:
Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose
Welfare Department, they wouldn't give him no clothes.
Welfare Department, they wouldn't give him no clothes.
The Story: We had low-fi transistor radios when the song was released - Submitted by: vince didonato
Bob Dylan's, "Hurricane"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And all Nigeria grieved.
The Real Lyrics:
An all-white jury agreed.
The Story: I thought Nigerians must have really like Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter. - Submitted by: Marek
Bob Dylan's, "Hurricane"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Tom Petty comes in from the upper hall
and:
And Tom Petty calls the cops
and:
And Tom Petty calls the cops
The Real Lyrics:
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
and:
And so Patty calls the cops
and:
And so Patty calls the cops
The Story: For as long as I had been hearing the song (many decades!) I assumed Tom Petty had something to do with this drama. It was only just now, August 14 2018, that I get to know what Dylan is really singing, after checking the lyrics and reading about the whole case on which the song is based, in Wikipedia. - Submitted by: Mabel Amber
Bob Dylan's, "Idiot Wind"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Alien wind
The Real Lyrics:
Idiot Wind
The Story: I came home one night from work and my ex-wife was sitting in the living room drunk with headphones on singing the lyrics to Bob Dylan's Idiot Wind loud and offkey as hell. When she gets to the title lyrics, she starts screaming out 'Aillllllll-eee-on wind'. She didn't get much of the rest of the song right either, but I thought it was hysterical that she didn't even get the title right. - Submitted by: Jerry Storch
Bob Dylan's, "Idiot Wind"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Beware of leopards that change stripes
The Real Lyrics:
I ran into the fortune teller, who said beware of lightning that might strike
The Story: For three years students that came through my Bob Dylan class went away thinking that was the line...Oy! https://thenobbyworks.blogspot.com/2013/04/it-has-good-beat-and-you-can-weep-to-it.html?q=light - Submitted by: Dan Riley
Bob Dylan's, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
He understands your orphan with his gun
The Real Lyrics:
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
The Story: My dad and I would play this song from his Dylan CDs all the time, and both of us thought this was such a poetic and tragic lyric. Only years later did we realize what the lyric actually was, and we are still slightly disappointed. - Submitted by: Miranda V
Bob Dylan's, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
The highway is for gamblers, better use your sins
Take what you have gathered from car window sense
Take what you have gathered from car window sense
The Real Lyrics:
The highway is for gamblers, better use your sense
take what you have gathered from coincidence
take what you have gathered from coincidence
The Story: This was the official version at my school, we really thought that car window sense was cool. When I saw the lyrics written down about 20 years later I couldn't believe it. Even now, I think our version is better. Sorry, Bob - Submitted by: Philip
Bob Dylan's, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I feel like knockin' on Debra's door
The Real Lyrics:
I feel I'm knocking on heaven's door
The Story: Both my wife and I thought we heard, "Knock knock knockin' on Debra's door." - Submitted by: Bob Young
Bob Dylan's, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knockin' on Kevin's Door
The Real Lyrics:
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
The Story: As sung by my 5 year old nephew at the time it was released. - Submitted by: Sue T.
Bob Dylan's, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knockin' on Kevin's do-oo-oh
The Real Lyrics:
Knockin' on heaven's door
The Story: My brother's name is Kevin, and I used to sing this to him. My mom would ask me to get him for dinner , and I would go to his bedroom door, and sing 'Knock, knock, knockin' on Kevin's do-oo-oh.' This particular day, his friend Gregg was over (who I had a majaor crush on), and when he heard me sing this,he fell out laughing. Gregg stayed for dinner, and kept looking at me and when he caught my eye, would mumble und his breath 'Knock, knock....'. he may have thought I was the biggest dork, but he got over it, because we have been married for 12 years. Still to this day, he'll ask me, 'Hey, let's invite Knock-knock over for dinner.' - Submitted by: Maureen
Bob Dylan's, "Knocking On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knocking on Everett's door.
The Real Lyrics:
Knocking on Heaven's door.
The Story: Actually my dad misheard these lyrics. One day he told me that he could never figure out who the hell Everett was! He was so shocked when I told him it was Heaven, not Everett. - Submitted by: April Davis
Bob Dylan's, "Knocking On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Rock, rock, rocking on heaven's door
The Real Lyrics:
Knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door
The Story: This is from the vh1 made for tv movie Strange Frequency. A teenage hitchhiker says that she heard a band sing 'rock, rock, rocking on heaven's door. The driver later says that it's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door.' - Submitted by: Suzanne
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lady Elaine, come lay on my big brass bed
The Real Lyrics:
Lay Lady lay, lay on my big brass bed
The Story: I was only 4 or 5 and I thought he was singing about lady Elaine from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. - Submitted by: Christina Bauer
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lay across my big breast, baby.
The Real Lyrics:
Lay across my big brass bed.
The Story: My husband has a huge chest. After we'd had an argument, I sat in my room playing that song over and over, thinking of that big chest. I was really disappointed when I finally read the lyrics. - Submitted by: Diana
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You can have your Pekingese, too.
The Real Lyrics:
You can have your cake and eat it too.
The Story: I was a child when this song came out and thought it perfectly reasonable that Bob Dylan was allowing the lady to keep her dog. - Submitted by: Cathy Conwill
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady, Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lay across my puppy grass bed
The Real Lyrics:
Lay lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed.
The Story: What can I say? I was in elementary school when this song was popular. - Submitted by: HoosierEm
Bob Dylan's, "Lay lady lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lay upon your funky grass bed
The Real Lyrics:
Lay upon your big brass bed
The Story: I returned from my book club meeting last night-- we'd read 'Positively 4th St'-- and was in bed with my husband, re-working some Dylan lyrics to include our dogs. When I sang 'funky grass bed,' he really cracked up. 'Well, those are the actual lyrics,' said I. He insisted it was a brass bed, which I thought wasn't nearly as poetic. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am-- I've had that image of a woodland clearing, and one of those great youthful trysts in nature. Who needs another big brass bed? - Submitted by: Maria Jette
Bob Dylan's, "License To Kill"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Man has invented his doom
First step was touching the womb.
First step was touching the womb.
The Real Lyrics:
Man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon.
First step was touching the moon.
The Story: This was Bob's Christian period, so I didn't know if Bob was refering to abortion or to simply being born. (He not busy being born is busy dying). Then I found the lyric was 'moon'... ¿Qué? - Submitted by: bobsboots.com
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Like-a completa-nong
The Real Lyrics:
Like a complete unknown
The Story: I'd sung this for years thinking it was an Italian type 'flavour'. A nong at that time meaning 'an idiot or fool. I was over 50 before I found out what the correct words were. - Submitted by: Robbie
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Through the bumps of time
The Real Lyrics:
Threw the bums a dime.
The Story: My son, then about 10 (he is now 23) , thought this was the lyric when he first listened to the song. We thought it actually would have done just as well as the original. - Submitted by: Michael Perlin
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You threw the bums a pie.
The Real Lyrics:
Threw the bums a dime.
The Story: I once sang this song (correctly) to a group attending a church-based mother and daughter banquet. I had focused so hard to learn the words and the chords that I never really 'heard' the words until that very moment. The daughters loved me, the mothers wanted to kill me (until I started to sing a Frank Sinatra tune 'It Was a Very Good Year' then they loved me too.) - Submitted by: Merlin MacUser
Bob Dylan's, "Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack O' Hearts"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town.
The Real Lyrics:
Rosemary combed her hair and took a cabbage into town.
The Story: I'd always heard "cabbage" instead of "carriage" until I found a lyrics site to check for the real lyrics. And, well, "cabbage" in this context makes just as much sense as Cinderella's pumpkin! - Submitted by: Karen Smith
Bob Dylan's, "Make You Feel My Love"
The Misheard Lyrics:
When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one to dry your tears,
And there is no one to dry your tears,
The Real Lyrics:
When the evening SHATTERS and the stars appear,
And there is no one to dry your tears,
And there is no one to dry your tears,
The Story: Astonishingly, this incorrect lyric has been perpetuated by artists such as Adele, and by the Sony website acting as the custodian for Bob Dylan's intellectual property. Make no mistake, though. The correct word is "shatters", NOT "shadows". Don't let anyone trick you into thinking otherwise. Dylan is using imagery to poetically convey the transition from evening to night as if the evening (sun setting) sky is a pane of opaque glass that, when shattered, reveals the starry night sky behind it. Just what the heck is an "evening shadow" anyway?? Think about it... - Submitted by: Truth Advocate
Bob Dylan's, "Memphis Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh Mama, can this really be the end? To be stuck inside a robeel with a messy bruise again!
The Real Lyrics:
Oh Mama, can this really be the end? To be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues again.
The Story: My son used to belt his out when he was 3 year old. - Submitted by: Deb
Bob Dylan's, "Murder Most Fowl"
The Misheard Lyrics:
'Twas a dark day in Dallas, December '63
The Real Lyrics:
'Twas a dark day in Dallas, November '63
The Story: I kept on thinking about this based on the song "December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)" by the Four Seasons, which was really based on the end of Prohibition in December 1933, but set 30 years ahead of that time. In this song, it talks about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Bob Dylan's, "Rainy Day Women "
The Misheard Lyrics:
They stone you when your set down in your grave.
The Real Lyrics:
They'll stone you when your set down in your "FAV"
The Story: People just simply have it wrong--it is Fav not grave - Submitted by: Jeff Cuneo
Bob Dylan's, "Shelter from the storm"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Nothing really matters much
It's Du Malone that counts
It's Du Malone that counts
The Real Lyrics:
Nothing really matters much
It's doom alone that counts
It's doom alone that counts
The Story: Been wondering for ages who the hell this Du Malone character was supposed to be - Submitted by: Al
Bob Dylan's, "Simple Twist of Fate"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And stopped into a strange hotel where the Neon run in fright
The Real Lyrics:
And stopped into a strange hotel with a neon burning bright
The Story: Many, many years ago whilst playing Blood on the Tracks, my very little sister asked "Who are Neon?". "Never heard of them". "You have, you know ... they run in fright". - Submitted by: Eli Gregory
Bob Dylan's, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Don't wear sandals -- the California scandals!
The Real Lyrics:
Don't wear sandals, try to avoid the scandals.
The Story: This song is so ripe for mishearing; I'm surprised to find only one entry. I've submitted all the lyrics I thought I'd made sense of. However, there are many more that I just had to let go. I could never even make a guess. Such as: "ring bell, hard to tell if anything is goin' to sell". I still listen to this song and don't hear anything coherent there! - Submitted by: Luca Grella
Bob Dylan's, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Six time users
Hanging around the fetus.
Hanging around the fetus.
The Real Lyrics:
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters.
Hang around the theaters.
The Story: Bobby D. always had a way with words, so I didn't think twice before posting those as an example of lyrics with obscure meanings on usenet in April 2002. It didn't take long for someone to correct me. It was embarrassing. - Submitted by: Don Miaw
Bob Dylan's, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
The pump don't work,
'Cause man is just a handle.
'Cause man is just a handle.
The Real Lyrics:
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handle
'Cause the vandals took the handle
The Story: My parents were alternative lifestyle sorts and fans of Dylan's from an early age. Though they were really disappointed when he became an evangelical Christian. My Dad is into kooky stuff like Gnosticism and looks for esoteric deep meanings in all kinds of crap. So he thought this was like some really deep comment on human nature or the meaning of life or something. It probably is if you smoke enough pot! - Submitted by: Caitlin Lion
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a crepe.
The Real Lyrics:
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe.
The Story: I thought he came up with a different way to say he was staring at the lady's chest. I was sort of disapointed when I found out what he really said. - Submitted by: Kristen Giglio
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She was standing in back of my chair
Sayin, 'Jimmy, don't I know your name?'
Sayin, 'Jimmy, don't I know your name?'
The Real Lyrics:
She was standing in back of my chair
Said to me, 'Don't I know your name?'
Said to me, 'Don't I know your name?'
The Story: Whenever I listened to this song, I would comment on how she obviously didn't know his name, since it's not 'Jimmy'. Nobody corrected me. I found out when I searched online for the lyrics. - Submitted by: Sarah
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Wondering if she'd change it all,
If my hair was still red.
If my hair was still red.
The Real Lyrics:
Wondering if she'd changed at all,
If her hair was still red.
If her hair was still red.
The Story: I had always had a problem with this. I kept hearing if *my* hair was still red, would she change it? And it disturbed me, deeply. But what I think disturbed me even more was picturing Bob Dylan with bright red hair. - Submitted by: SRK
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up in Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She had to settle for thing she owned
The Real Lyrics:
She had to sell everything she owned
The Story: She was worse off than I thought- I thought she merely had to make do with what she had rather than selling even that - Submitted by: Joe Perkins
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up in Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She never did like mama's homemade bread
Papa's bacon wasn't crisp enough
Papa's bacon wasn't crisp enough
The Real Lyrics:
She never did like mama's homemade dress
Papa's bank book wasn't big enough.
Papa's bank book wasn't big enough.
The Story: I was showing this page to my brother, and he offered this version that he had misheard. - Submitted by: noisyparker
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up in Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Tiger Muffin Blues (Title)
The Real Lyrics:
Tangled Up In Blue (Title)
The Story: First time I heard this on the radio. Reception wasn't so good, back then. - Submitted by: Robert Woodrow
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up in Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on the docks that night
Both agreeing it was best
Abandoned it out west
Split up on the docks that night
Both agreeing it was best
The Real Lyrics:
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
Abandoned it out west
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best
The Story: Thought I knew what he was singing for thirty years, but give me a break: it was Dylan singing! - Submitted by: Paul Felton
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up in Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We drove that cow as far as we could Abandoned it out west Split up on the docks that night Both agreeing it was best
The Real Lyrics:
We drove that car as far as we couldAbandoned it out westSplit up on a dark sad nightBoth agreeing it was best
The Story: Cows are driven in herds, usually out west - Submitted by: Mark McSweeney
Bob Dylan's, "Tell Me That It Isn't True"
The Misheard Lyrics:
They say that you're benzene with another man.
The Real Lyrics:
They say that you've been seen with some other man.
The Story: I was listening to a Bob Dylan CD that my sister was playing, when this song come on, a song I didn't remember having heard before. The words, "They say that you're benzene" resounded big time in my ears. It had me thinking "What the heck?". Listening to the rest of the song clued me in to what the real words might be. But checking a lyrics site was what it took to make me sure. - Submitted by: Lydia Helton
Bob Dylan's, "The First Noel"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Bob is the King of Israel
The Real Lyrics:
Born is the King of Israel
The Story: In the ill-fated and ill-conceived "Christmas in the Heart" album, on the first chorus he seems to sing, "Bohn" (with a "lazy" r) but at least one radio host and a few friends are convinced that it sounds like "Bob". In the final stanza, he definitely changes to a definite "born". - Submitted by: Richard
Bob Dylan's, "The Weight"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Take the Lord off Granny.
The Real Lyrics:
Take a load off, Annie.
The Story: Singing enthusiastically along with the radio one afternoon, my little sister belted out 'Take the Lord off Granny' Then she thoughtfully asked my mother, 'How much the Lord weighed?' She thinks 'grannies aren't that strong'. From the mouths of babes! - Submitted by: Mirabelk
Bob Dylan's, "Wedding Song"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the whore
The Real Lyrics:
Dried the tears up from my dreams and pulled me from the hole
The Story: I really believed strongly, that in this dedicated love song, it was meant the way I (mis)understood this: the woman of his dreams changed his life and pulled him away from the whores, means stopped him to go to prostitutes. I was even rather shocked and disappointed, when I read the real lyrics (there were no lyrics printed out in the original LP!). - Submitted by: Dave Gleeman
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