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!).
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Connie Francis album at Amazon.com
Of Mung mice who veneers
Among my souvenirs
The Story: At my first hearing of this, I thought there must be some noted kind of mice called Mung mice, perhaps from China or somewhere. Maybe, I thought, they were fabled mice for being clever, like being able to put pretty veneers on something. My sister thought I was crazy for reading something like that into the song. Then she told me the title of the song, which naturally pretty much settled the matter. - Submitted by: Amber Wayland
'Cause everybody's somebody's fool
Everybody's somebody's baby.
'Cause everybody's somebody's fool
Everybody's somebody's plaything.
The Story: For years, I thought myself thoroughly familiar with this song. I would never have doubted that 'baby' was the correct word at the end of the lines cited above. Then just a few days ago, I heard a karaoke singer singing the song and clearly singing 'plaything', where I thought surely the word was 'baby'. Since karaoke singers sometimes change the words around, I thought surely that was what was happening. But just to make sure, I started looking at the monitor during the second chorus. I was surprised to discover that 'plaything' was actually on the screen. But karaoke discs don't always get all the words right, I've discovered. So I decided I'd search lyrics sites to make sure. Entering the couplet above into a google.com search, each way yields 116 hits when 'plaything' is entered. But none at all when 'baby' is entered. So that makes it pretty certain beyond doubt that 'plaything' is the correct word. Interestingly, my discovery makes the song even more cynical than I previously thought it was. For 'everybody's somebody's baby' would refer to romances that turn out happy in some cases. But 'everybody's somebody's plaything' implys that all get caught up in disfunctional relationships. [Ed.'s note: Glad you got that all off your chest, Peggy. ;)] - Submitted by: Peggy Pollock
I'm Mr. Lincoln
I'm just a lookin
The Story: Thought it was a patriotic song. I mean it was almost the Fourth of July in 1964,The Civil War was about a hundred years ago, the Civil Rights bill was about to pass big time in the Senate, and one of the big hits at the 64 NY World's Fair was a pavilion called 'Illinois: Land of Lincoln' where I think a lifelike Lincoln robot 'talked' to the people. So why not? - Submitted by: Bob Alinkofsky
You mixed me up for good like loganberry tart
You mixed me up for good right from the very start
The Story: I didn't discover the correct words till I was 70. - Submitted by: Marea
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
