Making fun of music, one song at a time. Since the year 2000.
Check out the two amIright misheard lyrics books including one book devoted to misheard lyrics of the 1980s.
(Toggle Right Side Navigation)

Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Desmond Dekker And The Aces

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!).

Desmond Dekker And The Aces', "Israelites"
The Misheard Lyrics:
It's a miserable life.
The Real Lyrics:
Poor me, the Israelite.
The Story: Heard this first over the car radio in the 1960s, where the fidelity was not so good. The diction of the singers was not so good either. With the lyrics understood as 'It's a miserable life,' it seemed a depressing song. - Submitted by: Barrett Kalellis
Desmond Dekker And The Aces', "The Israelites"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Ohh oo my misery life
The Real Lyrics:
Poor me, the Israelites.
The Story: Was I a bit depressed? - Submitted by: Willemien
Desmond Dekker and the Aces', "Israelites"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I don't want to be a black bunny and hide...
The Real Lyrics:
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde...
The Story: Virtually all of the lyrics of this song were unintelligible to me, for 45 years. This particular line always struck me as the weirdest, as my brain "heard" it. Yesterday, it occurred to me to look up the lyrics on the Internet. Boy, was I surprised! - Submitted by: Wendy Rosenblum
Desmond Dekker and the Aces', "Israelite"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh - My ears are alight!
The Real Lyrics:
Poor, Poor, Poor , Poor, me Israelite.
The Story: I read this some years ago in another list of commonly misheard lyrics. It stuck in my mind. - Submitted by: Veronika Makk
Desmond Dekker and the Aces', "Israelite"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Wake up in the morning, workin' and breast fed.
Soldered every mouse and beef head.
The Real Lyrics:
Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, Sir.
So that every mouth can be fed.
The Story: I heard this song as a kid and really thought this is what they sang. It took the Internet to show me the correct lyrics. - Submitted by: Jim Craig
Indexes: [#] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z]

New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.

Submissions!

Would you like to Submit some Misheard Lyrics for a song We're always looking for more entries.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: amIright.com makes no claims to the accuracy of the correct lyrics. All correct lyrics are copyrighted, amIright.com does not claim ownership of the original lyrics.