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!).
A Proper Introduction to Gene Autry: Don't Fence Me In album at Amazon.com
He's got Jeremy and Tommy
He's got jelly beans for Tommy
The Story: I thought this was about two boys in the same line! - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Olive, the Other Reindeer
All of the other reindeer
The Story: What made this lyric - "All of the other reindeer" - into a mondegreen - "Olive, the Other Reindeer" - into a book whose title character - Olive - misheard "All of" as "Olive" and said "I thought I was a dog...I must be a reindeer". This was later turned into a television special starring the voice of Drew Barrymore as the title character. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
You'll go down in his storey!
You'll go down in history!
The Story: I always thought that a storey was a kind of stall in a stable for reindeers. - Submitted by: P H Erie
As they shouted out with Gleem
As they shouted out with glee
The Story: Actually this was my mom's misheard lyric when she was little. Gleem used to be a toothpaste brand. We still sing it this way - Submitted by: Gleem
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw him
You would seem to say it blows
Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
Had a very shiny nose
And if you ever saw it
You would even say it glows
The Story: I was 5 and my sister and I were singing it and I really didn't know the words. - Submitted by: Patrick
Up on the housetop reindeer fall
Down comes could old Santa Clause
Up on the housetop reindeer pause,
Out jumps good old Santa Claus.
The Story: I literally sang the song like this all my life, it never occurred to me that I was singing it wrong until I was in college and in the car with friends around Christmastime and this song came on the radio and I sang along. That resulted in a lot of laughter and the realization that my version of the song resulted in what might be the death of Santa. - Submitted by: Nerwen Aldarion
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.