Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Grateful Dead

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!).


Truckin' Up to Buffalo: July 4, 1989 album at Amazon.com
Grateful Dead's, "Eyes Of The World"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Wake up to find out that
You are the eyes of a squirrel.
The Real Lyrics:
Wake up to find out that
You are the eyes of the world.
The Story: My good friend Joseph, who was just becoming familiar with the Grateful Dead and their music, was singing the song thinking it was the funniest song he ever heard. - Submitted by: Lisa Laffing
Grateful Dead's, "Eyes Of The World"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Wake up to find out
You are the thighs of the world.
The Real Lyrics:
Wake up to find out
You are the eyes of the world.
The Story: I tattooed 'thighs of the world' onto my left thigh, thinking those were the right lyrics. - Submitted by: Jerry
Grateful Dead's, "Hell In A Bucket"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Please come and join the ride.
The Real Lyrics:
At least I'm enjoyin the ride.
The Story: - Submitted by: Karl B.
Grateful Dead's, "I Know You Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Blue collar auto rain
or
Blue collar oughta rain.
The Real Lyrics:
Cool Colorado rain
The Story: I heard this on the radio, and wondered what they could mean by 'blue collar oughta rain' or 'blue collar auto rain'. I asked my uncle about it, and he told me it was probably 'cool Colorado rain'. We checked on the Internet, and guess what? He'd guessed the correct lyrics, even though he was thinking about a different song. It turns out at least two different songs talk about 'cool Colorado rain'! - Submitted by: Amber Wayland
Grateful Dead's, "Row Jimmy"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Look out Julie down below
The devil's doing the dog ass slow.
The Real Lyrics:
Look out Julie down below
The levee's doin' the do-pas-o.
The Story: Not really, but after hearing it a couple hundred times, and singing along, I finally realized the my version made absolutely no sense and I checked to see what the words actually were. - Submitted by: Jeff Hollerman
Grateful Dead's, "Stella Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Still love you.
The Real Lyrics:
Stella Blue
The Story: First Grateful Dead show I ever went to was March 1992 at the Palace of Auburn Hills (Michigan). I was familiar with the basic 'greatest hits' of the Dead, but as any seasoned Deadhead could have told me, they tend to play a lot of different songs in concert and do not always play the obvious, well known ones. Anyway, late in the second set, Jerry Garcia is singing this slow, sentimental song. I cannot make out a lot of the words to it, but it kind of sounds like the oft-repeated refrain might be 'still love you.' So I am thinking that this might be a song about a long term relationship that has its ups and downs, and through it all the two people still love each other, hence the 'still love you.' As I became more absorbed into the Deadhead scene, I learned that this is not really a love song at all, and that the refrain I was hearing (and the title of the song) is in fact 'Stella Blue.' - Submitted by: Jerrybear
Grateful Dead's, "Sugar Magnola"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Plays my chicken when I speed.
The Real Lyrics:
Pays my ticket when I speed.
The Story: When I met my husband he would sing, 'Plays my chicken when I speed', and I would always correct him. He acted like he was totally convinced that he was right. I soon found out it was his way of flirting with me. Well, it worked we have been together for 8 years and married for one. - Submitted by: Jamie
Grateful Dead's, "Sugar Magnolia"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Bakes my chicken when I sleep.
The Real Lyrics:
Pays my ticket when I speed.
The Story: My Deadhead friends howled at my misinterpretation of this song, but the combination of Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia and 58 pounds of assorted drugs makes any lyric a possibility for the Dead. - Submitted by: Eric Cartridge
Grateful Dead's, "Sugar Magnolia"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Jump like a Wildebeest in four wheel drive
The Real Lyrics:
Jump like a Willys in four wheel drive
The Story: Even though I knew what a Willys jeep was, it just didn't occur to me. - Submitted by: S Johnson
Grateful Dead's, "Sugaree"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You thought you was the Kufu,
and never could do no wrong
The Real Lyrics:
You thought you was the cool fool,
and never would do no wrong
The Story: Researched 'kufu' when I wondered about the lyric and found it is the name of a Egyptian Pharoh, A/K/A 'Khufu' or 'Cheops', who of course as pharoh could do no wrong... - Submitted by: Rick Jones
Grateful Dead's, "The Women Are Smarter"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Let's rape the women of Sparta.
The Real Lyrics:
That's right, the women are smarter.
The Story: A newbie freind of mine at his first Dead show misheard the endlessly repeated line, and immediately began singing it to himself. After the show, several of us were walking around Berkeley looking for something more to do, while our friend kept banging a stick against things in that peculiar rhythm and repeating his version of the lyrics. After a while one of the females in our group asked him what he thought he was singing. His singing was so bad, that even for such a short phrase and despite the distinctive beat, it was hard to be sure. After he was corrected, he told us that he 'really liked' the song - it 'had a good beat' - but had thought the words were 'a little strange.' For a long time after that, when we went to Dead shows our group tended to congregate in front of Jerry's mic waiting for the song. If it turned up, we would sing our version as loud as we could, hoping to impress Jerry. One day at The Frost i think he actually did hear us, because he scowled very deeply in our direction, and we didn't hear that song at a single show we went to for nearly five years. - Submitted by: billy rainbow
Grateful Dead's, "Touch Of Grey"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Pink light of the morning sky
Looks so phoney.
The Real Lyrics:
Paint-by-number morning sky
Looks so phoney.
The Story: My daughter used the line "pink light of the morning sky" in a college English project as an inside joke. That's my girl! - Submitted by: heynowTK

There are more Grateful Dead misheard lyrics available.

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 Karen. 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.

 
 
ALL NEW!!! The amIright 80's MISHEARD LYRICS BOOK now available.
Find Funny Stuff About a Band: