Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Green Day

The Story: So arse means ass in Irish so- - Submitted by: S away from sassy

The Story: I thought he was talking about being a gangster as a kid (which didn't really make sense to me) so I looked up the lyrics. haha - Submitted by: Victoria

The Story: I was listening to this after one day and started laughing. I was like "Yeah, we know. But we don't need details, B.J." - Submitted by: Nikqua

The Story: An alien came a cross a mashup of songs on Spotify - Submitted by: Corey

The Story: I heard "idiot" - Submitted by: Thomas James

The Story: I thought this was a reference to his bisexuality; and he was saying how homophobic Americans were about it. - Submitted by: r.p.

The Story: I knew that these weren’t the actual lyrics, but I thought about it, and ever since then I can’t hear the real lyrics XD - Submitted by: Ash

The Story: I thought Papa Genda was some old guy that nobody liked, so they started kicking him! - Submitted by: Alex

The Story: When I first heard this song on the radio, I was doing a report on the mind set of Germany during World War II. And in particular, the racism towards other races. - Submitted by: Jean luc Picard

The Story: I was trying to figure out why somebody would smoke dope under a spotlight where just anybody (including police officers) could see them. It just seemed like such a stupid idea since it's illegal and all. When when I finally realized that it said 'behind a smile', I thought, "Ohhhh....now I get it!!!" - Submitted by: Andrea

The Story: A friend sang it while on a mic infront of about 100 people when called on stage during a small local-band gig, thinking it was the correct lyrics. [Ed.'s note: Joss Stone wasn't yet famous, an still in her 'tweens, when this song came out.] - Submitted by: Harakoni

The Story: My stupid boyfriend, who listens to only rap, claims that Green Day is the only rock group that he likes. He was fooling around with my guitar and I caught him singing these lyrics. Not only did I tell him his lyrics were extremely wrong, I was mad because he mentioned Ann Marie, which is the name of a girl he happened to have cheated on me with at one time. - Submitted by: Frann

The Story: When I first heard this song, I thought he was being really rude to his wife. - Submitted by: Mayu

The Story: i play piano and sing with a private tutor. When we did this song i made this mistake so much that she paid me to get it right. I made about 17 dollars. - Submitted by: Addye

The Story: both make sense :') - Submitted by: Giulia

The Story: I was chatting to my friend one day. I asked her, "What difference would wearing cologne make?" She started laughing and soon corrected me. - Submitted by: Katie-Leigh

The Story: That's right, you hear about breaking the law at times, so that made perfect sense. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I'm not sure? I think my ex-best friend and I both misheard it at the same time Billie Joe Armstrong quotes from Walk the Line - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: It also occurred when it came to the phrase "I want my MTV", and we all know what happened here. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I was on the bus with my friend Mike and 'Blvd. of Broken Dreams' was on the radio. He said, 'Why does he want some to pillow him?' I answered, 'What?' And he sang it where he thought it was. It was so funny. - Submitted by: meghan

The Story: This is what happens when the contestant mis-solved the puzzle "I Have the Wine by Johnny Cash" instead of "I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash" on Wheel of Fortune. So it made sense. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: My friend and I like to sing songs together. We were singing this one. I went, 'My shadow hearts the only things that's beating'. Her version went, 'My sweetie's heart the only thing that's beating'. We stared at each other. We both shouted to each other that our lyric was correct. Then this person behind us on the bus said, 'You're both wrong.' He recited the whole thing perfectly! - Submitted by: Bob

The Story: I was listening to the song while half-asleep and I heard this - knowing that train engines aren't usually associated with "boulevards" I looked up the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Anonymous

The Story: My friend had never ever heard the song, so I sung it to her. When I got to the part about the mouse hair, she immediatly said the correct lyric. And she'd never even heard the song before! It was amazing! - Submitted by: WUTDOUCARE

The Story: My daughter always thought these were the correct lyrics, and still insists she's right and that her version makes more sense. Billie Joe Armstrong quotes from Brother Bear - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: My friends and I used to play this song to death when we were younger and I always sung the wrong words, but no one seemed to notice since I'm from a non-English speaking country. So when this song was playing on the radio the other day, I turned the volume up and sung "a lonely bear" from the top of my lungs, just to have my mum laughing her a** off and telling me I'd better go check the lyrics online… - Submitted by: Zoe

The Story: I thought it was this because I saw it on 'Rage' They cut out the swear words so it sounded like 'What's the depth' - Submitted by: Rynn

The Story: Seemingly the "B" in words like "dumb" and "numb" are silent - thus mishearing it another way is common. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I always thought he was either having a stare-down and was going to lose or reflecting the lyrics of the song 'She' by the lyric: 'Scream at me until my ears bleed.' - Submitted by: Alan The Ottoman

The Story: I've heard this song since I was a kid and I always thought it was "cough drops", which confused me to no end. Only just got corrected by my mum about 6 months ago that it was CROSS TOPS. ....After 10 years I'm so embarrassed. - Submitted by: Shay

The Story: I have to admit hearing this song back when I was a hairless prepubescent made ME have insomnia (well, mostly because I listened to it like, NONSTOP). It had lots of lyric that I found a little disturbing and yet such lyrics like the misheard ones also made me laugh hysterically. Case in point: how is it possible to have s—t in your skull? That must feel at least a little disgusting, yet also must bring a sense of humor to people like me. Now that I’m a bit older and less than four months away from turning 14, I decide to re-examine this song because I had regained interest in Green Day’s music (mostly due in part to that message Green Day put on Mars), and when I looked at the song’s original lyrics and compared them to what I thought I heard when I was younger, I nearly died of laughter. They were just that funny... Anyways, it’s nonetheless the song that got me into Green Day [and punk rock in general, along with the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In the U.K.” (you guys should really see my music library - it’s filled to the brim with awesome music)] and it will always have a special place in my heart as one of my all-time favorites. - Submitted by: Logan the Amazing

The Story: Well, I got the album with this song on it and I knew it was one of Green Day's earlies, so I was like okay, I know you want to prove yourself all punk and all but nobody wants to know about you cheating at school. But then I saw a lyric video and I'm like oh!!! Duh,!! - Submitted by: Whatshername

The Story: I overheard it from my older sister's bedroom when I was 10, and the sound was muffled enough to sound like "trash-encrusted"; then when I asked her why those words were in the song, she and my younger sister laughed at me. - Submitted by: James Edward Lewis II

The Story: I own the CD and the lyric book, but I never caught that mistake until I watched 'Storytellers' with the captions on the TV. - Submitted by: Ezra

The Story: Personally, I think my misheard lyric is better than the original, especially within the context of the album's narrative (for those who don't know the album, "American Idiot" tells a story). Particularly, in the arc regarding the main character's drug use, set up in the song "Jesus of Suburbia" (to fall in love and fall in debt / to alcohol and cigarettes / and Mary Jane to keep me insane / doing someone else's cocaine). In direct contrast, when he moves out and leaves for the city befriending St. Jimmy (I subscribe to the different people theory), and begins to realize that a life of drugs isn't actually that fulfilling, and begins to question if this is what he really wants, evidenced in the misheard line: his first proclamation that the rebellion he'd been fighting since his adolescence. - Submitted by: Hunter

The Story: I know people might think I just made up this really random line, but I heard this song about six years ago and have been pondering it since. I knew those weren't the actual lyrics, but it always reminded me of 'the old man and the turnip' this kiddie's book I read when I was little. I think the song would be a lot more intresting if these were the lyrics. LOL! If you actually listen to the song, these words miraculously fit in. - Submitted by: Rage

The Story: Although this seemed like a really silly lyric, once I heard the word 'turnip', I couldn't conceive of any other definition of the word 'fork' and thought those must be the words. It's funny the tricks your mind plays. - Submitted by: Kathy Keefe

The Story: When I first heard the song I always thought that line was about dads being on trial. I wondered why that line didn't really fit with the rest of the song. A while later when I was watching a Seinfeld retropect with captioning, and I saw the line 'dead skin' (when the song was playing over selected clips), the song made a lot more sense. - Submitted by: pikapal

The Story: I was talking to my friend on the phone, and the song was playing in the background. She misheard it as above. - Submitted by: Fishbrain

The Story: Even though I know the real words I can't bring myself to sing them, I've been singing it this way for most of my life - Submitted by: Grace

The Story: I would sing this song in front of my Green Day-crazed cousin. She would look at me kinda funny, then I read the lyrics in her cd case and felt way embarassed. - Submitted by: Hannah

The Story: I always thought Tom was some guy who grabbed some woman by the wrist while they were holding onto the steering wheel because of the fork in the road. - Submitted by: Ashley

The Story: Even though I know the real lyrics, I find this funnier because I'm a Thomas Haden Church fanatic. I wouldn't mind Tom grabbing me by the wrist and directing me where to go! - Submitted by: AngeFaitore

The Story: I thought they were talking about a war or something XD - Submitted by: Roomie

The Story: *sorry, it's rude again - what can I say, I'm hearing-impaired anyway and that's genuinely what it sounds like to me!* - Submitted by: Wendy Christopher

The Story: I was listening to the song, and my mom was sitting in the other room. So then she came into the room I was in and said "What are you listening to?!" And I said "Haha You're Dead by Green Day" And she's all "OH! I thought they were saying "I humped your friends. And sometimes it even sounded like they were saying 'I hopped your fence.' I'm guessing that it sounded that way because she couldn't hear the song properly from the other room! - Submitted by: Stephanie

The Story: This is honestly what i heard because, at the time, because I didn't even know that the song was called 'Hitchin' a Ride'. - Submitted by: BasketCase

The Story: I heard my daughter singing along in the van one day. I had to ask her what she was singing. I laughed so hard, I could barely drive. - Submitted by: Dr

The Story: I live in Alberta, and the only A.M.A. I had ever heard of was the Alberta Motor Association. I wondered why an American band would be singing about it, and why Green Day would want one. - Submitted by: Mayu

The Story: Green day is my favorite band, and after 2 years of singing "fake fart" before Billie becomes the representative of California, my cousin told me the real lyrics. I made this mistake because this part is not in the lyric book. - Submitted by: Eleanor

The Story: I thought that’s why it was called holiday.. - Submitted by: Kakapoops

The Story: I thought this was a reference to the Senate. - Submitted by: fullyarmdvishnu

The Story: I swear I thought “the hollow lies” was “the holidays” with an accent! - Submitted by: Yeet

The Story: I expected to hear them directly knock (George W.) Bush at least once in this song. So I thought maybe they were saying Truman was a better President. - Submitted by: Matt W

The Story: This came from my 7 year old son. First I laughed, then realized he got the word 'f**s' correct. Not so good! - Submitted by: Tony

The Story: Was listening to the song in public when I finally figured out what it meant. Awkward. I had just watched a certain intense scene from the tv series, OZ, where the phrase "Sieg Heil" was used (in an attack against a Nazi). I listened to the song, and had to google the lyrics, which I had always thought were "sing high". At least the way I used to sing the song allowed for that part to be sung publicly. - Submitted by: Wendla

The Story: When I 1st heard Holiday I heard "the company lost the war and did", and I sang that song to someone and it had the mistake and he didn't notice, it wasn't for another year till I found out. Even though it was a tiny mistake, I am very embarrassed about it. - Submitted by: EpicGaming

The Story: Lorna Doones are very popular among older Scandinavian ladies. But, who knows. Maybe they've caught on with the younger, punk-rock set. - Submitted by: Sarah

The Story: I thought 'nan' must have just been short for 'nanny' or something, but it didn't make any sense so I looked it up and discovered how wrong I had been. - Submitted by: *katie

The Story: My little brother was listening to his American Idiot CD and playing this song. I heard the line and suddenly thought, "I didn't know Green Day wrote funny lyrics for such serious political songs." Then I looked up the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Shiru101

The Story: I've been listening to this song on CD, and I was like, 'how does a slice of pizza drown?' (The answer: it doesn't.) - Submitted by: Punkrocker22

The Story: A group of us thought he was singing about his wife's underwear when we first heard this song. We were driving up I-93 in Massachusetts and we just figured Billy Joe had a panty fetish! - Submitted by: Scott

The Story: I tried googling who Regelov was until I found out it was rage and love. - Submitted by: Name

The Story: One day my mate comes into school, shortly after the American Idiot album was released, and sez 'I know almost all the words to Jesus of Serbia now.' We lmao'd - Submitted by: invisibletomato

The Story: To be fair, the real lyrics don't make that much sense either. - Submitted by: greendayfan

The Story: This was actually one my friend thought up. - Submitted by: James

The Story: My friend actually heard this one when the album first came out. We had a few minutes of arguing before I finally convinced him that his interpretation made no sense. - Submitted by: Colin

The Story: Eh, not a big difference. Just something that I thought was a little hilarious looking back on... I'm a huge Green Day fan and I first heard this song in 2014, which was when I was just 9 years old (now I'm 13 and currently in the 8th grade), after American Idiot blew me away and sent me into earlier and later parts of their album catalog. Fun fact: I was born 6 months and five days after American Idiot was released and I felt like songs like "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" really meant something to me. Anyways, after I discovered Dookie, Green Day's first major-label release, I quickly fell in love with songs like "When I Come Around" and "Basket Case". But "Longview" is just the best. Period. And in the words of Robert Christgau, listening to it really "beats masturbation". - Submitted by: Logan the Amazing

The Story: There’s something about Billy Joe’s enunciation of this line - Submitted by: A G

The Story: I kept hearing it as this and I was so confused so I looked up a lyric video online and found out I was definitely not the only one who thought this in the comments. - Submitted by: Sydney Kwiatkowski

The Story: The way Billie Joe says habitual in this song just sounds different. I mean, I thought that people call him a b**** all the time or something. That he was sad about it, so he put it in his song. - Submitted by: Andrea

The Story: I was somehow convinced that was exactly what he was saying so even now I have a hard time remembering to correct myself while singing. ahah! - Submitted by: Babs

The Story: When I 1st heard this I heard "Well, the world is a F**k machine, I'm taking a massive s***" and I was like "wait hold up, what is that line" so checked the lyrics and the line way different, thank god I found out quickly how badly I heard that line. - Submitted by: EpicGaming

The Story: It was one of the first songs I ever heard. - Submitted by: EiffelTowers

The Story: Well, in my defense, the words to this part of the song aren't in the booklet and Billie Joe is singing in one h*** of a strange accent to get 'pride' to rhyme with 'again'. But when I leant this song to my friend Jo, he understood them right away! And I felt pretty stupid. - Submitted by: Az

The Story: Once again, why we mishear "silence" as "science" and vice versa. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: (I just want to apologize if the misheard lyrics offended anyone.) I was listening to "American Idiot" a few months ago; and I thought I heard the frontman say the n-word. I actually had to go back and look at the booklet. - Submitted by: Eva

The Story: Every time I hear this line, I keep hearing "Jenny", yet I hear Jimmy every other time "Jimmy" is said in the song? 0.o - Submitted by: St Jenny

The Story: I literally heard “lizard” instead of loser. I know, right! - Submitted by: Memefaceishere

The Story: I thought this was part of the album's storyline. I also thought this was referencing the song that appears later in this album "American Eulogy: Mass Hysteria / Modern World". - Submitted by: Jecken

The Story: I thought these were the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Arnold

The Story: I saw the video and it was about war. So I thought they talked about trenches. - Submitted by: Dorkus

The Story: 'Top of the Pops' magazine listed the song title as "Wake Me Up When September Comes". Someone then, wrote to them to correct them. - Submitted by: K.y.l.e

The Story: - Submitted by: JM

The Story: Mike (Dirnt) is Green Day's bassist. His nose juts out at about halfway down. And as far as I know, your nose can only be that way if you've broken your nose. It just so happens that that part of the song sounded more like it said, 'Mike's broken nose' instead of 'and the broken homes.' - Submitted by: Billiejoesgirl

The Story: Huele a camarón means “smells like shrimp” in Spanish xD it kinda sounds like that. - Submitted by: xara

The Story: So don't knock at my door. - Submitted by: Gaye Pietrocola

The Story: I was looking through a "Where's Waldo?" book at the same time this song was playing. I was still thinking about Waldo, so I thought Billie Joe was singing (about him). - Submitted by: Punk Bassist

The Story: I've probably heard this song hundreds of times (over many roadtrips when I was a kid), and not ten minutes ago I find out that's not the lyric. XD Still don't know what the songs about, so "Satan knocked at my door" could make sense. How should I know? XD - Submitted by: Laura

The Story: When I got their 'Dookie' album, I looked up the words and I was thinking, 'If he came around to this person's house, why would they search for him?' Then my mother pointed out that Billie Joe meant coming around mentally. - Submitted by: Ariane

The Story: Sometimes it's just too fun to be a billingual French-Canadian surrounded by not so billingual francophones... That was the official version at my High School the whole year. - Submitted by: Spiritual

The Story: You excite me, you walk around without me
Lesbians, there's none of them anywhere
This World, it is rap music and the Sun for yourself - Submitted by: Dudette

The Story: I knew it didn’t really say it, but I thought about it and now I can’t unhear it! Lol - Submitted by: haraS

The Story: I was in 12 or 13 when I heard this song the first time and I went along singing it in school. I ask one of my friends if he had heard the song and he asked me to sing the chorus and I went on with it. I look at him and asked if he had heard it before. He started to lauch and corrected me with the right lyrics. Since that incident I shrug evertime I hear Green Day. - Submitted by: Calvin

The Story: Listening to the song since I was in grade school but can never remember this line because I have to look it up each time. The lyrics just never sound like real words when he sings them so I try to put in syllables that sound similar. - Submitted by: Garfello