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Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Neil Diamond

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!).


"Neil Diamond - 12 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" album at Amazon.com
Neil Diamond's, "Cherry, Cherry"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She got the way to move me, Pajero.
The Real Lyrics:
She got the way to move me, Cherry.
The Story: My mother's a bit deaf. I suggested it might have been from a commercial, or someone who sounds like Neil Diamond sang it, but she swears these are the real lyrics to the song. "Yeah Mum, it's Pajero" :) - Submitted by: Steve Laurie
Neil Diamond's, "Cherry, Cherry"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She's got the weight to move me, yeah
She's got the weight to groove me, Sherry baby.
The Real Lyrics:
She's got the way to move me, Cherry
She's got the way to move me, Cherry baby.
The Story: At the time I first heard this song (about 1996 or so), I also heard Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons' 'Sherry'. I thought Neil Diamond was making a reference to this song in the chorus. - Submitted by: Spencer Griffin
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Arco Supreme that don't ask no questions
The Real Lyrics:
Find us a dream that don't ask no questions
The Story: Arco was a gas station; I thought it mean Arco's Supreme unleaded gas. - Submitted by: Julie
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Arco Supreme that don't ask no questions
The Real Lyrics:
Find us a dream that don't ask no questions
The Story: Arco was a gas station; I thought it meant Arco's Supreme unleaded gas. - Submitted by: Julie
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Cracklin' Rose, you're a straw-born woman
The Real Lyrics:
Cracklin' Rose, you're a store-bought woman,
The Story: I heard the song was about a horse. Made sense to me. - Submitted by: Bilosh
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Cracklin' Rose,
You're a stow-aboard woman
The Real Lyrics:
Cracklin' Rose,
You're a store-bought woman
The Story: Before I knew the title referred to a bottle of wine, I thought this was about a romance between a male and female hobo riding a train! - Submitted by: Charles J. Eckard
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Find a Supreme that don't ask no questions.
The Real Lyrics:
Find us a dream that don't ask no questions.
The Story: When I was 10 I saw the Supremes on TV, so naturally I heard 'find a Supreme' in the lyric when this song came out shortly afterward... (I guess I was desperately trying not to make the grammar of that sentence worse than it already was!) - Submitted by: Zella
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Find us a train that don't ask no questions, yeah
The Real Lyrics:
Find us a dream that don't ask no questions, yeah
The Story: I've always interpreted this line (as I heard it) to mean the singer sought to ride (with his "stow-aboard" woman!) on a train on which nobody cared he was hitching a ride. - Submitted by: Charles J. Eckard
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Find us a train that don't ask no questions
The Real Lyrics:
Find us a dream that don't ask no questions
The Story: After 46 years, I finally find out I was wrong: Thought the singer intended to hop a train whose personnel didn't care if he was on board! - Submitted by: Charles J. Eckard
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Itchin' on a twilight train
The Real Lyrics:
Hitchin' on a twilight train
The Story: He seemed pretty poor to be hopping a train, so I thought it may have been awhile since he had a bath. - Submitted by: Gregory J. Orme
Neil Diamond's, "Cracklin' Rosie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh, I love my rolling judge
You got the way to make me heavy
The Real Lyrics:
Oh, I love my Rosie child
You got the way to make me happy
The Story: You feel 'heavy' after you eat too much at one meal. Maybe his woman made a meal that was so good he ate too much! Belch! - Submitted by: Yummy Yummy Yummy For My Tummy!
Neil Diamond's, "Done Too Soon"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Alan Reed [original voice of Fred Flintstone] and Buster Keaton too.
The Real Lyrics:
Alan Freed and Buster Keaton too.
The Story: I didn't know who Alan FREED was when I first heard this song, and while Alan REED was actually still living I didn't know that for sure. - Submitted by: Randall
Neil Diamond's, "Done Too Soon"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Charlemagne Latham
The Real Lyrics:
Sholom Aleichem
The Story: I was sure Diamond was singing about Charlemagne, whose name I linked, for some reason, with newsman Jack Latham of NBC, or 19th-Century ballplayer Arlie Latham. I had rarely heard of Sholom Aleichem, let alone known how to pronounce his name. - Submitted by: Doug Montgomery
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
A rebel in bluejeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans
The Story: Obviously, I didn't know the song's title or I would have known much sooner than when my husband had a good laugh at my expense. To this day, I usually say, 'a rebel in bluejeans.' - Submitted by: Susan
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And as long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be
Reverend Blue Jeans, babe.
The Real Lyrics:
And as long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans, babe.
The Story: I used to picture a rugged Marlboro-type traveling minister, riding his big brown steed across the plains, wearing a black shirt with Roman Catholic collar, and a pair of blue jeans. Okay, I was only 9 years old and my imaginating was stronger than my hearing. - Submitted by: sondi
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
As long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be
The Reverend Blue Jeans.
The Real Lyrics:
As long as I can have you here with me
I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans.
The Story: As a kid, I just thought Neil Diamond was adopting some stupid persona. That is, being a really humble minister who liked wearing jeans instead of fancy church clothes. - Submitted by: Robert
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Baby tonight
Baby tonight by the fire, all alone, you will die.
The Real Lyrics:
Maybe tonight
Maybe tonight by the fire, all alone, you and I.
The Story: I was a kid when I first heard this song. Not only did I think the artist was singing, 'All alone, you will die,' I thought he was proclaiming himself to be 'Reverend Blue Jeans'. I couldn't figure out why the girl was going to die, because I couldn't really understand anything else he was singing. I thought it was a really scary song. - Submitted by: Michael
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
For Reverend Blue James, babe.
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans, babe.
The Story: I heard a friend singing it like this; and our group couldn't get over it. We laughed our heads off. He knew it as this for about 14 years. - Submitted by: Dave
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I'd much rather be the reverend blue jeans
The Real Lyrics:
I'd much rather be forever in blue jeans
The Story: If you can imagine a 'trendy' priest with clergy gear and a pair of levi's and neil diamonds desperate desire to be him, this song will provide hours of surprising pleasure. - Submitted by: tony
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans
The Real Lyrics:
I'd much rather be
The reverend blue jeans.
The Story: It was my sister who misheard the lyrics. She said she thought the song was about a priest who would rather be dressing casually rather than black all the time. - Submitted by: Michael Watson
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans
The Story: For years, I thought I was the only idiot who had misheard this, until Doug (Keven James) from "The King Of Queens" was heard singing the same lyric. - Submitted by: Sue
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans
The Story: I was singing this all the time as a little girl. And then when 'Taxi' came on in the early 80s, I was about 12. I actually remember when the Christopher Lloyd character Reverend Jim was on. I thought, "Oh! This must be the Reverend Blue Jeans guy!" It took until last year to convince me it was "Forever in Blue Jeans". I was crushed. - Submitted by: Jimseys Girl
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans
The Story: My cousin Mike who lives far away always thought it said that too. - Submitted by: Heidi
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
The Devil in blue jeans, babe.
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans, babe.
The Story: This one took some setup to accomplish. I was six in 1981, when Terri Gibbs's one hit 'Somebody's Knocking' was constantly on the air. It contained the lines: 'Lord, it's the Devil--would you look at him? I've heard about him, but I never dreamed He'd have blue eyes and blue jeans!' So naturally, I assumed that Neil would much rather be 'the Devil in blue jeans, babe!' - Submitted by: darksasami
Neil Diamond's, "Forever In Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
The Reverend Bluejeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in blue jeans
The Story: My college roommate drove me crazy singing over and over all year (insisting he was right): 'The Reverend Bluejeans!! The Reverend Bluejeans!!!' - Submitted by: Martin Novoa
Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I just want to be, Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
I just want to be, forever in blue jeans.
The Story: In the early 90's, I was in college sitting around with a bunch of guys when this song came on. I remember ranting about how stupid the idea was - some minister trying to be hip and earthy by wearing blue jeans around. Well tonight, I got thinking about how stupid this song was and wanted to get a laugh by reading the rest of the lyrics. I got a laugh all right! I didn't know I was wrong about this until just now. - Submitted by: Jim
Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in Blue Jeans
The Story: When I heard it the first time, I thought it was about a casual reverend who led a casual church which didn't want the trappings of a suit and a tie. I thought he just wanted to be a good reverend in blue jeans who accepted everyone regardless of who they were and just lived in blue jeans! I thought it was a great concept - I loved the song. - Submitted by: Emmett Kinnison
Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
The Reverend Blue Jeans
The Real Lyrics:
forever in blue jeans
The Story: When I was 9-10, definitely a song about a trendy minister. When I was about 16 I realised my mistake - of course - "leather and blue jeans" - Submitted by: Andrew
Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Blue Jeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
rebel in blue jeans
The Real Lyrics:
forever in blue jeans
The Story: As a child in the '60s with my transistor radio I had not yet learned to pay close attention to popular lyrics. In my head I still say rebel in blue jeans half the time when I hear the old classic.... - Submitted by: David
Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Bluejeans"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reverend bluejeans
The Real Lyrics:
Forever in bluejeans
The Story: Each time the title of this song is repeated within the song, my then fiancee' insisted to this very day, that it is saying Reverend Blue jeans, even though it made no sense in the context! Hilarious!! - Submitted by: Stan & Eileen Paulauskas
Neil Diamond's, "Holly Holy"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And I run just like a windmill.
The Real Lyrics:
And I run just like the wind will.
The Story: The misheard version is how I heard this line originally. It sounded a bit obscure in meaning, but then so does most of the song! So I puzzled somewhat over a lot of lines. It wasn't until I happened upon a previous mishearing of this line posted on AmIRight that I got around to checking things out about it. On thinking about it, I thought how my mishearing might make more sense than the original. Since the word "run" can mean to function, just as in a car runs (even when idling) or a machine runs. A windmill can run in that sense, as well. So "running" like a windmill could conceivably make sense as a (more or less metaphorical) comparison, better than running (in any sense) "like the wind will". But either way the song as a whole is pretty obscure in meaning either way one hears this line. - Submitted by: Karen Smith
Neil Diamond's, "I Am I Said"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I've got an Antony Stevens side.
The Real Lyrics:
I've got an emptiness deep, inside.
The Story: It wasn't until I couldn't find Antony Stevens on Google that I decided to check the lyrics..wow. - Submitted by: Andy
Neil Diamond's, "I Am...I Said"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I am myself
The Real Lyrics:
I am...I said
The Story: I heard this in a commercial for Volkswagen, so I am submitting this here. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Neil Diamond's, "If You Know What I Mean"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And the radio played like a kind of a tune
As we lay in our bed in the afternoon
Well, we gave it away for the sake of a dream
It was pretty okay, if you know what I mean.
The Real Lyrics:
And the radio played like a carnival tune
As we lay in our bed in the other room
When we gave it away for the sake of a dream
In a penny arcade, if you know what I mean.
The Story: I was about 11 or 12 when I misheard this. Growing up in the 80's in the west, Valspeak phrases like 'pretty okay' and 'like kind of' made more sense to me than penny arcades and carnival tunes. My dad later explained to me what these things were when he heard me singing 'Pretty okay' in the car. And the laying in bed in the afternoon? Well let's just say sleeping in sounds good at any age. - Submitted by: Leslie Copeland
Neil Diamond's, "Kentucky Woman"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Kentucky walnut
She shines with her own kind of light.
The Real Lyrics:
Kentucky woman
She shines with her own kind of light.
The Story: My younger sister and I would hear this song in the car when we were little, it took years to find out the song didn't really say 'Kentucky Walnut'! - Submitted by: Candace Byrum
Neil Diamond's, "Longfellow Serenade"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Writhe, come on baby, writhe
Let me make your dreams come true.
The Real Lyrics:
Ride, come on baby, ride
Let me make your dreams come true.
The Story: Can't you just see Neil in a leather bustier with a riding crop? Actually that image works with the real lyrics as well. - Submitted by: HarryMay
Neil Diamond's, "Shilo"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Shy Love, when I was young I used to call you names
The Real Lyrics:
Shilo, when I was young I used to call your name
The Story: I got this song completely wrong - it's about a lonely boy who has an imaginary childhood friend called Shilo. I thought it was about a man feeling sorry that he'd bullied another kid and called him names when he was young. - Submitted by: Robert Sissons
Neil Diamond's, "Solitary Man"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Belinda was mine 'til the time that I found her
Ballin' Jim and lovin' him
The Real Lyrics:
Melinda was mine 'til the time that I found her
Holdin' Jim and lovin' him
The Story: The misheard lyrics could well have been the original lyrics. - Submitted by: Jerry Attric
Neil Diamond's, "Solitary Man"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I'll be what I am, Silent Temembeh
The Real Lyrics:
I'll be what I am, a solitary man
The Story: I always thought it was about a Native American in the old days from listening to the chorus. - Submitted by: Zach
Neil Diamond's, "Solitary Man"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Summer silver bird
The Real Lyrics:
Solitary man
The Story: As a child in the 1960s, and at that a young one, it took literally several years before, owing to Diamond's rough voice, the lyrics became clear. - Submitted by: Parker Gabriel
Neil Diamond's, "Song Sung Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Selsun Blue, throw it out the window
The Real Lyrics:
Song Sung Blue, weeping on my pillow
The Story: As a kid I used to sing this song, at the top of my lungs, in the back of my mom's LTD on long country drives, staring out the window. I suppose I thought the person no longer had dandruff and threw away their Selsun Blue Shampoo. - Submitted by: Eve
Neil Diamond's, "Soolaimon"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Su- Su-leiman Sule- Sule- Suleiman
The Real Lyrics:
Soolaimon
The Story: I thought it was an ode to Suleiman because of how "magnificent" he was. . IN the early '80s my father listened to Neil Diamond and I thought it was an ode to Suleiman the Magnificent. I was disappointed when it wasn't. - Submitted by: Tatiana Deirdre
Neil Diamond's, "Sweet Caroline"
The Misheard Lyrics:
My clementine, believe it never was
The Real Lyrics:
I've been inclined to believe it never would
The Story: My name is Caroline and my dad would always sing this to me. My nickname is clementine so I didn't think that it was an unusual nickname. So I just thought that Neil Diamond called this girl Clementine. - Submitted by: Caroline
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