Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Queen

The Story: We were in an Art class, and someone was singing along with this rather loudly. We all heard and burst out laughing. Needless to say, we now pull 'Dr Evil' poses whenever we see them! - Submitted by: Lovecat

The Story: Hmmm.. I was singing along to this song with my dedicated Queen-fan friend and i sang 'Silly me' louder than her and she went mental. Now every time the song is mentions she mumbles 'silly you' under her breath..:) - Submitted by: Anastasia Levine

The Story: I was sitting in the car, and I turned my 'Innuendo' album to this track. All of the sudden I hear Freddie's voice saying this, and I was shocked. As soon as I heard it, I thought I had misheard him, then the next line 'She used to be a woman with a hotdog stand' confirmed my suspicions for me. I thought it was kind of funny, but looked up the lyrics, and no, it's 'a stick' in his hand. I think that my way actually makes more sense. - Submitted by: Sara Mercury

The Story: I sung it out loud. I sounded crazy. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Sounded like it was either a kind of mansion or a kind of mattress - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: ...as in, the orientation in which buttered toast never lands when you drop it. - Submitted by: AdmiralMercurial

The Story: I was listening to another one bites the dust and, even though I knew most of it, there were like a few lines that I didn't know, so I read all of the lyrics, and the lyric I thought, was actually wrong. - Submitted by: Steven

The Story: My three-year-old son thought this song's title was 'The Duster Song' and kept asking us to play it. We couldn't fingure out what he meant About three months later, it came on the radio. Then, he came running in yelling, "Dad, dad! The Duster Song!" as they were singing the chorus, "Another one bites the dust(ter) and another one's gone, another on bites the dust(ter)". - Submitted by: Ed

The Story: My little sister and I were on a car journey. When I had put this song on, she proceeded to draw me a picture of a boxing duck. In all seriousness, she sang along quite happily about fighting ducks, until I showed her the title on my ipod. She still sings about ducks, though! - Submitted by: Nat W

The Story: My husband had a friend growing up that swore the words were not 'another one bites the dust'. To this day, he still sings them wrong. - Submitted by: Karrie

The Story: I sung it this way at my talent show (the first one) and no one knew what I said! Anyway I think I had the most applause. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: My husband and daughters had an ongoing argument about it because I was CERTAIN he was yelling he was adopted to let everyone know why he was so troubled in this song. My husband thought he was saying, "Call the doctor!". Never imagined it was, "Bite the dust, yeah!" - Submitted by: Tracie Berny

The Story: It wasn't actually me that misheard this. It was my 8 year old daughter, who asked my mother, 'Mum, why isn't he going to bite the doctor???' - Submitted by: Terrianne

The Story: My 5-year-old daughter asked why they were singing, 'I'm never gunna bite the doctor.' - Submitted by: Terri

The Story: I always thought it was a song dealing with motor cycles so the brand name "Malaguti" seemed to make sense to me... - Submitted by: Franklin

The Story: (Croatian / Bosnian / Serbian / .. - A man named Radovan throws boards.) Really common misinterpretation in the Balkans. - Submitted by: crowiz

The Story: I heard it as shut up and I sung it like this at the talent show. OHH YEAAH SHUT UP - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: The sound effects helped with that since the “tiger” sounded like a roar and the “I’m being abucted” had a UFO sound after it. - Submitted by: RPGamer

The Story: So I was around 8 and my older brother would have been 11 when we were in the back seat on our way to FL for a family vacation when this song came on. The way they said Dust Ta like it was 2 words I could not make out at all and it sounded 100% to me like another one buys a Datson. When singing along my brother tried to correct me being a pesky know-it-all and I knew what I heard and we fought tooth and nail about the lyrics to that one line. I being never wrong and since I heard it with my own ears never wavered and we got in trouble so bad for fighting about it my Dad had to pull the car over. Years later in my early 30s I heard the song again but this time I could actually hear dust-a and of course I knew it couldn't be about a car as that didn't make since. I understand now how it all works and that I also have issues sometimes if someone doesn't accentuate their words but I still haven't told my brother he was right and probably never will. Also it makes me still a little angry that they couldn't be bothered to say the words correctly in the song as Dust-ta isn't a word and should have been just dust. Who says dust ta for dust anyway. Maybe I should tell my brother he was right but he probably would not remember any of it now but I will never forget how upset and strong that I felt I was right at the time. Finding this post actually makes me not feel so bad as some of the things others have heard is just crazy...:) - Submitted by: Lisa

The Story: In México, some people thought that was the real lyrics - Submitted by: Averak Mandalorian

The Story: Ever since I have heard this song I always thought in the chorus he is talking about buying a Datsun and that he’s adopted. - Submitted by: Ron

The Story: I misheard it as gibberish and I was like....was he drunk when he sung this? But it was the 80s so....yeah. - Submitted by: Alyssaz

The Story: My friend loves Stranger Things and has been telling me about a song about Stranger Things that she has heard in which Eleven fights Dustin. I had no idea what she was talking about until this song came on and she was saying, "That's the one, that's the Stranger Things song!" and singing "Eleven fights Dustin!" over and over again. - Submitted by: Phoebe

The Story: So I'm going to do this for my talent show in a few days and it will be crazy. - Submitted by: a

The Story: I was about 21, & Freddie Mercury says "dusta" not just dust, so I couldn't quite make it out for my first few hearings. - Submitted by: Vicky Les

The Story: One of my jobs on the soccer team at college was making mix tapes (yup, I'm old) for away games. I put this one to pump us up. So this song came on and I was showing off and belting it out. I was particularly moved by the, "Shoot the ducks, I'm adopted!" line and after I yelled it out the van broke down in laughter. I pumped them up with what everyone tells me are misheard lyrics. I'm still not sure... - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: Sudafed was suggested on the radio long time ago. - Submitted by: Mary

The Story: At first, I thought it was 'steam rolls verily,' like John Deacon (who wrote the song) was trying to riff on Shakespeare. But then I said 'No, that's too silly.' Like 'steam rolls merrily' makes any more sense. I continued thinking that was the lyric for about 10 years. - Submitted by: Miracle

The Story: This is just the way it sounded to me. - Submitted by: Mark

The Story: It made sense at the time. I thought it was about the military... - Submitted by: Mike

The Story: Why......I dont know. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: The guy who screwed up the lyric was French and couldn't speak much English. He explained that he and his band had been singing the lyric 'Mama, just killed a bear' for a couple of years! Hilarious imho. :) - Submitted by: Fletchman

The Story: I sung the this song in a talent show. When I got to this line, I sung it all wrong. Everyone thought I was being funny and started laughing. I went bright red and ran off the stage! - Submitted by: Betty

The Story: Had heard this in an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos that had a montage of videos featuring people on bicycles to this song. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I remember this from an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos, and have now heard this recently in a Lyft commercial, so I am submitting this here. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: When I first heard that song in AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos), I cracked up loudly because of this accompanying a musical montage about people falling down or riding foolishly on their foot pedal-powered transportation. I wrote this misheard lyric because it would be a great to replace the word bicycle repeated three times with tricycle so I could make even youngsters laugh. - Submitted by: WhizkidF

The Story: Used to think that it mentioned automakers. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I always heard it as SHUT UP I SAY HEY MAN...ETC - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: When I heard this I listened with a slightly dirty mind to find any hidden innuendos and I misheard this one. I thought I KNOW THE BODY LANGUAGE THEY TALKIN ABOUT - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: My friend at university honestly believed that this was what Freddie was singing--- and wouldn't be convinced otherwise! It's true though, albatrosses are pretty frightening. - Submitted by: laura bellamy

The Story: I assumed that the protagonist's name must be 'Vince Miller'. - Submitted by: B Webb

The Story: From when I first heard this song in 1976 until today (8 Sept 2004) I've thought it was '50 ways the wind blows'. I still don't think it sounds anything like 'anyway the wind blows'. - Submitted by: Iain Simonds

The Story: every time I listened to this up to the age of about 7, I used to think that it was Freddie Mercury singing "Ashaww", And my dad would play along and sing it with me at the end of the song. - Submitted by: Jonny.F

The Story: I thought “bada-boosh” was just a nonsense/scat phrase they made up. - Submitted by: Hu’s On First

The Story: My mother was surprisingly into this track at the same time as I was which given her musical taste ran to Nana Mouskouri was a bit of a surprise. I'll never forget the first time I heard her interpretation of this lyric though...we were in the kitchen with the tape playing and she was baking in her pinny (apron!) I dropped a tray of biscuits in shock! - Submitted by: Juliette

The Story: My little sister heard it. - Submitted by: QueenFanatic

The Story: This one - I'm not making this up - was a question in a Mensa-produced quiz book. The question was 'Can you name the song with the line...?' and there it was in black and white. I mean, sure the song is pretty weird overall; and you could believe that that was the original lyric if you hadn't listened to it too closely. But surely Mensa (the association of the world's smartest people) would be able to check that before it went into a quiz book. Kind of makes you wonder... - Submitted by: Haz-Man

The Story: Actually this one, is one of the lyrics my close friend thought it was in the 70s! Couldn’t convince her otherwise!! - Submitted by: Sue T.

The Story: I got into an argument with my sister who was convinced that it was "bees licked my tub" and that Brad was a devil when she heard this song. She still thinks that 2 years later, even though I've shown her the actual lyrics. - Submitted by: Lily Wolfham

The Story: I know it's not really a lyric, but the song title. But I thought it was still really funny. My brother who is sixteen was on the internet and I asked him to look up the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody. His reply was 'Since when do you like Bohemian Rap?' I started laughing because m brother has heard the song plenty of times on the radio. He just never new the name of it. He thought I was talking about some new kind of Hip hop. A Bohemian Rap cd. - Submitted by: CT

The Story: My husband swears this is the correct pronunciation. When I laughed at him he got really p.o.'d and threw about 6 pillows at me. - Submitted by: luvs2tat

The Story: I first heard this song in heavy rotation when 'Wayne's World' came into theatres. i was watching mtv with my older sister and the line I thought was about 'Bubba' came on. I asked my sister why anyone would write a song about some guy named Bubba and she started laughing at me, and then she finally told me the real lyrics after she caught her breath. Since then, I have never been able to listen to that song.ever again. - Submitted by: Sandi The Glamm Slamm Goddezz Of Noize

The Story: I heard this the first time I listened to it. Still have no idea why. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Freddie Mercury really needed the Pepto and some Trojans! - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: Maybe that's why I had that dream where I drank half a Corona and stole a car - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I always heard it right. But I can easily imagine it misheard this way- especially with the parody back during the 2004 election. - Submitted by: Scandia

The Story: I just now saw the correct lyrics now in a Pearls Before Swine cartoon. Thank you Stephen Pastis. - Submitted by: Old Comedywriter

The Story: I did try to sing along with the video, about ten years ago. My wife heard what I said, stopped it, looked at me with a very puzzled expression, and asked me: "Peekaboo?" - Submitted by: Cristian

The Story: I'm from Denmark, and one night my boyfriend and I were translating some different songs in to Danish. We agreed pretty much on what everything was supposed to be, but when my boyfriend started to sing 'Got a moustache' in Danish I broke completely down in laughter! He'd been bragging about how well he knew this song and then he'd always thought they'd been singing about a real Spanish guy with a moustache, dancing fandango. - Submitted by: Caroline

The Story: This is my misheard lyrics from back in December. My mom bought me a CD that had this song and we were listening to it after my Christmas concert while my dad was getting gas. I was singing along and just belted it out! The next day I found out it was "Spare him his life from this monstrosity." I'm 16 and have Autism, some hearing, and some vision problems and I LOVE Queen! - Submitted by: Queen #1 fan

The Story: This was the only lyric I couldn't make out in the song and I thought he was scared of eating pork sausages because his family was poor. Then someone told me the proper lyrics. - Submitted by: davester

The Story: My dad would listen to Queen over and over and over again when I was younger. One day, after listening to it for the upteenth time, I thought the song was about a guy who had just given up...who was caught. So I heard the song like "little high, little low, hit me where the wind blows...doesn't realy matter to me.." I, in my mind, was all, "He's such a depressed, sorry shell of a git, that it doesn't matter to him weather or not he gets b**** slapped!" I am of course a fan of Queen now. ;} - Submitted by: Robin

The Story: A friend of mine sang this on Karaoke! - Submitted by: Donna McCormack

The Story: I used to go round singing "hit me with the windows, doesn't really matter to me" as a kid until my parents asked me what that even meant and why anyone would even do that. - Submitted by: Dermot Glennon

The Story: Sounds French. My friend heard this. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: The question before the phrase asks "let him go". The obvious answer is I will not, the song is called Bohemian rhapsody, Bohemia was an area of German speaking Austria (it is now part of Czechoslovakia). The song references other essentially South western European figures, Scaramouch, (a comedy figure in Italian operetta) Galileo, Figaro and the word magnifico are all Italian. The whole feel of the song stems from the opera of Italy the classical music of Austria. The term for describing someone as Bohemian specifically refers to the French belief that gypsies came from that area and traveling artsy unconventional folk were acting out an almost gypsy lifestyle. Use of a German phrase to emphasise an authoritative refusal was a logical supposition, giving all these facts, Also I have never heard the word Bismillah before seeing a video of misheard lyrics in Rhapsody, only TODAY. I'm 51 so I've known it as a refusal in German from I first heard it, played on Top of the Pops. By the way it is the ONLY word in Rhapsody I have ever got wrong. I struggle to hear the many examples given here. It is all very clear to me. - Submitted by: Delana Wenbe

The Story: Thought I heard German - Submitted by: Alice

The Story: My friend heard this and told me. I told him the real lyrics and he was like..WHATS A SCARAMOUCHE - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: 60 years old and I just found out the real lyrics are not what I've been singing for over 45 years! - Submitted by: pkking

The Story: I was only eleven when I misheard that one. Needless to say, I thought that the 'poor boy' regulary committed incest as well as going around and shooting people in the head for no reason. I was a little disappointed with the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Jack DeRippa

The Story: Just when I thought that, decades later (even after this song was re-released in the 90s), that Gullah Gullah Island premiered on Nick Jr., made me think of Binyah being mentioned in this song. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I thought the point was the captors were ridiculing the request to be let go. - Submitted by: Gene Torisky

The Story: It was actually a guy in my class who got it wrong. I said, 'Bismillah, no we will not let you go.' and he goes, no, it's 'Makes me laugh, my Dad told me.' Apparently his Dad was wrong, and I still make fun of him (and his dad) to this day! - Submitted by: Sara

The Story: Sounds like a person going from dude to lady or going from Daman to Dem (Demi) if you think. I didn't hear it but my friend did when I sung it at karaoke. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: When I heard this song when I was little I had no clue what it was about. In time I began to understand parts of it. I liked the song since it started out slow and then changed so much by the end that it sounded like a whole new song. Anyway, the way I heard the part was that the guy's mother had killed somebody. So it showed how messed-up his life was. I thought he was so messed-up and depressed that he was going to kill himself after leaving and going far away. I figured the song was about how he was telling people what had gone on in his life and also letting his mom and people know what he was about to do. It was a sad song in any case. It wasn't until I wanted to figure out how much of the song I had misheard that I realized that he had killed the man and now was going to get away to avoid punishment (or so I now understand it to be). I never would have guessed the part I had misheard all along was different. - Submitted by: Unknown_face

The Story: First I thought it was 'Mama just killed herself' but then it wouldn't fit that she put a gun against his head, so I listened more closely and imagined it was 'her babe' whom she killed. Finally I understood 'her dad', so, in my Rhapsody almost the whole family is dead by now - Submitted by: Lydia

The Story: I was listening to this music and I thought: 'I can't believe that lady cut his guts out and put it in his face!' I told that to my brother and he laughed at me. So I looked the words up, and I found out. - Submitted by: NeikoSi

The Story: My dad told me he and his friend with the last name Miller always sang this lyric as "Miss Miller" because they'd misheard it as such when his friend was in the car. - Submitted by: Ryan

The Story: The person who thought she heard this had no idea who Miss Miller might be. - Submitted by: Gene Torisky

The Story: My father loves this song, and he would always hum it. For the first time, I heard him sing it, he got half of the lyrics wrong. He didn't know why our entire family was laughing at him for 3 days. - Submitted by: John

The Story: My mom and I were listening to this song, and she asks me what they're saying. I tell her 'Bismillah' and she goes 'Who's Miss Miller?' - Submitted by: Tygerlily

The Story: I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but in my Rhapsodiacal tale, the mother is a homocidal maniac who's been recently killing men left and right and using her son's gun for some reason. My friend Josh later informed me that it was the son, not the mother, who had killed a man. - Submitted by: Bryan

The Story: My mother used to play Queen a lot when I was growing up, and I never knew exactly what this song was about. Since I misheard this lyric, I began to think as a child that the song was about being sick over people and getting arrested. If I weren't mistaken enough, I thought that the heads spinning around each other on the video were there to represent dizziness and sickness! - Submitted by: Ocean-Sirius

The Story: I once sucked in helium from a balloon during an opera concert in a vineyard, then stood on the table and sang this. (It was a gamble, but it brought the house down.) - Submitted by: Paul Welsbny

The Story: I got in trouble for singing it when I was 11. - Submitted by: titaniumlegs

The Story: I heard it at work and somebody said, did he say banana? - Submitted by: Beagle

The Story: The radio was acting up (static) and could only make out the vowel sounds. - Submitted by: Tim H.

The Story: I was playing this song, and a friend asked what the words were. I said 'Scare a moose, Scare a moose will you do the fandango?' Neither of us realized it for like 4 or 5 years. You kinda had to be there. - Submitted by: that depends....

The Story: Sang it in public for karaoke - Submitted by: Doug

The Story: Its not really about the lyric but I think it's kind of funny. Imagine sitting in a physics class and then from up the back you hear my friend and me going 'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide' Then my other friend, whose voice is the deepest I've ever heard going 'no escape from reality'. It sounds pretty damn funny. - Submitted by: boac89@gmail.com

The Story: 9 year old daughter sang this - Submitted by: Lynda

The Story: I was 3-years-old when I heard this misheard line come up in the middle of the song. When my mom heard me sing it 7 years later, she said, "What does brushing your teeth have to do with killing someone?" - Submitted by: Melissa

The Story: Not original -- I saw this one in a "Misheard Lyrics" category at a bar trivia competition. - Submitted by: AdmiralMercurial

The Story: These lyrics actually came from a video I watched. It was where there was this guy at a bar and he kept hearing food in the songs. - Submitted by: Pickle Rick

The Story: I love to sing along, and sometimes have to do my best with the lyrics. I don't remember ever feeling guilty or sorry about doing this. - Submitted by: MARY JO MARTINEZ

The Story: I watched this on a video - Submitted by: Caranime

The Story: My friend was singing it off key and I'm like what are you saying bro? - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: When I misheard this lyric, I was in an algebra class, and my teacher was as evil as a devil, so I just kinda assumed they were singing about her (she was old enough!). - Submitted by: Anthy Himemiya

The Story: I heard it in the car and screamed elder poop. Lmao - Submitted by: Kash

The Story: Despite learning the songs lyrics, I’ve ALWAYS misheard this particular segment of the song because of the way ‘beelzebub’ is sung at this part of the song. In spite of this being one of my all-time favourite songs I STILL can’t help but remember how I used to totally mishear this segment. - Submitted by: John

The Story: All I can say is that I was 8 when it came out and it made sense to me, considering that it seemed to be about a condemned criminal. - Submitted by: Jim Annison

The Story: Their is really no story about this misheard lyric, I just hear a "though" how ever Freddie is actually saying "No". This could be from the way that Freddie pronounces the lyrics because his nose was clogged at the time Bohemian Rhapsody was being made. This may have affected the way Freddie pronounces words such as "No" to "Though" and etc. You might be wondering of how I know that Freddie's nose was clogged? Well, while listening to one of Freddie's vocal stems in Bohemian Rhapsody multitrack, I can clearly hear Freddie breathing through his mouth and not through his nose, I also noticed that when he was gonna do a high note like in the "Mama, Oooh" part, he takes really really big breathes because he doesn't breath to his nose but he breathes through his mouth. So theoretically, this misheard lyrics is mainly because Freddie cannot clearly pronounce words while having a clogged nose. - Submitted by: Lord Gaara

The Story: Well, I am from the USA, and I wondered if maybe Queen was doing a shout out to one of our founding fathers who did not fear lightning either. - Submitted by: Scandia

The Story: my hubby is a child of the 60's and teen of the 70's while I'm a few years younger than him. One night while watching "Wayne's World together, we sing this song with the characters from the movie and he sings the above line. I crack up and he looks at me like "What?!" For once I beat him on the lyrics of a song from his generation!! (He was a music major in college lol) - Submitted by: beechcat

The Story: Sounded like Freddie Mercury was referring to the kid from the Life Cereal ads... - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: Heard it while driving and burst out laughing - something told me I was hearing it wrong, and as it turned out, I was. - Submitted by: Steve

The Story: When this song came out there was a radio DJ in Chicago named Steve Dahl who referred to his listeners as "insane coho lips" or "insane cohos" for short . So it was a familiar phrase the first time I heard the opening line of the song. - Submitted by: Jim

The Story: I always heard it as hot girl fever and it makes sense because hot girls give you fevers. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: My brother was getting into Classic rock and was always playing this and "Another One Bites the Dust" all the time, I always thought that Freddie was singing that. And I was only 10 at the time. No I'm fully obsessed with Queen. - Submitted by: McKenzie

The Story: I misheard this as a kid growing up, thought those were the lyrics for two decades until literally today when I looked them up - Submitted by: D.

The Story: Heard this in a Budweiser commercial recently. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I heard this in a TON of commercials since 2016. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I sung it as racist guy at recess. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I was listening to this with my mom. She doesn't like Queen; but for some reason, she tries to figure out the words when she hears the songs. Suddenly she asks, 'Who's smoking?' I had no idea what she was talking about, and she replied, 'Well, that's what he's saying, isn't it?' I told her what the words really were, but she still insists it sounds like 'They're smoking'. - Submitted by: tygerlily

The Story: I first heard this lyric when I bought it at a local store. I listened to it and I thought it was the misheard lyric above. I suddenly thought 'Large women arouse him?' if you catch my drift. Then on a trip listening to Queen, I sung the lyrics and my mother corrected me, making me feel embarrassed already that I got the lyrics wrong in the first place. - Submitted by: Solidgameboy12

The Story: It wasn't me who misheard this, it was my grandmother. She heard me listening to it, and asked my mother to tell me to stop playing racist songs. - Submitted by: tygerlily

The Story: I got confused since the song "All About That Bass" originally had "booty" whereas the clean version says "beauty" - hence why it made sense to hear "booty" instead of "beauty" in this song. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: My college roommate (El Noel) was an avid Queen fan. He misheard these lyrics for years until he finally learned the real lyrics, providing us with years of laughter. - Submitted by: Milt Panas

The Story: I gave my wife such a hard time, telling her how foolish her interpretation of the line 'get on your bikes and ride' was. Later I was to learn I was the fool. - Submitted by: John

The Story: I told my friend Nate and he said DA BONER and my other friend and myself our jaws dropped and Nate said please don't tell on my - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: For the past nearly forty years I thought my misheard lyric was correct until this morning. - Submitted by: Mike Tammaro

The Story: It really does sound like he says this in the song. I'm not kidding. I was wondering who in the seventies would say that they had 'more b*****s and 'hoes', I thought that was restricted to modern days. Until I knew the lyrics, it sounded nothing like 'mortgages and homes'. - Submitted by: Sara Mercury

The Story: Well, I first heard the song back in my teenage, when I was obsessed with Arnold Schwarzenegger. - Submitted by: Chang

The Story: I never saw the movie, so this interpretation seemed logical. - Submitted by: Gregory J. Orme

The Story: I didn't realise I'd been singing this wrong all these years until just now when I saw the real lyric on the front page of Am I Right! - Submitted by: Chris M

The Story: My husband has mercilessly mocked me about this for years. Mum misheard "warlock and ajax"... - Submitted by: Zoe

The Story: My dad sung the incorrect lyric for years. And he did it with bravado, seemingly oblivious to the non-sequitur. - Submitted by: Chad P

The Story: Someone I found out had heard "universe" as "uterus" in another song, so it made sense here. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: Been hearing this line ever since I heard this song for the first time. - Submitted by: Cngc

The Story: I swear it had to do with "White Wedding" by Billy Idol that did something like a red wedding! - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I misheard this so badly....... - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Mr Reid was a math teacher of mine. I guess I was too absorbed in my math homework when I was listening to the Queen CD, because I would swear that's what I heard. - Submitted by: Rio

The Story: Came up at a family singalong. Obviously a subtle jab at Putin, we decided. - Submitted by: Headlaw

The Story: Thought it was about an unstuffed bird - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I put this song with my dad in the car. He mistook it to be about a cheeky Russian rather than rushing headlong. - Submitted by: Chris D

The Story: Driving along in the car with my wife when decided to sing along to this and couldn’t understand why she was laughing so much. - Submitted by: Ken Thomas

The Story: I thought the line was " But I want to play B sides" because the song is about breaking free and I assumed Queen was saying that listening to the B side of a 45 record would be breaking free of what most people do, which back then was listening to the A side of a 45 record. - Submitted by: Beth Ann Gehres

The Story: I did not know any English when I was young (grapefruit is the same word in German, but pronounced a little bit different). I learned the original lyrics when I learned English, but I still like mine better - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: I managed to convince my sister that he was saying 'I'm an unsightly man' and didn't learn that it was wrong until I looked up the name of the song :-) - Submitted by: Stephanie

The Story: I'd only ever heard this song on the Live Killers cd, so it wasn't that easy to understand anyway. I asked my friend if she thought I was right. ( I was sure I had to be wrong because it sounded so stupid) She agreed with me. I finally decided to look up the words on the Internet ( and I still haven't told her what they really are). - Submitted by: tygerlily

The Story: No particular story. For 30 years I thought Freddie said "Evil", not "ego". Love both versions :) - Submitted by: Valentin

The Story: My best friend loved this song and used to sing along as it was played on the radio.But there was one thing she couldn't understand, and that was why Queen couldn't pronounce Cadillac. She really thought they were singing about a Cadillac car. - Submitted by: ulrika lindgren

The Story: I was 9 years old when I first heard the song on the radio. I started singing it in class the next day. Everyone seemed to believe those were the real words. Weird! - Submitted by: Jk

The Story: I'm not eating my Fritos. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I thought he’s sad but refuses to let it effect him too much. - Submitted by: Javier G. Madrigal Jr.

The Story: I thought since freddie mercury was gay he was saying this. - Submitted by: ne

The Story: I have no idea how I misheard this and it makes so much more sense when I learned the real lyrics. But now I can't correct myself. - Submitted by: meanderling

The Story: Battlestar Galactica. - Submitted by: Doug H. Nuts

The Story: Thought the line was intended ironically. - Submitted by: Hugh

The Story: With the name 'Killer Queen' I thought it was about a despotic monarch like Mary I. - Submitted by: Colin Slater

The Story: I've listened to this song since I was a kid, never really paying attention to the lyrics since I was in love with the overall sound. One afternoon I decided to learn the lyrics and in the process of listening repeatedly started to wonder how Freddie Mercury knew about the internet before it was invented. Take that Al Gore! - Submitted by: Scarlet

The Story: I have just found out while reading this site. I can't believe I was singing the wrong lyrics for all these years. - Submitted by: Silken

The Story: As a kid I was afraid of being conscripted and killed for no reason when I got older (Vietnam was just ending when this song came out). Since the Vietnam war had no discernible purpose, I thought the military existed to cull youth and control counter-culture (this was the era of anti-youth sentiment when rock music wasn't universally accepted - even banned in many quarters, and still associated with rebellion in the eyes of conservatives). Much of pop music at the time did deal with these topics. So, I thought this line referred to what mornings at boot camp were like! - Submitted by: Jeff

The Story: These are nonsense words but it is how the song sounds to me - Submitted by: Paul Rothbart

The Story: I sung it and no one knew what I was saying. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I played it during dinner and my dad looked at me with a weird face. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: With my dad in the car, we noticed this and laughed for miles. We rewound and played the tape over and over. My dad almost wrecked the car. - Submitted by: Holly Moore

The Story: Alternately, I though it might be "she keeps mowing a shadow", but then I decided it must be "moe". I was a pop-hungry kid when this came out. - Submitted by: Jeff

The Story: Sorry, could this replace my previous submission, as I forgot the quotes on the last line. Apologies, Davo - Submitted by: Davo

The Story: I thought 'moet' was a type of wine and 'chandle' was short for chandelier. - Submitted by: Colin Slater

The Story: The misheard is better. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I don't think I got ANY of the right words to this song. - Submitted by: Scooby Tuba

The Story: I wasn't a big champagne drinker as a kid but even at the time these seemed strange objects to put in a cabinet. - Submitted by: Chaz

The Story: Someone caught me singing it, then asked what 'mole weed' was. - Submitted by: Sina

The Story: Have heard it this way forever, and my ear still can't hear them say "Killer Queen". I always wondered why they didn't call the song "Class Queen." Finally realized I had the lyrics wrong when I checked on the Internet. - Submitted by: James Owens

The Story: At one time, I thought I heard "clean" as "queen" so I brought this up. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: Due to the mention of Marie Antoinette earlier in the song, I thought this lyric sounded appropriate. I just thought that Mr Mercury was pronouncing guillotine as 'Jillotine'. - Submitted by: Big Paul

The Story: I thought it was about Mexican food! - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I had the volume low while listening to Killer Queen. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: It is my first. - Submitted by: Marcello

The Story: I thought they were actual words, not meaningless "Dee do de de" so I tried to decipher it and could not come up with anything better than Mean old lady! That too makes no sense. - Submitted by: Kenneth Lees

The Story: Once again, this was from my mom. I just bought the album this was on the day before. We're listening to this in the car when she says, "Did he just say 'Put me in the cellar with a nutty bar'?" I couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell her the right words. - Submitted by: tygerlily

The Story: My mum asked if Freddie was singing 'Down in the dungeons with Peters & Lee'! Peters & Lee were a singing duo who won on 'Opportunity Knocks' around 1974 and hit No. 1 in the uk with 'Welcome Home'. Lennie Peters was the blind male half and Diane Lee was his light-voiced partner.* - Submitted by: pickle*

The Story: In around 1978, the Australian series 'Ben Hall' was on TV. Ben's wife in the series was called Biddy, and I assumed Freddie Mercury was referring to someone called Biddy at the end of 'Now I'm Here'. - Submitted by: pickle*

The Story: A contributor notes: Strange as it may seem, they actually *do* say fried chicken! It's well known in Queen fandom that they were messing around in the studio and decided to throw in that little joke. It's also shown on a documentary I was singing it in a car with one of my friends. He thought it was funny... but in the end I did convince him I was correct. - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: When I was filmed on karaoke as a little girl singing fried chicken - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: I swear it had to do with the song "I Want to Break Free". - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: This was actually misheard by Roger Taylor (according to footage from a documentary on Queen). They were recording the song in the studio and Freddie said the lyrics didn't scan with the music. Roger Taylor told him they DID and he sang something like: 'Ta-ta-ta just one true vision!!!' about which Freddie said 'Of course it fits like THAT!!!' I thought that was funny... (No offence Mr. Taylor, I'm a big fan!) - Submitted by: Riekiebol

The Story: Whenever hockey is played, or whenever I watch a hockey game (which is seldom, especially as of the time I submitted these lyrics), I still tend to use this song as my 'unofficial' not-so-hard-core song of the extremely hard-core sport. - Submitted by: Ian McLinn

The Story: I dunno what the blank is. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I kind of thought he said mic (microphone), because it made sense with open mic. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: The song I remember hearing in Highlander: The Series (even though it started as a film where this song originated). - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I thought they were just namedropping themselves! - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: For a long time I thought the lyrics were referring to Marty McFly from the Back to the Future movies. It seems they're not. - Submitted by: Roberto

The Story: I sung it like crazy and my dad wondered what I said. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Listen closely to the chorus. The song title was changed after it was recorded, per Roger Taylor. The phrase "radio gaga" is not repeated twice. The first line is clearly, "all we hear is, radio caca," and the third line, "radio gaga." - Submitted by: Doughnuts

The Story: I work at a medical office building. The loudspeaker usually is turned down in the midst of the building’s reverb, people and such. - Submitted by: Jay

The Story: I think it's a shoutout to War of the Worlds but I like the misheard lyric better because chocolate. - Submitted by: Dayna

The Story: I don't know what the actual lyrics are because I've misheard them for years. - Submitted by: Jessica Sterikoff-Smith

The Story: This booboo was said by my friend Sarah. She was listening to a mix I made that had this song on it. She asked me what the song was with these lyrics on it, and I just gave her a very confused look. When I realized what song she had misheard, I pointed and laughed. To this day she still insists that the lyrics she misheard are better than the real ones! - Submitted by: different sort of freak

The Story: I initially thought Queen had made up a new word, 'shamocy,' a combination of 'sham' and 'fallacy.' - Submitted by: Quentin Opping

The Story: I actually thought this is what they said before the bombing actually happened. - Submitted by: Joe

The Story: This was actually sung by my little cousin. While listening to a Queen 'Greatest Hits' cd, little Dougie asked for the song with the chickens in it. Not knowing what he meant, I asked him, 'What chickens?' My cousin gives me a look that plainly says, 'Duh!' and sings/yells: 'I challenge the mighty tight hens and their stupid doors! That song!' - Submitted by: Elfie

The Story: I actually thought this is what they said before the bombing actually happened. - Submitted by: Joe

The Story: It doesn't help that this song comes right after "Get Down, Make Love" on the album "News of the World". - Submitted by: Amanda

The Story: I kept hearing it like this for like 3 years and wondered what it was about the crocodiles. I then read the right lyrics somewhere, but can't get the old version out of my head, and I still sing it like that lol.. - Submitted by: slightly mad

The Story: My mum would always mishear this. Maybe Fred was in the habit of giving partners love bites (hickeys), but I don't know. - Submitted by: pickle*

The Story: I thought they bought a Russian! - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: We put it in for a whirl in the day I got Queen Greatest Hits 1. Now my little sister thought he said "I work till I ache my balls" and I laughed like crazy. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Doesn't everybody want a crocodile? - Submitted by: Benno

The Story: This is what my 3-year-old self wanted to hear when listening to this song...still hear it that way 25 years later. - Submitted by: Tim

The Story: Sounded like some reference to a Billy Joel album and title song. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: I was listening to the song completley unaware that the band members names were being called out, until I looked the lyrics up on the Internet. What a fool I was! - Submitted by: christina

The Story: Rayquaza is a legendary Pokémon from the third generation. Though its name is pronounced "Ray-KWAY-zah", I have always thought of it as "Ray-KWAH-zah" and this is what I thought they were saying in the background. - Submitted by: AdmiralMercurial

The Story: Spoken in the background during the "Ha, ha, ha, hello" section in the middle. - Submitted by: AdmiralMercurial

The Story: I always think that they're giving a shout out to Star Trek, no matter what the actual words are because it sounds like that. - Submitted by: dayna

The Story: I wasn't me hearing it, it was my sister who heard and and said "Shouldn't they be saying England" and I told her the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Heard this on the radio last year and heard Gacha Life. - Submitted by: Caranime

The Story: Molesters live forever! - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Gordon Downie is the lead singer of the Canadian band The Tragically Hip. - Submitted by: AdmiralMercurial

The Story: Your mistakes are fat, you've been abused and shelfs and kids are in your face. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: Just heard it wrong. - Submitted by: Weirdo

The Story: Our whole class used to sing 'pollution' when we were about 8 years old from lyrics that a teacher gave us to sing in a concert...only years later I found out the line was very wrong! - Submitted by: Kaz

The Story: I’m sure it’s actually a different version not the usual commercial version. - Submitted by: Mike

The Story: Freddie quotes from Frozen - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: We used to have Robbie Williams playing in the car as a family, and I always used to sing that line at the top of my voice, thinking that it was a brilliant idea for Robbie to pay for his juice, in my defense, how was I to know that 'Dues' is even a word. My mum still laughs whenever the song comes on. - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: 27 years on Earth and I was today years old when I learned that what Freddie wrote isn't as "run it in your face" as what I thought - Submitted by: Dayna

The Story: Finally got it at 35... - Submitted by: Eric

The Story: You can't eat with your eyes so you will be a zombie! - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: I always heard it as Manson day not sure if it refers the the Manson Family or not. - Submitted by: Alyssa

The Story: That's just what I thought I heard and I love to sing along to songs, so I sang about cheddar in someone's face. - Submitted by: Jillian Hanschen

The Story: My husband blithely sang this lyric as we drove along...to my amazement. When I finally stopped laughing, I set him straight, but have never stopped wondering what other bizarre lyrics may lie within. You always find these things out when it's too late. - Submitted by: Emily Canter

The Story: I was only about 5 or 6 years old and I was always listening to this song whenever it came on. I would always crank it up when it came on. I would start singing it and my parents would just start laughing and laughing. I would get mad. When I got my first CD player, I would sing it and then my parents and my friends would start laughing and I didn't know why. One day, we all sat down at the computer and we looked up the lyrics and I got really embarrassed. - Submitted by: TJ Mallory

The Story: My son was fascinated by vacuum cleaners as a baby. When he learned to crawl, the first thing he headed for was the upright to examined it. As we began his education into the musical 'classics' (well, at least classics to us), it made perfect sense to him that someone would compose a great song about a vacuuming. - Submitted by: Franki

The Story: I heard my husband singing this in bed one morning while listening to the radio. He seriously thought that's what Freddie was singing. Needless to say when I corrected him and he realised his mistake we both fell about laughing. - Submitted by: Timi Zhuo

The Story: I swear it was about Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley. - Submitted by: Cody Finke

The Story: This makes no sense. - Submitted by: Alyssa