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!).
16 Biggest Hits album at Amazon.com
The cabarets and honky tonks -- their flashing signs and vibes --
A broken heart to lose itself in the glow of city lights.
The cabarets and honky tonks -- their flashing signs invite
A broken heart to lose itself in the glow of city lights.
The Story: It took me several times of listening to these lines to figure out the correct lyrics. When I did figure them out I checked a lyrics site to see if it agreed with what I figured out, and it did. The reference to "their flashing signs and vibes", my first guess at what the lines were saying, seemed quite feasible at first. - Submitted by: Karen Smith
The cabarets and honky tonks, their flashing signs and vibes,
A broken heart to lose itself in the glow of city lights.
The cabarets and honky tonks, their flashing signs invite
A broken heart to lose itself in the glow of city lights.
The Story: I'd listened to this song quite a few times, with "and vibes" being the best guess as to what I heard at the end of the first line above, where the actual lyric there turns out to be "invite". "Vibes" could sort of fit the overall meaning there, but I wondered about a couple of things. First, how old is the word "vibes", per se? I perceive that somehow it isn't all that old, and thought it probably wouldn't be old enough to be in this song. But perhaps even more than that I don't associate the word with jargon expected in classic country music. Finally I got curious enough to look up the lyrics on a lyres site and that's when I found "invite" to be what the actual lyrics say there, confirming my suspicions that this just wasn't a kind of song in which one would much expect the word "vibes" to occur. - Submitted by: Karen Smith
Father Good Times
For the good times
The Story: I first heard this song years ago, and thought 'Father Good Times' must be some semi-mythica impersonation (kind of like 'Mother Nature'). I assumed the singer was imploring 'Father Good Times' for help. Years later, after not hearing it recently, I heard my boyfriend sing it, singing the words clearly. I told him I thought it was 'Father Good Times', and we both had a good laugh over that. - Submitted by: Jennifer Thompson
Clustered mind
Close to mine
The Story: Once again, why we mishear “mine” as “mind” and vice versa. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
I received your imitation, toodle-oo
or
I received your imitation, Lucy Liu
or
I received your imitation, fruity loops.
I received your invitation to the blues.
The Story: First hearing the song from a disc player a few rooms away, I struggled to make out what it was saying, with a few of my attempts represented above. On having it played over while I listened up close, I caught the real meaning. It is no surprise that it was obscure from a distance, as 'invitation to the blues' is not a particularly familiar or obvious metaphor. - Submitted by: Stacy Poole
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
