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!).
Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 album at Amazon.com
After the Poison Serpant has gone
After the boys of summer have gone
The Story: My Uncle was convinced for many years that 'Poison Serpant' were the lyrics in the song, yes - despite the song actually being called 'Boys of Summer'. One day he was singing along with my Dad and Cousin who are also massive Eagles fans and heard him blurt it out. They both turned to him and gave him some stick to say the least. Everytime I hear the song now I think of him. (He's not dead or anything, it just makes me laugh.) - Submitted by: Adam C.
There's going to be a hard-on tonight.
There's going to be a heartache tonight.
The Story: While listening at work this (then) new song by The Eagles was playing. But due to ambient noise in the work place and poor sound system, I mistakenly heard something different. - Submitted by: Norman Gravely
This smile's gonna last forever
This night is gonna last forever
The Story: I remember hearing this song after my cousin left to go home after spending the weekend with me. I misheard the lyrics as "This smile's gonna last forever" and refused to smile because I was feeling sad that my cousin went home, because I was lonely without him, and he was my friend, more or less. - Submitted by: Isac
And in the master's chambers,
They gather for their feet
They stab it with their killing knives
But they just can't kill the feet.
And in the master's chambers,
They gather for their feast
They stab it with their steely knives
But they just can't kill the beast.
The Story: I used to think "kill the feet" meant to hit the bottom of somebody's foot with a rigid metal slat, such as the step to a backyard slide. - Submitted by: Isac
And pink shampoo on ice
And pink champagne on ice
The Story: It doesn't sound anything like Don Henley is saying "And pink shampoo on ice," but when I listened to the song at the time it was popular, and he said "And pink champagne on ice," it made me think of a glass of pink shampoo with ice, because "champagne" sounds somewhat like "shampoo" because of the "shamp" sound at the beginning of both words. - Submitted by: Isac
Like a dog on the highway,
cool wind in his hair
On a dark desert highway,
cool wind in my hair
The Story: My sister and I always sang along with this song when we were little childs. We really thought the song was about a dog. 2 years ago my sister suddenly passed away. Everytime I hear this song, I remember the good times we shared together and then somehow there's a smile on my face allthough I really miss her. So I dedicate this 'misheard lyric' to my sister Mary. - Submitted by: Willie Kers
My head grew heavy and my side grew damp
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
The Story: I thought the singer's "side grew damp" was a polite way of saying he pissed in his pants, makes sense that he "had to stop for the night". - Submitted by: Kenny
My head grew heavy in my Cyclojam
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
The Story: I spent the first half of my life wondering what a 'Cyclojam' was - I imagined some weird high-end Walkman or something.... and when I finally got around to asking my friends, they thought I had lost my mind! Then they started reminding me of it every time I heard the song... - Submitted by: Mitchell S. Easter
My head grew heavy so I cycled in.
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim.
The Story: The mistake was pointed out to me only after I had sung my lyrics out load in a crowded pub one Saturday night. - Submitted by: Paul Young
On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell euculyptus
Rising up through the air.
On a dark desert highway
Cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air.
The Story: It annoyed me because I didn't recognize the word 'colitas'. So I figured I heard it wrong. I tried to make it sound like 'euculyptus', because I knew that made more sense, as it has a strong smell. - Submitted by: Emma
One smell of kaleep dust rising up through the air.
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sacrodim,
I had to stop for the night.
Warm smell of colitis rising up in the air.
Up ahead in the distance, I saw shimmering light.
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim,
I had to stop for the night.
The Story: Since I was a young boy, that's what I heard. I still sometimes mess it up. - Submitted by: miguelitodoble
Please Bring me my wife
We haven't had THAT spirit here since 1969
Please bring me my wine
He said "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969"
The Story: I thought the line "We haven't had THAT spirit here since 1969" was like no one has wanted to be with their wife since 1969. The fact that they chose to say 1969 added to me thinking that the guy wanted to sleep with his wife...they did say 69! :P - Submitted by: Heather
She had the worst eighties band
She had the Mercedes bends
The Story: This was actually misheard by my dad (Gert), who was an Eagles fan in the 70's, and should know better that a song written in the 70's could hardly be referring to 'she had the worst '80s band' in the past tense .... but anyway. - Submitted by: Casper Voogt
She's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys
That she calls Vince.
She's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys
That she calls friends.
The Story: I had a whole back story on how she'd been in love with some guy named Vince. So she continues to call all her boys by that name. I sang the damn thing at the top of my lungs. - Submitted by: Deb Matheson
So I called to the captain
Please bring me my wife
He said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'.
So I called to the captain
Please bring me my wine
And he said, 'We haven't had that spirit here since 1969'.
The Story: This gives the song a completely different meaning...someone searching for the ghost of his dead wife. - Submitted by: Spiny Norman
The warm smell of Goleta
Rising up through the air.
The warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air.
The Story: My husband (then-boyfriend) went to school at UC Santa Barbara, which is actually located in Goleta. He swore that the Eagles, being a California band, was singing about Goleta, not colitas (associated with marijuana) Boy, did I burst his bubble! - Submitted by: Kim M
There were forces down at Mardi Gras,
I thought I heard them say,
Welcome to the Hotel California.
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say,
Welcome to the Hotel California.
The Story: This song, which seems rather familiar to me by now, was playing on the sound system in the lobby or an establishment, when I heard this passage as per the misheard version above. I thought -- well I don't think I've heard that part before -- the part about "forces dawn at Mardi Gras," and I could venture no guess as to what that line's real lyrics were, thinking surely the song doesn't mention Mardi Gras. So at a loss to guess that line, I googled the song's lyrics as quickly as I could. At least I was right to suspect that the song doesn't really make reference to Mardi Gras! - Submitted by: Karen Smith
They stab it with their steel and knives.
Stab it with their steely knives.
The Story: This misheard lyric appears on one of my karaoke discs. I deleted it from my program as soon as I received a disc with the correct lyrics. - Submitted by: D.j. Ken Steely
Warm smell of colitis
Warm smell of colitas
The Story: I thought this song was about disemboweling someone or something when I was a kid. You know... 'They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast'. Hence, the colitis connection. Pretty gross, huh?? - Submitted by: nolad
What the hell is colitas?
The warm smell of colitas
Rising up through the air.
The Story: I have no idea what colitas are. In spanish, its the smell of asses? Colita = Ass - Submitted by: Isaac
Woolco to the Hotel California
Welcome to the Hotel California
The Story: Woolco is a chain of defunct department stores that closed long before Woolworth's did. And Woolco was a subsidiary of Woolworth's. - Submitted by: Isac
Flies in the Vaseline
Life in the fast lane
The Story: When we were kids, we use to drive our mother mad with loud music. Our mother would get fed up with the loud music. One day, she rushed in the room and said, "It's too loud! What are they saying? 'Flies in the Vaseline???'" - Submitted by: David Di Marzo
I did it with Vaseline.
Life in the fast lane
The Story: When I first heard it, I didn't know who was singing it. I thought this was a punk band singing about sodomy and tuned it out. Weeks later, I heard about some great song called "Life in the Fast Lane". My friends couldn't believe I had never heard of it. You can imagine my face when they played the song and I let slip what I thought the words were. - Submitted by: Bob
Ice In the Vaseline
Life in the fast lane
The Story: Before getting the album, I'd heard the unannounced track get radio play and heard it as a demo disc in audio stores. I always thought Ice In the vaseline made perfect sense in the context of the rest of the lyrics. I was quite disappointed to find the far less witty "real" line. - Submitted by: Ivan Bradley
Life in the Vaseline
Life in the fast lane
The Story: My dad heard me listening to this when it came out, and actually asked me what the band meant by 'life in the Vaseline.' - Submitted by: Jeff Simmons
Lyin' in the vaseline
Life in the fast lane
The Story: As reported by a friend from Atlanta. - Submitted by: Jerry K.
She was terminally gray.
She was terminally pretty.
The Story: I was looking for the lyrics to another Eagles song, and found out that I've always been wrong about these lyrics! Why I thought she was terminally grey I've no idea, except possibly because they only had one thing in common and I assumed, therefore, that while he was brutally handsome, she wasn't much to look at. - Submitted by: Sweet Indigo
Slide in the Vaseline.
Life in the fast lane
The Story: Way back in my senior year of high school in 1979, this testosterone-addled friend of mine, who fancied himself a stud muffin, was actually singing these words. He truly believed them to be accurate. The brain of a horny teenage boy... - Submitted by: Wayne
Why did the bat sing?
Life in the fast lane
The Story: It's just the way I thought the words were back in 1976. I never could figure out as a kid that year why a bat would even sing in the first place, and why the Eagles would even ask why the bat sang, since bats don't sing like humans anyway...lol - Submitted by: Neo
He was two-timing naked,
She was too tired to fight about it.
He was too tired to make it,
She was too tired to fight about it.
The Story: Life in the Fast Lane was a hit when I was about 8 or 9 years old, and I was walking around singing, "He was two-timing naked, she was too tired to fight about it." WHAT?!?! I still don't know how I came up with that at that age. - Submitted by: Kelly Mattei
She was terminally gray.
She was terminally pretty.
The Story: In this era of the cougar, I believe terminally gray makes more sense. Pretty comes out as two syllables (at least in the song). - Submitted by: Jim Wilson
You can't hide from a private eye
[Later]
There ain't no way to hide from a private eye.
You can't hide your lyin' eyes
[Later]
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes.
The Story: I was at restaurant about seven years ago which had really bad acoustics. Since then I thought 'Lyin' Eyes' was titled 'Private Eye' until now. - Submitted by: Sean
You can't hide your giant thighs.
You can't hide your lyin' eyes.
The Story: My 5 year old son, singing at the top of his lungs in the back seat of the car, made his sister choke on her milkshake so hard, it came out her nose. He loved to sing and didn't care what the real lyrics were. Another favorite of his was 'Taking Care of Biscuits'. - Submitted by: Teri
Johnny, come lay me.
Johnny come lately.
The Story: I was writing out the lyrics to this song and I thought these were the actual lyrics. I got my wife to check it over; and when she got to that part, she could not stop laughing. - Submitted by: Spiderman
Seven bitches road
Seven bridges road
The Story: I knew that couldn't be right! - Submitted by: Doughnuts
There's a girl, my Lord, she's a Black Betty Ford.
There's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford.
The Story: My Dad's friend heard this song and actually thought these were the correct lyrics. - Submitted by: Nick Lange
So p**** on the highway
Sure feels fine
And take it to the limit one more time.
So put me on the highway
And show me the sign
To take it to the limit one more time.
The Story: Took a date home one night when this song was new, walked in to her home, and heard her 14 year old sister and friend singing this. - Submitted by: Dave
Some p**** on the highway
Shows me the sign
To take it to the limit one more time.
So put me on the highway
Show me the sign
To take it to the limit one more time.
The Story: While traveling on a bus trip with a church group, they played the song on a boombox. I sang loud and proud, eager to demonstrate my musical knowledge. They never heard from me again. - Submitted by: darkcloud2112
Tequi-la con limon, one more time.
Take it to the limit, one more time.
The Story: I work in a kitchen with a guy who speaks broken English. He heard this somg on the radio. This is what he came up with for the song as he was singing it. - Submitted by: DNA
You can spend all your time making love
You can spend all your love making time.
You can spend all your time making money
You can spend all your love making time.
The Story: I guess I thought that switching the words 'time' and 'love' would be clever wordplay. It was only a few years ago I read the actual lyrics and thought it was a typo. - Submitted by: Dennis
Take it to the Lizards
Take it to the limit.
The Story: I was about three years old when this song came out. My mom tells the story all the time that I would sing "Take it to the Lizards, one more time" - Submitted by: Melanie
B****y woman
Witchy woman
The Story: My co-worker told me about this one. When her son was four years old, she caught him singing these lyrics. Of course, he had no idea what he was singing that was so wrong. She set him straight, though. - Submitted by: Carolee
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.