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!).
Birds Bees & The Monkees album at Amazon.com
Antiques say we monkey around
And people say we monkey around
The Story: Kind of sounded like antiques. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
I once thought of you as a white man on a stick
I once thought of you as a white knight on a steed
The Story: I first heard the Anne Murray version of this song when I was twelve. I couldn't understand why the singer wanted to think about the guy as if he was on a stick but I figured that maybe she was a native American and she hated white men. - Submitted by: Maura NiConnell
A daydream believer and a hog-calling queen
A daydream believer and a homecoming queen
The Story: My wife always says that I'm wrong, but I think that anybody can be a homecoming queen just by being popular, but being a hog-calling queen takes real talent. - Submitted by: Delber Metzger
A daydream believer and her homecoming queen
A daydream believer and a homecoming queen
The Story: I thought Jean was female. - Submitted by: Anonymous
Cheer up, sweepy Jean
Oh, a can of beans
You, oh, came to eat her
And arn't coming clean.
Cheer up,sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen.
The Story: I was belting it out really loud one day, and my sister corrected me. I'm glad she did, since I'd thought the song was about a guy who killed someone with a can of beans or something. - Submitted by: Rosie
Daydream, believe I'm under homecoming queen.
Daydream believer and a homecoming queen
The Story: When I was a kid I thought the line 'under homecoming queen' meant, queen to be, so she is daydreaming that she will be the next queen. - Submitted by: Samuel G
Good times started then with our travel on to Spain
But how much baby do we really need
Our good times start and end without a dollar one to spend.
But how much, baby, do we really need?
The Story: Only found out the correct lyric today!! - Submitted by: Anne
Gypsy bajean
Cheer up, sleepy Jean.
The Story: When this song was played on a commercial, my son asked me about it. He didn't understand the words, so I told him it was 'Gypsy bajean'. Boy, was I wrong. - Submitted by: Noelle
Have some Sneaky Pete.
Cheer up, sleepy Jean.
The Story: Who wants Sneaky Pete? I was asked this. - Submitted by: Basset Hound
Here comes sneaky Gene
Oh, why can't he sing?
Cheer up, sleepy Jean
Oh, what can it mean?
The Story: I give myself my thoughts on Gene Kelly and Gene Autry - they really sang! - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Stirrups in bee-gee
Cheer up, Sleepy Jean.
The Story: I realised my version wasn't correct about ten years ago - when I saw the lyrics written out for the first time. So I've been singing a nonsense rhyme for some 40 years.... - Submitted by: Ed Rybicki
Tear off Jeannie's jeans
Oh, what can it mean...?
Cheer up, sleepy Jean
Oh, what could it mean...?
The Story: When I first heard this song years ago, I cracked up when I heard these lines and knew I must have misheard them. After all, these were the sweet and innocent Monkees! - Submitted by: steve mansfield
The shaven raven calls and it screams.
The shavin' razor's cold and it stings.
The Story: I was hearing this song playing in a store. It is a song I vaguely remembered, but by no means did I have all the lyrics memorized. This line pretty much clicked in my mind as sounding like the misheard version I've cited, but I doubted that to be entirely accurate. Thanks to today's ready availability of song lyrics online, I could easily look up the actual lyrics and compare them to what I seemed to hear. - Submitted by: Dana Thompkins
To a daydream believer and I'm all squeaky clean
To a daydream believer and a homecoming queen
The Story: I actually got into an argument with a friend when I was singing the correct lyrics. He insisted I was wrong until we listened to the song together a few times. - Submitted by: Ken
What's extreme and I rhyme
Like a sheep above my eyes
The shavin' razor's cool and it sings
But it rings and I rise
Wipe the sleep out of my eyes
My shavin' razor's cold and it stings
The Story: Only just realized the real lyrics after 50 years. - Submitted by: Robert Woodrow
cheer-rocks, sleepy g
Cheer up Sleepy Jean
The Story: how I heard it as a kid. lol - Submitted by: mary stewart
When I find my poopshine oh I gotta go or When I find my poop sigh oh I gotta go
When I find my boots I know I gotta go
The Story: For years I could never understand what the heck Mickey was saying here. I was just a kid so I made up what it sounded like. Thank goodness for internet! I finally found the lyrics online and was able to put that decades long mystery to rest! - Submitted by: Stephanie Shuff
I'm a big beaver!
I'm a believer!
The Story: When I was in the car with my godmother, this song was playing, and she started singing "I'm a big beaver!" and I was like "What?" - Submitted by: Rachel
Then I saw her face now I'm gonna leave her
Then I saw her face now I'm a believer
The Story: Listening to this with my sister (who was crazy about Davy Jones), I told her "That's not very nice!" She looked at me like I was the crazy one. - Submitted by: John B
Then I saw her face
And her large b*****
or
Then I saw her plaice
And her large weaver.
Then I saw her face
Now I'm a believer.
The Story: I thought it was a song about Marine life. Then it got kind of scary. - Submitted by: Lev
When I needed sunshine for my brain.
When I needed sunshine, I got rain.
The Story: My mum coined this, possibly thinking the guy in the song suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder! We live in an area where it rains often. - Submitted by: pickle*
Disappointment, heartache on my dreams
Disappointment haunted all my dreams.
The Story: It was more than thirty years after I started singing the wrong lyrics that I finally realized that I had it wrong. That was only after hearing Eddie Murphy sing it as the Donkey in the movie 'Shrek'. - Submitted by: Charlie Buttrey
When I needed suction on my brain.
When I needed SUNSHINE on my brain
The Story: I had to wait until I was much older and in my 60s before I started seeing lyrics sites that helped me figure this out. - Submitted by: Rick Lipary
Take the last trained cockerel.
Take the last train to Clarkesville.
The Story: I first heard this song on a noisy school bus. Not knowing the actual title at the time, I thought Micky was singing about a performing rooster! - Submitted by: Helen Marie
We'll have time for potty-flavored kisses
And a bit of conversation.
or
We'll have time for party-flavored kisses
And a bit of conversation.
or
We'll have time for candy-flavored kisses
And a bit of conversation.
We'll have time for coffee-flavored kisses
And a bit of conversation.
The Story: My initial thought was that it sounded like 'potty-flavored kisses', but surely they must be saying 'party-flavored' instead. So I listened again and decided it might actually be 'candy-flavored', which would seem to make the most sense. I would have been quite less inclined to suspect 'coffee-flavored kisses' as the likely lyric, and never did suspect any such thing until it was possible to look up lyrics online. I think I'd like candy-flavored kisses better than coffee-flavored ones. - Submitted by: Rachel Stedman
Hober reeber sabasoben
Hobaseeba snick
See the rather hopeless hopin'
What did you expect?
Hober reeber sabasoben Hobaseeba snick
Hoba seba sabasoben
Seeber, rabber, hobbersoben
What did you expect?
The Story: Even after I knew that the true lyrics are nonsense words borrowed from one of Bill Cosby's comedy routines (and therefore gave up on trying to figure out the first 2 lines), I still thought the third line was "See the rather hopeless hopin'," which was what it had sounded like to me before I knew about the nonsensical origins of the song's opening! - Submitted by: savethetpc
But for King Zemeeahmiah
Sitting stately on the floor.
The four kings of E.M.I.
Are sitting stately on the floor.
The Story: I wondered for decades who King Zemiahmiah (Zeviahmiah?) was. Some obscure king in the Bible, perhaps? - Submitted by: Melanie Lee
The four keys will be a mile
Sitting stately on the floor.
or
The four kids will be a mile
Sitting stately on the floor.
The four kings of EMI
Are sitting stately on the floor.
The Story: "Why in the world would a key or a child be 5,280 ft long?" was what I thought when I first heard this song. I was so confused that I still didn't know what Mickey Dolenz had written, until I saw EMI in the "Product Mentions' (catagory of amiright.com). - Submitted by: The Rev. A. Palgut
The four kings, oh-me-oh-my, are sitting stately on the floor
The four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor
The Story: Only in recent months have I discovered the correct lyrics -- and it was a jolt to discover not only said correct lyrics, but that they referred to the Beatles! Previously, I thought they were about four kings from a deck of cards who had somehow come to life (like ALICE IN WONDERLAND characters, perhaps). - Submitted by: Keith Hampson
Though being known is wonder, girl
In speaking, I believe.
The being known as Wonder Girl
Is speaking, I believe.
The Story: I thought Mickey Dolenz was telling a girl how great it is to be a celebrity, although it can also be a pain in the neck. - Submitted by: Melanie Lee
And you need no underwear to disguise.
And you need no longer wear a disguise.
The Story: It was my mother who heard it this way; she was a little surprised the Monkees were singing about not needing underwear. - Submitted by: Casey
You know it was always there
And you need no underwear of the sky.
You know it was always there
And you need no longer wear a disguise.
The Story: This is a common new Monkees fan misheard lyric. When I first became a Monkees fan, and thought this, then found out, I found it so funny I could even think it, lol. - Submitted by: Katie
And you'll need no underwear for these guys
And you need no longer wear a disguise
The Story: I knew those could not be the real words, but I still hear them to this day! - Submitted by: Rod
Oh, Nimbus! Help, someone...help, someone...
All men must have someone, have someone...
The Story: I was watching a Monkees rerun around 1970 -- I remember because a family friend gave me a book about the Apollo XI mission, so I was about five -- and I remember particularly a picture of a Nimbus rocket. So I figured Mike Nesmith was singing something about being rescued by a rocket. - Submitted by: John in Tronna
China Bipolina Alameda
It isn't my opinion what the people are intending.
China clipper calling Alameda
It is of my opinion what the people are intending.
The Story: My aunt told me about the song, and this is what she told me it was. But I looked it up and found that she was wrong. - Submitted by: Joann
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.