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!).
Bad Reputation album at Amazon.com
All violence is allowed inside that trail
All hell breaks loose, alarms and sirens wail
The Story: The previous line ended with the word "trail" so I thought Phil Lynott was rhyming that word with the same word. - Submitted by: Rugus
I was fooling around with the sheriff's daughter
She was a real fine fox ...
He showed me his mad gnome
He showed me his shotgun
He stuck it in my face
And said, "Boy, I think you best be gone"
I was fooling around with the sheriff's daughter
She was a real fine fox ...
He showed me his magnum
He showed me his shotgun
He stuck it in my face
And said, "Boy, I think you best be gone"
The Story: On the "Renegade" album by Thin Lizzy, there were two songs with parts in which Philipp Lynott is somehow "grunting" some words which are a bit distorted acoustically and therefore hard to understand. One of them is "Leave This Town". I listened to this grunting part in that song and always understood in the middle of it "...he showed me his mad gnome" instead of "...he showed me his magnum". I somehow imagined some kind of evil dwarf like in the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun", this was my "mad gnome". - Submitted by: Mahnfried
My tea queen, Rosalie
The teen queen, Rosalie
The Story: I thought it was 'tea queen', because Rosalie is like a Cockney rhyming slang for 'tea' - 'rosy lea' = tea. - Submitted by: Clive
Peter Brent combed his hair
And sent for the police
Policeman came to feel his name
Peter Brent combed his hair
And sent for the police
Policeman came took Peter's name
The Story: I know that "to feel his name" is pure nonsense, but this is simply what I recognized first when I heard this song in earlier days and before I read the written lyrics. My English was not especially good at that time when I still was in school (I'm German). - Submitted by: Manfred Altmann
The boys are big in town.
The boys are back in town
The Story: I couldn’t believe they could really emphasize it like that! - Submitted by: Mark Boysen
Rocking with the Clergyman
Rocking in the Classroom
The Story: These are the first words in that song. I never got it right before I read the lyrics. - Submitted by: Manfred Altmann
Black was my daddy-o.
Whack for my daddy-o.
The Story: I used to sing this song in a band for several years. One of our backup singers thought the line was 'Black was my daddy-o'. - Submitted by: Rob Campbell
Waiting for my daddy-o.
Whack for my daddy-o.
The Story: I couldn't believe that I'd been wrong. And when I told other people, they didn't believe it either. - Submitted by: Anna
There are more Thin Lizzy misheard lyrics available.
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.