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Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> War

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!).


The Best of War and More album at Amazon.com
War's, "Cisco Kid"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Chased a gringo last night through a field
The Real Lyrics:
Chased the gringo rustlers through the fields
The Story: I watched the. Cisco Kid on TV as a child. That's what Cisco and Poncho did. They wouldn't chase someone 'cause they were gringos. - Submitted by: M Blackwell
War's, "Low Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
All my friends know Winona Ryder.
The Real Lyrics:
All my friends know the Low Rider.
The Story: 'Low Rider' is the theme song for 'The George Lopez Show', and my daughter (11 yrs old) started singing it a lot. She totally thought it mentioned Winona Ryder. - Submitted by: Chanah
War's, "Low Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
All my friends smoke a little dope And all my friends snort a little coke Take a little trip Take a little trip Take a little trip with me
The Real Lyrics:
All my friends know the Low Rider.
The Story: I was a teenager when this record came out. I could have sworn that War originally recorded the lyrics that I've quoted, and, were forced to change them due to the implied drug usage. (I think that the war on drugs was starting then) - Submitted by: Dee
War's, "Low Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Go dry up, the low rider...
The Real Lyrics:
All my friends know the Low Rider
The Story: Dry up was a popular saying at the time. So go sue me... - Submitted by: LAZY
War's, "Low Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Low dry blood
The Real Lyrics:
Low rider
The Story: I just could never make out the words. I was embarrased when my husband sang it while it played on the radio, because the words were the song title. - Submitted by: Joanne
War's, "Low Rider"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Take a little trap
The Real Lyrics:
Take a little trip
The Story: It was having to do with Tiger Words writing “trap” instead of “trip” on Between the Lions - hence, why it made sense to hear “take a little trap” instead of “take a little trip”. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
War's, "Slipping Into Darkness"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I was stepping into dog mess
The Real Lyrics:
I was slipping into darkness
The Story: I was listening to my copy of War's anthology cd & at the very beginning of that song, it got to that opening line & I swear, that's what it sounded like they were saying. I was laughing so hard, I nearly fell over. Everytime I hear that song, I always think that War is singing a song about some guy having a bad day with his pet dog. - Submitted by: Jennifer
War's, "Spill The Wine"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Spill the wine, dig that girl.
The Real Lyrics:
Spill the wine, take that pearl.
The Story: My friends in college really loved this song. I had never heard it before. When the chorus came around again, I wanted to sound cool too. So I sang, 'spill the wine, dig that girl'. They didn't even catch it. Or maybe they didn't know the lyrics either? H***, I just found out what the words were on your site!! - Submitted by: Shanwren
War's, "The Cisco Kid"
The Misheard Lyrics:
He's the softest penis of the band
The Real Lyrics:
Eat the salted peanuts out the can
The Story: For over 25 years, I honestly believed War was singing, 'He's the softest penis of the band.' I couldn't believe this line made it onto the radio! I finally got around to looking up this song's lyrics on the internet, since I really like this song, but could only understand half of the words. - Submitted by: Tim Lyman
War's, "The Cisco Kid"
The Misheard Lyrics:
They ate the sausage, whores and men of steel
The Real Lyrics:
They rode the sunset, horse was made of steel
The Story: At that time I thought it could have been about sausage, whores and Supermen. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
War's, "The Cisco Kid"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We met down on the border, Rio Grande
He's the softest penis I can stand
The outlaws had us pinned down at the bord...
Cisco came in blastin', drinkin', bored
The Real Lyrics:
We met down on the fort of Rio Grande
Eat the salted peanuts out the can
The outlaws had us pinned down at the fort
Cisco came in blastin', drinkin' port
The Story: I've had these misheard lyrics in my head since the seventies. I knew they weren't right, but couldn't come up with anything better, until I looked up the real lyrics today, 40-some years later! - Submitted by: Michael
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can't read the fence.
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: I was about seven when this song was released. About the age you're learning to read more than just single words. So I was all caught up in it, and annoyed with myself when I didn't get a new sentence right away. So what else is a seven year old gonna hear when this hits the radio?? Lol! My parents were hysterical.... - Submitted by: Jim
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can't wear these pants.
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: A friend of mine and I were cruising down the road about the time that this was a top 10 song. He broke out into the chorus 'I can't wear these pants' and I thought he was making a parody of the song. Turns out he wasn't. His whole family thought those were the words. - Submitted by: Scott Sykes
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I get wheezy, babe
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: I don't know how my dad misheard this one but we had a good laugh about it so we will now call it The Asthma Song. - Submitted by: dayna
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I keep breathing air
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends
The Story: The girl who repotted plants at the Mar-Vic farm market in Blue Anchor NJ, constantly walked round singing 'I keep breathing Air'; I asked her who sings the song she is constantly singing; War, she replied. I immediately said to her, 'Why can't we be friends' you mean. She still didn't get it. She said it wasn't polite to hit on her while she worked. For some reason, I think she-to this day, she still never figured it out. - Submitted by: Otto Spilbach
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
They wouldn't have you in the Bum-I-A
The Real Lyrics:
I know you're working for the cia
they wouldn't have you in the Mafia. (Pronounced 'maf-ee-ey-ay')
The Story: That is what it sounded like to me until I either saw the lyrics or figured it out myself. - Submitted by: Kerry
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Why are we in France?
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: I thought I heard "France" until I found out the title! - Submitted by: Cody Finke
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Why can't we pee straight?
or
I can't pee-pee straight!
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: Hey, I was only 10 at the time :). - Submitted by: Ken
War's, "Why Can't We Be Friends"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can feed the bears
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends
The Story: As a kid in the 70s, I misheard this and it always stuck with me. I guess I only paid attention to the chorus, and it never dawned on me that it was wrong. I was corrected when we were at the zoo and I broke into song at the bear exhibit - only to be corrected by my entire family -- humiliating! - Submitted by: That Guy
War's, "Why Cant We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can feel depressed.
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: My brother, my cousin and I, ages 12, 11 and 9, went into the record store to buy the 45 record single. We asked the clerk if he had the 45 of the song, 'I can feel depressed'. He asked, 'Well how does it go? Sing it for me.' So we sang it for him, the chorus anyway. Well needless to say, he couldn't help us; and years later we found out what it was really called. - Submitted by: john m. luther
War's, "Why Cant We Be Friends?"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can't be repressed!
The Real Lyrics:
Why can't we be friends?
The Story: This is what I heard because it went along with what I was feeling at the time, opposition to Vietnam war and Nixon especially. - Submitted by: Richard D.
War's, "Why Can’t We Be Friends"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I can feed the bears
The Real Lyrics:
Why can’t we be friends
The Story: As a kid I was singing this and all my older siblings cracked up and made me feel the opposite of smart. - Submitted by: Rock

There are more War misheard lyrics available.

Indexes: [#] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z]

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