Seriously, have you ever felt like a bigger loser than the day you discovered Jimi Hendrix did not, in fact, want to be excused to kiss this guy? Or that the men of Nirvana were saying "here we are now, entertain us" — not "here we are now, in containers"? (Thanks, readers, for the correction! "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a tough one: My friend Kerry and I also once spent nearly half an hour trying to figure out if Kurt Cobain was asking us "How low?" or just saying "Hello" in that scream-y refrain.)
But no matter which lyrics you’ve misheard over the years, I promise that my ears are fuzzier than yours. I once thought that the sing-songy "It’s a jolly holiday with you, Bert," from my fave kids’ flick Mary Poppins was actually "It’s a jolly holiday with Hubert." Cut to a younger, confused Karen, sitting in front of the TV puzzling over this mystery Hubert. Was he a former flame of Mary’s? Bert’s twin? God?
So imagine my delight the first time I heard the Fall Out Boy tune "Sugar, We’re Goin Down." A paean to… I dunno, something emo, it’s one of the most oft-misheard songs of the 2000s. And some fabulous person out there on the good old World Wide Web has taken it upon himself to create a fake music video — an homage, if you will, to the song’s garbled nature, complete with subtitles of the fake lyrics (and hilarious rudimentary visuals to go along with ‘em). Though it’s been circulating since last year, I was just last month introduced to this fabulous (and slightly NSFW) piece of mockery heaven . Watch it below, then check back in with me after the jump.
I’m calling on everyone who’s recently stumbled through a Lily Allenchorus, wondered what the hell Justin’s wailing about in "SexyBack," orhit replay more than five times on a rap track whereallthewordssoundlikeho.Wipe the tears of laughter from your kaleidoscope eyes and weigh in.What are your all-time favorite misheard lyrics (if you need a tripdown memory lane, head to the misheard lyrics archive kissthisguy.comfor a primer.) And, most importantly, which songs on the current chartsare stumping you into a deep frustration? We’ll do a roundup of thelatter next week, so you can see how you measure up.
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Karen-I think you still have Nirvana wrong. I’d always read the line is, “Here we are now, entertain us.”
I thought Elvis’ “Don’t Be Cruel” said “Don’t be cruel, to a harvest crew” when i was a little girl. I have no idea what a harvest crew is- maybe pilgrims- but that’s what I thought. A good friend thought “Kyrie” by Mr Mister said “Carry my laser, down the road that i must travel”…i die everytime i hear that now.
I have no clue what the hell Jared Leto is yelling in ‘From Yesterday’
probably not missing much though.
I agree with Andy. That’s what I always thought Kurt was saying.
And who cares what Fall Out Suck is singing?
I could never understand Nirvana. I looked up the lyrics to “Heart Shaped Box” and realized I was WAY off. Plus, since it just popped up on iTunes, I thought in Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth With Money In My Hand” they were singing “I’ve been there for you, baby. Ever since the day we met.” And just like those idiots in that commercial, I still have no idea what the Clash is saying in “Rock the Casbah.”
Mivv, what are the correct lyrics to Kyrie?
“Witness” by Cyndi Lauper, I thought that the chorus said “i don’t want to be a wet nurse”.
Yep, it’s “here we are now, entertain us.” Pretty sure.
Let’s consider the entirety of REM’s first album, Murmur. It doesn’t sound like Michael Stipe is singing in English most of the time!
Nice reference to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds! Kaleidoscope eyes = colitis goes by? For me, it’s CCR’s Bad Moon Rising, aka there’s a bathroom on the right
i believe the correct lyrics are Kyrie Eleison
Down the road that I must travel
Is sexyback saying “go head be gone with it?”
A friend’s younger brother thought Sade was singing “Smooth of a Red Eye” for a very long time. SexyBack: Go, Hippie, Go!
andy is right : it is “entertain us”, not “entertainers”.
seriously though, why not just google the lyrics instead of agonizing hours over misheard lyrics???
For me its REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”. After the first verse, I am totally lost (Though I did just figure out the second verse starts with Eye of a Hurricane instead of I am the hurricane.)
I never knew what Alicia Bridges was singing in “I Love the Nightlife (Disco Round),” mainly because I didn’t know the “Disco Round” part. I always thought it was “On the disco highway” for some reason.
Definitely in “Beautiful Liar” the chorus goes “Let’s not kill the farmer” not “Let’s not kill the karma.” It’s a horrible song anyway, so it doesn’t matter
Just looked up Kyrie..did not know this until now: Kyrie Eleison
Greek for ‘Lord have mercy’. Now the song finally makes sense to me! Go, Hippie, Go!
This comment is for stupid Meghan. It does not sound like they’re saying kill the farmer!!! You are so bitter and angry toward the song. Why??? You WILL be my Beyonce!!!
My big one is “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.
I know the chorus goes starts
-Beat it, beat it…no one wants too bejotjf jndfjf ?
No clue on the last bit.
Rusted Root’s “Send me on My Way” – Mumbudy Say Mumbudy Um. Apparently that’s supposed to be “you know what they say about the young” (because I did google the lyrics). But that’s clearly not what he’s saying, especially since those two lines don’t even have the same number of syllables.
Back in the 70’s I couldn’t figure out what the hell Van McCoy was talking about when he was begging everyone to “Do the Hot Sauce”. Hmmm…apparently my 13 year old brain had never heard of “The Hustle”. Makes me laugh out loud everytime I hear that disco ditty on the radio now.
Kevin, Disco Round?? I thought it was Disco highway too, OR Disco Hiiiiiii-de-waaay. Disco Round? She needs to learn how to enunciate.
Every time you go, away….you take a piece of meat, with you.
When I was in about sixth grade I first heard “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles and have always really liked it. Most of the lyrics are clear and easy to sing along to (which is part of its charm), but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized that Father McKenzie was DARNING his socks in the night, not GUARDING them, which makes so much more sense. I have to consciously NOT sing “guarding.”
Also, since reading years ago about that misheard lyric “baking carrot biscuits” (instead of “taking care of business”), that’s what my brain sings when I hear that song on the radio.
I swear I thought ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” said “Vander-schtuuck…” Anyway, it wasn’t until it came on the radio and I sang along with the song and my boyfriend corrected me that I knew otherwise. I thought they were just well traveled! We had a good laugh…
I’m going to concur with Brian on “Beat it”
I got as far as, “Beat it, Beat, No one wants to be defeated…” and then I thought it was “Joanie’s got rickets, Joanie’s got lice, it doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right…”
Anybody else around here experienced the euphoria that comes from finally deciphering a Michael Jackson song? FINALLY figuring out ‘Billie Jean’ was one of the greatest moments of my life…
In terms of the Hustle, I don’t know if my mother made it up or heard some parody or what, but we used to sing made up words: “Everybody’s doing the Hustle/everybody’s shaking their bustle.”
There was another blog like this once, and one guy wrote that everytime he heard “You’re the one that I want” frim Greasem he would sing ” I got shoes, they’re made of plywood”, instead of “I Got Chills, They’re Multiplying”. Since then, I alsways sing it that way
The Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Roller Coaster of Love.” I used to sing “at the bus stop, oh yeah…at the bus stop…oh yeah!” Good times!
There’s another video similar to this one for FalloutBoy’s “Dance, Dance” subtitled “Ted’s Pants”