Do you sing in your car? Do you crank up the music, sing along, and make up lyrics if you don’t know them? I do. Especially if I’m alone and not stopped at a light near other cars. When my daughter and I are together, I sometimes let it rip. She shares my enthusiastic, sometimes off-key lounge lizard piano bar karaoke love of music. When Mom and some of my sisters were here, we sang in the car… a lot. While we were cruising antique shops, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s classic “Bad Moon Rising” came on, and to my surprise, Big Sis belted out “there’s a bathroom on the right.” Huh? Bathroom on the right? Funny, Sis!
As it turns out, there are MANY songs being sung in cars or showers with hysterical, misheard lyrics. My personal favorite for years has been Jimi Hendrix wailing on his guitar singing “scuse me while I kiss this guy.” Who cares that it’s supposed to be “kiss the sky?” Where’s the fun in that? So being the curious little minx I am, I had to research the topic. Break out the giggles and warm up your vocal chords. This is a lot more fun if you sing along!
Artist: Elton John
Song: Tiny Dancer
Actual Lyric: “hold me closer, tiny dancer”
Misheard Lyric: “hold me closer, Tony Danza”
Artist: Black Eyed Peas
Song: Boom Boom Pow
Actual Lyric: “gotta get that”
Misheard Lyric: “gotta’ Kit Kat” (I’m SO singing this now!)
Artist: OneRepublic
Song: Apologize
Actual Lyric: “it’s too late to apologize…too late”
Misheard Lyric: “it’s too late to order fries…too late”
Artist: Madonna
Song: Like a Virgin
Actual Lyric: “touched for the very first time”
Misheard Lyric: “touched for the thirty-first time” (don’t get me started)
Artist: The Rolling Stones
Song: Beast of Burden
Actual Lyric: “I’ll never be your beast of burden”
Misheard Lyric: “I’ll never leave your pizza burnin”
Artist: Elvis
Song: Hounddog
Actual Lyric: “you ain’t never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine”
Misheard Lyric: “you ain’t never pornographic and you ain’t no friend of mind”
Artist: The Bee Gees
Song: Stayin’ Alive
Actual Lyric: “ah, ah, ah, ah… stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive”
Misheard Lyric: “ah, ah, ah, ah… steak & a knife, steak & a knife”
Artist: Eagles
Song: Desperado
Actual Lyric: “you’ve been out ridin’ fences for so long now”
Misheard Lyric: “you’ve been outright offensive for so long now”
And my new favorite bungled song lyric of all time:
Artist: Billy Joel
Song: You May Be Right
Actual Lyric: “You may be right. I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you’re lookin’ for.”
Misheard Lyric: “You made the rice. I made the gravy. But it may just be a tuna fish you’re lookin’ for.” (this one really cracks me up)
I’ll never sing these songs the correct way again. It’s just too much fun to sing them badly! And if loving bad song lyrics is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. If you want to browse more misheard song lyrics including an awesome “Top 100” list, try http://www.kissthisguy.com/funny.php
Are there any mangled song lyrics among your favorites? I’d LOVE to hear them. Please share. Pretty please? You don’t need to sing them, just leave a comment!
Inside NanaBread's Head 
I can so relate to that, my girls tease me all the time when I “put my spin” on songs in the car…and the rainbow cupcakes were a big hit for Easter!
Hey, if you can’t sing badly in your car or your shower, where CAN you sing badly? I say, “let it rip, tater chip!” Glad to hear the rainbow tie-dyed cupcakes were a hit. The two you dropped off at my place died a violent but noble death. It was quick and painless, if that helps.
There’s a bathroom on the right!
name that song
There was doodoo in a bag.
name that song
She got electric eels…
I’m with you, I love screwed up lyrics!!!
Well, the first one is in the blog story. It’s “Bad Moon Rising” by CCR.
The second one made me laugh. I’d forgotten that one.
It’s “So Into You” by Atlanta Rythm Section. A classic!
I think the last one is from Elton John’s “Bennie & the Jets”. Am I right?
I’m going to go download “So Into You” now. I love that song!!
I love these!
When I was little I used to think that the lyric to The Beatles’ Penny Lane was “and he laid it in my ears and in my eyes . . . ”
My sister always sings “here we are now, mashed potatoes” to the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit when they are really saying “here we are now, entertain us.”
Hahaha… your sister’s mashed potatoes lyric cracked me up! When I was little, my best friend Ramona and I used to play Penny Lane over and over and over. We loved it so much! Thanks for sharing these. What great additions to the list!
Those are HILARIOUS! Too funny! Wait…it’s not “kiss this guy”?!! I totally thought it was “excuse me while I kiss this guy” until a minute ago! Not kidding.
Here’s a few of mine (and, I have a bunch).
Artist: Fugees
Song: Killing me Softly
Actual Lyrics: Strummin’ my pain with his fingers
Misheard: Strummin’ my thang with his fingers
Artist: ELO
Song: Evil Woman
Actual Lyrics: Eeeeevvvvilll woman
Mishead: Medieval woman
Hahahahaha! The Fugees line cracks me up. And I used to sing “medieval woman”, too! If you’ve got more, feel free to keep them coming. I’m loving everyone’s input!
I do this all of the time. My mom’s favorite of mine was to Rod Stewart’s You’re in My Heart:
You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You are my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You’re in my soul
(actual chorus)
You’re in my heart, you’re in my soul
You are my precious Idaho
You are my lover, you’re my best friend
You are my Toad
(my kiddie chorus)
“You are my toad?” That totally rocks. Were you professing your love of Idaho the state or were you singing to an Idaho potato as a child? {totally giggling now}
Cute!
I’ll have to think about it some more – trying to get my desk cleared this week. Having my first first surgery Friday and I’ll be out about a week. I broke my bellybutton and they have to fix it! I am in fairly good shape but last week I purt-near fell apart – dr / labs / ER (my first visit to the ER!) / dr / surgery scheduled / ran foot into cement curb and now my big toe is black/blue/purple. Yeah, you could say I almost lost my sense of humor! Thanks for the smiles – I need them! Hugs!
Great googlie-mooglie! What a week you’ve had! Best of luck with the surgery. I’ll have a candle lit and my fingers crossed on Friday that all goes well. Glad I could send some smiles your way. Let me know how everything went after the surgery. I’ll be thinking of you. Hugs back!
Thank you so much! I actually have an umbilical hernia (probably caused from all the coughing I did earlier this year). I prefer “broken bellybutton” b/c it just doesn’t seem very lady-like to have a hernia! Ewww! ;-) I’ll get some time off to watch daytime TV…I mean, that’s gotta rock, huh?!! :-D
The ER visit was from being light-headed/weak/racing heart/high bp…. They haven’t figured out what is going on with all that (it’s on-going) but I’m thinking hormones…all fault belongs to the hormones after 40! In fact, I blame hormones for making me kick the curb! Heck…I even blame the hormones for not making my bed this morning! Take that, hormones! Ha!
One of my fav sayings is “Maintain your sense of humor, people!” and I’ll take my own advice.
You’re singing my song, sister. Hormones and menopause are my “go to” blame game winner every single time. Love your favorite saying. Two of mine are “life is too short to whine!” and “I’d rather be laughing than crying.” I am a firm believer in finding the humor in every situation. It helps me cope. Hang on to that for Friday and your recovery. PS – I hope you have cable, because if you don’t, daytime TV is really going to intake wind sharply. I recommend old movies and long naps instead. Especially if they hook you up with “happy pills” after your surgery!
I only recently learned that I’ve been singing this wrong for 20 years… To add to my humiliation I actually facebooked what I thought were the words to a friend of mine, she and several friends shamed me for my lack of knowledge about “the classics”. ha…
“Pour Some Sugar On Me” by Def Leppard
My Version as posted on Facebook: Millicreme, rillicreme, rythm of a love. Sweet dream, sinacreme, loosen up. loosen up. You gotta squeezy lil teasy lil…
Actual words: Mirror queen, mannequin, rhythm of love
Sweet dream, saccharine, loosen up
That’s awesome, Alex! I’ve never understood half the lyrics to that song, so “millicreme, rillicreme & sinacreme” would have gone right by me. I can’t decide if that sounds like a collection of coffee creamers or sore muscle creams. HA! Thanks for the chuckle. Now I have visions of torn wife beaters, leopard print spandex pants, and big 80’s hair – and that’s just the band!
For years I thought that “forever in blue jeans” by Neil Diamond was “Reverend Blue Jeans”.
Me, too! Hahahaha… I’m having the best time with these lyrics. All of these comments are bringing back YEARS of memories of wrong song lyrics. What a hoot!
Hey…just thought of another one!
Artist: Dixie Chicks
Song: Long Time Gone
Acutal Lyric: “ain’t honked a horn since I don’t know when”
Misheard Lyric: “ain’t looked at porn since I don’t know when”
I just read this yesterday and today I read on FB what my friend was saying to her son: Are you singing ‘Coke a Banana or Cobra Banana?’ Me: Copa Cabana. Jared: “Oh, Cocoa Ca-bow-bow.” It went on like that for five whole hilarious minutes.
The song of course is “Copacabana!” :) I will pass your site on to my friend! :)
Thanks, Sandi! Your story was hilarious. And now that song is stuck in my head. “At the Coke-a, Coke-a-banana…the hotest spot north of Havana…”
I mess lyrics up all the time! When I was little, my brother would call me out on it, to which I would reply, “I CAN SING IT HOWEVER I WANT!”
Still true. Still true.
Me too, Mads! In fact, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to screw up the lyrics if it makes them funnier. I’ve been singing the Black-Eyed Peas song “Boom Boom Pow” wrong for a week now. My apologies to Fergie and Will.I.Am, but belting out “boom, boom, boom… gotta Kit Kat” is a hoot! It’s great to see you back on the interwebs, Mads. I’ve missed you!
So I’m packing for a campout listening to Pandora and a classic pops up that I totally had mixed lyrics to as a kid, and I remembered this post. Kenny Rogers “Lucille”… You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, four HUNDRED children and a crop in the field… Dang, I’d of left him too and I love Kenny Rogers!
Hahaha… seriously? You love Kenny Rogers? These are the secrets sisters keep from each other. I had no idea. I’d also forgotten about Lucille’s 400 children. Criminey! And we just heard John Fogerty singing “there’s a bathroom on the right” this weekend. Man, I love misheard lyrics!