Ask Lemmy

Pump Up the Jam - Technotronic

At first I heard, "I want, a player Tuesday."

Then I heard, "I want, a player to stay."

Apparently it's actually, "Awa, a place to stay."

That whole time I thought she was looking for a man (on a Tuesday), but she just wanted everyone to dance together.

Mice Roller

"She got too close, so I farted."

Zac Brown Band, "Knee Deep"

"Take off for nowhere" rather than "Take my breath away"

“Every time you go away, you take a piece of meat, with you” - Paul Young

Hoobastank, the Reason.

Real lyric: "a reason to start over new".

What i heard as a child: "the reason tostadas are new"

Annie are you walking? Annie are you walking? Are you walking, Annie?

It wasn't until my first job at a grocery store during Christmas time that I learned it was "Feliz Navidad" being sung.

Before that, I couldn't figure out why the cheerful song that only appeared around Christmas time was saying "Police shot my dad"

"Dirty deeds, dunder chiefs!"

I always wondered what a dunder chief is.

I used to think the Kiss song went "I wanna rock and roll all night... and part of every day."

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but this bit by Peter Kay always has me in tears.

Also, the technical term is 'Mondegreen'

Edit: I'm also reminded of a Colin Hay one man show I went to years ago where he told a story about a bloke that requested the 'song about the goats' at a gig. Turns out it was Overkill - "Goats appear and fade away". He then went on to tell a long story about a sharehouse he lived in in his youth that decided to get a goat to keep the lawn down. Man that was a good show.

At one point in Another One Bites the Dust, Freddie says "Bite the dust, yeah" which for years I could not hear as anything but "I'm adopted". Seemed like a weird way to share that information.

“Blinded by the light.

Revved up like a douche, another runner in the night.”

Turns out is actually deuce.

For like a decade+ I thought Umbrella by Rihanna went "under my arms forever"

Don't go, Jason waterfalls, please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.

"You know I'd like to keep my cheating strategy"

Actual lyrics: "You know I'd like to keep my cheeks dry today"

Blind Melon, "No Rain"

Owner of a lonely horse...

Real lyric: owner of a lonely heart.

I never understood why there'd be a song about a lonely horse.

I always heard it as trombeleese, which I imagined to be some exotic musical instrument like this:

“I set fire, to Lorraine” by Adele (set fire to the rain). “Parrot, parrot, parrot eyes” by Coldplay (Paradise)

Manfred Mann's cover of Blinded by the Light has entered the chat. Probably the most misheard lyrics in the entire history of modern music.

It's "Revved up like a deuce."

Wait... Manfred Mann's version is a cover? Yep, Blinded by the Light was originally performed Bruce Springsteen.

I used to sing Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong as “Pyramids, pyramids, pyramids, pyramids can’t be wrong”.

Also, in Africa, I definitely thought they said “rises like a lepress (like a female leopard) above the Serengeti”. The real lyric is “Olympus”.

Blink 182 "the state looks down on side of me"

If you know, you know.