It has happened to you probably more times than you care to admit: finding out that you’ve completely misheard the lyrics to that song you’ve been singing along to for ages – perhaps for years or even DECADES.
Mishearing lyrics is never not amusing, and is so common that there’s actually a technical term for the experience: mondegreen.
There’s even a science behind it all, as explained in this New Yorker piece.
Of course, comedian Peter Kay performed this by-now legendary routine on mondegreen:
And Phoebe in Friends had one of the most quoted examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvSZzRJWMn4
Hold me closer Tony Danza. #misheardlyrics pic.twitter.com/8Z9N3atG8n
— Mr Biscuits (@Daddy_Berry1) April 14, 2016
One of the most high profile cases of misheard lyrics in recent years was in Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’. When the song first came out, a LOT of people thought TayTay was singing: “Got a lot of Starbucks lovers (or “All the lonely Starbucks lovers”), they’ll tell you I’m insane”, when, in fact, she was singing:
Indeed, it was such a pop culture sensation that Swift’s own mum had to agree:
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/601986374774882304
Another more recent case is Lukas Graham’s hit ‘7 Years Old’:
Mom thought 7 Years said "Once I was seven years old, my mama told me, go make yourself some bread or you'll be hungry." #MisheardLyrics 😂
— Rebeca Murillo (@mhmmMana) April 12, 2016
Indeed, there are so many other magnificent cases of mondegreen that no one list could possibly capture them all, but here are a few real classics:
https://twitter.com/Elby_Kanyon/status/719739442982834176
https://twitter.com/JoBuckingham/status/719940724431654912
Border wine/feels like I'm going to use my mind#misheardlyrics pic.twitter.com/nC9HpxSGBr
— ᑕᕼᑌY ᗷᗩᑕᗩ III 🪅 (@krodNM) April 13, 2016
https://twitter.com/zjerious/status/721031787502153729
The late, great Prince might have been one of the greatest song-writers in history, but, boy, did one of his most famous tracks confuse a lot of people:
I just found out that when Prince sang that song "Raspberry Puree", my wife thought he was saying "raspberry parfait" #MisheardLyrics
— JohnnyB 🥧🍩🍺 I/Me/Mine (@JohnPaulBunyan) April 23, 2016
https://twitter.com/garyschiff/status/723332643719417856
There’s this violent interpretation of ABBA:
#misheardlyrics
ABBA – DANCING QUEENSee that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen 🎶
— Elaine ღ˛° (@_ecdv) April 13, 2016
One would imagine it does make a very big difference to Bon Jovi:
#misheardlyrics "It doesn't make a difference if we're naked or not……" – Bon Jovi – Living On A Pray
— 💋🏴 Welsh Rarebit 🏴💋 (@welsh_rarebit1) April 13, 2016
Disney tunes are also a leading cause of mondegreen:
My 5 yr old, "let it go, Let it go, and I'll rise when I break my jaw" #misheardlyrics #jimmyfallon #frozen
— Jennifer Burchfield (@JenniferBurchfi) April 14, 2016
Confession: When I was a kid, I thought the opening to Lion King was, "Yaaa, You Betchaaa." #Minnesota #misheardlyrics
— Dr. Carrie Danielson (@thecodafrommn) April 18, 2016
Tbf, these work too:
https://twitter.com/TracyinWales/status/720384037953609729
https://twitter.com/Perignonic/status/722000491618525189
I've been singing this wrong for over 25 years #misheardlyrics pic.twitter.com/G1eliSuJeQ
— Katharine Harper (@KatharineHarper) April 17, 2016
We all thought this at one point, Lizzy:
https://twitter.com/smileitsmonica_/status/721448376647200772
Rejected Drake lyrics:
https://twitter.com/PeterAttwah/status/721154280766443520
One Direction lyrics take a turn for the raunchily surreal:
https://twitter.com/paintedhumaan/status/720229816738426880
None of us aspire to be someone’s monkey bread, do we?
https://twitter.com/NicholasWalkest/status/721103458540077056
Finally, there’s this case of personal mondegreen, in response to Shania Twain’s ‘Man I Feel Like A Woman’:
Alas, the real lyrics are “colour my hair”:
We know you all have your own examples of misheard lyrics, so we wanna hear them! We’ll compile the best of them into a new post. Email us Hello@JOE.co.uk, or message us on Facebook.