Until very recently I thought a line in Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” was And no mustache gonna bend any clipper. The correct version being And no message could have been any clearer.

Was that Cal Worthington and his dog Spot? He confused the shit out of me. I had just arrived from Germany, but could not figure out his commericials. Thankd for the memory!

"Build Me Up Buttercup" by Mike d'Abo and Tony Macaulay was released by The Foundations in 1968. Here's the chorus of that song:

"Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby,
"Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around,
"And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby,
"When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still,
"I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin',
"You know that I have from the start,
"So build me up (build me up) Buttercup, don't break my heart."

So why is it that for years I heard that third line as,

"And then worst of all (worst of all) Neanderthal baby
"When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still..."?

It was years before I realized there wasn't anyone known as "the Dunder Chief" ("dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap).

Also, this guy has some funny observations:

Steve Miller's 'The Joker' : "Cause I speak of the pompitous of love" WTF?

Huey Lewis and the News I Need a New Drug for years I thought he said Truck

Is it the same as the Toyes song? I think so, but lyrics can change. Misinterpreted lyrics have been happening like forever man. Metallica had to request lyrics for Green Hell remake from Glenn Danzig. The first line is “here in this place lies the genie of death” which sounds similar to ‘key to your death’. Graves ‘work’ with the Misfits was screwed up, claiming that “the maggots in the eye of love won’t copulate” when we all know damn well that maggots won’t copulate in iron lungs. Pshh ‘eye of love’. Did the dude even try? And what’s up with Robert Plant? Lol
On a lighter note, I used to think that Old Navy was called Old Lady. This was especially reinforced by the old lady with the lame glasses in the stupid old commercials.

My SIL - singing for all she was worth in the backseat - "Ooh your giving me the finger tonight...." - my brother and I - "Ooh you're giving me the fever tonight.....".

I can still see her.

I'm a professional musician and it happens to bands all the time. Even though we do mostly original material on occasion we get lyrics wrong on cover tunes. Do you ever like your version better?

[en.wikipedia.org] I have both the books that were published with these - they're are particularly funny when you hit one where you go "Well isn't that the right lyric?" - and then see what you missed. (I believe Elton John holds the record for these).

My favorite is Peter Gabriel's "Games without Frontiers"

Hearing "Jeux sans frontieres" as "She's so popular". I took French for 8 years - my parents spoke French as a first language - and I still just think the singers got the pronunciation WRONG.

Any French speakers out there who can confirm they screwed up?

I think one of the late nite guys had that as a skit for awhile.. ?

I'm sure there are many lyrics that I have garbled. One I remember though that was someone else still entertains me.There was a bartender in a neighborhood bar I used to frequent who loved to sing along with the jukebox. Whenever she sang along to the Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising, instead of singing "there's a bad moon on the rise," she would sing it as "there's a bathroom on the right." Whenever I had a little spare change, I would always take it to the jukebox and play that song. Her enthusiasm about finding a bathroom on the right always cheered me up.

Those are two new ones! My strangest was the Stone's Star, Star (Starfucker). I thought the chorus was "Door Funky" though in my defense it was the garbled radio version without the offending obscenity.

[psychologytoday.com]

You should definitely create a Mondegreens group!

You definitely need to check out this website [kissthisguy.com] The site is dedicated to people confessing their mis-heard song lyrics. Some of them are insanely funny...I've wasted hours there at a time!

Bwahaha! Yeah, pre Google I made a ton of faux pas. LOUDLY too! Thank goodness I can't remember them and nobody recorded them.

One of the most well-known misheard lyrics is "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" (correct is "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" from the Jimi Hendrix songs "Purple Haze". There were actually a couple of books with many examples of misheard lyrics.

There was a really hot girl I was sleeping with that thought the lyrics to 'Black' by Pearl Jam were, "Her legs spread out before me As her body once did." That song would get her super turned on and she would fuck me sideways anytime she heard it. Needless to say, when I found out it was "Were laid" I never said a word.

My ex husband thought that the song Nothingman by Pearl Jam was Nothing Ham...He would belt out that tune about no pork. Wtf?! I feel like we’ve got a great band name here...Pussycow Nothing Ham????

I get lyrics wrong all the time, sometimes by design sometimes by goof and sometimes because I don't bloody hell know what the lyrics are. But mostly I tend to just mumble through the lyrics I'm not sure of. My daughter seems to be the same but her song choices has diverted from the music I play. It was always fun when she got something completely wrong because I never knew what she was going to say and now I just don't know. These kids and their damn music, they're all going to hell and taking us with. Thank god I got to miss out on Justin Beaver (yes, I said beaver so shut up) and Britney Spears and my daughter doesn't seem to go for the schlock songs, so far her choice in music isn't too bad but she is only 9.

LOL

Worthington, Cal Worthington.

I like it when the words are written with the song. I have a hard time hearing the words.

I need to meet Joyce.
Audioslave:. "Sell your house along the way."
(inside your house I long to be)