Misheard mystery lyrics to our favorite songs

When I was a kid in the mid 1960s, there was no music that captivated me like that of the Beatles. Even as a pre-teen, I couldn’t get enough of their upbeat music, harmony and hair. I listened and read everything I could about the Fab Four.

The only drawback was that I couldn’t get the lyrics down correctly from the songs I heard on Top 40 radio or their albums. But I didn’t realize it then.

For instance, I loved to sing along to “Can’t Buy Me Love,” but butchered a key line all the way into adulthood. I misheard “I don’t care too much for money” as “I don’t care to munch for money.”

I know, makes no sense. But I would hear that in my head and even sing it until it dawned on my in my 20s that I had it wrong. Boy, was I embarrassed.

There’s more. I always heard the lyric of “I can’t hide, I can’t hide” in the song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” as “I get high, I get high.” Of course, there was so much written and rumored about the Beatles and drugs that it couldn’t be anything else to me.

Finally, the most embarrassing admission of all. I loved the song “Ticket to Ride,” and played the 45 record I bought many, many times on my cheap little record player. But I sang it as “She’s got a figure to ride.” I cringe today. Must have been hormones and wishful thinking that turned the key line, which was the actual song title, into a suggestive translation.

Of course, about that time the Kingsmen had a rocking version of “Louie Louie,” in which the lyrics were all but indecipherable. But all the boys in my College Station, Texas, neighborhood couldn’t get enough. The rumor was that the song contained the Queen Mother of all bad words, and we listened and strained to hear it. There were the know-it-alls who even translated it into a version we all went crazy over.

Listen for yourself and then decide:

The song was banned in some places in the U.S., although the singing was so slurred that there was no way to know what was actually sung. Here’s a link to a post on the Rare Records website that puts it all into context.

My point of all this is that lyrics in popular music have been misheard and misinterpreted forever. The most famous may be the scene from Friends in which Phoebe sings a line from Elton John’s Tiny Dancer as “hold me closer, Tony Danza.”

I polled friends here in OKC, and got some interesting responses. My friend Steve says his wife misheard “Suicide Blonde” by INXS as “Soup and Salad Bar.” I took a listen and could see how she could mistake it.

There’s another from Steve’s (unnamed to protect her identity) wife. She misheard the title line from George Michael’s “Father Figure” as “I’ll be your butterfinger.” That’s a stretch.

Another friend I’ll identify as “Ed,” says his wife (also unnamed to protect her dignity) has a long history of misinterpreting lyrics. The best example he gave me is hearing her enthusiastically singing the title lyric from Johnny Rivers “Secret Agent Man” as “Secret Asian Man.”

Of course, neither Steve nor Ed shared any misheard lyrics from themselves. Curious.

If you Google “misheard lyrics” or ask ChatGBT to give you a list, there are dozens of examples. Manfred Man’s “Blinded by the Light.” Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The Beach Boys “Good Vibrations.” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” The list goes on an on.

It shows that we’ve all misheard lyrics from some of our favorite songs over time. Maybe we just interpreted them into what we wanted to hear.

I’m heading off to listen to “Whiter Shade of Pale” one more time so I can sing along with “She skipped a line fandango.” I mean, that’s the line, right? Right?