Of all the perils threatening humankind, one that’s been successfully neutralized is the need to sing along to a song whose lyrics you don’t know. In the Spotify age, you can see all of a song’s lyrics at the touch of a button, but when your options were limited to AM radio as in decades past, you ran the risk of singing something inaccurate if you just winged it.
The Bruce Springsteen song “Blinded by the Light” suffered this sorry fate, and the less said about how “revved up like a deuce” was sung by the public, the better. Having said that, it wasn’t the only song made in the 1970s to have its lyrics butchered by listeners, and we’ve listed 10 more examples here.
Image Credit: Heinrich Klaffs / Wikimedia Commons.
‘Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin
Misheard Lyrics: And there’s a wino down the road
Original Lyrics: And as we wind on down the road
Since its release in 1971, many have suggested that when you play Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” backwards, it contains demonic messages instructing the listener to embrace Satan. Nothing of the sort is true, but plenty of people seem to believe the lyrics played forward are something other than what they are.
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‘American Pie’ by Don McLean
Misheard Lyrics: Them good ole boys were drinkin’ whisky and dry
Original Lyrics: And good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
“American Pie” is one of the worst songs ever recorded, going on for an interminable eight and a half minutes that makes 15 consecutive life sentences seem merciful by comparison. But did people use all eight of those minutes to ensure they got the lyrics right? Absolutely not!
Image Credit: Amazon.
‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles
Misheard Lyrics: A minor symphony twisted
Original Lyrics: Her mind is Tiffany twisted
To many, the best part of “Hotel California” by the Eagles is the final guitar solo, during which Don Felder and Joe Walsh duel in harmony. To others, it’s the lyrics, which seem to be about cults like EST or Jonestown. Whatever the case, please make an effort to sing them accurately.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA
Original Lyrics: You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
Misheard Lyrics: Children dance, children die, having the time of their lives
It’s an open secret that the members of ABBA, which consisted of two divorced couples, had a lot of anguish and distress that they exorcised through their music. Even so, we can’t see them writing the lyrics that many people have misheard and believe them to be.
Image Credit: VRO / Wikimedia Commons.
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen
Misheard Lyrics: B.L., see boob, got a devil at her side for me
Original Lyrics: Beelzebub had a devil put aside for me
In fairness, there’s a lot to get wrong in the lyrics of the Queen classic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” both because the song is six minutes long and also because half of it is an opera section containing words of more than two syllables. Having said that, the misheard lyric is superior to the original, so see if you can sneak it in next karaoke night.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John
Misheard Lyrics: And I’ll be high, -igh, -igh Hezekiah by then.
Original Lyrics: And I’ll be high, -igh, -igh as a kite by then.
Of all of the songs chosen for this list, Elton John’s “Rocket Man” has the most opportunities for misheard lyrics. This one may not be the most frequently misheard, but it makes the least sense, so we’re allowing it free admission.
Image Credit: Heinrich Klaffs / Wikimedia Commons.
‘Go Your Own Way’ by Fleetwood Mac
Misheard Lyrics: You can call it thunder on a lonely day.
Original Lyrics: You can call it another lonely day
On the one hand, we feel bad that the members of Fleetwood Mac put so much of their real-life pain and suffering into a lyric sheet, only for listeners to get the words wrong. At the same time, everyone in the band was so coked up they probably forgot what they had written originally, so who cares?
Image Credit: DepositPhotos.com.
‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Misheard Lyrics: In Birmingham they robbed a lug nut
Original Lyrics: In Birmingham they loved the Governor
Few songs offer as many opportunities to mishear a lyric as “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. We’ve picked this couplet because it’s the stupidest, and it’s mind-boggling that anyone thought this is what they meant to say.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Bad Moon Rising’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Misheard Lyrics: There’s a baboon on the right
Original Lyrics: There’s a bad moon on the rise
Some listeners may misunderstand you when you write a song and sing it in a fake bayou drawl. This is the sorry fate that befell John Fogerty when he wrote the vastly overplayed “Bad Moon Rising’” and tried to sing it like Lightnin’ Hopkins.
Image Credit: Fantasy Records / Wikimedia Commons.
‘Fire and Rain’ by James Taylor
Misheard Lyrics: Suzanne Planzee may put an end to you
Original Lyrics: Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you
It’s a helpful rule of thumb – if you write lyrics, they should make sense and the words you use should exist in your mother tongue. Sadly, James Taylor fans didn’t extend him this small courtesy and decided it made sense that he wrote about a nonexistent person named “Suzanne Planzee” instead. Or maybe it’s “Plan Z,” the one you implemented when the previous 25 didn’t work.
This article was produced and syndicated by MediaFeed.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
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