[odigg]

My question is really simple. Years, or even months after you heard a song, have you ever realized you misinterpreted the lyrics? If so, say what you misinterpreted.

In 1991 "Waking up the Neighbours" by Bryan Adams came out. I loved this album and listened to it on my Walkman (audio tape!) constantly. The lyrics for "There will never be another tonight" start out like this.

Put on your best dress darling
Can't you see the time is right
There will never be another tonight.

I heard the words correctly, but I thought he was saying something akin to "There will never be another girl like the way you are tonight." or something else romantic.

Lo and behold, I realized today he was actually trying to say that tonight is special and we should live for the moment.

I listened to this album a lot when it first came out and I've been listening to it off and on since then. 18 years!

On a side note, this rock album seems to be decently recorded and mastered. No crazy dynamic compression. So it might be a nice used buy for some of you.

 

[Billyk]

AKA a "bathroom on the right" moment.

 

[DocHamm]

Ah yes .. I'm still chuckling over "rock the cat box".

 

[PhilS]

In the song YMCA, where they sing "They have everything for you men to enjoy," my family used to think it said "They have everything for your mental joy."

And of course, the best one is that song "Blinded By The Light," where Manfred Mann sings "wrapped up like a ******." Don't tell me he doesn't say that, 'cause he does. (I think it's supposed to be "revved up like a deuce.")

Another one I always thought was funny is this song (I forget the title and artist) where a female vocalist sings something like "under the hanging tire," and a lot of people reportedly thought she sang "my bra is hanging tight."

 

[tattoou2]

I misinterpret all the time. Sometimes I wonder if I heard something right and will go back and have a second or even a third listen. I love good lyrics and will even look up the lyrics to make certain I'm not completely crazy in what I hear. Old age!

 

[Equus]

"Rock the cat box" is a good classic one. I do stuff like that all the time too. I also love it when you think you know what the lyrics are, but when you actually look them up they make no sense to you at all.

 

[LingLing1337]

DIRTY DEEDS AND THE DUNDER CHIEF

 

[tenzip]

In high school, we were singing along to "The Wall", and one of my friends thought "You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!" was "You can't have any pudding if you don't beat your meat!"

I still give him crap about it, asking him if he earned his pudding today.

 

[Laokid18]

The Clash-Rock the Casbah
I always thought it was just a pop song but, it is really about the banning of rock music in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini.

 

[elbuzzard]

what about jimi H- Purple Haze
"Excuse me while I kiss this guy"

 

[Billyk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LingLing1337 /img/forum/go_quote.gif DIRTY DEEDS AND THE DUNDER CHIEF

Oh yeah, I forgot about him!

 

[userlander]

Who can say what's really a misinterpretation. Like with a lot of dylan lyrics, it's like "huh?"

As for mishearing lyrics - lots of those. Most recently I learned that the line in the Pixies' Debaser is "slicing up eyeballs" while I always thought it was "slicing up bibles." hahaha ho

 

[usc goose]

up until maybe high school i thought the doobie bros lyrics were:

"give me the beach boys that frees my soul i want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away"

also thought upon first hearing that prodigy song they were saying "smack my bishop"

gotta say that bone thugs and afi, i just sing along with gibberish

 

[buddhashenglong]

Lady Mondegreen strikes again.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The subject of this thread is only one reason I enjoy bands from Scandinavia. The music is good, and I don't have to even wonder what the words mean, especially with Finnish bands - now with Danish, I can pick out a word here and there, but Finnish is quite alien to me. I'm talking here, of course, about neo-folk

, not death metal

.