As a karaoke host, I love to use Mondegreens when introducing or commenting on my singers' songs... "bathroom on the right" or "the ants are my friends"  being just a couple of the most popular.  Here's a fairly representative list ... fun to browse.   https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-mondegreen-1691401
 

In concert, Peter Noone tells the story of fans requesting "A Must To Avoid" but calling it "A Muscular Boy".

A favourite of my father's was Reverend Blue Jeans ... when Forever In Blue Jeans came on the radio, he liked to sing at least the first instance of the title that way.

And then there's "Secret Asian Man".

In 10cc's song "I'm Not In Love", the whispered voice says:

Be quiet.  Big boys don't cry. Big boys don't cry...
 
Well, I heard:

Be quiet.  Requesting quad.  Requesting quad...

In my defense, that was the time when quad speakers were becoming popular.  I thought this band was pulling us into the future of electronics.  

I don't know how many remember this spot from the 80s, but it's the quintessential example of misheard lyrics. (And it also happens to feature one of my all time favourite oldies, Israelites by Desmond Dekker & The Aces, a 1969 #1.



 

A classic that I can't get out of my mind:  Manfred Mann/Bruce Springsteen's hit, "Blinded By The Light."  It's one of those that I kept thinking,"One of these days I have to look those lyrics up because it can't be what I think it is":  Springsteen wrote: "...cut loose like a deuce..." referencing a hot rod deuce coupe, which is one of Springsteen's real loves - racing cars.  BUT  Manfred Mann changed some of the lyrics including those, changing them to: "...revved up like a deuce..."  That's when the famous mondegreen developed and was commonly misheard as "...wrapped up like a douche..."  That has always been my very loose, misconstrued interpretation until I looked it up tonight.  My reference:  Wikipedia.

Last edited by Little Rich (August 30, 2019 12:23 am)

Little Rich wrote:

A classic that I can't get out of my mind:  Manfred Mann/Bruce Springsteen's hit, "Blinded By The Light."  It's one of those that I kept thinking,"One of these days I have to look those lyrics up because it can't be what I think it is":  Springsteen wrote: "...cut loose like a deuce..." referencing a hot rod deuce coupe, which is one of Springsteen's real loves - racing cars.  BUT  Manfred Mann changed some of the lyrics including those, changing them to: "...revved up like a deuce..."  That's when the famous mondegreen developed and was commonly misheard as "...wrapped up like a douche..."  That has always been my very loose, misconstrued interpretation until I looked it up tonight.  My reference:  Wikipedia.

Speaking of Manfred Mann, on Friday I happen to hear “Do Wah Diddy,” the group’s first and perhaps greatest oldie. When I was a kid, I was always confused by it because, although it was clearly a love song, at one point I thought the lyrics were:
 
“Well, I’m hurt
  She’s mad
  Wedding bells are going to chime.”
 
Of course, it was “I’m hers, she’s mine,” but that’s not what I heard. I could never figure out why they were going to get married if they hated each other so much.  
 
By the way, I’d nominate “Do Wah Diddy” as possibly the greatest singalong song ever in Top 40 history. I’ll never forget sitting in a meeting at work one day in the 80s, nearly 20 years after it was released, when the tune suddenly popped into my head and I just started saying, “There she was just a-walking down the street, singing…”
 
At which point I stopped, and everyone else in the room instantly quit talking and filled in the blank, as if they couldn’t stop themselves. Now that’s a powerful song.

The lyrics in Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith are:
  
When I pulled into town in a police car
Your daddy said I took it just a little too far

I heard:

When I pulled into town in a police car
You danced your turkey just a little too far.

I know, I know...I have no idea what that means, but that's what I heard. 
 

I just found this out.

In "Daddy's Home" by Shep and the Limelites, the lyric goes:

"Your best friend wrote and told me..."

I heard:

"Your best friend, Robin told me..."

 

I thought it would be interesting to do a search to see if anyone else thought that Robin was her best friend. The answer is yes, but what I hadn't counted on was finding that there were several other best friend possiblities as well. 
http://www.amiright.com/misheard/song/daddyshome.shtml