Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Bob Dylan
Misheard lyrics (also called mondegreens) occur when people misunderstand the lyrics in a song. These are NOT intentional rephrasing of lyrics, which is called parody. For more information about the misheard lyrics available on this site, please read our FAQ.
This page contains a list of the songs that have stories about their misheard lyrics submitted.
Song names are sorted by first letter, excluding A and The. This is sorted by song title only, not by song title and performer. So if two different performers preformed the same song, you'll see misheard lyrics for both on the same page (provided the song title was spelt the same both times, and misheard lyrics have been submitted for both!).
No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (The Bootleg Series Vol. 7) album at Amazon.com
Bob Dylan's, "Absolutely Sweet Marie"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Well, I've got the fever down in my b******s.
The Real Lyrics:
Well, I've got the fever down in my pockets.
The Story: Although I was certain that Bob Dylan wouldn't use crude anatomical slang in any of his songs, I nonetheless felt great relief upon learning the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Lenka
Bob Dylan's, "Forever Young"
The Misheard Lyrics:
May you pay
Cold egg fu yung.
Cold egg fu yung.
The Real Lyrics:
May you stay
Forever young.
Forever young.
The Story: I was very young, and had just eaten Chinese food for the first time. I had... Egg Fu Yung. Gee! Wondered how I made that mistake. - Submitted by: Carly
Bob Dylan's, "Hurricane"
The Misheard Lyrics:
And all Nigeria grieved.
The Real Lyrics:
An all-white jury agreed.
The Story: I thought Nigerians must have really like Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter. - Submitted by: Marek
Bob Dylan's, "Idiot Wind"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Alien wind
The Real Lyrics:
Idiot Wind
The Story: I came home one night from work and my ex-wife was sitting in the living room drunk with headphones on singing the lyrics to Bob Dylan's Idiot Wind loud and offkey as hell. When she gets to the title lyrics, she starts screaming out 'Aillllllll-eee-on wind'. She didn't get much of the rest of the song right either, but I thought it was hysterical that she didn't even get the title right. - Submitted by: Jerry Storch
Bob Dylan's, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knockin' on Kevin's Door
The Real Lyrics:
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
The Story: As sung by my 5 year old nephew at the time it was released. - Submitted by: Sue T.
Bob Dylan's, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knockin' on Kevin's do-oo-oh
The Real Lyrics:
Knockin' on heaven's door
The Story: My brother's name is Kevin, and I used to sing this to him. My mom would ask me to get him for dinner , and I would go to his bedroom door, and sing 'Knock, knock, knockin' on Kevin's do-oo-oh.' This particular day, his friend Gregg was over (who I had a majaor crush on), and when he heard me sing this,he fell out laughing. Gregg stayed for dinner, and kept looking at me and when he caught my eye, would mumble und his breath 'Knock, knock....'. he may have thought I was the biggest dork, but he got over it, because we have been married for 12 years. Still to this day, he'll ask me, 'Hey, let's invite Knock-knock over for dinner.' - Submitted by: Maureen
Bob Dylan's, "Knocking On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Knocking on Everett's door.
The Real Lyrics:
Knocking on Heaven's door.
The Story: Actually my dad misheard these lyrics. One day he told me that he could never figure out who the hell Everett was! He was so shocked when I told him it was Heaven, not Everett. - Submitted by: April Davis
Bob Dylan's, "Knocking On Heaven's Door"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Rock, rock, rocking on heaven's door
The Real Lyrics:
Knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door
The Story: This is from the vh1 made for tv movie Strange Frequency. A teenage hitchhiker says that she heard a band sing 'rock, rock, rocking on heaven's door. The driver later says that it's 'Knocking on Heaven's Door.' - Submitted by: Suzanne
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lay across my big breast, baby.
The Real Lyrics:
Lay across my big brass bed.
The Story: My husband has a huge chest. After we'd had an argument, I sat in my room playing that song over and over, thinking of that big chest. I was really disappointed when I finally read the lyrics. - Submitted by: Diana
Bob Dylan's, "Lay Lady Lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You can have your Pekingese, too.
The Real Lyrics:
You can have your cake and eat it too.
The Story: I was a child when this song came out and thought it perfectly reasonable that Bob Dylan was allowing the lady to keep her dog. - Submitted by: Cathy Conwill
Bob Dylan's, "Lay lady lay"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Lay upon your funky grass bed
The Real Lyrics:
Lay upon your big brass bed
The Story: I returned from my book club meeting last night-- we'd read 'Positively 4th St'-- and was in bed with my husband, re-working some Dylan lyrics to include our dogs. When I sang 'funky grass bed,' he really cracked up. 'Well, those are the actual lyrics,' said I. He insisted it was a brass bed, which I thought wasn't nearly as poetic. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am-- I've had that image of a woodland clearing, and one of those great youthful trysts in nature. Who needs another big brass bed? - Submitted by: Maria Jette
Bob Dylan's, "License To Kill"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Man has invented his doom
First step was touching the womb.
First step was touching the womb.
The Real Lyrics:
Man has invented his doom
First step was touching the moon.
First step was touching the moon.
The Story: This was Bob's Christian period, so I didn't know if Bob was refering to abortion or to simply being born. (He not busy being born is busy dying). Then I found the lyric was 'moon'... ¿Qué? - Submitted by: bobsboots.com
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Like-a completa-nong
The Real Lyrics:
Like a complete unknown
The Story: I'd sung this for years thinking it was an Italian type 'flavour'. A nong at that time meaning 'an idiot or fool. I was over 50 before I found out what the correct words were. - Submitted by: Robbie
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Through the bumps of time
The Real Lyrics:
Threw the bums a dime.
The Story: My son, then about 10 (he is now 23) , thought this was the lyric when he first listened to the song. We thought it actually would have done just as well as the original. - Submitted by: Michael Perlin
Bob Dylan's, "Like A Rolling Stone"
The Misheard Lyrics:
You threw the bums a pie.
The Real Lyrics:
Threw the bums a dime.
The Story: I once sang this song (correctly) to a group attending a church-based mother and daughter banquet. I had focused so hard to learn the words and the chords that I never really 'heard' the words until that very moment. The daughters loved me, the mothers wanted to kill me (until I started to sing a Frank Sinatra tune 'It Was a Very Good Year' then they loved me too.) - Submitted by: Merlin MacUser
Bob Dylan's, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Don't wear sandals -- the California scandals!
The Real Lyrics:
Don't wear sandals, try to avoid the scandals.
The Story: This song is so ripe for mishearing; I'm surprised to find only one entry. I've submitted all the lyrics I thought I'd made sense of. However, there are many more that I just had to let go. I could never even make a guess. Such as: "ring bell, hard to tell if anything is goin' to sell". I still listen to this song and don't hear anything coherent there! - Submitted by: Luca Grella
Bob Dylan's, "Subterranean Homesick Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Six time users
Hanging around the fetus.
Hanging around the fetus.
The Real Lyrics:
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters.
Hang around the theaters.
The Story: Bobby D. always had a way with words, so I didn't think twice before posting those as an example of lyrics with obscure meanings on usenet in April 2002. It didn't take long for someone to correct me. It was embarrassing. - Submitted by: Don Miaw
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a crepe.
The Real Lyrics:
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe.
The Story: I thought he came up with a different way to say he was staring at the lady's chest. I was sort of disapointed when I found out what he really said. - Submitted by: Kristen Giglio
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
She was standing in back of my chair
Sayin, 'Jimmy, don't I know your name?'
Sayin, 'Jimmy, don't I know your name?'
The Real Lyrics:
She was standing in back of my chair
Said to me, 'Don't I know your name?'
Said to me, 'Don't I know your name?'
The Story: Whenever I listened to this song, I would comment on how she obviously didn't know his name, since it's not 'Jimmy'. Nobody corrected me. I found out when I searched online for the lyrics. - Submitted by: Sarah
Bob Dylan's, "Tangled Up In Blue"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Wondering if she'd change it all,
If my hair was still red.
If my hair was still red.
The Real Lyrics:
Wondering if she'd changed at all,
If her hair was still red.
If her hair was still red.
The Story: I had always had a problem with this. I kept hearing if *my* hair was still red, would she change it? And it disturbed me, deeply. But what I think disturbed me even more was picturing Bob Dylan with bright red hair. - Submitted by: SRK
Bob Dylan's, "The Weight"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Take the Lord off Granny.
The Real Lyrics:
Take a load off, Annie.
The Story: Singing enthusiastically along with the radio one afternoon, my little sister belted out 'Take the Lord off Granny' Then she thoughtfully asked my mother, 'How much the Lord weighed?' She thinks 'grannies aren't that strong'. From the mouths of babes! - Submitted by: Mirabelk
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