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Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Janis Joplin

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!).


Live at Winterland '68 album at Amazon.com
Janis Joplin's, "Me & Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
When she womper slurpin' time
I was holdin' Bobby's hand in mine...
The Real Lyrics:
Windshield wipers slappin' time
Bobby thumbed a diesel down.
The Story: I was with a friend and he asked, "What the hell is she saying?" We kept rewinding it over and over and couldn't figure it out. We thought for sure she said something about "Slurpin' time" I didn't know if that meant happy hour or something. The more we played it over and over the more we laughed to the point where we couldn't breathe. Now, at the most random moments, we'll slur it like she did and start cracking up. People look at us like we're insane. - Submitted by: HypeAustin
Janis Joplin's, "Me & Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Windshield wipers, tupentine
The Real Lyrics:
windsheild wipers slappin time
The Story: My ex-wife was singing this one day and she said 'turpentine'. I laughed so hard that I almost cried. I'm a big Joplin fan, and it took me a week to admit to her that I thought those were the lyrics for about five years. We stayed friends and we still sing it that way. - Submitted by: My Foot is made of jelly
Janis Joplin's, "Me & Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Windshield wipers, turpentine
The Real Lyrics:
Winshield wipers, slapping time
The Story: My sister and I were hanging out one night, and she sang 'turpentine' at the top of her lungs. We laughed for about half an hour after that, and she kept saying 'I swear those are the words!' She called a friend a few days later and asked what the words were, and told her friend she thought it was turpentine. Her friend yelled 'what the hell is wrong is you?!' It was hilarious at the time, and still pretty funny now. - Submitted by: Jessie
Janis Joplin's, "Me And Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Me and Bobby motherf***** Magee
The Real Lyrics:
Hey, now, Bobby now, Bobby McGee.
The Story: My ex-father-in-law used to swear that she was really swearing about Bobby. No one could convince him otherwise. - Submitted by: kitty
Janis Joplin's, "Me And Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Windshield wipers, turpentine.
The Real Lyrics:
Windshield wipers slap in time.
The Story: Two years ago, this song came on the radio, my husband, 48 at the time, was singing along. When he sang that part, I asked him what he said. He repeated, 'Windshield wipers, turpentine.' I just fell out; he had sang it that way for 30 + years. - Submitted by: G. Stalbaum
Janis Joplin's, "Me and Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
One day a mystery, uh-huh.
The Real Lyrics:
One day up near Salinas, Lord.
The Story: I was belting out Bobby McGee, doing my very best Janis Joplin when my (then new) boyfriend, a musician, heard my version. It can still send him into fits of laughter. He'll imitate me singing "Uh-huh" when I'm off on another one of my misguided stories. I love it that it's become one of our inside jokes. I have no idea how I started singing that line. I bet I've been singing it that way for over 30 years. I just can't bring myself to sing it correctly. - Submitted by: Angie from Marblehead, MA
Janis Joplin's, "Me and Bobby McGee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Reading's just another word when there's nothin' else to do
The Real Lyrics:
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose
The Story: When I first heard this song, I was a young kid and was trying to be so cool around my coolest friend, Joanne, and I started singing MY version--well, when she heard me she laughed and laughed (and I was so humiliated!), and she teased the hell out of me for months. - Submitted by: Jeannie
Janis Joplin's, "Mercedes Benz"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh Lord, won't you buy me in mercy these bands
My friends all have horses I must take my hands.
The Real Lyrics:
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
The Story: Well what else can I say than that I thought the past three years that Janis Joplin must have been really stoned when she wrote such stupid, incomprehensible lyrics. Not five minutes ago I found out the bands turned out to be Mercedeses and the horses to be Porsches and the hands to be amends. Wow, suddenly that rubbish makes sense. The strange thing is that for three years I have been singing the wrong lyrics at the top of my lungs at every party and nobody ever set me straight. - Submitted by: darky
Janis Joplin's, "O Lord Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz"
The Misheard Lyrics:
My friends all drive horses.
The Real Lyrics:
My friends all drive Porsches.
The Story: When my son was 5, he loved this song. One day I heard him singing along and realized this was what he was singing. Although he's now 17 and all dignified, I still won't let him live that down. - Submitted by: P J Hagan
Janis Joplin's, "Oh, Lord Won't You Buy Me A Mercedes Benz"
The Misheard Lyrics:
My friends all drive horseshoes.
The Real Lyrics:
My friends all drive Porsches.
The Story: I knew it couldn't actually be horseshoes, but I couldn't figure out what it really was and sang 'horseshoes' to fill the space (like La La La) until a friend heard me and humiliated me and told a bunch of other people about it! I was just a kid! I wasn't familiar with Porsches! - Submitted by: A. J. Nickels
Janis Joplin's, "Piece of my Heart"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Take another little piece of my hard-on.
The Real Lyrics:
Take another little piece of my heart now.
The Story: This has always been one of my favorite songs, but I still think of how much I laughed when my best friend John said he 'couldn't believe Janis really sang that.' - Submitted by: Dan Garrison
Indexes: [#] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Y] [Z]

New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.

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