Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Steve Miller Band
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!).
Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-1978 album at Amazon.com
Steve Miller Band's, "Big Ol' Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big O. jarred out of alignment.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: It became a standing joke between me and a group of very tolerant friends at high school in Australia. - Submitted by: Brock P
Steve Miller Band's, "Big Ol' Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big hotel in Atlanta
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: This song was the song to call in on for a radio contest in Jacksonville, Florida 1997. Every time the DJ asked the caller the name of the song, they got it wrong. The dj played the calls of at least ten people and every one of them misheard the lyrics. 'Big hotel in Atlanta' was my favorite one. - Submitted by: eric
Steve Miller Band's, "Fly Like An Eagle"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Shoot the children with no shoes on their feet.
The Real Lyrics:
Shoe the children with no shoes on their feet.
The Story: When I first heard this song, I thought that they were talking about shooting all the children who don't have any shoes on their feet. My parents, under stifled laughter, kept trying to tell me that they were not in fact saying this. I still didn't believe them. - Submitted by: eric
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Be gone, Chet Ahlinah.
Don't carry me over the bay.
Don't carry me over the bay.
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner.
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Story: This was my college roommate's mistake. She was singing along with the radio as we were tanning outside our dorm. I said, 'Whaa...?' She repeated the above. I asked, 'Who's Chet Ahlinah?' She replied, 'The guy who the singer wants to leave town.' OK!? - Submitted by: annie wysock
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big 'ole Jed and Eliza
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: A bunch of friends and I saw SMB at Michigan State University. The sound was a litle bad that night, and this is what it sound like Steve was singing. It's the way we all sing it now, just for fun. - Submitted by: Cannondale
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big Ol' Jed and Lionel
The Real Lyrics:
Big Ol' jet airliner
The Story: We were playing music trivia (Here's the song title, name the band) at work and this guy throws out Big Ol' Jed and Lionel. Of course we're all stumped, so he sings the chorus as a hint. Totally slayed us. We're dying laughing. He'll likely never live that one down. And now Travis, your misheard lyric is digitally immortalized!!! - Submitted by: Rob
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big Ol' Jed on the Lino
The Real Lyrics:
Big Ol' Jet Airliner
The Story: I always picture Jed Clampett passed out on the linoleum flooring of his posh Beverly Hills mansion. - Submitted by: Paul Myers
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big armchair Carolina
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: Friend and I discussing in High School (12 yrs ago) a comedian I had seen joking about a 'Big old jet had a light on'. He told me that when he was younger, his mom was listening to a Steve Miller Band tape. He was signing along about this 'big armchair Carolina' and his mom (after laughing at her ignorant 12 year old) told him the real lyrics. - Submitted by: Dwayne Hicks
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big cool cat in the lineup
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: i thought it was a story about a convict potentially going to prison. - Submitted by: paige hanson
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big hotel, El Nido
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I heard the song when the album came out. As I became more familiar with it, I started singing along with what I heard. Later on looking at the album listings, I could not remember ever hearing a song that had anything to do with a jet airliner. So I played the track, and was shocked that the band was singing 'Big ol jet airliner' as what I was hearing sounded nothing close to it. So check me into the funny farm, which probably goes by the name Hotel El Nido. - Submitted by: Mike Shawver
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' Chad Adalina
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I was singing the wrong lyrics (Big Ole Chad Adalina) while riding in the car with my younger sister in the 1970's. Sibling rivalry being what it is, my sister took great pleasure in telling me I was singing it all wrong. I proceeded to tell her that since she doesn't like to sing, how would she even know what the right lyrics were? - Submitted by: Karen M
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' Chad had a light on.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner.
The Story: All of my buddies and I used to think this is what the song said. We never stopped to wonder, 'Who is Chad, and why does he have his lights on?' - Submitted by: Bruce Hannam
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' Jan had her light on.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: When I was a teenager, the group that I hung around with (including my ex-wife) used to all sing the lyric this way. I always believed our way to be correct, until I got a divorce and my new girl friend heard me sing the song and told me the correct words. I couldn't believe it but she was correct. The guys at work and I now search all the old songs to see how we might have been butchering them. - Submitted by: Mike Douglas
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' chair and light on
Don't make me poo in the bay.
or
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't take me too far away.
or
Big ol' jet airliner
Comin' for to take me to pay.
Don't make me poo in the bay.
or
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't take me too far away.
or
Big ol' jet airliner
Comin' for to take me to pay.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Story: My roommate in college told me that the first set of lyrics was what the song said. I corrected him by explaining that the song said, 'Big ol' jet airliner, comin' for to take me to pay'. By that time, he had sort of thought that the 'Don't make me poo in the bay' was wrong, but he really believed in the first half ('Big old chair and light on'). - Submitted by: Tony
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' gal with a light on
Ol' Gary was too far away.
or
Big ol' gal with a light on
Don't carry me too far today.
Ol' Gary was too far away.
or
Big ol' gal with a light on
Don't carry me too far today.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Story: Co-worker with my brother's name was driving the work truck. He screams at the loudest voice he has, " Big ol' gal...!" I made him stop on I 5 and repeat what he said---twice. - Submitted by: charles tanner II
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' hair Carolina
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: I was pretty sure these were the wrong lyrics, but I sang them out loud anyway when the song came on the radio. My husband laughed at me for a good five minutes and then decided he liked the lyrics better that way. Now we both sing it like that whenever it comes on. - Submitted by: Celina
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' jet outta 'lina
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I thought maybe ''lina ' was slang for one of the Carolinas. He was talking about leaving the South. - Submitted by: Mary
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big ol' pantyliner
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: My ex, Scotty actually came up with this. I owe it to him, wherever he is. - Submitted by: ConnieK
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old Carolina
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I thought the lyric was 'Big old Carolina, don't carry me away' and I had a funny mental image of a Paul Bunyan size woman named Carolina tossing some man over her shoulder and carrying him away. - Submitted by: KMR
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old Chad had eyeliner.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I've always thought since 1976 that Steve Miller was singing about a guy named Chad (and he was old and big) that was a cross dresser, so therefore the eyeliner. I know I've heard and seen the lyrics printed correctly since; but sometimes, to make fun of myself, I sing along with the song this way. - Submitted by: Peter
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old Jed and Elijah
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I was a kid. I pictured two giant dudes in rocking chairs trying to take me away. - Submitted by: Bob
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old Jed had a light on.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: My country bumpkin ex-boyfriend was convinced that these lyrics were seriously right; and that the song was about a good ole' boy named 'Jed.' Why Jed would leave his light on... I don't know. - Submitted by: Lisa L3 Lislangsta
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old armchair in Idaho
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: A friend of mine's little brother was singing it to himself. We made him repeat it 10 times, then told everyone we knew. What meanies we were! - Submitted by: Bronwen
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big old jet elevator
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: I was two or three and I thought they were singing about an elevator. - Submitted by: Nett
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Big' old train is a 'Lionel'.
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: My brother mike use to sing this line when this song was played on the radio 30 years ago. I still remember him singing this line. - Submitted by: Bob Benjamin
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Bingo Jed had a lighter
don't carry it too far away
don't carry it too far away
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
don't carry me too far away
don't carry me too far away
The Story: I thought this was what the song was saying until I was 14, when I went to a Steve Miller show with some friends. I was singing my heart out, very loudly, until I noticed the people around me were giving me strange looks. The girl next to me leaned over and told me what the lyrics actually were. I felt like a jackass. - Submitted by: Kerry Thompson
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Ding-a-lo vagina, don't carry me too far away Oh, ding-a-lo vagina, cause it's here that I have to stay
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner, don't carry me too far away Oh, big old jet airliner, 'cause it's here that I have to stay
The Story: When I was about 10, my good friend Johnny told me about this incredible song he heard on the radio. It was all about "vagina". I was sure he was making it up because he was so goofy, but he swore it was true. But when it came on the radio, sure enough, we heard "ding-a-lo vagina" just as clear as day. It was years before I realized how mistaken we were, and whenever I hear it, my mind still says "ding-a-lo vagina" even though I know it's wrong! - Submitted by: Robyn
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
He don't leave that light on.
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: I knew a guy who used to sing this tune every time it came on the radio. I never told him the correct lyrics. It was too funny to want to correct him. How do you even request it? I mean, that's the title. - Submitted by: brenda
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh, beef on down Carolina
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Real Lyrics:
Oh, big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Story: I was singing what I thought were the correct lyrics to this song out loud and got pretty embarassed when some of my teenage co-workers heard me and told the rest of our group what I sang! - Submitted by: RILEY
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Pick old Jed outta line-up.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: Thought it had to do with one of the band members constantly being in trouble with the law. Corrected by a high school teacher. - Submitted by: Jimbo
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Pig on a jet to Carolina
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I was at a bar with a live band. A band member's girlfirend got it all wrong!! - Submitted by: J Briggs
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Rico, Jed and Lina
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
Don't carry me too far away.
Don't carry me too far away.
The Story: My ex-boyfriend and I were driving and this song came on and he proceeded to sing the afore mentioned lyrics. He turned to me and asked, 'So, who do you think these Rico, Jed and Lina people are anyway?' I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants. To this day, I crack up when I hear this song. - Submitted by: Stacy Adams
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
There go Jed and Lionel.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: I sang along with the radio this way for twenty years and never knew the name of the song. Then a couple of days before seeing him in concert in 2005, I was listening to the album and paying attention to the names of the songs. About halfway through the song, I realized what he was actually saying. I thought it was about a couple of rednecks named Jed and Lionel. - Submitted by: Tom
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We don't care 'bout the rhinestone.
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: This song came out two years after the Glen Campbell hit 'Rhinestone Cowboy', which made me think I heard 'rhinestone'. - Submitted by: Don
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We don't care if you're a wino.
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: When I was a kid, I always sang with my aunt while driving in the car, whether I knew the lyrics or not. This one cracked her up. I was embarassed at the time and stopped singing for a while, but I was singing along with her again soon after that. - Submitted by: Corey M. Baker
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We go down at Elida.
The Real Lyrics:
Big ol' jet airliner
The Story: Elida is a small town about 25 miles from where I live. I don't know how I got that mixed up in the song. - Submitted by: Allison
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We go, Carolina.
or
Big hotel with the light on.
or
Big hotel with the light on.
The Real Lyrics:
Big 'ol jet air liner.
The Story: I always heard 'We go, Carolina, don't carry me too far away'. I just thought it was really subjective, and it depended on how far you were from Carolina. My fiance heard, 'Big hotel with the light on, don't carry me too far away'. He thought,'How high was this guy? Hotels that carry you away?' Needless to say, we had a really good laugh about this when it came on the car radio. - Submitted by: Jenni Fisher
Steve Miller Band's, "Jet Airliner"
The Misheard Lyrics:
We gon' jet outta Lido
The Real Lyrics:
Big old jet airliner
The Story: Even a music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle printed these as the correct lyrics. - Submitted by: Renee M. Thorpe
Steve Miller Band's, "Jungle Love"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Chug-a-lug!
The Real Lyrics:
Jungle love
The Story: My best friend and I were sitting in the car. This song comes on the radio and we start singing it (as we do with every song). All of a sudden, I turn to her and go, 'What are you saying?'. She says, 'Chug-a-lug!', as if I'm a retard for even asking. I finally gained my bearings to point out her mistake. - Submitted by: nina
Steve Miller Band's, "Mercury Blues"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I want to buy me a Mercury Cruise: open down this road!
The Real Lyrics:
I want to buy me a Mercury and cruise up and down this road.
The Story: I bought the 'Fly Like An Eagle' album way back in 1977 and used to listen to this song all the time. I didn't know what a Mercury was (it's a car model of course), nor what cruising meant. This was long before Alan Jackson revamped it into a hit, and Miller (I learned much later) was singing it adopting a bluesman accent - he even says 'knowed' instead of 'knew' at a certain point, very much in the style of a Black blues singer. Since the prevalent theme of that album was 'freedom', I figured, in a very hazy way, that Miller was singing about someone blocking a road during a demonstration or whatever - or that the road he was referring to was symbolical. I mean, I don't even think the verb 'to open down' exists... But I liked the idea that the song was about something extremely specific which I could not grasp. And it was just about buying a car! - Submitted by: Leonardo
Steve Miller Band's, "Take The Money And Run"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his gasso.
The Real Lyrics:
Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle.
The Story: My wife has been driving me nuts for years with this one. As in Billy Joe was robbing a gas station. Argh! - Submitted by: Kevin Baxter
Steve Miller Band's, "Take The Money And Run"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Oh-ohhhh, kick your buddy and run.
The Real Lyrics:
Oh-ohhh, take the money and run.
The Story: This song came on in the car one day, and my daughters were commenting how rude the lyric is. I went, 'What?' My oldest daughter said, 'He's telling us to kick our friends and run away!', which confused me even more. Then my other daughter goes, 'Kick your buddy and run?' I was laughing so hard, I had to pull over to the edge of the road. - Submitted by: Vanessa
Steve Miller Band's, "Take The Money And Run"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Whoo, the Devonian Run!
The Real Lyrics:
Whoo, take the money and run.
The Story: Turns out there is something called the 'Devonian Runoff,' it's some place in Pennsylvania that ground water runs into. Not sure why Steve Miller would make a song about it though. - Submitted by: Brad
There are more Steve Miller Band misheard lyrics available.
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