Sting

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!).

Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 album at Amazon.com

Sting's, "An Englishman In New York"

The Misheard Lyrics:

I'm a sapian, I'm a homosapian
I'm a big fish from planet zork.

The Real Lyrics:

I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York.

The Story: I was sat in a bar and thought this is what the words were and was trying to convince my boyfriend. He was right... I was wrong! - Submitted by: Danielle Greenwood

Sting's, "An Englishman in New York"

The Misheard Lyrics:

I'm an alien, I'm an eagle alien
I'm an international Indian.

The Real Lyrics:

I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York.

The Story: I was always really confused by this song. I could never understand the lyrics in the first verse which establish what the song is about (and which I now know to be 'I don't drink coffee I drink tea, my dear' and etc). So when I misheard the chorus, I honestly believe from the words alien, eagle and Indian that it was some kind of protest song about the treatment of Native Americans. I overhead my brother sing the right words one day and the whole thing made a lot more sense. I like my way better :) - Submitted by: Jen

Sting's, "Englishman In New York"

The Misheard Lyrics:

I'm an alien
I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York.

The Real Lyrics:

I'm an alien
I'm a little alien
I'm a multi-national hero.

The Story: I don't know why, but when I was out in industrial training, in the computer room, this song played for nearly a 1000 times in 4 weeks and I was always misspelling these lyrics. After I came back to school, people were so impressed of my creativity that they even didn't laugh. (We're not native English speakers by the way) - Submitted by: Dogac Senol

Sting's, "Englishman In New York"

The Misheard Lyrics:

Whoa, I'm an idiot, I'm a legal idiot
I'm an Englishman in New York.

The Real Lyrics:

Whoa, I'm an alien, I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York.

The Story: My friend Emma doesn't know the words to any song...ever! She was singing these lyrics as if she was word perfect! - Submitted by: Kim Harasym

Sting's, "Every Breath You Take"

The Misheard Lyrics:

My pool hall legs, with every breath you take

The Real Lyrics:

My poor heart aches, with every breath you take

The Story: An old boyfriend was convinced this was the correct line, because he had seen the video and there was a woman with very long legs playing pool in it. I never could persuade him that he had the wrong words, even though it actually makes SENSE with the correct lyrics... - Submitted by: Donna

Sting's, "Fields Of Gold"

The Misheard Lyrics:

Among the fields of Bali

The Real Lyrics:

Among the fields of barley

The Story: The islands of Indonesia are quite idyllic. Sting, a former English teacher, is the sort who'd work such an unusual reference into his songs. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case in this song, as I learned several years after it came out by watching the music video with closed captioning turned on. - Submitted by: codeman38

Sting's, "Fields Of Gold"

The Misheard Lyrics:

And I swear on the mesclun.

The Real Lyrics:

But I swear in the days still left.

The Story: I was about nine when I first heard this song, and I really liked the line I thought I heard. So I actually wrote a story about someone swearing on mesclun. It was pretty funny. - Submitted by: Disneygirl

Sting's, "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free"

The Misheard Lyrics:

Sugar free, saccharin free.

The Real Lyrics:

Free free set them free.

The Story: I was only about 4 when this song came out. when Nutrasweet was just becomming big and they always had commercials about gum and candy containing no sugar and no saccharin. I think I got the two confused. - Submitted by: Kari Konyndyk

Sting's, "If You Love Someone, Set Them Free"

The Misheard Lyrics:

Anyone can suck and f*** us.

The Real Lyrics:

Anyone can keep something precious.

The Story: It wasn't until I actually looked up the true lyrics to the song that I understood I was mishearing them. Sting could have sung 'something precious' in such a more normal way than he does in that song and the misheard lyric wouldn't have happened. - Submitted by: Bruce

Sting's, "Russians"

The Misheard Lyrics:

We share the same biology
Regardless of our geology.

The Real Lyrics:

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology.

The Story: For years (1985 until this afternoon!), I thought this was an extremely feeble attempt to substitute 'geology' for 'geography' to make it rhyme with 'biology.' Now that I know what he was really trying to say, it makes much more sense. My respect for Sting and his poignant and intellectually-stimulating lyrics is restored! - Submitted by: Desert Tripper

There are more Sting misheard lyrics available.

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]

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