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!).
Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition album at Amazon.com
You can die because we are in love.
You and I, because we are in love.
The Story: 'Whew!', I used to think when I first heard this. Was this some kind of cruel taunt, or some kind of dire warning? Since this song is from before the days of AIDS, I couldn't think of any reason for such a dire warning, as if to say something like "our love is doomed because you could die from it". So it could hardly be like that, but the opening of the song DOES make it sound like possibly some kind of song of doom and gloom, as the opening line is "Children, It was more fun to be children", a seeming reflection on the innocent days before one ever imagined that life-and-death dilemmas could be in one's future. Since I've learned the real words, I guess it is a relief generally, knowing that it's a generally happy song, but in that case, why the lamenting opening lines? - Submitted by: Ingrid McCannless
And they sprinkled walnuts in her hair
and gave her eyes of two
And they sprinkled moondust in her hair
and gave her eyes of blue
The Story: I originally heard this song in my tap dance class when I was 7, when I got older and sang at weddings I had to sing this song and finally got to see the correct lyrics. I felt so stupid knowing I had said it wrong for years...and my mother never let me forget it either - Submitted by: Cheryl Mercer
Swap his Mom to buy Yvonne what she need-o.
Swap his mon' to buy Yvonne what she need-o.
The Story: I've read on one site that "mon'" is short for "money" in this case. So that negates the bizarre image I formerly had of him trading in his mother so he could buy things for Yvonne. - Submitted by: Sharon Goldsmith
Sing of love and good beer.
Sing of love that could be.
The Story: Little children are singing this line, so to having them singing about good beer would be rather ironic. [Ed.'s note: Not to mention that it would offend American parents.] - Submitted by: Jamie
As I grew people called itself to Stephen.
As I grew people called it self-deceiving.
The Story: When I was a teenager I was mad about the Carpenters and played them incessantly, day and night. My baby sister told me years later she thought Karen was singing specifically about me in this line because I was so madlly in love with her!!! - Submitted by: Stephen Richardson
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Karen. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
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All correct lyrics are copyrighted, amIright.com does not claim ownership of the original lyrics.
