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!).
Complete Hit Singles album at Amazon.com
The ink is black, the paper's white
The ink is black, the page is white
The Story: My version makes as much sense as the correct version. - Submitted by: Old Man Edgar Winter
My neighbor’s black
The ink is black
The Story: I thought this was about African-Americans. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Sell a grape, sell a grape,
dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate,
dance to the music
The Story: I used to play this album and my youngest son used to always sing along on the chorus and he was sure that the words were ' sell a grape' not 'celebrate'. We used to roll out laughing because he always sang it loud and proud. So now it's the 'sell a grape' song. - Submitted by: Jim L. Poirot
Eli's comin', honk your honker
Eli's comin', hide your heart, girl
The Story: I thought this was the lyric until I was in my 40's and my husband set me straight. - Submitted by: Suzanne
A family affair
A family of man
The Story: Sounded like this could have been about Sly and the Family Stone. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
And he always had some malified wine.
And he always had some mighty fine wine.
The Story: I knew it had to be wrong, but it sounded like that. I figured that 'malified' meant 'made bad'. I've sung my version to several people who wanted to know the melody, but they didn't know better. - Submitted by: Alissa
I helped him drink his wine
And he always had some modified wine.
But I helped him drink his wine
Yes, he always had some mighty fine wine.
The Story: A preteen when this song came out new. I didn't find out, until about 15 years later, what the correct lyrics were. During that entire time, I ALWAYS wondered what 'MODIFIED wine' was! - Submitted by: Dave
Joy to the fishes in the big oak tree.
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea.
The Story: When I was a child, I absolutely insisted to my parents that the fishes really were in the big oak tree. No wonder they couldn't stop laughing. - Submitted by: Leslie
I'm a toad and I'm drunk.
Mama told me not to come.
The Story: I heard someone call in to a radio show. She said her boyfriend thought the words were 'I'm a toad and I'm drunk'. After that, whenever I hear the song, that's what it sounds like to me. - Submitted by: Suzie Bolotin
I heard they're all on speed now
And it may lead up to needles
I headed for Las Vegas
Only made it out to Needles
The Story: I heard this many times as a kid in the '70's and always thought that this was right. When I heard it again 20 years later the real lyrics were very clear to me and I couldn't understand how I had always misheard something so wrong. - Submitted by: John Spillman
There are more Three Dog Night misheard lyrics available.
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
