Misheard Song Lyrics -> Stories -> Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers

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!).


Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits album at Amazon.com
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers', "Free Falling"
The Misheard Lyrics:
It's a long day, living in the semen.
The Real Lyrics:
It's a long day, living in Reseda.
The Story: I was half asleep riding on the bus to school one morning s long time ago, and this song was on the radio. Nodding off, I thought I distincly heard Tom Petty say 'living in the semen' and almost freaked out on the bus. When I got home I looked up the lyrics and have one question-where is Reseda? (Editor's note: In California.) - Submitted by: Amanda
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers', "Refugee"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Don't mess around with the love machine.
The Real Lyrics:
Baby, you don't have to live like a refugee.
The Story: Well, I was walking around campus and heard this song from a distance. The funny thing is I'd heard it before; but for some reason that day, I heard 'Don't mess around with the love machine' and thought, 'Huh? What song is that?' Then I realized it was 'Refugee'. - Submitted by: Katie
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers', "Yer So Bad"
The Misheard Lyrics:
Now she's a singer, a Dave Dinger Singer.
The Real Lyrics:
Now she's a swinger dating a singer.
The Story: The Dave Dinger Singers are jingle-singers for a fairly large local car dealership, Dinger Ford. It's highly unlikely that Tom Petty was writing about the melodious Dave Dinger Singers. However, maybe Mr. Petty bought a new or pre-owned Ford there and he felt compelled to.....um, nevermind. - Submitted by: Lili
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers', "Born a Rebel"
The Misheard Lyrics:
I was Barney Rubble
The Real Lyrics:
I was Born a Rebel
The Story: funny! - Submitted by: Jeff

There are more Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers 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]

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

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