Misheard/mis-sung

[Worm of Despite]

I hear "Fortunate Son," by CCR played a lot at football games. There was also a clothes ad where people wore patriotic colors, in synch with the following lyrics:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.

It also featured in Live Free or Die Hard.

And of course, who could forget:

Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.
Blinded by the light!
Wrapped uppa like a dooshin ina roller ina night.

[exnihilo]

Revolution

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money
for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
Ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
all right, all right
all right, all right, all right
all right, all right, all right

[amanibhavam]

I think the most publicised artist's reaction to a song being misunderstood is Sting's dismay that listeners think of Every Breath You Take as a love song.

Same could be said of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

[Cheval]

Funny thing:

today at work, Journey's Open Arms was playing and one of the carpenters was saying: "I come to you with broken arms..."

He actually thought those were the lyrics.
(He didn't know the song title nor who sang the song.)

[Menolly]

...can't believe I never shared Hyperception's classic (although it may be a common mistake)...

Actual lyrics:

There's a bad moon on the rise...

Hyperception's version...

There's a bathroom on the right...

...and yeah, I thought it was One Wing Dove for the longest time as well...

[tjtull]

I like the song where the singer got it wrong.....

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice

That's from 'Freewill' off the 'Permanent Waves' album by Rush. That's the lyric I hear, and certainly the lyric Geddy sings, but IIRC, what Neal Peart wrote was:

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You CAN'T have made a choice

No, Neil didn't write CAN'T it's "still". Trust me...

[Sunbaneglasses]

Even though I at some point realized that Robert Plant sings "hammer of the gods", and not "down there off the coast", it still sounds like that to me.

As a whole, Immigrant Song is pretty hard to understand.

[Cheval]

As a whole, Immigrant Song is pretty hard to understand.

Everybody knows that the words are:
"I come from the land of the ice and snow,
that's why they call me an Eskimo..."

[dlbpharmd]

The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I worked as a laborer on a construction crew. One of the other laborers was hard of hearing. Sting came out with a song called "If you love somebody set them free." The background singers would sing:

Free, free
set them free

My hard of hearing friend would sing

Fresh, fresh
Fresh ground beef

[A Gunslinger]

There is a lyric from a Train song...drops of Jupiter i think it is, where he sings "...and heaven is overrated."...

First time i heard it ...I swore he said "Van Halen is overrated." I giggled.

*hides from Cail*