you slay me!

I have LOADS of songs from the 80's that I do that to... It makes for fun times! I always thought "Love Shack" was "Love Shot."

It is almost impossible for me to believe I might have the first post- unless of course someone is sneaking in ahead of me!

You're not alone. I publicly sang along with "I Wanna New Truck" only to be told (publicly) that the correct lyrics were "I wanna new drug". Oops!

I knew it was too good to be true :)

I can always count on you for a good belly laugh! (Last time I laughed so hard: two days ago, at the Liquor Bank entry.)

At least your friend was kind. I got laughed off the face of the earth when I happened to reveal that I thought the chorus to "Our Lips Are Sealed" was "Honest I See You."

I very recently embarassed myself. We were listening to Total Eclipse of the Heart on your lovely cd (I LOVE THAT CD!) when I turned to my sister and hubby and said, "So what exactly is a pollygag?" They said, "Huh?" I said, you know, "living in a pollygag and giving off sparks." I think they both spewed what they were drinking out their noses. When they FINALLY stopped laughing informed me that the word was powder keg. Who knew?

I bet Billy DID love Harry and just cleverly disguised the song enough so no one would know...but you saw right through it!
You rock!

He he he. I've always heard Stevie Ray Vaughn's "That's a cold shot, babe," as "Got to go shop-ping," which I've always found inspirational.

And then there's Steve Miller's "Pompitus of Love," for which I've still never heard a logical explanation.

Yesh, what the heck is a pompitus of love? REALLY now???

I feel your pain. I grew up singing "Nachestneueva" a Cyndi Lauper song. I even performed a baton twirling routine to it going all the way down Main Street singing to myself, "Girls just wanna have fun. Nachestneuva. Nachestneuva."

At least yours makes sense.

Kris, I also thought "our lips are sealed" was "honest I see you!" So funny!

Ha ha!! Girl, you crack me up. It's funny when people mangle lyrics. Not that I've ever done it. ;)

Yeah, the oldies stations these days play songs from the 80's & 90's! Um, what? When I was a teen the oldies were 50's & 60's!!! Aaaaack!!

It also sounds like Billy has a speech impediment, or else he is singing "Harry Dupuis." Also, I thought England Dan and John Ford Coley were singing "I'm not talking 'bout the linen, and I don't want to change your life, but there's a warm wind blowin', the stars around, and I'd really love to see you tonight."

It was only what, five or six years ago? that I found out that the line in the song "Shaft" was "he's a complicated man and no one understands him but his woman". I always wondered why "a carpet cleaning man" would need understanding...

The San Francisco Chronicle has a great columnist named Jon Carroll (love him! he writes about local stuff, cats, politics and other amusing things that occur to him) and he does a column every now & then about mondegreens, which is his term for the mis-interpretation of song lyrics. Check it out on www.sfgate.com columnists/carroll/mondegreens.

Misquoted song lyrics are so fun! My sister and I love to sing "Taking Care of Business" only it's
Baking carrot biscuits and working on a pie.

Uh.
I thought it was "I'm driving you free". At least yours made some sense. :)

I had to correct my mom when I was a teenager, because she thought that song "Put Me In Coach, I'm Ready to Play" was saying "Put Me In Cold, I'm Ready to Bake". Needless to say, I thought she was the stupidest, most embarrassing mom on the face of the planet!! Then I won a bet with my hubby a few years back when he thought the John Cougar Mellencamp classic "Little Pink Houses" said "I can remember when you could stop a plow" instead of "...stop a clock". haha

I have also consistently altered/ mangled song lyrics my entire life. (I also have been told I can't carry a tune, which may alter/ mangle the melody too, but what can you do?) My personal favorite is “Oh, What a night!” Real lyrics according the the all knowing innernets:

"Oh, I. I got a funny feeling when she walked
In the room and I,
As I recall it ended much too soon."

My version, which I have to admit that I prefer, ends the chorus with “and I got a funny ache in my zoot suit”.

Zoot suit! Heeeeelarious! .....to me anyway....

To go back even farther (further?), how about: I didn't call to say I love you, I didn't call to say how much I care, I didn't call to say I love you, And I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Whaaa??? Finally, some time(30years)later, I finally saw the words. Sorry, Stevie, Mr. Wonder, sir. Sorry. Whoops...

My twin boys thought that George Benson's song went "Gimme the Knife". They even had a West Side Story type of dance to go with the song. In their defense they had been speaking English for just a few months at the time. (In MY defense I was a total hippie pacifist so I don't know where the stabbing references came from.)

Love those misheard lyric things. When the song first came out, I wondered how they could say "Play that f***in' music, white boy" on the radio. And I thought I was the only one who realized it...What an idiot.

Gotta love that '80s stuff though. In fact, I just downloaded a couple tunes from the time of big shoulder pads and big sunglasses (at night). Remember Just Got Lucky by Joe Boxers? Or Tenderness by General Public? Awesome big haired goodness!

Once again, Laurie, you've got me wishing I was living on the left coast...Love ya!!

Ours was Wham - wake me up before you go go - "beach permanents haven't been the same" instead of "beats per minute" - you know how those beach perms are!

Since playing Singstar 80's for playstation - I have realized that I made up a lot of my own lyrics back in the day!!

OMG- "Rave"! I'd completely forgotten about that!
I wonder what the latest uber-trendy "wash 'n toss" source is for teens theses days?

Susan-- I think it's Forever 21. Or as I like to call it fondly... Forever Sweatshop.

Oh, how I long for the 80's when all I had to worry about was how high I could make my bangs and how many songs I could tape record off the radio on my big "ghetto blaster".

I was never sure what Billy Ocean was singing in "Carribean Queen"...and I always thought "Our Lips are Sealed" was "Honest Cecile".

Remember Banarama's cover of "Venus"? I spent most of the Eighties thinking that they were singing, "I'm your penis! I'm your fire and your desire!"

We listened to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack a lot as kids. My sister thought the lyrics from the Bee Gees "More than a Woman" were "bald headed woman"!

I will still swear on a stack of bibles that Stevie Nicks in "Edge of Seventeen" is singing about a One Winged Dove.

I always thought it was so sad, poor dove with just the one wing. Just flapping around in circles on the ground.....

Milli...Baking carrot biscuits and working on a pie.

I can't breathe now, I'm laughing so hard.

I love this commercial from a few years ago, the only thing I can remember is the guy singing to his girlfriend "Pour some shook up Ramen" instead of "Pour some sugar on me".

Also, a few years before that, I was downtown with my mom and she got a huge kick out of me thinking the parking ramp speakers were saying "Parked Car Approaching" instead of "Caution, Car Approaching".

I am a bit older than you (I couldn't be your mom, but a babysitter, yes)...and I remember this song, but never paid much attention to it. But I am SO dense...even after listening and reading what you told me the real title was, I STILL had to go look up the lyrics. Then I listened again. I just do NOT hear "Caribbean Queen", no matter what. Harry or Carrie Dupree is much better.

I am old. sigh.

Ooooh, that Billy Ocean song put me right back to year 1989. I was 18, dancing at the Blue Nigts night club. I had legwarmers and same kind of hair cut as Simon LeBon in Duran Duran had...

I'm sure you've seen this already...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw
(probably nsfw)

Do you know the song "Blinded By The Light"? The official lyrics of the refrain are:

Blinded by the light
Wrapped up like a deuce
Another roller in the night

But, as noted in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs (which you should read if you haven't), a lot of people think that "deuce" is "douche," which is not surprising, because, listen to the song if you don't believe me, the singer does not say "deuce." He says "douche." Plain as day. And how (and why) would one wrap a deuce anyway?

Then there's Gerry Rafferty's "Right Down the Line," which I thought contained the lines

And it's been you, move on,
Right down the line.

This puzzled me a lot, because the song is about how awesome the singer's main squeeze is, so why is he telling her to get out of town? Eventually someone enlightened me, in pitying tones: it's been you, *woman*, right down the line.

And then there's "Stumblin' In," by Quarterflash (which never had another hit that I know of):

You were so young, and I was so free
I may have been young, but baby, the snotwad I wanted to be

I have to go now: there's a bustle in my hedgerow.

Some years back, my sister got a Page-a-day Calendar of misconstrued lyrics. Family favorites: "Totally eclipsed by a fart." and "It's my Parabola!" The last one was accompanied by a cartoon of Einstein guarding his math-encrusted blackboard! HEE!!

I always thought it was something like "carry me sweet" or "caribou swee" (w/o the 't') or "haribu swee" or, shucks, even, "Gary Busee" (you know, the actor).

OMG I am laughing so hard.

And what the hell is a bustle in the hedgerow?? But... don't be alarmed now. It's just a spring clean for the May Queen.

Oh, and speaking of singing a song to another guy, every time I heard the Elton John song "Nikita," which, you may recall, was a megahit played over and over and OVER again, *everywhere*, not just in the decadent Northeast, all I could think of was, "Nikita? Does no one else remember Khrushchev?" (Now that I've looked it up, I discover that Nikita can be a female name in languages other than Russian, but Russian was in fact what Elton John had in mind.)

For about a hundred years I thought Billy Squier was singing "Strong as goat man" instead of "stroke me stroke me". I'm not right.

Ok, thanks everyone - now I have those songs stuck in my head!!

Make it stop!!

Apparently, back in college, my hubby thought "Let my love open the door" was "Let Milo open the door". That one baffled him. I believe he once asked someone who the hell Milo was.

And I had a friend in high school who mis-heard "My Prerogative" as "My pirhana fish". I had odd friends.

We are Clapton fans in this house so our daughters know most of the songs. There's a line in "Layla" that goes "I'm beggin' you darlin' please" which, for quite a while, my 10 yr old thought was "a bacon donut please!"

When she was finally corrected (after we all stopped gasping for breath from laughter)she submitted it to the Archive of Misheard Lyrics and was very pleased when it was published a few weeks later.

I'm laughing so hard about "I'm your penis" that I nearly dropped the computer.

ow. my cheeks hurt.

I have Carrie Dupree on my Ipod. I am so ashamed.

I love "Caribbean Queen"! It's on my iPod. Really, it is! But I didn't know there was a video. Hmm... that's not quite what I picture when I listen to it. *ha*

How about Blinded by the Light by the Steve Miller Band (I think?) "Revved up like a douche, another rumor in the night."

It was decades before I realized it was "deuce", not "douche." I always wondered how one would rev up a douche and/or why one would want to.

Oops. I did not read all of the comments. I guess that would make me a douche.

I will rev up on you, then.

You crack me up. My ex's sister thought "Feelings" was a song about "Felix".

There's a website with lists of lyrics gone wrong. My all time favorite - a line from "Bad Moon Rising" (Credence Clearwater Revival) - instead of 'there's a bad moon on the rise', it came out 'there's a bathroom on the right'.

I wonder if Harry and Carrie are married...

I got that rev part wrong, too. I guess I am a double douche. Sigh.

Pink Floyd's Another Brick In the Wall...

We don't need no education,
We don't need no forced control,
No doors are havin' in the classroom
Teacher leave those kids alone.

What the hell is forced control and "doors are havin'? I don't know. And I figured out that "forced control" is "thought control" but the other line remained a mystery...

My favorite is from Michael Jackson's song, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
We sang, "There's a sale on summer moccasins". Lord only knows what he was really saying, something like 'mama say mama sah ma mah kuu sah' or some such nonsense.

No, Liz, you're the girl with colitis, and things look really weird whenever you go by.

I am a douche too: "Stumblin' In" is by Suzy Quatro (of Fonzie Loves Pinky fame) and Chris Norman; "Harden My Heart" is by Quarterflash. Don't mind me, I'm still preoccupied with 1985, but apparently I don't remember it too well.

Mom and I were driving around one day listening to one of my Depeche Mode CDs. She gasped and asked, "Did they just say, 'I just can't get it up.'?" I totally cracked up. When I told her the lyric was 'I just can't get enough.' she burst into a fit a giggles too.

My wife has a phrase for this kind of thing: being lyrically challenged. Her famous misunderstanding was thinking that 'ROCK in the USA' was 'Arnold CK in the USA'.

Answer to Steve D. on Pink Floyd:

We don't need no education,
We don't need no thought control,
No dark sarcasm in the classroom.....

I always wondered what the heck "malco" was....

"I believe in malco,
where you from
you sexy thing"

(Hot Chocolate - You Sexy Thing)

I know it's supposed to be "miracles" now...
but it still sounds like malco to me!

wait while i wipe the tears away.....sorry. steve, the other line is "dark sarcasm in the classroom"(i think)...but Julianne, what is it if not a one winged dove?

I'm with AmyL on "Wanna Be Startin' Something'"...I heard the remix when I was getting my hair 'did', and I had to look up the lyrics on the innernets. *I* always thought it was "aww, the same, aww, the sound, aww, the Macoosaw"...as if Macoosaw was an exotic place, like Acapulco(sp?).
And remember Stacey Q? "Two of Hearts"? I thought she was singing about 'Two Poptarts'.

Ok, first I'm glad I'm not the only one who's misunderstood Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" lines. Except I was convinced "no dark sarcasm in the classroom" was "no Dukes of Hazard in the classroom" and when I told my Hubby, a HUGE Floyd fan, he threatened to divorce me on the grounds of mental cruelty. I like my lines better, personally. :)

I used to think "Proud Mary" was "Brown Berry".

And I still can't hear "Caribbean Queen" in the lyrics no matter how hard my ears listen for it.

OMG all the comments are absolutely hilarious...Kris and Krista, right there with you on the "Honest I'll See You". Laurie, I swear I thought it was "...its just a sprinkling for the May Queen". Not sure why she needs to be sprinkled, thought the whole thing was probably drug induced!

Oh and what he is REALLY saying, despite the title of the song, is "Carob Bean Queen".

Holy moley - this is a REALLY funny post and the comments are fantastic! First time in a while that I've read all the comments in addition to the post! Damn, Laurie, you've got some really funny fans. This goes down in history.

Douche. Heh. Heh.

The anonymous one was me, sorry!

*snort* I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again with out hearing "Carrie Dupree" for the lyrics.

Btw, Hi! *wave* I'm kinda new here. New in the sense that I was directed to here one day and have since read your entire blog from start to finish and finally caught up yesterday. Is that weird? *snicker* Anyway, I'm a relatively new knitter and I've found your blog very interesting and inspiring.

*snort* I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again with out hearing "Carrie Dupree" for the lyrics.

Btw, Hi! *wave* I'm kinda new here. New in the sense that I was directed to here one day and have since read your entire blog from start to finish and finally caught up yesterday. Is that weird? *snicker* Anyway, I'm a relatively new knitter and I've found your blog very interesting and inspiring.

Here's a challenge for y'all: without checking the internets,(honor systen engaged) what are the lyrics to Nirvana's Smells Like Team Spirit??

No but seriously, PS, I can't hear Caribbean Queen either. And WHY oh WHY do they make him disappear in a puff of smoke in the beginning when they want to tame him like a tiger???

Well, I didn't know until 2 minutes ago that those words were "caribbean queen." Wow. I thought it was Carrie something also.

Don't those MTV videos from the 80's look sort of innocent compared to now?

*snort* I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again with out hearing "Carrie Dupree" for the lyrics.

Btw, Hi! *wave* I'm kinda new here. New in the sense that I was directed to here one day and have since read your entire blog from start to finish and finally caught up yesterday. Is that weird? *snicker* Anyway, I'm a relatively new knitter and I've found your blog very interesting and inspiring.

Oh Rave! I used to love it. I also live in the swamps--Lafayette, LA. Holla!

I used to think Whitney Houston's "I wanna dance with somebody" was "I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna EAT with somebody!" Instead of "I wanna feel the heat with somebody."

My sister thought the song, "Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you." really said, "every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you."

We were hungry kids, apparently.

I am having SUCH a bad day. I meant Smells Like TEEN Spirit. Duh.

Test

Oh my, LOL. I love all the misheard lyrics stories. Here's mine: I thought "Life in the Fast Lane" was "Wipin' the Vaseline." There's a site that archives these, called Kissthisguy.com. You should see if anyone else heard "Harry Dupree!"

Julianne...you have shattered my life...I must now stop singing, "Just like a one-winged dove," in my car at the top of my lungs.

*hangs head in shame*

And I always thought "Caribbean Queen" sounded like "Caribou Queen". I was very confused.

Also...does anyone else feel like that music video was set at a high school talent show?! WTF?

I always thought The Who's "Who are You?" was "Blue Awnings." Ooh ooh,OOH ooh. Seriously, it still sounds like that to me.

Heh, too funny. I'm glad I'm not the only one who messes these things up...when I was a kid I was sure that song was something about a Caribou Queen...

oh yeah!
I sent you a 80's lyrics quiz yesterday...did you get it?

Liz R "Smells Like Teen Spirit" That's easy, that's the "Meow Meow" song. You know - the lyrics.. Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow...

Love, love, love your blog! And loved your Liquor Bank. In my old hometown in Michigan we called beer stores "Party Stores". The most popular party store in town is the "Leer and Bicker". I swear! (Yes I know I am a day late with this post... but since I DROPPED my macbook I have 3 square inches of readable monitor and this is where my post ended up. :(

I've got to hang up the computer now, I'm laughing too hard and people outside the office door are starting to look at me.
Bye y'all.

I used to think that in Love Shack, "juke box money" was "juice box money." Trust me, that made much more sense to a 5-year-old... "Hurry up, and bring your juice box money!"

I always wondered by Aerosmith was singing about some dude named Marcus Wayne.

LOL! Thanks for the video -- used to be a favorite of mine (and I had forgtten what a stylish gall that Carrie was - I has the same outfit!)

I had a few songs that I was creative with the lyrics ... Peter Gabriel's "Sledghammer" was a favorite. (Although I could never figure out why "I wanna be .... your Snake Charmer, oohh call my name, lemme call you , Snake Charmer" (although - Sledge hammer - not alot better!)

The Headpins rocked my world and I really related to "Donuts make you feel like dancin', donuts make you feel alright, donuts make you feel" -- I was still prefer my version to the original.

And the ever classic Phil Collins song "Invisible Torture" ... she seems to have an invisible torture, she seems to have an invisible tor -cha-ahh- ahh"

OMG! Blue Awnings?! Apparently The Who were going through a DYI stage, and working on the back patio. Oh, Laurie! I knew you had some witty readers, but I'm laughing so hard, I'm glad I'm the last one left in the office!

Also, Carrie Dupree? Love her oh-so-80s ensemble. I love to watch the old videos, but hate to explain to my 20-something friends that yes, I had outfits just like that, and I was hot!

took me a while to figure out how in the world you got harry dupree, when EVERYONE knows it's Carrie! um, today i guess i have learned something new...

i always thought it was "i'm your fetus" and "our lips are seals"...

Hilarious post and comments! I thought "white winged dove" was "wild wind girl".

"No dark sarcasm in the classroom"? Woah, cool, thanx.

As for "Smells like teen spirit" I know the chorus is:
With the lights out, we're less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now
Entertain us
A mulatto
An albino
A mosquito
My libido

Oh, and then he says Hello a bunch of times. What a mulatto, albino, mosquito and libido are doing there, I don't know. I like Weird Al's version, where he sings:

Now I'm mumblin and I'm screamin'
And I dont know what Im singin'
Crank the volume, ears are bleedin'
I still dont know what I'm singin'
Were so loud and incoherent
Boy, this oughta bug your parents
Yeah

Looks like Laurie struck a chord with this post! Lots of great stuff, sweetie!

So, I am also a first time poster. I read you pretty regularly Laurie, but I can never think of anything clever enough to say.

I don't have anything clever to say today, butI can tell you what wrapping a deuce is. I wasn't a pothead (I don't think I was anyway....) but an old college roommate of mine used to light up. If our bongs/pipe was too dirty, we would use some cigarette paper and wrap up some deuces instead. Takes skill and some work though, especially to roll it tight enough to smoke. Using a pipe was easier.

Funny stuff! My favorite is when my son was 5 yrs old and I heard him singing, "If you like bean enchiladas, and getting caught in the rain." I didn't bother to explain about pina coladas-just sang right along with him! :)

Yay, the INTARWEBZ. It has made us SMARTER. I mean, able to look up song lyrics. O.o

For years I thought that Hot Chocolate guy was singing:

"Where's your bra? You sexy thang!"

Ohmygod, so many old memories...

I mostly want to comment to tell you how much I love your blog and went back to the very first post to read the whole thing through. And now I'm here!

It sounds like you've been getting a lot of negative feedback lately so let me just say "I love you just the way you are." And thank you!

Best. Story. Ever. This made me laugh so hard I can't even tell you.

For years my son thought the Bangles were singing about A Man Named Monday. :-)

I am laughing so hard, the tears are just rolling! You all are too funny!

"Bean enchalidas!" Hahahaha

I have tears running down my face I'm laughing so hard and my boss just walked by and said "do I even want to know?"...I told him no.

Bless his heart, he just kept walking.

Here's to my "one winged dove" cohorts. Holla! (I just figured out Stevie Nicks did to the dove what Ozzie did to the bat. They are all crazy in rock-n-roll-land...)

And the "I'm you penis/I'm you fetus" people -- I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long while.

"do you like bean enchiladas?" My stomach hurts-I swear. I'll sing it proudly and enthusiastically next time!

Hoooo-haw. Time to get back to work.

Yeah, Billy Joel "Always a woman to me" in my head "weasel woman to me". It seemed okay because I knew there was that muskrat love song. I didn't figure this one out until college.

When I was a kid I thought the line was "married real quick" instead of Carribean Queen. I have no idea where I got that. At least it makes sense, I guess.

The "bean enchilladas" made me laugh until I weezed!

AH HA!!

And what about that INXS song "Soup and Salad Bar"?

Suicide Blonde? Who knew?? And then, "Why??"

Gosh, I miss the 80's!!

Kissthisguy.com is one helluva good site - too funny to be believed! (One of my faves by Elton John: "Hold me close. Tie me down, sir.")

Btw, I posted some Rome pics on my 'blog, if you want to see! :)

You remember that song "Rock Me Amadeus"? Well, I REALLY thought he was singing "hot potatoes, hot potatoes, oh oh oh hot potatoes". So I beebopped along singing about hot potatoes.

I read this earlier at work, and got a good chuckle over the ones I remember. But this one (from pre-teenagerhood) has to take the cake, and just popped into my head when I heard some old country on TV:
"You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille. Four hundred children and a crop in the field."
Really - four hundred. I was sure of it.

I always thought "Caribbean Queen" was "Caribou Queen"! The funniest thing is that I was just having a conversation about this song this weekend and admitted my goof!

OMG! I remember the first time I saw the title of that song on MTV (back when MTV WAS MTV) and thinking, "Really? He's saying Carribean Queen?" I don't know what I thought he was saying, but it wasn't that!

To add to the misheard lyrics: My friend from college thought Brick House was "She's Got Friends Ow!" I also read a story in my parents' Readers Digest about a little boy listening to Simon and Garfunkel's "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme." The little boy wanted to know if Parsley saved Rosemary in time. And finally, when I was in 8th grade, I thought the TLC song "Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls" was about a boy named Jason Waterfalls and they were singing "Go Go Jason Waterfalls" like he was a track star or something.

You means it's not Caribou Queen? Really? OMG!

I've been laughing and crying for at least 10 minutes - OMG the mind of CAP and her readers!!! (I went over the edge at "...wearing something neon, adorned with three belts or our socks up over our pant legs LOLOL.")

I've totally wiped off my make-up; thank you Universe there are only three of us in the office today. And, I could NEVER tell what the lyrics were or are...hmmm I thought the little shrug-sweater on Carrie looked fairly hand knit...?

I wrote an article about mishearings once. These things crack me up. I am completely with Niki about the four hundred children. And when I was a kid I was at a friend's house and she and all her brothers and sisters were singing "Angel's Aquarium! The Angel's Aquariuuuuummmm! Aquariuuuuummmm!" There's another one which I used to think was "Hold me now/Hold my cold and tired heart." Eeewww. I also thought the Eagles sang, "You can't hide/Your H'waiian eyes." That then switched over to "lion eyes."

When I was little, I was so surprised to see the words, Glory glory Hallelujah. I had been belting out "Glory glory had a loo yah." (whatever that is)

And I love the references to "I believe in merkels."

Hey, Jill of the 7 Cats! My version of "that's a cold shot, babe" was "now I'm goin' southbound." And even though I KNEW the song was called "Cold Shot," can I just say that it wasn't until LAST FALL that I found out what the line really said.

I am sitting here gasping for air, with tears running down my face from laughing. Thanks for the post, Laurie, and thanks for the comments, y'all.

i see your harry dupree and raise you caribou queen. wtf?

Oy, "invisible torture" was one of mine! And I know Rave survived well into the 90s ... This made me laugh til the tears came, and remember way more songs than I think I wanted to!

Maureen, I am pretty sure Stevie is singing about a one winged dove. If two of us believe it, it has to be true!!

So mine is... I want a piece of this... the Ramones, I wanna be sedated
How stupid is that?!
At least Carrie Dupree is believable!! :)

one post per customer? i don't see no sign!!!
i posted then read the comments and since we're contributing i wanted to chip in my $0.02.
my ex-sister-in-law used to love 'possum sugar oh me' by, as she pronounced it from the cover of the cassette, deef leh-PARD (emphasis added for pronunciation wtf-ery), she never could find her song on the list. .. my mom's little sister never understood why Lucille left 'me' with "five hundred kids and a cop in the feel" or "a-coppin' the feel" however that went. my brother thought that nirvana advocated eating fish because they don't have any feet. . .

Wow, that takes me back. Rave & not Aqua Net hair? Thanks for the trip. BTW, have you gone to your 20 yr reunion yet?

I so totally got you beat!
Ok...Depeche Mode
Blasphemous Rumors....
Instead of "I think that god has a sick sense of humor"
I totally thought it was
"I think that god pays six cents per beaver"
to this day when ever I hear this song I crack up

Don't know if anyone's already posted this (118 comments already!) but there is a website called KissThisGuy.com, the archive of misheard song lyrics. The name comes from a Jimi Hendrix song Kiss The Sky which apparently a lot of people have heard as Kiss This Guy. It has ALL SORTS of mangled lyrics & and is good for hours of fun.

I always thought the line in the Who's song which is:

We won't get fooled again!

was:

We won't get food again! (won't get food again, no!)

and my alltime favourite is Bob Dylan's classic:

The ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind. The ants, they are blowin' in the wind ((help meeee! help meeee! I thought we were your friendssssss!))

Makes a lot more sense now. But not as fun.

And Coldplay's line "and nothing else compares" sounded like "and I'm feeling skunky" (yes I know but you have to hear him actually sing it & you'll hear what I mean) and at work one of their songs that ends with a series of long drawn-out "yeahs" has become the song with the meows.

So it's not a one-winged dove? Seriously? I have ALWAYS thought that and wondered--why??

OMG--I have been sitting here reading the comments and laughing as silently as possible because I have enough trouble with my co-workers thinking I'm bringing the crazy on a good day. ;)

Oh I just KNEW this was gonna be one doosie of a wrong lyrics comment fest.. I have been laughing so hard I'm crying.... cannot breathe!!!!!OK OK
I used to know someone who thought the lyrics to "blinded by the light" (seems to be winning the most misunderstood lyrics for one song category)
was Little early birdy gave my anus curly whirly...Hands down CAP fans are THE MOST CREATIVE lyrical gangstas ....mur-der-rah!!

Great post!!!

Seriously...I thought it was "one-winged dove" too! I, too, wondered "how sad for the poor bird"!

Too funny!

What a scream. That video is nothing short of hilarious. I feel old. But I'm laughing!!

You took me right back to high school, when my best friend and I were in love with Elton John, particularly his latest hit, Island Girl. Which, I found out much later in life, contains the lyrics, "He want to take you from de racket boss, he want to save you, but de cause is lost."

One day my friend excitedly told me she had bought the "45" and listened to it over and over again and had finally figured out those elusive lyrics. "He wants to take you from Dracula's box, he wants to save you, but the corpse is lost."

It made perfect sense to me.

I always thought it was a right-wing dove which was all kinds of impossible and ironic.

Myself first. When I was little (and my groovy young parents were in "the Steely Dan phase"), I thought the chorus was "Are you reelin' in the years/stowin away the time/ are you gathering up the TEAS/ have you had enough of mine" Why is she stealing his teas?

Friend in high school was convinced the Led Zeppelin song was "Livin, Lovin - Fish outta water!" Really. Same person who swore The Who and The Guess Who were the same band.

My husband's is a form of mad genius. He thought in the Rage Against The Machine song "Bulls on Parade" the chorus was actually "Alsace-Lorraine." He went on a 5 minute soliloquy about how awesome the song was because they had crafted a brilliant extended metaphor about the futility and gruesomeness of war as exemplified by the bloody history of the Alsace-Lorraine region. Yeah, he's book-smart and all (but I'm a geek too, so we have banter).

Thanks for bringing "Carribean Queen" back up. Luckily, when I think about lame-o Billy Ocean, I cheer myself up by thinking about way, way cooler Eddy Grant - "We're gonna rock down to Eletric Avenue." Billy Ocean wishes he was as cool as Eddy Grant. I'm just sayin, that's all.

Oh, and since punker skinny jeans are back, I don't think neon is far behind. But, alas, Twist-A-Beads?

OMG! I am crying and laughing so hard my 2 dogs and 2 cats have gotten off the couches to come and see what was going on! Hilarious postings! I am so much older than all of you. I remember back in 6th grade when I was in love with the way cool Tommy P.(boy at desk next to me) singing at our last day of school party, "I want to be Mommy's girl" instead of "I want to be Bobby's girl"! This was also the day when our teacher went around the room asking what we wanted to be when we grew up and I said a "pianist". Tommy nearly fell out of the chair screaming "she wants to grow up and be a PENIS"!! 6th grade was a tough year for me...

LMAOF!

I believe Stevie Nicks sings "like a white-winged dove". Do you hear a song with all these mangled lyrics playing in your head? LOL

Ah you gotta love those 80's fashions too. What was that ginormous thing girlfriend was sporting on top of her head??!!

I thought "The King of Wishful Thinking," (soundtrack of Pretty Woman) was "The King of Restaurant Baking."

I have no idea how that happened. :)

Well, thenk yew VERY not at all --I was laughing myself sick until I got to "bean enchilads" and now I have a wicked set of hiccups. Eeeewwwww....

Is is me or does that guy have a really big head and teeny tiny body?

First of all, the 80's are NOT oldies. hello? Second, um... I thought it was "Carribou Queen" until just recently. Seriously. I didn't even try to figure it out. And when you really listen to it, he never says "Carribean" the way you should. So it really sounds like "Carribou." Or "Carrie/Harry." And it completely makes sense. Except for the "Carribou" part.

i am the caribbean queen of misheard lyrics. i once wrote a newspaper column about it and got about a zillion responses. and when you posted this, i realized, great balls of fire, that's the CARIBOU TWIST song!!!!!!

These kinds of mix ups make me laugh sooo hard. Good thing "there's a bathroom on the right..."

Check out this San Francisco columnists articles on what he termed "Mondegreens" -- mis-hearings. http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/carroll/mondegreens.shtml

Laurie?

Maybe you better have a little sit-down, and some sweet tea.

I am actually related to Harry Dupree. Second cousin once removed or somesuch. Lives in Gentilly - or did, before Katrina.

:: ahem ::

Also? I went for years -- perhaps decades -- of my life thinking Tom Petty, in the '70s song "No Second Thoughts," was singing, "Jesus ate up my car."

Decades of wondering why Tom would say that! What mystic meaning did it have? And then I got the Innernets and discovered the line is:

"Jeans fade, hope dies hard."

Oh crap, I even mis-typed the CORRECT lyrics!

It's "DREAMS fade, hope dies hard".

NOT jeans. Although they fade as well.

I might as well post the rest of what I thought it was:

"Jesus ate up my car, a cup of rice and walked out in the stars, can it be unraveled in the dark? Yeah, yeah, ooh, yeah yeah."

Of course thanks to the De-Mumblification properties of the Innrnets we now know it is: "Dreams fade, hope dies hard ....she cups her eyes and looks out at the stars ... can it be we traveled very far? Yeah, yeah, ooh, yeah yeah."

*gasp*

I need oxygen!

I cant breathe from laughing so hard!

I have a cold and everytime I start to giggle from the comments, I end up trying to hack up a lung, and I think I may have peed a little bit.

I'm dying from hypoxia...the last time I laughed so hard I couldnt breathe, it was at a George Carlin concert in the early 1990's.

I really need that oxygen now!

Stevie Nick's 'Right-wing dove'! That finished me off.

My friend was singing "You can't always get what you want," when her three year old piped in:

"But if you ask real nice, you'll find get what you need. . . Oh, mommma. . . hey, hey"

Being that I was a singer in a cover band at the height of the 80s, it was my job to learn the PROPER lyrics to the songs. Yeah, right! Luckily we didn't do the following songs, because I still mishear them:

Barry Manilow: "Looks Like Tomatoes" (Looks Like We Made It)

Chicago: I about fell out of my chair the first time I heard the cuss word at the end of "If You Leave Me Now"--you know...

Ooo ooo ooo ooo no baby please don't go
Ooo oo ooo ooo no God knows I f**ked you today

(God knows I want you to stay)

And my cat's all-time favorite song by The Clash:

My kitty don't like it
Rocks in the catbox, rocks in the catbox

(Sharif don't like it, Rock in the casbah)

Thanks for the memories and the belly laughs!

i just had to come back today and read the rest of the comments...if it were humanly possible to laugh my a** off, i'd be a size 2 right now!!! great post, who knew there were so many funny commenters in webland, thank you all for starting my day with a laugh, thank God i don't have a weak bladder.

THAT'S what he is singing? I never had any idea... I think the closest I could figure was "carry me free".
Then again, I only learned during the Super Bowl that they played at that it was "You Shook Me All Night Long" and not "should we all die young" as I thought ZZ Top was singing all those years... and there are many, many more, which I discover every time I am belting out the words to something in the car and my husband loses his mind laughing.

My brother thought Brick House said:
She threw a brick. Ouch!

My kids always laugh at me when I sing along to songs because, apparently I get all the words wrong! Especially, to rap songs. The only words I really know are Bruce Springsteen songs because they were the only albums I actually bought in the 80's. (Yes, phonograph albums)And I read the lyrics (over and over)

I had to come back this morning and look at the added comments. I am still laughing. I told my BFF about it and she reminded me about the Elton John classic "The girl with colitis goes by"! LOL

Oh thank you for this post, I'm trying to fight off a stomach bug and NOTHING has made me laugh in the last two days until now.

My roomate in college was sure that Creedence was singing "There's a bathroom on the right"*. I still think of this and hum a little when I am looking for the ladies room in a public place .

*instead of "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise"

I am *cracking up*! My own personal mistake was Eric Clapton's "Lay Down Sally". I couldn't figure out why he was singing... "Bacon salad". My sisters *still* pick on me about that one! C'mon - it's been... OMG! It has NOT been 30 years! But, yep, it has.

Of course, my sister has one... someone else mentioned the song Right Down the Line. On the part where he sings, "When I wanted you to share my life, I had no doubt in my mind..." she sang, "When I wanted you to shave my legs, I had no doubt in my mind..." She said she thought it was some weird kink he had.

Oh Laurie,you crack me up!!!!! I bought that 45 (back in the day when it cost $1.49 to purchase) so I knew it was Caribbean Queen, but I always thought he sang it odd.

and NO the 80s were NOT that long ago. Unless you stop and think abt a person born in 1985 is now 23.......

Ok, here is scary. I am old enough to be your mom, and I don't get most of these because I don't know the songs! Oh, sad. Laughing, anyway. They're called "Mondegreens". (Oh, I just noticed the reference to this up above--) Because of a ballad (my kind of music. Aren't you delighted that all kinds read your blog?) with a line, "They have slewn Lord Somebody or Other and laid him on the green," and it was pretty universally heard as "They have..etc.--and Lady Mondegreen." If you do a search on "Mondegreen" you come up with some funny ones. Funny to me, anyway. There is a nice list of Christmas carol Mondegreens out there: "In the meadow, we will build a snowman, and pretend that he is sparse and brown." I hope nobody minds that Laurie's blog reaches a large and varied audience, including the occasional old fuddy duddy. What matters most is that we love it.

Thanks for the blast from the past! I always wondered why the song said "Dead head sticking on a cadillac".......had no clue it was Deadhead Sticker........

Oh! Well, don't feel bad. Until 2 minutes ago I would have *sworn* he was saying "marry me queen!"

Thanks. Now I have "Carribean Queen" and "Don't Mess With My Toot Toot" dueling it out in my brain!

For years my husband swore that Jimmy Buffet had stepped on a pop tart in the song Margaritaville. I decided he was worth marrying when he continued to sing his version.

Laurie!

I hardly ever comment any more, but always stalk.

I just wanted to share that I had to ask my boyfriend LAST WEEK what the title of "Caribbean Queen" was because I NEVER knew. And sort of slurred it as something like, "American dream." I was certain the first word was American, but was vague about the rest.

Also, Kris and Krista -- it must be a "kris" thing, because I ALWAYS thought it was "Honest I See You."

Which, by the way, is way more poetic.

Me, singing in the car: "Secret AAAAAAsian Maaan, Secret AAAAAsian Maaaan..."

My ex: *turns and just stares at me* You do realize, don't you, that those aren't the lyrics.

Me: O.o

I am another child of the 80s, and I had no idea what my mom was talking about when she asked me about "that song about Abraham Lincoln that you like." Turns out she was hearing Men at Work's "It's a Mistake" as "It's Honest Abe."

I thought I knew the lyrics to lots of songs. For some reason all my Aerosmith songs had to be re-learned and a good portion of Bon Jovi. You know, back when he was a rebel and before Ally McBeal. Seriously Jon, what is going on?

OMG! I haven't laughed so hard since I don't know when...

We were all big Barry Manilow fans way back when (okay, I still listen now and then). We'd really belt it out when we'd listen to his records. Imagine how surpised we were to hear my cousin singing "Looks like tomatoes!" instead of "Looks like we made it." And she said tomatoes like this... ta MAY das.

Of course, we laughed and pointed and made lots of fun of her.

Too funny!

I grew up in the 80's too...you know Bon Jovi's song "Shot to the Heart"? Well, my Mum swore the chorus was "shot to the heart, and you're to blame, darling you give love, a Band-aid"

It makes sense... :)

(and first time commenting, not sure why it isn't showing the hard returns and is instead just one long paragraph?)

Okay, so I'm new and it did show the paragraphs after posting... just didn't show formatting in the preview.

Sorry.

I just read all the comments in hopes that someone else shared my affliction, but no, I guess I'm alone. I ALWAYS think that barry white is singing, "Girl, I don't know, I don't know why I can't get it up for your love." Which is even funnier because he's the patron saint of make-out music and all.

I am still convinced that it is "I want to rock and roll all night, and part of every day" instead of "party every day".

My husband mocks for this to this day. Apparently I don't understand the rock and roll lifestyle.

Heaven help us, I just thought of another two. Joe Cocker "Ain't got time to take a fay of strain." Huh? And a Janis Ian one that this post inspired me to correct ("At Seventeen"):
The rich relationed hometown queen/
Marries into what she needs/
With a guarantee of company/
And table for the other knee.

Also, The Sandpipers "Guantanamera" I thought went "One-ton tomato, I want a one-ton tomato. One-ton tomaaaato..."

And my cousin thought George Harrison was singing "We welcome you to cracka-pots palace..."

Oh my merciful heavens! I am silently laughing myself to tears (my husband is upstairs sick and I don't want him to think I am having fun while he is in misery)!

You all are hilarious - the comments for this one may need to be saved for a day I need cheering up.

My God, we are all such geeks. Thanks Laurie, I really needed this laugh/cry!

Greetings to all from Miami! I'm new here as previous poster Eileen. I found this blog a few days ago Googling around (I'm addicted), read about all of Laurie's cats (I have 4), caught up on all of the posts and went out to purchase her book yesterday...whew! Laurie, you and you're fans are a funny bunch...Harry Dupree killing me!

With alll due respect, Jeannie, that is a beatles song, Elton merely covered it (though he did a lovely job).

:-)

True story - One of my best friends from the 80's and beyond was just visiting this summer from out of town. We were talking about the great music from our high school days and she says: "Did you know that song Little Red Corvette has nothing to do with cars??? I didn't realize that until recently!" We're from Minneapolis - home of Prince!

My 9 year old son commented on the song "Babylon" and asked me - "does this song mean keep talking?"

What a fun bunch of comments to read! Thanks Laurie for giving the me the chuckles, they always seem to come when I need them most!

Ok, here's on for you: Steve Miller Band's "Jet Airliner". A friend from high school SWORE they were singing:

Big old jet and a rhino,

don't carry me too far way.

I still sing it that way, to this day. I like it better;)

My little brother used to sing this one: "I'm your p3n1s, I'm on fire, your desire"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDpmZM2k8Q0

This is hilarious! LOL!

Oh. My. Lord. LOL

Oh my God...this topic is too funny.

When my son was pretty young - 4 or 5, and was eating lunch in the dining room, I thought I would put one of the tapes on I had bought him for Christmas while I did stuff in the kitchen. I unwrapped it and put on Guns 'n' Roses. He yelled to me "Mom, should I be listening to this"? Came in and replayed it and heard 'guns 'n' fu*kin roses'.

Heh. I remember my father singing along to the KISS song "I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll All Night" with the new and unusual lyrics, "I wanna rock and roll all night -- and laundry every day!"

I grew up on Southwest Louisiana (moved at 14) and would have NEVER heard Carribean Queen on the radio there. (Unless it was on Rick Dees' weekend show ugh!) Of course by the time it was on the charts I was in L.A. and had access to let's just say "more" radio stations and MTV (of course!). I have to agree though, Harry Dupree is NOT far off base in da bayou.

Hey did anyone else out there hear "Twister in the Sun" (Violent Femmes) seriously...

You guys are all awesome, I don't feel like I had hearing problems at a young age anymore!!

Can you hear me laughing???!!! I ALWAYS thought the song was Caribou Queen - think about it - who wants a moose girlfriend!

uh -- hey. seriously. isn't it "just like the one-winged dove"??

Okay, my Mom thought "Little Red Corvette" by Prince was "Do you recollect?".

Also, she thought in Michael Jackson's song Billie Jean, where he sings "the child is not my son"..... she thought it was "the chair is not my size".

We torture her to this day on those two. Makes me laugh every time I think about it! Never posted here before, but I HAD to share those!

"I wanna rock and roll all night--and part of every day." [For the socially responsible KISS fan. . .]

Lucy in Disguise with diamonds. . .

PS--It was AC/DC who Shook Me All Night Long--not ZZ Top. . .

Not Elton John--the Beatles sang about the Girl with Colitis (Kaleidoscope) Eyes

No no NO NO no! It isn't "Honest I see you" -- it's "Alex the Seal" !!!

I'm in trouble now from my DH for laffing so much, and he made me turn this off because it was too noisy (I showed your post and comments to a singer friend of mine and he raised me this: - http://www.rathergood.com/alf/

When I get a minute I'm going off looking at Mondegreens. Thanks everyone for the LOLs!

This was serious take me back time-now I need to watch some Duran Duran videos. I haven't laughed this hard in a long time. It is now unanimous- the lyric IS "just like a one winged dove". That's how I've always sung it(although I never got the rest of it..'sings a song sounds like she's singing"-WHAT?!?!) First time I heard Venus I too thought it was "I'm your penis". Yikes. Thanks for the Friday Happy Hour Laurie-

Almost forgot that Duran Duran classic- 'please please spell me now"-what can I say, I was a nerd.

ROFLMA!!! YEP, as redneck kids of the 80s, we also thought Bad Moon Rising was, "there's a bathroom on the right." I used to think that was so nice, someone went to a party at a new friend's house and they needed the restroom, so this nice man was telling them where it was. Thoughtful.

There's also "Words Get In The Way" by Gloria Estefan in 1986. (Poetic irony; the song is SO appropriately titled for this topic!) What she really sings is, "My heart has always been an open door." For years I sang, "My heart has always been in a window." Sort of the transparent love thing? I was 17, so I made it work.

And finally as a kid, Glenn Campbell's song, "Rhinestone Cowboy." (you KNOW this one!) He is supposed to sing, "Getting cards and letters from people I don't even know, and offers coming over the phone." I was in my mid 30s before I found out he wasn't singing "getting caught with their etter stones, people i don't even know, and Arthur's coming over the phone." Wasn't sure what an etter stone was...or who Arthur was?

You know you thought he sang that too ... admit it...

oh yeah, and my husband's favorite Kenny Rogers lyric, You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille, with Four Hundred children and a crop in the field."

wow. those farmers were busy.

still ROFL

I have to add another one - last one - Love Shack, where she yells Tin Roof! Rusted! in the middle? My husband politely informed that it was not, as I was saying, "Henry! Busted!"

I believe in knuckles
since you came along
you sexy thing...
makes pretty sense.
Or "Keep yourself alive", the Queen song:
"Give me everything I need to feed my body and my soul, when I grow a little bigger, maybe that can be my whore"
Ahem.I think it's 'that can be my goal'. But I'm not quite sure.

Some of these are making me laugh hysterically!

Okay, now I feel stupid because when people kept commenting about the one-winged dove I was thinking "That's funny - she's really saying wild-winged dove." Then someone pointed out that it's white. It still makes sense to me!

I also messed up the "Lucille" lyrics, but when I was little I would sing "400 children and a CRAP in the field."

When I was in high school my best friend and I always liked to sing tv theme shows, and she thought "down at our rendezvous" from Three's Company was "nomi-nomi-nay-boo." Also "we're moving on up" from The Jeffersons was "boop-boop-boop-pi-doo". She's a jazzy one!

I always thought it was "Caribou Queen" - I figured Caribou was similar to those maribou fur wraps and Billy Ocean was singing to a drag queen.

I feel compelled to write a short story about Carrie Dupree, the Caribou queen, and his/her black jazz lover.

So happy to see I am not the only hearing-impaired person out there! So many of the previously mentioned mistakes have also been mine but I wanted to add my other doozies: Silent Night's "sleep in heavenly fleece", sung loudly at the elementary Christmas program; and Billy Joel's Brenda & Eddie "Thunder & Eddie", to this day no way is it Brenda to my ears.
Why is it that we seem to make the strangest mistakes in front of our husbands who can only look at us with THAT stare of incredulity and speechlessness, rapidly followed by hilarious laughter ?

lol, well you know the song "Jet Airliner" by the Steve Miller Band? I had a sorority sister that was convinced that the lyrics were "Big 'Ole Chair with the light on" Ahhh sororities in the south....

:-)

I spent an embarrasingly long period of time in the mid to late nineties convinced that, in the song "Mr. Jones," Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows wanted to be Bob Vila.

I was very relieved when I finally read the lyrics and found out that he actually wanted to be Bob Dylan.

I never could figure out how Lucille could have 400 children. This really bothered me as a kid.

I also thought it was "one winged dove."

There were more that I can't think of right this minute.

Thanks for the laughs y'all. Laurie (and all) I think there is STILL a RRAVE in one of our malls. My favorite jeans in high school were from Rave. Acid wash , stretch jeans with the tightest leg taper. I needed help to get them off. :) I miss neon. ;) not that I want it to come back. The 80s were fun. Also it's not really Oldies. Just classic. :)

OMG, I'm about to wet my pants I'm laughing so hard at all these comments.

Laurie, I think you and my cousin would've been good friends. She swore up and down that the song "Rock Me, Amadeus" was "Rock Me, Hot Potato." Her argument: who ever heard of an Amadeus? Clearly, the song goes:
Hot Potato, hot potato, hot potato, hot potato, hot potato, hot potato. Ooh, rock me hot potato!

OMG - funniest post EVER. My husband is lyrically challenged as well - most bizzare - "Feed the World" ("Do They Know It's Christmas, the English version of USA for Africa...) He thought it was "We-EE-EE KNOW-OW", Instead of "Feed the World". To him, it was logical - he thought it was "We know, so let THEM know its Christmas"

A bunch of friends and I were in a car singing John Cougar's "I Fight Authority" really loud after a night out, and when my friend Brian sang the chorus as "I Find Authority a Bore and Always Will" at the top of his lungs, I think I peed myself right there - this was in 1988 and I haven't stopped giggling since.

Hmm. I knew this song but didn't remember that it was "Caribbean Queen" or anything like what you said either. After watching the video, I think that I never had any idea what he was saying except that maybe it ended in "free," so it was one of the many bits of songs that I had to mumble through if I was going to sing along. In fact I still can't tell what he's saying other than because you said so, so I can't laugh too much at anyone for thinking it was something else. Also, is that one of the cheesiest low budget videos ever? Ok, maybe not, but only because there were so, so many similarly cheesy and low budget videos in the 80's, weren't there?

Oh yeah, and late, but on the beret... I had this lone skein of Up Country that had been sitting around and refusing to tell me what it needed to be, so now half of it is half a beret. I hope one skein really is enough, because it doesn't exactly look like it's going to last. Can't tell if it fits, but I swatched and I'm using 11s (which is good, because I don't have size 13 dpns and I'm on a yarn & needle diet).

I second the recommendation for a doubled hat, although probably not for Encino-adjacent or other parts of LA. Too warm! I made mine following the recipe at
http://www.hjsstudio.com/doublehat.html
but it's basically what someone already said, you knit two attached hats and stuff one inside the other, and if you make it long enough you can turn it up and have four layers over your ears. I made mine out of plain old worsted wool: some Lion Wool, some Paton's Classic, and I think a small amount of Cascade 220. I think I was using 96 stitches and size 8 or 9 needles. I made the outer hat a little longer than the inner hat by decreasing more slowly, so it's long enough to be a little dangly, and when I got down to 3 stitches I made about an inch of I-cord. Then I put an absurdly large pompom on it. It is fun.

My favorite liquor store name is Mass Beverage. I think it was probably originally on Massachusetts street, routinely abbreviated to Mass. But Mass Beverage is still a good name for a liquor store in a college town.

LOL, I always thought he was saying Caribu Queen, still sounds like that to me. Love the 80s music!

When I was a kid my mother thought that the song 'When The Going Gets Tough' was actually 'Go and Get Stuffed' which is an insult in Australia.

Thanks for posting that video, I'm now snorting with laughter in an empty house. The bit where she squirts radioactive perfume on her face...!!!

what is the deal with her hair in that video? i though they were rollers ...

First, I will say I've never previously thought that much about the lyrics of this song. Second, it TOTALLY sounds more like Carrie Dupree than it sounds like Carribbean Queen. I had to stretch to hear Carribbean Queen, but it sounded DEAD ON for Carrie Dupree. Just Sayin'.

>"Big 'Ole Chair with the light on"

(Jet Airliner) my mother always thought it was "Bigelow Jet in the Light House."

suuuure, that makes any kind of sense! I still sing it that way though.

Oh and another favorite, is a Cure song, sung by my ex: "Show me, show me, show me, how you do that trick, the one that makes me scream 'seasick'!" (it's "scream, she said")

yah, i didn't even get as far as "carrie dupree". until i read this, i fully believed it was "carry me free!". my whole childhood has been changed in my memory.

ok I just had to add...I have fond memories of riding my bike around the house singing Pink Floyd's Brick in the Wall as:

Just another Brakin' the law.

I think I was 12. I also corrected my mom when she asked me about One spit, twice shy by Great White I told her it was Once Bit, Twice Shy.

oh, and donna reminded me. when i was in kindergarten (please don't shoot me), i could have sworn michael jackson was saying "the channel's not my son".

Huh... I always thought it was "Carry My Freak". Never would have guessed "Caribbean Queen".

God I can so relate except I was in OK instead of the Bayou. Too funny. Song lyric confusion is a beautiful thing. The neon thing reminds me that in my own obsession to obtain more neon clothing I thought it would be a good idea to take some of my mom's orange neon spray paint, that she used to mark power lines and other things like that on the place, and coat some white anklets with it. They sure as hell were neon after that. I wore them once. I then sent the idea to Seventeen magazine and always wondered why they didn't print my suggestion..................

OMG I was laughing so hard reading this. My DH to this day does the same thing! I have been with him for 15 years and every once in a while we come across a song that we'll be belting out and he's completely wrong. I look at him and crack up. The best part is that he is absolutely POSITIVE that he's right. Thank God for the internet so I can prove him wrong. He gets so mad and I love it because usually he's so logical. I rarely get it wrong cuz my head is full of 80's & 90's song lyrics with room for much else. It's was a bitch when I was in college and DH then DF was trying to teach me calculus. lol

I kid you not - last night as the family was rockin out to Bon Jovi on Rock Band, my 8 year old daughter swore up and down that it was " Diddle all Night " instead of " Dead or Alive!" Sing it, I guess it kinda sounds like that but man - too funny!

"I am still convinced that it is "I want to rock and roll all night, and part of every day" instead of "party every day".

My husband mocks for this to this day. Apparently I don't understand the rock and roll lifestyle."

...can't breathe! That is so funny! I mishear almost everything, and I love the 80's, which can NOT be oldies.

I didn't see a "one poster/one post" sign either. More: Carly Simon, "You're So Vain." A swim champ friend of mine in high school thought it was

"Your scarf it was Af-ri-caaahhn"
and even better:
"I had some dreams, they were clowns in my coffee, clowns in my coffee and/You're so vain . . ."

It was then I realized the chlorine had damaged his brain. The rest of us in the room just dropped our jaws and stared at him. We said, "It's clouds!" And he said, "Yeah, right, like that makes any more sense than clowns!"