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!).
There's ten thousand trains
running over a beautiful wife
Its like meeting the man of my dreams
then meeting his beautiful wife
The Story: gosh, I was so sure these were the lyrics until I started singing out loud with my two friends. As soon as we came to that part, my friends started to crack up in laughter and I--being the naive girl I am--just kept singing at the tops of my lungs until Jenny stopped me and asked 'did you actually say 'ten thousand trains running over a beautiful wife??'' I've yet to be able to live it down. - Submitted by: Gabbybard
Thank you, thank you, toilet.
Thank you, thank you, silence.
The Story: A fellow who was so adamant the word Alanis sang was 'toilet' bet $100 with his friends. Needless to say, he lost the bet. - Submitted by: Chicka
I reccomend sticking your bird in you mouth
I reccomend sticking your foot in your mouth
The Story: No I didn't think she meant sticking one's pet bird or one's girlfriend in their mouth, I thought she meant sticking one's middle finger in their mouth (since sticking up that finger at somebody is called 'flipping the bird'. That is, until I was singing this and someone looked at me funny before setting me straight. - Submitted by: mastsu
You live, you nerd.
You breathe, you nerd.
You live, you learn.
You breathe, you learn.
The Story: Back when I was 13 and really getting into Alanis's music, I honestly thought this was a song about people making fun of you (calling you a 'nerd') no matter what you do. I thought this was a cool thing to write about, so for a while this was my favorite song on the album. That is, until my older sister laughingly informed me of the real lyrics. I still like my version better! - Submitted by: Kath
It's not fair to deny me of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me
It's not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me
The Story: One day I was singing the song at work - my co-workers told me the lyric I was singing was wrong - and I bet them $20 it was about a bear because I have a cross-eyed bear at home that my ex-boyfriend gave me. After listening to the song 10 times, my co-workers convinced me I was wrong. - Submitted by: Alexandra Jefferson
It's not fair to deny me or the cross-eyed baby that you're giving me
It's not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me
The Story: Since this is about a woman who's talking to her ex and his new lover, I assumed that before he left her he'd gotten her pregnant and now she wants to remind him of his responsibilities as a father - and she probably doesn't think very highly of him since she's sure that he can only make cross-eyed babies.. - Submitted by: Hanna Lundstrom
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
