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!).
If I were A carpenter, and you were related?
Would you marry me anyway, would you have my baby?
If I were A carpenter, and you were a lady?
Would you marry me anyway, would you have my baby?
The Story: We were all driving and listening to this song when my sons friend misheard the lyrics. we listened again and it really sounded like that was what he was really saying. Because of the context we all had a really good laugh.. - Submitted by: Bob Moon
After drawing out all his hollering cats
After drawing out all his hard earned cash
The Story: I heard the wrong lyrics for 45 years. I even saw Kevin Spacey's movie about Bobby Darin. One day I was washing the dishes with a jazz station close to my ear, and heard the correct lyrics. I had to laugh. - Submitted by: dorothy freudenthal
Mister Jackknife has old black teeth stains.
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe.
The Story: I'd heard this over the years without closely folowing most of the lines. Then I heard it on the radio recently and the above mishearing pretty much 'jumped right out at me'. I asked a friend who knows a lot of 'oldies'. He was quite amused at how I misheard it (and also told me the real lyrics to that line). - Submitted by: Trina Lufkin
Now that Maggie's back in town.
Now that Mackie's back in town.
The Story: For a long time I thought I was hearing 'Maggie' in that line. It seemed curious, since she's not mentioned elsewhere in the song. It was not until I heard the song sung by somebody else (I probably never knew whom) that I clearly heard 'Mackie' and realized the reference was to the title character. - Submitted by: Robert Jones
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.