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!).
Kung Fu Fighting: Best of album at Amazon.com
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those kicks were fast as lightning.
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those CATS were fast as lightning.
The Story: He's talking about the people doing the kung foo fighting. Referring to them as cats as it was a popular term for cool guys at the time. Kicks is just too obviously descriptive. It's a song not a recipe. - Submitted by: Jay Johnson
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those kicks were fast as lightning.
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning.
The Story: There's no debate about whether this is right or not. The correct word is CATS. I was there in the 70s. Anyone saying kids, kicks, or cuts is obviously post-Yuppie. - Submitted by: Badge
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those kicks were fast as lightning
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those cats were fast as lightning.
The Story: On your website. Do a search for the lyrics dude - Submitted by: Dermot
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those t**s was fast as lightning.
Everybody was Kung Fu fighting
Those cats was fast as lightning.
The Story: I thought for years this was the lyrics to the song. Even got a few laughs at Karaoke, but never really paid attention to it. One day while working at an oldies station, I said to a friend of mine that also worked there why we are allowed to play the 'uncensored version'. He looked at me like I was an idiot. (Well actually I am but that's another story.) Finally, almost 30 years later, I see this song in a commercial for some TV insurance company (GEICO) where some lizard was singing this song, and I hapened to have on the closed captions. - Submitted by: Dan Fletcher
It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part
From a faying to a slip, then a kickin' from the hit.
or
From a fainting to a slip, and a kickin' from the hip.
It's an ancient Chinese art, and everybody knew their part
From a feint into a slip, then I'm kickin' from the hip.
The Story: An old friend thought Carl Douglas sang "fainting". Then he told me the correct word should have been "faying". - Submitted by: Opie M.
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.