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!).
Every Great Motown Hit of Marvin Gaye album at Amazon.com
I'll be your lonely double
I'll be there on the double
The Story: My friend and I were doing a duet of this for the school talent show, and I started singing 'I'll be your lonely double' while she sang the correct lyrics, then stopped and looked at me. It took me two minutes and plus someone telling me the real lyrics (the talent show director, actually) to find out I definitely messed up. - Submitted by: Gail
People sea matey what you hear
People say believe what you hear
The Story: I was transcribing the words for my dad for his Variety show, and when I got to that part I would've sworn they said, 'People sea matey what you hear.' Well, I listened to it three or four more times and I still didn't know what the heck they were saying! Finally, my dad ended up finding the lyrics on a site online. Thank goodness, or the poor kids in the variety show would've been singing something totally different from the original! - Submitted by: Michiru
I hurdled through the grape vine.
I heard it through the grapevine.
The Story: After making fun of me for mangling some of the new songs, my teenage son, Billy, walked through the house singing 'I hurdled through the grape vine'. It was finally MY time to laugh! - Submitted by: Patsy Meck
Don't you know I heard it from a greyhound?
Don't you know I heard it through the grapevine?
The Story: Somehow I thought he heard some animal sound! - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Marvin Gaye's,
"Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
Living here in Harlem...
Make me wanna holler, throw up both my hands
The Story: No funny story, but "Harlem" made sense. - Submitted by: Thaddeus Buttmunch, MD
Let's get Marvin
Let's get it on
The Story: Sounded like he was namedropping himself in this song. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Some girls f***, some don't dare
Some girls suck, some don't dare
The Story: Heard this one on the radio, about one week after the death of Marvin Gaye. I was in awe that they would play this lyric on the radio. My seventy year old grandmother who was with me, figured they could got away with it because he had just died. - Submitted by: Dan Fletcher
Whenever those DJs are calling
Whenever blue teardrops are falling
The Story: I kind of thought it sounded like it back in those days! - Submitted by: Cody Finke
Marvin, Marvin
Mother, mother
The Story: Commodores' "Nighshift" began "Marvin (Marvin)" to echo the beginning of "What's Going On" - Submitted by: David Dana-Bashian
Michael, Michael
Mother, mother
The Story: It kind of sounded he was saying "Michael, Michael", as in Michael Jackson, who at the time was with the Jackson 5. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
