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!).
Countdown 1992-1983 album at Amazon.com
I wanna live like coloured people
I wanna live like Common People
The Story: This was my mate J who misheard this. It came up in conversation in about 2004 when we were talking about the Goodness Gracious Me parody called Hindi People and I said "I've never been able to listen to Common People in the same way again". J said something along the lines of "What song's that then?" which struck me as being odd as Common People had been around for about ten years by this point, and it's not like it's underplayed... So after a few minutes of "you know Common People"/"no I don't" I decided to sing it, and J looked at me with a look of utter horror, then admitted he'd been hearing it as "I wanna live like coloured people". For TEN years. Then he said something like "I wondered how they'd gotten away with playing such a racist sounding song for so long"! Apparently listening to DJs introducing song titles (or indeed the lyrics of songs) is not something he deems important... - Submitted by: miss bad example
Like an old, dead acolyte
Like a dog lying in a corner.
The Story: just listened to a this kinda oldies song advised me to hear thanks its great xoxo - Submitted by: Keth Witten
Winter cracks above the shop
Cut your hair and get a job
Rent a flat above a shop
Cut your hair and get a job
The Story: I think I might have sung this at full volume at their gig. Luckily everyone else was singing the right lyrics. Probably. - Submitted by: Andrew
Disco me up in the year 2000.
Let's all meet up in the year 2000.
The Story: I thought Jarvis Cocker was trying desperately to be 'down with the funk' therefore coined this term - but instead of sounding funktastic, ended up sounding rather 'fruity', shall we say? - Submitted by: Devil Jones
Healthy Abe
Help the aged
The Story: I thought "Healthy Abe" could have been a version of "Honest Abe" for president Abraham Lincoln. - Submitted by: Cody Finke
There are more Pulp misheard lyrics available.
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
