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!).
I don't know why I carry the knife.
I don't know why I came here tonight.
The Story: I only realized last month the real lyrics. Since I was 11 years old, when it was first released, I thought this song was about some guy tentatively carrying a knife for protection against evil clowns and maniacal jokers. Man. - Submitted by: Kenn Fewzd
Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place
'Cause I'm throwing up all over the place
The Story: Some Scottish folks pronounce "throwing" as "tro-wing". Somebody somewhere posted the wrong lyrics years ago and the internet is self-perpetuating those incorrect lyrics by repeating the mistake. If you'll count the beats in the lyric, you can hear there are 5 syllables/beats before he says "all over the place". There's not enough beats for "Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place" because you'd need 6 beats before "all over the place" for those lyrics. "Los - ing - con - trol - yeah - I'm" is 6 beats; "'cause - I'm - throw - ing - up" is 5 beats. - Submitted by: Gerry Rafferty Jr
Clowns to the left of me,
Joe goes to the right, here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am
Stuck in the middle with you
The Story: I first heard this song in 2008 and for years I thought it said that. - Submitted by: Portia
Clowns in the bedroom here, Joe goes to the right
Clowns to the left of me
Jokers to the right
The Story: When I first heard this song that's what it sounded like they said. - Submitted by: Ken S
There's petroleum all over the place
Listen Tony, I'm all over the place.
The Story: I'm sorry, but this is simply what I've always heard, from the 1st time I caught it on the radio when it was new. - Submitted by: Billy Leonard
There are more Stealers Wheel misheard lyrics available.
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.