I was completely surprised to read the lyrics to this song today and find out they're completely different than what I thought (and much better)! Mind you, I bought this album when it was released.
I thought they said something to effect of:
- It's never too late to repent to maximus(?)...
What songs have you guys made lyrics up to only to find out they're something entirely different?
My wife and I bond over our misheard lyrics. Her favorite of mine comes from years of hearing Bruce Springsteen on the radio station that never read back the last played songs. So I assumed the chorus was "Ted Devil in the Freezer." Yes, that would be "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" from Born to Run. I feel the correct title makes even less sense. One of my favorites of hers is Van Halen's "Panama", which she thought was Diamond Dave saying "Cannonball!" She was quite confused: "so... is he singing about the country or the beach?" I replied, "he's singing about his hat." We pulled over and laughed a while. So we looked it up. The back story was worth researching. I grew up listening to REM. Really, who needs the real words? They'd only spoil the memories. Meanwhile, I listen to a lot of music in French. There are so many times I've looked up lyrics and been mindblown because "that's how you say THAT?"
Had a girlfriend where roadtrips were spent transcribing Cocteau Twins lyrics. I mean, Liz Frazier is impossible to understand at the best of times. My favorite transcription: Chainsaws Lend pain Sunflowers Senn Fein Let's jump Along the dam The donkey Can take it Love you Cinnabon ########### Buddy of mine had a whole cosmology around Ministry. Somewhere The Cannibal Song are the lyrics "a punishment fit for a crippled mime" and "phones ring for fun... time for lungs dribbling". "Never Believe" includes "the sun shines and I need my Volvo." Psalm 69 ends with "Don't we all wish for the days when the world would wish for more and more horses to have abortions." ############# I swear to christ the chorus for Cannibal Corpse's "Meat Hook Sodomy" (off the seminal "Butchered at Birth") is Eat cookies More cookies Eat cookies More cookies Eat cookies More cookies Nowwwwwwwwww Which is only amusing to fans of Cannibal Corpse. ############ On a completely unrelated but completely related note,
The entirety of One Week by the Bare-Naked Ladies. Not me, but many people thought in Drunk in Love, by Jay-Z and Beyonce, Jay-Z was saying "Eat the Cake, Anime", when in reality he's saying "Eat the Cake, Anna Mae." Anna Mae is singer Tina Turner's real name. In a scene in a movie named after her hit, "What's Love Got To Do With It", Tina goes to a restaurant to celebrate a success. Her abusive husband, Ike Turner, buys her a cake that Tina does not want to eat, and Ike shoves it in her face, screaming the line that Jay-Z references, before slapping Tina's friend when she tries to defend her. Obviously controversial.
I do this all the time! Often times I'll just pretend the lyric is the way I thought it was rather than how it actually is, because I liked it better in my mind.
When I was a kid, I used to listen to all the crazy 90s stuff that was floating around. One of those things was Vengaboys - going to Ibiza
I didn't know the name of the song, so what I heard instead of the chorus was: It seemed perfectly fine and made sense. You go to a party and eat pizza, woooo! When I was 19, I listened to this again at a 90s party and my mind was blown..." Hey! we are going to eat pizza, hey! we're gonna have a party!!"