SW logo Mondegreens

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So what the heck is a "Mondegreen"?? It's a misheard lyric! Probably the most famous one is " 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" (which is really " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" from the Jimi Hendrix tune). Below are some from Winwood lyrics that other readers have shared with us. If you would like to share a Winwood, Traffic, Blind Faith, or Spencer Davis mondegreen with us,

use this entry form!

For more mondegreens, check out The Ants Are My Friends and KissThisGuy.com too.

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Page created September 17, 1997.
Last updated July 17, 1999.
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email: bobbieg@azstarnet.com
name: BobbieG
message: Just to get us started here - I have a friend who SWORE the words were "love stalk of high heeled boys" until I showed her the album cover.
email: e.iglio@na.flashnet.it
name: Ellie
message: It is my famous "Roll Right Stones" version: Black or not you've been here / you've seen the sights of yesteryear / You steal the name, I can't complain. (The actual line is ""Black crow, I know you've been here / to see the sights of yesteryear / you steal the grain, I can't complain.") There are many others from my juvenile years.. Have to think about it, like "So make it baby" instead of "So glad we made it" on GSL. I could probably beat anyone on this subject given my Italian filtering of Winwood's Brum accent.....
email: jfw@eee.org
name: jeanie
message: Okay, I'll play...from "Second Hand Woman" the line "flash in the pan...", I really think it says "LUNCH IN JAPAN..." Please don't laugh!
email: UMayBRight@aol.com
name: Andrea Dyche
message: I always thought it was "The man in the suit has just bought you coffee from the profit he's made on your dream"...now I see that it's really something about a car. Oops...I wasn't even close!!!
email: fffrolic@aol.com
name: Larry
message: Well lets see. Where should I start? When The Finer Things came out, I remember I always thought it was "The Corken Dance Life Could It Be". I would always try to look up what a Corken Dance was in my spare time. Did anyone else stumble across this same Mondegreen? I doubt it. I dont know if it would be more embarrising if someone had or not. This is before I bought the High Life album, and was able to read the lyrics from the cover. Ill post more later when more comes to mind. I sorta forget what i used to misunderstand before I came to this great web page that gives you all the lyrics. Most of all Traffic's.
email: MomeyKate@aol.com
name: Mary L.
message: For Spy in the House of Love- instead of "searching for a clue in the dark" I heard : "something just flew in the door"
email: MomeyKate@aol.com
name: Mary L.
message: (I didn't hear these, but according to the book "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy"- People have heard: "Bring me a pile of mud" or Bring me an iron lung" for "Bring me a higher love"!)
email: bobbieg@azstarnet.com
name: Bobbie
message: In "I'm a Man" I thought the line was "And my pot is filled with gold", and I kinda liked the imagery of that. When Shannon told me the line actually is "And my toilet's trimmed with chrome", I didn't believe her!!
email: e.iglio@na-flashnet.it
name: Ellie
message: I know this is not Steve's fault (for once), but how many of you understood "And I'm down, down, down" instead of Gone, Gone, Gone on "Rock and Roll Stew"? Confess, confess......I did !!! THis is one stone to Jim's window!!
email: fffrolic@aol.com
name: Larry
message: Ok, how about this. "Someones going to stand on your heart" instead of someone put a spell on your heart in "Spy In The House Of Love".
email:
name: Pollypossm
message: We talked about this one in the chatroom: I used to wonder why Steve was singing "Please help my dog" on "Every Mother's Son". And, well, I know this isn't a Winwood mondegreen, but Bobbie said I should send it anyway. I am told that when I was a child, I would sing along with the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride", only I sang "Chicken to Ride". Goofy, huh?
email: MomeyKate @aol.com
name: Mary L.
message: Just another addition to Mondegreens from the "sequel" to the 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy book: For Freedom Overspill- Someone (not me) heard: Eating Walrus Skin!
email: MomeyKate @aol.com
name: Mary L.
message: Hi, again- Anyone else hear "and it wasn't the boredom that laid him to rest..." instead of "and it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest..."in Low Spark? No insult to Jim and Steve, by the way- it's a great song!
email: woontner@sirius.com
name: AlaN Woontner
message: Some mondegreens have been in my head so long, that I refuse to give them up even when I know they are wrong. A case in point is this lyric from Berkshire Poppes " I wish that I was there , I want to make it out of here". I heard "I wish that I was there I wouldn't really have a care"
email: bobbieg@azstarnet.com
name: BobbieG
message: Alan, I totally agree with you. I am convinced that the lyrics have been printed wrong and that we are right!!
email: cdidier@wyoming.com
name: CD
message: Well, my pal Tom used to swear they were singing: "Oh, am I stoned, oh am I stoned..." (Roll Right Stone) By the way can anybody tell me what he IS singing in the chorus of "Every Mother's Son?"
email: tgoodwin@orhs.org
name: tgoodwin
message: On "Empty Pages", for "scented by the same old flowers", I heard "symptom of the same old blah".
email:
name: Lindsay
message: When I first got into Traffic, I adored "Dear Mr. Fantasy". But the one lyric I just couldn't figure out sounded like "Please don't be sad, If it was to straight my new head" instead of "Please don't be sad, if it was the straight mind you had."
email:
name: Dawn S
message: In the song "Split Decision" first verse, it is "one man is a real one, the other wants to hide." I swear for the longest time I thought it was "one eye in the mirror, the other one behind," which is in keeping with the duality imagery of the song. "One eye in the mirror" - an overconfident, proud man. "the other one behind" - meaning one eye behind you over the shoulder of an insecure, paranoid man. I kind of like my imagery, and it's hard to sing the song as written. I like my line better! Ha!
email:
name: Dawn S
message: In Traffic's "Walking in the Wind" in the first verse, the line is "But there again, your heads got nothing in it, and by the way, you left without your hat." I thought the line was " the hurricane, your head's caught your friend in it,and now you wear your life without your hat." Weird isn't it? Please stop laughing at me. Actually, "wearing your life without your hat" sounds like the typical, stressed out,American adult of the nineties. Listen to the song again, and it's really funny!
email: tgoodwin@orhs.org
name: tgoodwin
message: (1) On Roll Right Stones, for "you steal the grain, I can't complain" I heard: "you steal the great unconquered plain". Not very funny, but kind of original I guess. (2) This morning, talking to my wife, I was citing Higher Love as an example of a mainstream rock song with a spiritual meaning. She said, "I heard it for years and I never got any meaning out of it. I always thought it was saying 'Rain makes me high on love'."
email: koki9@bellatlantic.net
name: Dawn
message: Recently, I was listening to "Low Spark" in the car on the way home from a night out, with my friend asleep in the passenger seat. Just as Steve was singing "the percentage you're paying...", my friend woke up and said, "Did he just say 'placenta'?" Ya just can't make this stuff up, folks.
One more thing...Darn it, "sneakers", whoever you are... Now I keep hearing "Bake me the pie of love" instead of "Bring me a higher love"! (This is not *exactly* a mondegreen, but go see the "Fan Written Lyrics Page", and you'll be hearing it too.)
email: bobbieg@azstarnet.com
name: BobbieG
message: Um, I always heard it as "You got dimples and you don't".
email: winwoodfan@hotmail.com
name: Lani A.
message: I did not hear this but my husband always thought Steve was always saying "bring me your tired love" instead of "bring me a higher love" on HIGHER LOVE. Is my husband trying to tell me something?
email: nbrh23@valise.com
name: Paul
message: I now see that the correct lyrics near the end of "Every Mother's Son" are "A backdoor to the universe that opens doors / Can you please help, my god?" I always used to sing it as "De facto to the universe, that old moon does / Can you please help my dog?" Not clear that it makes any more sense the right way -- a back door opens doors???
email: rahalsey@aol.com
name: Roger Halsey
message: Olive, the OTHER reindeer We three kings of porridge and tar On the first day of Christmas, my tulip gave to me He's making a list, chicken and rice Sleep in heavenly peas
email: pioneerbldgs@wilkes.net
name: Dean
message: John Barleycorn proved tough for me. That part about "they've hired men with the crabtree sticks" sounds more like "they've hired men with crabby steaks". Those guys were sure _issed off!
email: ASchulberg@aol.com
name: Arnie
message: Bought one of those desk calendars with a quote a day. This is for misheard lyrics and today's goody is: "Beijing ain't high enough" which is, of course, "Bring me a higher love"
email: acinwv@yahoo.com
name: Angela
message: I just went to lunch with some co-workers and I told them I always thought instead of "bring me a higher love" he was singing "bring me a pile of luck." I, personally, would welcome both.
email:
name: BobbieG
message: On another web-site, someone entered "I can light bananas with my nose on fire!" in place of "I can light the night up with my soul on fire"
email: gunx@mweb
name: sfg
message: "i'd like to help you" but i just ain't got the time
email: melissamatson@hotmail.com
name: Melissa
message: She's about a mover, Sir Douglas Quintet: my dad heard: diddy doddy boom ba. My mom says it is: She's a body mover! I think it is: everybody get a move on.
email: GAV on KKC@aol.com
name: Gregory
message: On my high school radio station, I would tell the freshman DJ's Bullcrap names and lyrics--- Steve Miller Band "Big Old Jet Airliner" was "Big Old Jag Had a Light On"... everything was "carted" & labeled, so they knew no better!!! I'll send more as I think of them
email: winwoodfan@hotmail.com
name: Lani
message: Another entry from my husband. While we were driving home my husband turns to me while SECOND HAND WOMAN is playing and says.."Did Steve just say succulent woman?"
email: Theblueterror@aol.com
name: JohnTf
message: Ok heres the situation. "Every Mothers Son". I have seen the lyrics and all of them have this: "...Back door to the universe that opens doors....". Now I know Steve Winwood can be hard to understand at times but I always understood him as saying," back door to the universe, That Ol' Moon Dust...". So I took a closer listen, thinking Im wrong but I have come to the conclusion that what I am hearing is right. Back door to the universe that opens doors? Doesnt make any sense. What I am hearing does make sense. Agree? Disagree? Let me know. But take a close listen for yourself:)
email: alymier@yahoo.com
name: Allie
message: Oh my god you guys- YOU GOT NOTHIN! LOL. Before I could even read, I was a fan of Winwood's music. This eventually lead to *many* misheard lyrics. Where to even start, I've got em for darn near every song of his :) "Valerie" - okay, there's a part in here (my fave song :) where, for years, i could've SWORN he was saying "Some night- I'm naked, more like she used to be." I even had my mom thinkin it was that. We'd laugh everytime the "naked" part of the song came on. And also at the beginning I thought it was "I can't help remember- just where she tucks me in." originally, i thought it was a song about bedtime. LMAO. (This is what you get when you have a six year old trying to decipher Winwood lyrics). Don't you know what the night can do- "Spread these legs right beforrrrrre you." This was at my most innocent period, i swear- i didn't even know "spread these legs" was a, um, more risque term. I never thought twice about it. Needless to say, my mom looked at me with a raised eyebrow when i sang this song. Then later when i learned about all that, i knew now why my mom was so insistent on me saying "wings" and not "legs." LMAO. Higher Love- this song was a complete mystery to me. The only words I knew in this song were "bring me a higher love" (at least i got that much right). The beginning of the second verse, i also could've sworn he was saying "Was retarded!" lol. (i believe its "worlds are turning"). :)
email:
name: Mary C
message:
email: selkie@worldnet.att.net
name: Mary C
message: On the Blind Faith album, in the song Sea of Joy, for YEARS I thought Steve was saying "Is it just the FOG between my eyes" instead of THORN. I kind of got used to fog, thinking it was an allusion to being stoned.
email: agot@ulb.ac.be
name: Alain Gottcheiner
message: I was about 5 when I quite clearly heard Bee Gees' title "Massachussetts" (quite a barbaric name when you live in Europa and don't speak English) as "Marchand de Chaussettes" (sock retailer).
email: mcbricker@webtv.net
name: none of your beeswax
message: I just found out a misheard lyric. In the Alanis Morissette song Ironic, I thought it started, An old man turned and he ate. I just found my liner notes with the lyrics and I see I was wrong. The real lyrics are "An old man turned 98".
email: No Thanks
name: Peter
message: My big sister, for many years, thought that a line from a hymn "Jesus, the cross I bear" was "Jesus, the cross-eyed bear" - which she always thought irreverend but sang it anyway.
email: mcbricker@webtv.net
name: NOYB
message: The Alan Parsons Project song I Can Read Your Mind. I thought when they sing the title line in the song, they were singing "I Believe Your Lies."
email: mariane_arantes@yahoo.com.br
name: Mariane Arantes
message: I am Brazilian. So, when I started studying English, I found it difficult to understand some lyrics (which is normal), but my example is SO funny, 'cause the lyrics is rather easy. There it goes:

Right lyrics: Slave to love (By Bryan Feery) What I heard: It's late to love

LOL!!!

Mariane

email:
name: FiaFia
message: You know the song by the Bee Gees "Stayin' alive, stayin'"? I always thought (untill recently) that they sang "Stena Line, Stena Line", and that they were advertising the Stena Line company. Talk about embarresing!
email: Slackdammit@yahoo.com
name: Winthrop
message: Niel Young sings, "Bigbird's flying accross the sky..."
email: mcbricker@webtv.net
name: Billy G.
message: TWO MONDEGREENS: The 'Til Tuesday song Voices Carry. When I first heard it, I thought they said "Hush hush. Keep it down now. Was it scary?"

Second One: The Skeeter Davis song The End of The World. For over 30 years, I thought the lyrics were "Don't say no, it's the end of the world." It should be "Don't they know"

email:
name: Helen
message: I embarrassed myself by ending the phrase "take off your shoes etc." with "You can leave your hard on" instead of "You can leave your hat on".
email: mcbricker@webtv.net
name: Bill
message: When I first heard the song "I Will Survive", when she sang "I Will Survive", I thought she was singing "I wants to die."
email: shelagh@globe.net.nz
name: Shelagh Cox
message: In Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" (as a child with an English accent living in Washington D.C.) I heard the phrase "past all endeavour" as "pastel endeavour" and thought it must be a kind of wishy-washy sense of enterprise that was doomed to lily-livered failure.
email: oviljoen@bytessoftware.net
name: Oscar
message: John Denver singing "Take good teabags home again" instead of "Hey, it's good to be back home again".