MetaChat - Mondegreens

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10 July 2005

Mondegreens →[More:]Ever since the song came out in 1995, I have been 100% sure that the chorus to that one White Zombie song (you know, the one everbody knows) went:

Don't shoot me, 'lectrocute me!
Don't shoot me, 'lectrocute me!
Don't shoot me, 'lectrocute me!

Those lyrics made sense to me, at least in the context of the other lyrics I could understand - okay, I couldn't understand most of the lyrics in the song, but the chorus was always crystal clear to me, and I would happily sing along with it whenever the song came on the car radio.

I heard it again today and decided to finally try and download a copy, but no song with that title came up. A Google search for those lyrics was also not giving me anything, but I kept seeing references to a song I had never heard of before called "More Human Than Human".

I was crushed. As soon as I heard the chorus knowing what the real lyrics were, the ones I had "heard" all along completely disappeared, to the point that now I don't know how I could have possibly heard them to begin with. Was I embarrassed? A little. Was I interested in hearing about any similar mistakes others may have made? Sure!

(Oh, and I will also 'fess up to believing for years and years that Tommy James and the Shondells were "Hangin' Around" instead of "Draggin' the Line". I think I even defended that belief in a bar once.)

post by: yhbc at: 20:45 | 8 comments

I know that it has happened to me before but I can't remember any specifics. This bit from the title link gave me a giggle though:

Justin Berton wishes to remind us that, despite evidence to the contrary, Neil Young is not singing, "Keep on rocking at Marine World." Nope, that's "Keep on rocking in the free world."

posted by LeeJay 10 July | 21:03

For many years as a child, I thought the national anthem made mention of "pom-poms bursting in hair." Also, for too many years than I care to admit, I wondered why the Clash were singing "who needs the polar bears?" in "Remote Control." Eventually I realized that the lads had nothing against arctic wildlife -- it was Parliament they had the quibble with.

posted by scody 10 July | 21:13

I wreck lyrics worse than Norm Crosby butchers a phrase. If I sing a long with a song I'm going to get about 30% of the lyrics wrong. I'll get the key words right (usually), but I'll substitute quite a bit of verbiage just to keep the flow going. And my wife has the ability to catch every single one.

posted by Slack-a-gogo 10 July | 23:14

I used to wonder what "donzerly" meant, as in the phrase "donzerly light".

posted by kenko 10 July | 23:19

HAHAHAHAHA COMMISH YOU'RE STOOPIT

Wait, this isn't Fark?

posted by mr_crash_davis 10 July | 23:20

I always thought the line in "Margaritaville" was "smell of shrimp dip again in a fart." 'Cause Buffet just seemed like that kind of guy.

posted by jrossi4r 11 July | 00:53

Fuckin'

Got my chips cashed in...

posted by Cryptical Envelopment 11 July | 02:46

There's this track on the Violent Femmes' compilation album "Add It Up". It's an answering machine message. *Every* single person I've played this track for upon first listening thinks it says "my cat locked me in" without any promptimg. On second and subsequent listenings, it's clear he says "my partents locked me in".

I have no explanation for this.

posted by Capn 11 July | 11:29

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