For What It's Worth


Wednesday, August 15, 2018

The chair is not my son and other misheard lyrics…



I had the song Fake Love by BTS stuck in my head for several weeks – except I thought I had heard someone say it was Freaky Love so that's how I've been singing it until I saw the video and the real title.

Honestly, I think that sounds better so I’m sticking with it. I will die on this hill. lol



It got me thinking about other misheard lyrics and reminded me of the funniest misheard lyrics story from my teen years.

Back when I was a kid…

It was the 80’s, before you could look up lyrics on the internet. You used to have to do it the old fashioned way. Record Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Countdown on cassette tape and play it back word for word and write the lyrics out in a notebook. IT took hours, days, weeks, MONTHS! Life was soooo hard!

So anyway…I was dating a DJ at the time – Michael Jackson was the King of Pop and my bf played his music often…



And he INSISTED that the lyrics to Michael Jackson’s Bille Jean were

“Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the chair is not my son
She says I am the one, but the chair is not my son"

Instead of….

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son
She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son”


I mean…the CHAIR is not my son??? That doesn't make any sense! lol  You’re a DJ! You should have your record spinning license revoked for that!

More misheard lyrics:

The Neighborhood – Sweater Weather



In the chorus:

Correct lyrics -

“Coming down
One love, two mouths
One love, one house
No shirt, no blouse”

I hear:

“Coming down
One love, two mouths
One love, one mouse
No shirt, no blouse”

I think my lyrics are cuter lol

alt-j – In Cold Blood



Correct lyrics…

“01110011
Crying zeros and I'm hearing 111s”

I hear…

download

“01110011
Crying zeros and Ian Ziering 111s”

Again...I think my version improves upon the song lol

Do you have any funny misheard lyric stories to share? 

49 comments:

  1. Hah! The chair is not my son. That's hilarious. I'm sure I'm always hearing lyrics wrong. There's videos that people made on Youtube of various Fall Out Boy songs and the lyrics on the screen are what people often HEAR instead of what the actual words are. It's hilarious.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. It's so funny and weird. I know Taylor Swift's Starbucks lovers is another one that people always hear. lol

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  2. Cracking up about the chair is not my son hahaha

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  3. Quote: "You’re a DJ! You should have your record spinning license revoked for that!"
    Absolutely LOL. What on earth, too? I believe you did the right thing by breaking up with him LOL (assuming you did!). Plus I've never heard it that way, and English is an acquired language for me...

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    1. I think he was the ONLY one who heard it that way. And even if you did - you would have to know that it's wrong!!! lol

      yes, I did break up with him (after 3 years of dating) for...Kevin! lol

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  4. OMG - this is so funny, and as a music listener, I've botched some songs up pretty good too! My list is probably too long to fit on this post.(lol) Hugs...RO

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  5. hahahaha I am SO GLAD I'm not the only one that mess up lyrics! Just two days ago I learned that I had been wrong all this years about a song! I wish I could remember which one!

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    1. I really hope you remember!!! It's super embarrassing when you've do it in front of other people and they look at you like you've lost your mind. lol

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    2. I am ex disc jockey from many years ago, I still don’t hear him saying the kid is not my son! I get it’s child or whatever. But I never heard it any other but CHAIR. Lol.

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    3. Same! I just went to a wedding last night and heard the song again and still don’t hear “kid”. I thought it must be “child” but I get hearing “chair”

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  6. I love BTS! I've been listening to them for weeks now ever since finding them. It doesn't hurt that they are all cute as heck. lol

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    1. I've listened to a lot of KPop because a friend of mine moved there - I think I already said this on your blog lol

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  7. I've never heard of BTS and I hear 'faking love' so I guess I'm close... :)

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    1. That's actually a good guess. I only thought freaky because I thought someone else had said that and it doesn't sound like fake. lol

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  8. Oh gosh the chair is not my son is too funny! I remember when I was a teen my siblings and I thought Invisible Touch was Fizzy Bottle Top.

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    1. Bahahaha! I'll have to go listen to that one.

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  9. Oh man! I am infamous for not catching the lyrics right or not at all so only singing fragments of songs for the longest time even if I heard them over and over.

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    1. I'm more of a belt out the song then hmmmm through all the stuff I don't know, then jump back in when I do lol

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  10. Ha! Those are great. I am the worst with lyrics. I love that now on Amazon music the lyrics come up automatically!

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    1. I love all the lyric sites and apps now! But some of the songs don't make any better sense with the correct ones lol

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  11. The chair is not my son? Seriously?! I mean, at least go with something that makes sense. LOL Although, now that I think about it, I really can't talk. Remember the Lean On Me remake by Club Nouveau (mid-80's)? At one point they say something like "we be jammin" and I swore it was "with pajamas." Never mind that it made zero sense. Bahaha!

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    1. I know!!! I mean...it's one thing to hear the wrong lyric. It's another to INSIST that it's correct when it obviously isn't lol

      I just listened to your song and I can kind of hear that lol

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  12. It actually DOES sound like Freaky Love, TBH. Even listening for the difference it sounded like it to me...

    Ha ha yes- the 80's were a wonderful time for lyrics, weren't they?? And Billie Jean- I LOVE that. Wow. I think I had my own lyrics for a lot of Elton John songs, too, weirdly enough?

    You know who had some goofy song lyrics? Duran Duran... :)

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    1. Hey, hey, now Greg... them's fightin' words. As a former Duranie I take issue with the "goofy song lyrics" comment.
      *suddenly remembers "shake up the picture, the lizard mixture" lyric from New Moon on Monday*
      *slinks away quietly*

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    2. Greg - Right??? I think it does too.

      Some of the song lyrics are even worse and make even less sense once you do know them! hahaha

      Greg & Tanya - now kids...keep it civil! lol

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  13. Oh my goodness these crack me up! At least the ones you hear make SENSE, unlike the chair one bwhahah. The Ian Ziering one had me cackling- especially because now I HEAR IT TOO! I will never NOT hear it every time I hear that song, I'm afraid! Too fun!

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    1. The actual lyrics don't make much more sense and I STILL think it sounds like Ian Ziering even knowing the correct lyrics. lol

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  14. Look at you listening to BTS. I still know nothing about them.

    I've got questions about this chair that Michael Jackson fathered!

    I remember there was a Nelly song, I think his first one. There was a line that went "Bill Gates, (insert name of treasonous SOB who scammed the 2016 election)." And I swore that it was "Bill Gates got drunk."

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  15. The chair is not my son??? That cracks me up! I've made mistakes with lyrics over the years but I can't remember them off the top of my head. I love that 'with pajamas' as well!

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    1. I wonder if it happens less now with so many lyric apps that run while you're listening or how easy you can look them up.

      I sang Fake love wrong for over a month though until I saw the title when I watched the video so maybe not...

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  16. I have heard so many things wrong, but I can only think of that Kate Perry song, wait....all the fish instead of all the feels? Smth like that

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  17. I love this. I used to waste days writing down stupid song lyrics in a notebook.

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    1. My best friend and I used to spend the whole weekend writing out lyrics after the weekly countdown came on.

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  18. Ok that first song definitely sounds like freaky love lol. The chair is not my son??? You're right, he should've had his DJ card revoked for that, haha.

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    1. I think it does too!

      Yes, I mean CLEARLY the chair cannot be your son lol

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  19. Hilarious. My husband, brother-in-law and son purposely sing song incorrectly.

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    1. lol I almost always stick with my wrong version once it's stuck in my head.

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  20. i'm guilty of mishearing song all the time and singing the wrong lyrics loudly. it's one of my quirks loool

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    1. lol Some lyrics are so weird now that our version might be better hahaha

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  21. I know, it was hard to get the lyrics back in the day. Sometimes you'd luck out and they'd be on the album, but of course you'd have to buy it to get them.

    The chair is not my son? Lol! I hate that song (Billie Jean) with a passion, btw, and they still play it so much! At least at every single wedding I go to, ugh. I love Sweater Weather! It's funny what we hear sometimes. Great post, Karen!

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    1. It was the best when they were included!

      Yeah, I'm not a big MJ fan either.

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  22. So funny. Kids these days have it easy with the internet and looking em up Heh

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  23. I used to go to music stores (Sam Goody) and look up the lyrics on music sheets for guitar and then try to memorize as much as possible. I screwed up dozens of songs. So glad I can just look them up on the internet now.

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  24. I just heard The Civil Wars cover Billie Jean and it reminded me of my brother-in-law telling me about "the chair is not my son." Looked it up to see whether anyone else heard it that way, and here you are!
    My own favorite is from a Fleetwood Mac song; the lyric is "when the rain washes you clean you'll know," which I have always heard as "when the rain wolf shears your sheep you'll know."
    I haven't seen anyone mention that there's a word for this: mondegreen. It originates from a mis-hearing of a Scottish folksong, the lyric "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Moray and laid him on the green" having been mis-heard as "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Morray and Lady Mondegreen."

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