Yes!!! I always heard in Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes, "when I want to run away, I GROVEL IN MY CUP". Never questioned it. Sounded perfect. Sounded Peter Gabriel. Sorely disappointed (shockingly this only happened about a year and a half ago) to learn that he was singing something so mundane as "I drive off in my car". I like my lyrics better. By contrast the actual lyric is so...pedestrian. Yeah, I gave you a pun too.
ELO, "Four Little Diamonds" I always heard "And if the law don't get her, then I will" as "And if the Lord don't get her, then I will", which I like because it sort of amplifies the scale of the misdeeds of the song's subject.
Warren Zevon's Werewolves of London. "I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's....His hair was perfect." Until 2 years ago, I thought it was his hair was 'purple'. I still prefer to hear that.
I have one that tops them all. (For me at least, in a very personal way) I'm in shock over it right now. I'm nearing towards halfway into the book about The Replacements, Trouble Boys, and I just found out that Bastards Of Young's chorus is not "We are the sons of no one" but "Wait on the sons of no one" - I can't even put into words how disappointed I am that those are the lyrics! Hearing the whole room, myself included, at The Masonic in 2015 singing "we are the sons of no one" was one of the most moving live musical experiences of my life. I was so moved; it was magnificent beyond words, what I felt. I vastly, vastly prefer the misheard lyrics in this one; I always will. I'm going to do my best to go back to mishearing them; I'm serious. The real lyrics make it not the anthem it's been, they don't have the bonding feeling this song gave me that night; that I was not alone in feeling this way.
The Doors - Hello, I Love You. I always thought they were saying "Sidewalk vultures at her feet" when apparently it's "Sidewalk crouches at her feet." I like my version better.
UFO - the song Natural Thing One verse goes like this: Hey girl, now, does it feel all right Think I'm gettin' through Don't you think the band's real tight Wait till we start to move Which leads in to this verse that I always thought went like this - some kind of crude sex comment about "doin' it" facedown, picking up on some suggestive lines from the previous verse - Face down honey but you gave it to me I didn't even like it Face down honey but you gave it to me And now I got to live without it But the actual lyric has NOTHING to do with "FACE DOWN" anything....it's really just... May sound funny but you gave it to me I didn't even like it May sound funny but you gave it to me And now I got to live without it I still don't really understand what the singer is trying to say but the way I originally heard it I thought it had some kind of "risque dirty talk" vibe that could have given radio stations fits (in 1957 anyways).
I saw a comment on YouTube the other day. Someone had misheard the lyrics to Winning by Santana: "When I braid my hair, I look like a joker" (the actual line is "When I played my hand, I looked like a joker")
"Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind." I thought it was "Gone are the dark clouds, they've passed me by" which I like better.
I gotta agree with you that the line (which is how I've always heard it too) is much better with "We are" than "Wait on". I was at that Masonic show too, and only have two regrets about it -- one is regarding $$, which I'm not going to go into, and the other is that Ride were playing the same night, so I had to choose one over the other. I feel like I made the right choice though!
Just yesterday I heard "Walking In Rhythm" by the Blackbyrds for the first time in ages, and was reminded of when I was a kid and misheard the line "I'm tired and so all alone" as "I'm tired of soap on the lawn." Hell, I guess I'd be too! Can't be fun trying to get Irish Spring out of grass.
Warren Zevon sings: And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones Excitable boy, they all said I always heard: And he dug up her grave and killed (kilt) some kids with her bones
Okay, dumbest ever...As a kid I had to take allergy injections. Gilbert O Sullivan Alone Again Naturally... Lyric is "Reality Came Around". As that kid , listening to WFIL I heard "allergies came around".
For a long time , I heard this in the The Bangles' "Manic Monday" All of the nights Why did my lover have to pick last night To get down? (Last night, last night) Doesn't it matter That I have to feed the both of us and Zero Mostel The actual line is "Employment's down." I figured it wasn't "Zero Mostel," but I had no clue what Susanna Hoffs was singing until I looked up the lyrics. I still like my version better.
When I was a kid listening to "Night Fever", I always thought the chorus actually said "Saturday Night Fever, Night Fever" because there's a bit of a mumble before he says "Night Fever". Because, you know, it was on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack (even though I heard it on One Night Only live album). but when I look up the lyrics I don't see anything. I still pretend it's "Saturday Night Fever"!
10cc – I’m Not In Love Not an actual lyric, but a whispered line in the song. The line is “Be quiet, big boys don’t cry”. For decades, I had always heard, “Be quiet, be poised don’t cry”.
When it was out, I thought Michael Jackson was singing, "Wait a minute with me" instead of "Way you make me feel." Neither version is better, and neither is good lyrically. But hey. #dontcare