Lyric Confusion.
Have you ever been singing your heart out and had someone squint, frown and stare at you? What did you just sing? That is a way of life with me. Sometimes I even embarrass myself, hot faced, when I catch myself in lyric confusion.
One afternoon early in our relationship, my boyfriend and I were driving, listening to the radio. Paul Harvey came on. Curt had never heard Paul Harvey, a staple of my home life. Far from home, excited to hear someone familiar, I gushed.
He has this signature sign off, I explained. He ends each broadcast by saying The Deck!
Curt looked confused and asked *why* he said The Deck!
I didn’t know, but I’d been listening to Paul Harvey for decades and that’s what he said every time. It’s just his thing.
Curt listened carefully and never heard him say The Deck! But he was twitterpated, so he kept silent.
A few weeks later Paul Harvey came on and Curt thought it was time to tell it to me straight. Babe, he said, He isn’t saying The Deck! He’s saying Good Day! That was the first of many corrections.
Here are a few more zingers followed by the true lyrics.
Precious and few are the moments we two care share.
I am the living magazine (??? I wondered what that meant!) of the leader of the band.
I am the living legacy of the leader of the band.
He breaks the power of canceled sin.
It’s bound to take your life
There’s a bathroom on the right.
A Living Pencil 
Oh so many! So there’s my sister’s “stop in the neighborhood before you change your shirt” for “stop in the name of love before you break my heart”There’s my once-upon-a-time-little son Jonathan’s “We three kings of Laurie and I”One night I laughed myself to tears while reading mistaken lyrics on this site: Funniest Misheard Lyrics — viewer discretion needed at times, though!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I know there are plenty my kids sing ‘off’ but they are so cute, I often don’t have the heart to correct them! My oldest will often tell them long before I’m done enjoying the cuteness. (can’t think of any right now though)
“Excuse me while I kiss this guy”(Excuse me while I kiss the sky, Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix)
One from your oldest son … “floundering around like a chimpanzee” .. (floundering around like a ship at sea … ‘If I Didn’t Have You’ – Randy Travis… 😀
I screamed, Carol. Literally screamed. My children all howl with laughter as we sing along to CC&R…There’s A Bathroom on the Right is my MOST FAMOUS lyrical confusion. My children will just shake their collective heads and continue in their belief that we are so alike it is scary.Another favorite: CC&R Down on the corner, howdy in the street. Oh…you mean it’s out in the street? I like mine better. And continuing with the chorus…instead of “bring a nickle; tap your feet” I sing, “bring your meatballs, can’t be beat.” (-:John Fogerty’s voice begs to be misunderstood.Kindred spirits, Carol. For good and beyond (-:Di
My favorite was my grandfather’s”: “Up from the gravy Rose” for “Up from the grave He arose…”And my kids (all grown) will fight you to the death that the muppet character’s name is “Kermit E. Frog,” NOT “Kermit the Frog.”I’m thankful that God gives us these little funnies amidst the all-too-seriousness of life.
I got to hear about a Parsnip in a pear tree just yesterday. I accidentally corrected her. I just couldn’t sing it wrong with her that many times!There is actually a word for lyrical confusion…mondegren. Thanks to a daily trivia calendar I know this!
With MY husband— o, it is endless, and generally more edifying than the original!! My dad’s famous one is “sleep in heavenly peas”, and Julie’s “Maygee” song. It took us days to figure it out. “When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, MAY JEsus Christ be praised.”
Haha I know that song. My father always played it when I was younger and he took him quite some time to convince me the lyrics were “There’s a bad moon on the rise” haha.
A young friend thought “God and sinners reconciled” was “God and sinners racoon-styled”. :oD
Ugh. Hate typos. Sorry. Should be “raccoon-styled”.
Oh, these are too much fun. My contribution: “I Love Paris” was popular when I was a kid. I mistook the words to be “I love carrots.” 🙂