People have been sharing their favourite ‘mondegreens’ – 21 very hilarious examples of misheard lyrics

The lyrics to Gala’s Freed From Desire have been misheard so consistently over the years that the word ‘trombolise’ has essentially become part of the English language now. But what about other mondegreens (which is the technical term for misinterpreting a phrase, for those not in the know)?

Over on the AskUK subreddit, roysustang has been mulling this over and posted the following:

‘What’s your favourite mondegreen in any song?

‘I feel like everyone will have one song lyric that they just cannot unhear despite knowing it’s wrong. For me, my parents always told me as a kid that To Win Just Once by The Saw Doctors was ‘to injure swans’ and I can never hear it differently anymore.’

Which prompted lots of people to jump in with their best-loved aural mistakes, like these…

1.

‘I worked at a company that only ever called this tune ‘Strombolise’ when it was played on nights out. So they’d be posting insta stories with just ‘strombolise’ as the caption, or asking ‘Strombolise?’ In group chats to mean ‘Anyone want a drink?’. Bizarre.’
–heartpassenger

2.

‘For me it’s a tie between “Dancing Queen, peel the beef from the tangerine,” and “It’s not fair to deny me, of this cross-eyed bear that you gave to me.”‘
–alanaisalive

3.

‘My niece used to sing “dancing queen, young and sweet, only seven teeth”.’
–DW_555

4.

‘Not me, but an old housemate of mine thought “Chiquitita” was “Chicken tea, duck?”. She thought it was written from the perspective of a person from Yorkshire offering an oddly specific meal to someone else.’
–ButteredReality

5.

‘My daughter sang along to OutKast – Ms Jackson: “I’m stuck in a taxi – ooo, I am for real”.’
–Moomoocaboob

6.

‘”I’m blue and I believe I will die in Aberdeen, I will die in Aberdeen, I will die”.’
–QueenSashimi

7.

”I am the lord of the dance settee.’ It’s a settee just for dancing.’
–Sad_Cardiologist5388

8.

‘”I can’t believe you kiss your carving knife” – That Don’t Impress Me Much, Shania Twain.

‘I worked with a guy who thought the song “Come on Eileen” was about Muhammad Ali and it was “Come on Ali”.’
–cheandbis

9.

‘From NY state of mind: ‘Into New York, Concrete Jungle with tinned tomatoes.”
–Tight-Principle-743

10.

‘When I was a kid I used to hear “feed the world” as “beaver world”. So thats what my family sings whenever it pops up.’
–rhyithan

11.

‘My mother once said to me about The Israelites, “I used to think the lyrics were ‘Wake up every morning, baked beans for breakfast’ but it’s actually ‘Wake up every morning, same thing for breakfast’!”

‘I had to tell her it’s actually “Wake up in da morning, slavin’ for bread, suh” and asked her if she really thought the biblical Israelites had Heinz for breakfast.’
–AtebYngNghymraeg

12.

‘”Hold me close, I’m trying to dance here” in a song that is actually called Tiny Dancer.

‘Big up all my fellow elder millennials, who, like me, had to guess at some lyrics and just roll with the mondegreens!’
–Glittered_Fingers