Misheard Lyrics

[DSC]

A few days ago, I was looking through the pages of famous metal bands on TV Tropes, and on Maiden's I found out something that really surprised me. It said the lyrics to Sanctuary's chorus are "Sanctuary from the law", but I could swear until that moment that Paul sang "Sanctuary from above". Just a small little misunderstanding, nothing special, both lines actually work really well for the song anyways. 

 

But this got me thinking... What more stories like that there are? Its actually quite a funny subject matter... So, fellow Doomworld members, do you have funny stories of misunderstood lyrics too? Anything, from cases that change the meaning of the song completely, things that the author would for sure never put otherwise in their songs, or things that just give us a good laugh!

[unerxai]

When I was a kid I thought Symphony of Destruction said "You try to take his balls" before I looked up the lyrics.  To this day it still sounds like balls to me.

[MFG38]

29 minutes ago, unerxai said:

When I was a kid I thought Symphony of Destruction said "You try to take his balls" before I looked up the lyrics.

 

Oh geez, same! Only I was in my late teens rather than a kid. :P

[Chow Yun Thin]

I know the SS death sound in Doom 2 is "Mein leben!" but I swear he's saying "I'm lame, man!" (and he is).

[unerxai]

3 hours ago, MFG38 said:

 

Oh geez, same! Only I was in my late teens rather than a kid. :P

The same happens to me with Sweating Bullets, I hear "sweating baaaaalls!". I don't know what's going on with Dave Mustaine's voice and balls.

[Doominator2]

 

At 4:09, the line is supposed to be "We're ready to kill all comers, like a loaded gun right at your face." but I'm hearing "We're ready to kill our drummer, like a loaded gun right at his face."

 

 

[Doomkid]

In the System of a Down song "BYOB", I thought the end said "Why don't princes fight the war, why do they always send the poor?" It wasn't until years later I wrote it down and someone corrected me that I realized it was "presidents", not "princes". Thankfully my misunderstanding was still in line with the spirit of the song.

 

I've misheard other lyrics before and in some cases was actually disappointed when I found the real words, because my misheard lyrics were actually more interesting and the real words didn't mean much or were pretty vapid. Only happened a handful of times over the years and I can't recall specific examples at the moment.

 

EDIT: Regarding the SS Nazis, I always thought they said "BANG BABY!!!" in the original Wolf3D when their voice still had a lot of balls, then when it got turned into the 'completely harmless teeny midget' voice for Doom2, it sound more like "bingbaby". Now that was my 6 year old self mishearing it so my ears probably weren't even fully developed because I can barely hear it that way ever since knowing what he was actually saying.

 

This discussion kind of reminds me of that dumb "Laurel or Yanny" thing that made the rounds a year or so back. Of course, that was the normie virgin version of the meme - The real "auditory debate" was had back in 2007, when people couldn't decide if Sonic is saying "Now I'll show you" or "Here I'll show you" when he does his final smash move in SSB:

 

 

Back around the time this was uploaded, there were a ton of people saying his line is "Here I'll show you", but my ears have always heard "Now I'll show you". Bizarre, either way.

Edited August 14, 2020 by Doomkid

[Chip]

I have the one that will top all else. In The Beatles song "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," the lyrics "I can't hide" can easily be mistaken for "I get high." Keeping this in mind, The Beatles were at a party along with Bob Dylan. Bob had marijuana on him, and thought that the lyrics in the song were I get high, so he assumed that The Beatles were well acquainted with the drug, when rather, they had never tried it. Without him, The Beatles never would have written songs about the drug (although there were only a few, as they enjoyed LSD much more and wrote more songs about it). 

[Maximum Matt]

I'm reading a Hendrix book right now, so this is a cool coincidence - 

"Scuse me, while I kiss this guy"

[Doominator2]

2 hours ago, Doomkid said:

In the System of a Down song "BYOB", I thought the end said "Why don't princes fight the war, why do they always send the poor?" It wasn't until years later I wrote it down and someone corrected me that I realized it was "presidents", not "princes". Thankfully my misunderstanding was still in line with the spirit of the song.

 

I've misheard other lyrics before and in some cases was actually disappointed when I found the real words, because my misheard lyrics were actually more interesting and the real words didn't mean much or were pretty vapid. Only happened a handful of times over the years and I can't recall specific examples at the moment.

 

EDIT: Regarding the SS Nazis, I always thought they said "BANG BABY!!!" in the original Wolf3D when their voice still had a lot of balls, then when it got turned into the 'completely harmless teeny midget' voice for Doom2, it sound more like "bingbaby". Now that was my 6 year old self mishearing it so my ears probably weren't even fully developed because I can barely hear it that way ever since knowing what he was actually saying.

 

This discussion kind of reminds me of that dumb "Laurel or Yanny" thing that made the rounds a year or so back. Of course, that was the normie virgin version of the meme - The real "auditory debate" was had back in 2007, when people couldn't decide if Sonic is saying "Now I'll show you" or "Here I'll show you" when he does his final smash move in SSB:

 

 

Back around the time this was uploaded, there were a ton of people saying his line is "Here I'll show you", but my ears have always heard "Now I'll show you". Bizarre, either way.

This honestly messes me up a little haha. If you think of the word "here" before he says it, it sounds like "Here I'll show you", but if you think of the word "Now" the opposite is true.

[DooM Bear]

Nine Inch Nails -  Starfucker Inc.

 

Warning: adult theme

 

Spoiler

The line apparently goes “And when I suck you off, not a drop will got to waste. It’s not so bad you know, once you get past the taste”.

 

I always thought it was “And when I suck you off, not a drop will got to waste. It’s not so vaganal once you get past the taste” XD

 

Honestly I like my line better and think it fits the song’s theme well XD Man I love that song :-D

 

Note: hope this isn’t over the line! Please don’t ban me Mods :-P Love you guys :-D

 

[Dark Pulse]

6 hours ago, Doomkid said:

This discussion kind of reminds me of that dumb "Laurel or Yanny" thing that made the rounds a year or so back. Of course, that was the normie virgin version of the meme - The real "auditory debate" was had back in 2007, when people couldn't decide if Sonic is saying "Now I'll show you" or "Here I'll show you" when he does his final smash move in SSB:

 

Back around the time this was uploaded, there were a ton of people saying his line is "Here I'll show you", but my ears have always heard "Now I'll show you". Bizarre, either way.

It's pretty clearly "Now I'll show you!" I'm not hearing any sign of a H-style sound in there.

 

Plus, the voice clips have been ripped and it's quite clear once you've got that clip, without any SFX or music playing, "Now" rather than "Here." (It's Wave0.wav in that archive.)

 

Basically, I think the transformation explosion SFX is layering in such a way that it's confusing a few people who can't distinguish them separately, but only as one blended sound.

[Doom_Dude]

16 hours ago, Chow Yun Thin said:

I know the SS death sound in Doom 2 is "Mein leben!" but I swear he's saying "I'm lame, man!" (and he is).

 

I always hear that as "I'm Leaving!". haha

 

The first misheard lyrics for me. The Beatles ~ Maxwell's Silver Hammer. I was a little kid and I heard this on the radio. I thought they were singing, "Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer canopy
Came down upon her head." and ever since I've fucking hated that song.

 

7 hours ago, Maximum Matt said:

I'm reading a Hendrix book right now, so this is a cool coincidence - 

"Scuse me, while I kiss this guy"

 

Haha!

[Vic Vos]

Gimme fue gimme fai gimme dabajabaza

[DSC]

11 hours ago, Doominator2 said:

 

At 4:09, the line is supposed to be "We're ready to kill all comers, like a loaded gun right at your face." but I'm hearing "We're ready to kill our drummer, like a loaded gun right at his face."

 

 

Poor Lars can't take a break even from his bandmates...

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, now that I think of it, this has got to be one of the only times in our community we talk about this song without it being in the context of Bobby "paying homage" to it in At Doom's Gates...

[Dark Pulse]

9 minutes ago, DSC said:

Poor Lars can't take a break even from his bandmates...

Hey, at least he didn't audition for Spinal Tap. They make very good on that promise.

[Jello]

Leonard Cohen: Last Years Man

"Though I wear a unicorn, I was not born to fight". Not really misheard, but I just think it's funnier that way.

 

And hey, I made a crappy mspaint version of it years ago:

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Jello

[Nevander]

Opeth's The Baying of the Hounds. I hear:

 

I hear them devouring

Best made tacos of the Earth

Diabolical beans are roaming the forest

 

Real lyrics:

 

I hear them devouring

Pest ridden jackals of the earth

Diabolical beasts and roaming the forests

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

8 minutes ago, Nevander said:

Opeth's The Baying of the Hounds. I hear:

 

I hear them devouring

Best made tacos of the Earth

Diabolical beans are roaming the forest

 

Real lyrics:

 

I hear them devouring

Pest ridden jackals of the earth

Diabolical beasts and roaming the forests

 

What's your opinion on new Opeth?

[Nevander]

1 minute ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

What's your opinion on new Opeth?

I still love them. Vastly different sound after Watershed but it's still excellent music. I definitely prefer their older sound from Orchid to Ghost Reveries though.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

4 minutes ago, Nevander said:

I still love them. Vastly different sound after Watershed but it's still excellent music. I definitely prefer their older sound from Orchid to Ghost Reveries though.

 

Orchid is the album I come back to the most after listening to them for 8+ years. About half of Watershed is great, and I like a lot of Heritage too. But I have trouble getting into anything after Heritage. Not because it "isn't metal" though, which is the problem a lot of people seem to have with their newer albums. But I love everything from Orchid-Watershed, except for MAYH, which I didn't really connect with for some reason.

 

But either way new Opeth>>>>new Dream Theater

[Nevander]

3 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

But either way new Opeth>>>>new Dream Theater

Definitely. It's a shame what happened to Labrie's vocals after the food poisoning incident. Was never the same. Images and Words is my favorite album by them, and not just because of the better vocals. They killed it on that album in my opinion.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

2 minutes ago, Nevander said:

Definitely. It's a shame what happened to Labrie's vocals after the food poisoning incident. Was never the same. Images and Words is my favorite album by them, and not just because of the better vocals. They killed it on that album in my opinion.

 

Images and Words is probably my favorite album of all time. It is also the most uplifting metal album I've ever heard. Awake was great too, I thought, but Falling into Infinity was about a dozen steps backward and is when Labrie's vocals started to peter out.

[Lippeth]

Opeth rocks, old and new.

 

At the end of Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2, I always thought the guy said "How can you have any pudding if you don't say yummy". That is until I got completely lambasted by everyone I knew.

[Nekr0s1s]

12 hours ago, Vic Vos said:

Gimme fue gimme fai gimme dabajabaza

 

Gimme Double Charizard

[Doomkid]

Holy shit, some of these are cracking me up.. Maxwell’s Silver Canopy and Best Made Tacos of the Earth probably got me the best but they’re all amazing

[Maximum Matt]

2 hours ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

I love everything from Orchid-Watershed, except for MAYH, which I didn't really connect with for some reason.

Me too.  There just wasn't enough there, if ya know what I mean.  I'm more of a Morningrise guy - I likes me some nylon-string acoustics and fretless bass with my endless prog metal songige

13 hours ago, Vic Vos said:

Gimme fue gimme fai gimme dabajabaza

[Ichor]

 

[Biodegradable]

 

 

These are the first two I think of whenever this topic/phenomena is ever addressed. xD

[Remilia Scarlet]

I didn't realize it isn't "Dirty deeds and the thunder chief" until I was like 17 or 18.