New Poll of Commonly Misheard Lyrics Has Surprising Results

You may remember that a while ago I wrote some articles about misheard lyrics or "mondegreens", which you can find here and here, but in today's news, a brand new poll of the top 20 misheard lyrics by UK listeners has been released with some brand new entries! "Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" by R.E.M topped the survey which was conducted by Cerumol Olive Oil Ear Drops, and was followed up by entries from Aerosmith, Adele and Nirvana.

This is the list of the 2010 most misheard lyrics as heard by UK music fans!

20) "There Must Be An Angel" - Eurythmics

Real lyrics: Must be talking to an angel
Misheard lyrics: Must be talking to a ninja

I have to admit, this is probably one of the newest entries for a reason! Ninja seems to be one of the most popular words of the moment, along with "epic" and "random" which are very common in popular culture. On listening to the track again, I must say, I definitely hear it!

19) "Don't Fear The Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult

Real lyrics: Seasons don't fear the reaper
Misheard lyrics: Jesus don't fear the reaper

Not being terribly familiar with this song, it's hard to make a fair assessment, but it has been on many misheard lyric lists!

18) "Babe" - Take That

Real lyrics: Babe
Misheard lyrics: Dave

As a huge fan of Take That, this makes me laugh out loud! The idea of Mark Owen singing, "Dave, I'm here again, I'm back again, where have you been." just tickles my funny bone!

17) "Mamma Mia" - ABBA

Real lyric: How can I resist you?
Misheard lyrics: Have I got a sister?

In all the times I have been searching misheard lyrics, I have never seen this before so it strikes me as odd that many people misheard it the same way! Maybe the love of ABBA that stemmed from the movie and musical Mamma Mia has spawned a new generation of listeners!

16) "Dancing Queen" - ABBA

Real lyrics: See that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen
Misheard lyrics: See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen

This one reeks of people saying it just to be "funny". It isn't clear whether the poll was conducted with misheard lyric suggestions already laid out, or if it was just a question with people giving their own answers. It is worrying that so many people heard a violent lyric instead of the innocent line that it really is!

15) "Out of Space" - Prodigy

Real lyrics: I'll take your brain to another dimension. Pay close attention
Misheard lyrics: I'll take your brain to another dimension. Hey close the kitchen

Again, not a song I am familiar with but as many songs by the Prodigy have strange lyrics, it's not much of a stretch to think that "close the kitchen" is a part of the song!

14) "Stayin' Alive" - The Bee Gees

Real lyrics: Stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Misheard lyrics: Steak and a knife, steak and a knife

Words fail me.

13) "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen

Real lyrics:Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango
Misheard lyrics: Scallaboosh, Scallaboosh, will you do the banned tango

This is another very common misheard lyric that pops up often, so it's not a big surprise to see it on this list.

12) "Papa Don't Preach" - Madonna

Real lyrics: Papa don't preach
Misheard lyrics: Poppadom Peach

I believe this one cropped up in one of my previous articles as being a well known mondegreen. My friend actually heard it as Poppadom bridge!

11) "I Can See Clearly Now" - Johnny Nash

Real lyrics: I can see clearly now the rain has gone
Misheard lyrics: I can see clearly now Lorraine has gone

Who's Lorraine?

10) "Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen

Real lyrics:Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Misheard lyrics: Spare him his life for this one cup of tea

Not only the second entry by Queen, but the second entry for the same song! Again, it is unsurprising to see it because Bohemian Rhapsody can be pretty hard to understand if you aren't listening carefully.

9) "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

Real lyrics: Here we are now, entertain us
Misheard lyrics: Hear we are now, in containers

Smells Like Teen Spirit became an anthem of its time, which is astounding considering the entire song is practically indecipherable! The lyrics were so hard to understand Weird Al did a fantastic parody of it, which you can listen to here

8) "You're The One That I Want" - Olivia Newton John and John Travolta

Real lyrics: You're the one that I want
Misheard lyrics: You're the wobbly one

Fans of Grease might find this unbelievable, but if you listen really carefully, you will hear it too.

7) "Dancing Queen" - ABBA

Real lyrics: Feel the beat from the tambourine
Misheard lyrics: Feel the beat from the tangerine

Like Bohemian Rhapsody, Dancing Queen has a lof of mondegreens, but this one just looks like another silly suggestion to me!

6) "Living On A Prayer" - Bon Jovi

Real lyrics: It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not
Misheard lyrics: It doesn't make a difference if we're naked or not

This one also featured in one of my previous articles, which goes to show - it really is misheard a lot!

5) "Chasing Pavements" - Adele

Real lyrics: Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements
Misheard lyrics: Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing penguins

A brand new entry on the commonly misheard list. The vision of Adele chasing penguins will keep me amused for the rest of the day! However, no matter how hard I try - I can't here the word penguins at all.

4) "Build Me Up Buttercup" - The Foundations

Real lyrics: Build me up buttercup
Misheard lyrics: Fill me up buttercup

This is such a brilliant feel good song - for the tune, if not the lyrics. What is strange, is that the usual obvious misheard line is "I'll be beside the phone waiting for you", usually heard as, "I'll play the xylophone waiting for you." Frankly, this one isn't as interesting.

3) "Dude Look Like A Lady" - Aerosmith

Real lyrics: Dude looks like a lady
Misheard lyrics: Do just like a lady

There isn't much to be said about this one - it sounds a lot like "do just like a lady"!

2) "Purple Haze" - Jimi Hendrix

Real lyrics: Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Misheard lyrics: Excuse me while I kiss this guy

For the first time ever (at least in my memory), Purple Haze is NOT the number one most common misheard song. This may be because the poll was taken in the UK, but it is still quite surprising.

1) "Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" - R.E.M

Real lyrics: Call me when you try to wake her
Misheard lyrics: Calling Jamaica

This is a song I have misheard for many years, and to be honest, I think it is R.E.M that have got the lyrics wrong! I don't know how they think all of those syllables fit into that line - and besides, I always thought they were saying, "Calling Cheryl Baker"!!

So there you have it - the most recent list of the most commonly misheard lyrics by UK music lover!