Carpenters Misheard Lyrics

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NowhereMan

Funny, but it seems I always wind up here with you
This subject came up today when a family member told me that for the longest time they thought it was "Calling occupants of interplanetary crap" instead of craft. It got me thinking about what other Carpenters lyrics I had misheard over the years. One I thought of was on "Sweet Sweet Smile" I thought that the line that says "I wanna feel your arms around me" was actually " I have a fear your're on the run."

I also did some internet research about misheard lyrics and found that the term for this phenomenon is "mondegreens." There are whole websites dedicated to these "mondegreens." Some of the one for Carpenters songs are pretty hilarious. Here is a link to one of the sites I found: http://www.kissthisguy.com/

I also wondered if the rest of you had any funny or interesting misheard lyrics examples to share. Anyone?
 
"Because the best love song is written with a broken arm" instead of "Because the best love song is written with a broken heart". I heard of this once and can never unhear it. :D

From "All You Get From Love is a Love Song"
 
For a long time I thought the opening line of "Love Is Surrender" was "Talk about love, how it fades like a fleet." I pictured a fleet of ships sailing off and fading away into the horizon and assumed that was a metaphor for love being fleeting or fading away easily.
 
On 'I Can't Make Music' I always thought Karen sang "a note's a note, cliché to say I feel I'm gonna die"...which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Also I also thought the opening verse of 'Those Good Old Dreams' was "as I grew people called it serve to Stephen", which my sister also got a really big kick out of as she thought Karen was singing about me :laugh:
 
This one comes from Richard's TIME album (one we've been discussing elsewhere). There's a line pretty far into the song that goes:

"My fundamentals are sadly in need"

however, I always heard it as:

"Wipe off the mantels; they're sadly in need"

Well, I guess that's what he got for hanging around someone named "Dusty"... :)

Harry
 
I was listening to "One Fine Day" today and remembered that I used to think that the line "You're gonna want me for your girl" was actually "you're gonna walk before your girl." :rolleyes:
 
It took me a while to figure out that Karen was not singing "I'll learn how to bin" in the lyrics of "It's Going To Take Some Time" , when in reality Karen sings "I'll learn how to bend", should have been easy enough to understand as that's what young trees do in the winter time.
 
The very first 45 I purchased (I believe it was 99 cents in 1977 and as an added twist, I never even heard of The Carpenters at that time) was Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (I liked the art work of the space ship on the jacket). It was years later (likely sometime in the late 90's) when I finally discovered "CARPENTERS"). I heard the phrase ...You close your eyes, You concentrate, Together that's the way, To send a message we declare WILL CONTACT THEY (such bad grammar I thought at the time, but it still sounded pretty). Who knew back in 1977 there was a World Contact Day :) ?
 
"Sharing horizons that are new to us" (from "We've Only Just Begun") translated through my youthful ears as "Sharing horizons that are near to us". I figured newlyweds didn't have much money and couldn't travel far for a honeymoon. Guess they could have got a loan, considering it started out as a bank commercial :)
 
"Because the best love song is written with a broken arm" instead of "Because the best love song is written with a broken heart". I heard of this once and can never unhear it. :D

From "All You Get From Love is a Love Song"


I can remember a DJ on UK radio making fun of that misheard lyric back then.
 
Last time I participated in a thread like this, two very unfortunate mondegrens came up. Someone mentioned mishearing Those Good Old Dreams's "Like a child's eyes on a Christmas night" as "Like a child dies on a Christmas night". There was also the line in Merry Christmas Darling, "I wish it every day". Use your imagination.

Count me in the "broken arm" club when I first heard the song.
 
As a non-native English speaker I usually look for the lyrics first, but in the case of "You'll Love Me", the line "And will show them all just how our love did grow" I always hear as "And we'll show them all just how our love be brought"
 
Johnny Angel, after "Johnny Angel, you're an angel to me", the harmonies sound like "Shut up, shut up"etc. A little like Elvis Presley's, "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", the harmonies sound like "hot banana".
 
As a 13 year old I wasn't aware of the Hawaiian custom of flower necklaces called LEYS. As a result on Honolulu City Lights I heard the line. . .

"Standing with their legs around my neck". I knew this couldn't be the line, but that's what I heard. . .and if that's how friends treat you in Honolulu, I can understand why "it's not easy to leave again".

Love that song.

Neil
 
As a 13 year old I wasn't aware of the Hawaiian custom of flower necklaces called LEYS. As a result on Honolulu City Lights I heard the line. . .

"Standing with their legs around my neck". I knew this couldn't be the line, but that's what I heard. . .and if that's how friends treat you in Honolulu, I can understand why "it's not easy to leave again".

Love that song.

Neil

That actually just made me burst out laughing Neil :laugh:
 
As a 13 year old I wasn't aware of the Hawaiian custom of flower necklaces called LEYS. As a result on Honolulu City Lights I heard the line. . .

"Standing with their legs around my neck". I knew this couldn't be the line, but that's what I heard. . .and if that's how friends treat you in Honolulu, I can understand why "it's not easy to leave again".

Love that song.

Neil

Great. No that's ALL I'm going to hear when I listen to the song from now on. Thanks!
 
Great. No that's ALL I'm going to hear when I listen to the song from now on. Thanks!

Sorry, Geographer. Don't worry, in a couple of weeks you'll hear it as LEYS just like you always did.

Oh, btw. . .on Uninvited Guest I'm never sure what she sings on the line "I should leave you but "ahhheeuurrrdiiouuvvvv". . it doesn't make sense". I read somewhere the line is "but I'm still in love". . .that makes sense, but I don't know what Karen was going for with this particular line. I love her intimate reading of this favourite song of mine. . .her delivery rings so true. . .she just lapses into a "Still In Love With You" moment for this line and it takes me out of the music every time I hear it.

Neil
 
Oh, btw. . .on Uninvited Guest I'm never sure what she sings on the line "I should leave you but "ahhheeuurrrdiiouuvvvv". . it doesn't make sense". I read somewhere the line is "but I'm still in love". . .that makes sense, but I don't know what Karen was going for with this particular line. I love her intimate reading of this favourite song of mine. . .her delivery rings so true. . .she just lapses into a "Still In Love With You" moment for this line and it takes me out of the music every time I hear it.

That line always bothered me too Neil...it's like she slurs the words rather than sings them. The line is "I should leave you but I love you/Though it doesn't make sense".
 
And, for me,
I always hear in the second verse of
I Need To Be In Love,
"...I'm hangin' on a hoop, but I'm alright."
 
Oh, btw. . .on Uninvited Guest I'm never sure what she sings on the line "I should leave you but "ahhheeuurrrdiiouuvvvv". . it doesn't make sense".

I've always heard that line as "I should leave you, but I laugh it off, it doesn't make sense."
 
I've always heard that line as "I should leave you, but I laugh it off, it doesn't make sense."

I always heard the line to read I should leave you, but I hurt and ohhh it doesn't make sense..."
 
o.k. here is my embarrassing confession for "For All We Know":

Karen sang "...but time alone will tell" I heard on the radio, "...birds fly over hotels". It wasn't until I heard the album did I discover there was another "T" somewhere in there.
 
Never had much trouble with Karen's lyrics that a good pair of headphones couldn't sort out.

There's a guy on YouTube named Stevie Riks that parodies the Beegees "How deep is your rug" with all the misheard lyrics in that song. Radio station tweeted it today and it made me think of this thread. Uh, might not be for everyone.
 
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