When I was a child, we used to sing "Row, Row, Row your boat" all the time. I used to think the last line was "Life is butter beans" instead of "Life is but a dream".

theresa

In addition to believing that Elton John sang, "Hold me closer, Tony Danza!" instead of "Tiny dancer," I couldn't figure out if he was saying "Lay me down in sweet surender" or "Lay me down in sheets of linen." Whenever I sang it, I would switch it up. This website motivated me to find out which was right...the latter.

lise

There's a song by a band called No Doubt. The song is called Spiderwebs. In the song, I always thought she sang "i'm gonna scream my boobs off." In reality, she says "I'm gonna screen my phone calls." Took me til I was about 20 to realize what she was really saying.

Jen

I used mess up almost all nurser rhymes, Like. Mary Had A Little Lamb. I used to think her fleas were white as snow.

Anon

I used to think that the title of Barry Manilow's song "Looks Like We Made It" was "Looks Like Tomatoes".

close2nd

I used to believe that the lyrics to Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" were "You give love a Band-Aid".

Anon

Jungle Love by The Steve Miller Band goes, "Jungle Love, Drivin' Me Mad, Makin' Me Crazy.."

My husband thought it was, "Chug A Lug, The Strawberry Man, Makin' Me Crazy..." when he was a child.

Anon

When I was maybe 8...I was addicted to watching CSI with my parents. The lyrics to the opening song are; 'Whooooo are you!? Who, who, who, who!?' However, I was convinced that that they were; 'Gooood morning! Good, good, good, good!' When I sang along to my version....my parents laughed so much :)

Taylor

Recently my sister told me that in Fallout Boy's 'The Take Over The Break's Over' lyrics were actually 'Flash flash flash, photography', not 'Scratch scratch scratch, for tiger-people'. We both though that was pretty funny.

FlashTigerography

So when I first heard the song "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie, there was a line where I wasn't so sure what he was saying. I heard:
"If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the nose on their Vatican seasides"
Eventually I looked this up on a lyrics website. Turns out the actual lyrics are:
"If heaven and hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs"
whoops.

Hannah P.

A friend of mine told me he once used to think 'Cotton-Eyed Joe' went "Where did you come from, where did you go, where did you come from, GOT NINE TOES". Somehow the reality of it, "Cotton-Eyed Joe" doesn't really make any more sense.

Natalya

I thought outkast were singing "never meant to make your doggy cry, dry your eyes will be alright!"
in is actually "never meant to make your daughter cry, i apologise a million times."
i got a lot of stick after belting that one out in the local!

cringe

You know that old 60s song, "Secret Agent Man"? When I first heard that song as a little kid, I thought he was saying "Secret Asian Man". It still sort of sounds like that to me.

Lamont G. Sanford

A little while ago there was a song it goes "Funk show brother right about now funk show brother!" Or something like that. I asked my sister why they have a song about f***ing your brother on the raido and she laughed for quite awhile.

Confused

When I was really young my baby sitter loved TLC and Instead of Don't go chasing waterfalls (which i just learned were the lyrics a month ago and i am 11)I used to sing Dont go Jason Butterball

AHJ

Until I saw this site, I thought the Blind Melon verse "You know I like to keep my cheeks dry today" was "You know I like to keep my cheating strategy, so stick with me and I'll have it made."

When my sister was really little in the 1960s, she thought that the superhero Hercules was called "Hurt your knees."

Maybe there was something in the water?

Texas Rocky

cause i'm just a paper bag rider....
or it might have been paperback writer by the beatles....

Anon

I attended a French-immersion school, so at the beginning of the day we sang the French version of O Canada. I understood most of it, but I didn't get a few parts.

I thought "car ton bras sait porter l'épée" (your arm can bear the sword) was "...sait porter la paix" (can bear peace), which is much nicer, after all.

In the line "ton histoire est une épopée des plus brillants exploits" (your history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits) I thought an "épopée" had something to do with poppies. This went nicely with the "fleurons glorieux" a few lines previous, and had the side benefit of going nicely with the poppies we wore on Remembrance Day (to remember our brillants exploits, naturally).

Finally, I thought "et ta valeur de foi trempée" (and your valour, steeped in faith) was "deux fois trompée" (twice fooled). I figured dear old Calixa Lavallée must have had very definite opinions about the First and Second World War!

Matt

I used to believe that 'One more time' by Britney Spears used to be:
'Oh Baven Baven' instead of 'oh baby baby'. My dad said 'It isn't Baven. What's Baven?' I replied with 'Duh! Baven is a Scottish name!' Silly me!

Never_Forget

I'm absolutely stunned someone else thought, like I, that London Bridge Is Falling Down was London Britches Falling Down! I sang it that way until i was 18!

I don't know about this one but I until now just realized that the Bee Gees song "You Should Be Dancing" I thought the line was always "What you doing on your back?" :/

Jennifer