My brother and I are preacher's kids, so we were at church all the time. I was very gullible and my brother was very mischievous and in the hymn "Jesus is a Rock in a Weary Land," my brother told me the lyrics were "Jesus threw a rock and away he ran!" Then he went into this big explanation about how in olden times people were stoned to death for doing bad things, and if I wasn't good, Jesus was going to throw a rock at me. I think my brother was a religious terrorist.

Janie

My sister used to think the words to the Christmas song "Little Donkey" were "Got a teapot, plodding onwards" instead of "got to keep on, plodding onwards"!

DJ

I used to think that Christ the royal master leaned against the throne. rather than leads against the foe.

Anon

...that when people sang The Battle Hymn Of The Republic they were singing about a lady named Glory who "had a looyah". I didn't know what a looyah was, but I figured it must be important that Glory had one.

Tom Raywood

We used to sing a hymn at Easter with the line, "up from the grave he arose." When I was little, I thought they were singing, "Up from the gravy he rose."

Kathy

Until I was 8 or 9 I thought that the lyrics to We Wish You A Merry Christmas were: 'Glad tidings we bring, to you and your sins' instead of 'Glad tidings we bring, to you and your kin'!!!

Jesi

I was raised Catholic, and one of the hymns we used to sing at communion contained the line, "You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat." For the longest time, I thought that it was "You satisfy the hungry FOX," and I couldn't figure out why a fox would be satisfied with wheat. Surely foxes didn't really eat wheat!

Kristin

For the longest time I believed that the song HARK THE HERALD ANGEL SINGS was really about my Grandpa Harold. Why? Because when I asked him he said it was

Britt

When I was young, every Easter we sang a hymn in church which went "Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my saviour". I always thought the grown ups were singing "Low in the gravy lay Jesus...". To this day I can't sing it with a straight face!

Marina

I also used to mishear the words to 'Lord Of The Dance'. We had an old Dansette record player, & I thought the words were 'I am the lord of the Dansette' (pronounced Dan-Set-ee)

Anon

I used to believe that part of the words to Handel's Messiah were "Bounce the ball." It wasn't until years later, after I came to know Jesus personally, and started reading the Bible that I realized they were quoting from Isaiah 9:6

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
KJV

Jenn

When I was about 6, I never really understood the song 'who built the ark'. It wasn't till I got older that I realised the words weren't "who built the ark, no one, no one, who built the ark, mother hubard built the ark" Don't ask me where she came from?!! Oh and I thought the words to 'My Girl' was actually 'Maggots'?!!!

vicarous

Well this isn't my misheard lyrics, but my sister's. When she was around 4, she was singing "Away In A Manger" at a Christmas party.
"Away in m-m-mary, no crib for a bear"
It's become a family favourite!

Jess + Danni

My Father had an interesting take on the carol 'we three kings'
'we three kings of trafalgar square
selling knickers at tuppence a pair
they're fantastic, no elastic
falling down everywhere...'

Anon

I come from Yorkshire and when we would sing Jingle Bells at Christmas I thought 'a one hose open sleigh' was 'a one horse serpent sleigh' because of the strong accents. I spent most of my childhood thinking that Father Christmas road a dragon.

Megan

In about the 7th grade my friends and I would never be able to make it through church with a straight face whenever the congregation sang the hymn "Lead On Oh King Eternal". It always sounded like they were singing "Lead On, Oh Kinky Turtle." - Still makes me laugh!

Beckiboo

Around Easter, I would always become suspicious of gravy boats and what was in th bottom of them. We would sing "Low in the grave he lay. Jesus our savior".

I thought it was "Low in the gravy lay.....".

linda

My Mom could never figure out who Round John was. As in Round John, Virgin Mother and Child. Or rather as it should be Round yond Virgin, Mother and Child from Silent Night

Anon

At VBS (vacation bible school) there was a song that promised that we would "learn to seek Your face, and the knowledge of your grace...", which I heard as "learn to sink Your face", whatever that meant. I ultimately decided that it meant washing Jesus' face (almost as good as washing someone's feet).

My next best involved a series of songs that refered to Jesus as "the rock". (Lord you are my Rock, On Christ the solid rock I stand, etc) Well, I was appalled! If I were the ruler of the universe, I would want to be compared to something fierce, like a lion, or a tiger; comparing Jesus to something as inanimate as a rock seemed to border on an insult. It took me a while to come to terms with this one.

Steve

MUM: What shall we sing now?
ME, AGED 4: Sing the one about the sofa
MUM: ???
ME: You know..."I am the Lord of the Dance Settee"
MUM: (smothered giggles) OH! You mean "I am the Lord of the Dance, said he"...(outright laughter)

Loody