There's a park in Buffalo, NY, called Humboldt Park, so it didn't seem
odd to my little friend that there was a hymn that began, "Jesus Is
Sneaking Through Humboldt Park." He was surprised to learn it's
"Jesus the Seeker of Humble Hearts."

bertee

There was this one hymn that my church always sang. It went, "Our heavenly father,"
I always sang it "Our harily father,"
I pictured God as some hairy guy, just covered in fur.
I only found out the correct lyrics two years ago.

Squee

My brother was born when I was 2 and wouldn't slepp through the night, so we had to be extremely quiet if he ever did manage to nod off. So, when I heard "away in a manger" I honestly believed, for a good few years, the the lyrics were "the kettle is boiling, the baby awakes..." as opposed to the cattle are lowing etc! We had an old fashioned whistling kettle at the time, which may have helped me on the way to that belief!

Kate

The song : 'He is exalted, forever exalted on high!'

Turned into: "He is INSULTED, forever insulted, on high"

I wondered what someone did to insult God forever.

Bara Boo

When I was in year 1 at primary school (aged 5) we had to go to assembly with the whole school, but weren't given hymnbooks to help us sing the songs as most of couldn't read well enough yet. As a result, for years I sang "Dance, dance, wherever you may be, I am the lord of the dance settee". I assumed a "dance settee" was a place where you could be really comfortable, warm, etc, and were allowed to jump on the furniture!

Martha

I used to think that the words were "Dance, dance where-ever you may be, I am the lord of the Dance Settee..."
I imagined that Jesus and his followers running around my living room and jumping on the settee. My parents still have the settee and I still think of it as the Dance Settee

George

In the Christmas song "Oh Holy Night", I misunderstood the line "Fall on your knees, oh hear the angels voices".
I thought it was "Fall, Anyanees", and Anyanees was the name of one of the shepards.

Kairow

We used to sing a Brownie song that had said "Dear God, teach us to love thee best of all." All through school I thought it said "Teachers do love me best of all!" -and would sing this at the top of my voice! cringe!

sarah

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

When I was young and went to church I used to believe entirely that God's first name was Peter., at the end of every prayer the whole congregation seemed to me to be saying,
"thanks Peter God" of course it was really "thanks be to God".

Anon

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

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

I used to believe "certain" (used as a verb) was an uber-secret religious ritual performed on reluctant shepherds. I knew this because it said so in the song. "The First Noel the Angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds in field where they lay."

Laurie Briggs

When I was young when ever I heard the Christmas song Away in a Manger, I thought the Noel Noel chorus, meant that that the baby Jesus had no well, and therefore had no water to drink. I felt very sad for him.

CJ

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

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

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

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

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

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