15 Songs With Hilariously Misheard Lyrics

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, music lovers did not have Google, Shazam, or even the Internet to help them decipher lyrics to popular songs. As a result, a whole generation grew up thinking that Jimi Hendrix was singing “Excuse me while I kiss this guy” instead of “Excuse me while I kiss the sky.”

We’re all guilty of mishearing a lyric or two — even for our favorite songs that we’ve heard dozens of times. No one on the planet knows what Kenny Loggins is saying in “Footloose,” for example.

However, the list of songs everyone mishears is embarrassingly long, especially for songs that came out before we could ask Siri or Shazam.

“Summer Breeze” by Seals and Croft

When people talk about breezy ’70s hits, “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Croft blows into their minds first — but are you hearing what you think you are hearing?

We’re not sure exactly what “blowing through the jasmine in my mind” that makes the singer “feel fine” means, but until the advent of the Internet, we thought he said, “jazz band” instead of “jasmine.”

“She Bop” by Cyndi Lauper

You’ve got to give ’80s pop star Cyndi Lauper credit for sneaking a song about the joys and perils of self-pleasure into the Billboard top 10, but part of it is because people mishear lyrics in the playful, upbeat pop hit off her debut album, She’s So Unusual.

Some think Lauper says, “I can’t stop messing with the denture zone” in “She Bop,” but she’s actually saying, “I can’t stop messing with the danger zone.” Apparently, she’s not that unusual.

“Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix

“Purple Haze” is the second single ever released by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and contains one of the most frequently misheard lyrics in music history.

Many think Hendrix is saying, “Excuse me while I kiss this guy,” but he’s actually saying, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” Although Hendrix reportedly said the song is a love song and not about tripping on psychedelic drugs, it’s apparently not a love song about two amorous dudes either.

“Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi

“Livin’ on a Prayer” is the second single from rock band Bon Jovi’s 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song became Bon Jovi’s second consecutive Billboard chart topper, but listeners seem to make the song racier than intended.

Some hear “It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not,” but the actual lyrics are “It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not.” Oh well, they were “halfway there…”

“Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana

Nirvana dragged grunge music kicking and screaming into the mainstream with the genre-defining hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from their 1991 album Nevermind.

Although singer Kurt Cobain sings, “Here we are now, entertain us,” some people hear the garbled screaming as “Here we are now in containers.” Rolling Stone listed “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as number five on its 2021 list of the greatest singles of all time.

“I Want To Hold Your Hand” by the Beatles

Surely radio-friendly early hits by the Fab Four have easy-to-understand lyrics, right? Apparently not. The 1963 single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” became the Beatles’ first number-one hit in the United States in 1964 and ignited the British Invasion.

Although the Beatles sing “I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide” in the song, some hear “I get high, I get high, I get high” even though the song came out years before the band’s psychedelic phase.

“Gypsy” by Fleetwood Mac

Stevie Nicks handles lead-vocal duties on Fleetwood Mac’s hit “Gypsy” from the 1982 album Mirage. The song about Nicks’ longing for her bohemian days in San Francisco before joining Fleetwood Mac contains the lyrics, “She was just a wish.”

Since Nicks is often referred to as the White Witch and people hear magical whisperings between the lines in her lyrics, some hear her singing “She was just a witch.”

“Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics

Both the video and song for Eurythmics’ haunting “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” helped define the MTV era. Singer Annie Lennox — wearing a man’s suit and sporting close-cropped orange hair — warns listeners that “everybody is looking for something” from you.

What is misheard by casual listeners not fans of the synth-pop pioneers is “Sweet dreams are made of cheese” or “these” instead of “Sweet dreams are made of this.” Who are we to disagree?

“Tiny Dancer” by Elton John

The 1972 single “Tiny Dancer” is from Elton John’s 1971 album Madman Across the Water. What is truly mad, however, is what some listeners hear when Elton John sings, “Hold me closer, tiny dancer.”

Some swear John says, “Hold me closer, Tony Danza.” Although John’s sexual orientation is hardly a secret, boxer-turned-actor Tony Danza was not on anyone’s radar in the early 1970s. His breakout role didn’t come until the 1978 TV show Taxi.

“We Will Rock You” by Queen

The 1977 Queen hit “We Will Rock You” is considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time and many sports teams have adopted it as a stadium anthem to fire up fans. Freddie Mercury talks tough in the song, singing “Kicking your can all over the place.”

Some people mistakenly hear “Kicking your cat all over the place.” There is no evidence supporting Mercury’s alleged hatred of felines.

“Dancing Queen” by ABBA

Although Swedish pop group ABBA sang most of their songs in English, some of the lyrics still got lost in translation to American ears.

ABBA’s 1976 song “Dancing Queen” — their biggest hit in the United States — contains the lyrics “See that girl/Watch that scene/Diggin’ the dancing queen.” Clearly ABBA is referring to the burgeoning disco scene, but some people hear, “See that girl/Watch her scream/Kicking the dancing queen.” For the record, ABBA did not choose violence.

“Hotel California” by the Eagles

“Hotel California” is the Eagles’ magnum opus and is considered one of the top rock songs in history. The Grammy-winning 1977 hit contains the lyrics, “On a dark desert highway/Cool wind in my hair,” yet some silly listeners hear, “On a dark desert highway/Cool Whip in my hair.”

How exactly would a whipped topping end up in singer Don Henley’s hair on a dark desert highway? Maybe he was in the passenger seat trying to make a sundae with the window down? Make it make sense.

“Like a Virgin” by Madonna

“Like a Virgin” became Madonna’s first chart-topping hit in 1984. Although we couldn’t fact-check song lyrics online in the 1980s, most adults have a basic understanding of what being a virgin entails.

Yet when Madonna sings “Touched for the very first time,” some hear, “Touched for the 31st time.” Um, that’s not how it works.

“Footloose” by Kenny Loggins

People remember Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose” — the theme song of the 1984 movie of the same name — more than the Kevin Bacon flick about a small town that bans rock music. The song spent three weeks at number one and became Loggins’ biggest hit, but no one in the 1980s knew what he was really singing.

The oddly enunciated lyrics contain the line, “Kick off your Sunday shoes,” which everyone heard as “Kick off your blue suede shoes.”

“Beast of Burden” by the Rolling Stones

“Beast of Burden” became a top-10 hit for the Rolling Stones in 1978, the second single off their album Some Girls. Meanwhile some girls — and boys too — heard Mick Jagger singing the lyrics “I’ll never be your beast of burden” as “I’ll never leave your pizza burning.”

We get that a tinny 1970s radio might not have the best sound and lead to such confusion, but hopefully, a glance at the title on the 45 single of “Beast of Burden” at a record shop put the mystery to rest.