22 of the funniest misheard lyrics of all time

• It's not uncommon to mishear lyrics, and it can lead to some funny realizations and memes.
• Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" has a lyric that seems to be about "Starbucks lovers."
• An episode of "Friends" may be responsible for a misheard lyric in Elton John's "Tiny Dancer."

The 2019 hit "Old Town Road" has a commonly misheard line.

In 2019, Lil Nas X's song rose to the top of Billboard's Hot Country chart but, shortly after, the company removed the track, saying it did not have enough elements of today's country music. 

After the news, country legend Billy Ray Cyrus collaborated on the track with the young artist, and the hit went viral.

Although the track is popular, many people seem to mishear its lyric "Take my horse to the old town road" as "Take my horse to the hotel room."

That incorrect lyric has over 160 million search results on Google. 

An episode of "Friends" may be partially responsible for Elton John's popularly misheard lyric.

For years, there's been a running joke that Elton John wrote his 1971 song "Tiny Dancer" about Tony Danza, an American actor known for his work on "Who's the Boss?" and "Taxi." 

This gag is said to have started after a character sang the mispronounced lyric on an episode of "Friends."

The misquoted lyric comes from the line "Hold me closer tiny dancer," which some people may hear as "Hold me close, young Tony Danza."

Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" has a misheard line that seems to mention a major coffee chain.

In 2014, Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" made headlines when hoards of radio listeners misheard the lyric "Got a long list of ex-lovers" as "All the lonely Starbucks lovers."

Per a 2017 video from The Cut, the reason these "1989" lyrics are so misheard could have to do with one's expectations and the placement of the song's beats. 

Selena Gomez's 2015 hit has a lyric that sounds like it's talking about a bodily function instead of diamonds.

Selena Gomez's single "Good for You" was a 2015 hit, but some fans misheard the song's opening line "I'm 14 carats," which refers to diamonds, as "I'm farting carrots." 

In an interview with BBC Radio 1's Scott Mills, the singer laughed at the incorrect, vegetable-focused lyric and said the radio hosts may be mishearing it because of their English accents.

Listeners have also misheard the lyrics of another hit Gomez song.

In yet another lyric mishap, people misheard part of Gomez's song "The Heart Wants What It Wants."

In the song, a distorted version of Gomez's voice sings "What the heart wants" a few times, but people have hilariously misheard the line as "What the Farquaad."

Lord Farquaad is a popular villain from "Shrek" (2001). Following the single's release, some people even made YouTube videos dedicated to the character and Gomez's misunderstood lyrics.

An NYSYNC misheard lyric is now a meme that comes around at the end of April.

Justin Timberlake's titular line in NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me" is not "It's gonna be May," despite what our ears seem to be telling us.

This misheard lyric has become a popular meme that comes around annually just before the first day of May. Over the years, even band members have gotten in on the fun by posting the misheard line. 

Many have had fun purposely misunderstanding the lyrics of "Livin' On a Prayer."

Bon Jovi's song may seem simple enough with its repeating lyrics, "Woah, we're halfway there / Woah-oh, livin' on a prayer." But it's still often misheard — deliberately or not. 

One of the most famous misheard iterations is: "Woah, we're halfway there / Woah-oh, Squidward on a chair." Squidward is a popular character from "SpongeBob SquarePants."

In 2016, there was even a viral Twitter trend that involved making memes out of things that sound like they could be in the song, including "Lizard on a chair" and "Lemon and a pear."

Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" has a funnily misheard lyric about animals.

Some people seem to have a bit of trouble understanding a lyric from Guns N' Roses' 1987 song "Paradise City."

Although the lyric is in the title, some have misheard "Take me down to the paradise city" as "Take me down to the prairie dog city." 

Eminem and Rihanna's hit song "Monster" has a misheard line related to condiments.

Eminem's 2013 song "Monster" features Rihanna, and one of her lines is sometimes misheard.

In the chorus, she sings, "I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed." But the song lyrics have been misheard as "I'm friends with the mustard that's under my bed."

"Empire State of Mind" also has a famously misheard line.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' 2009 hit "Empire State of Mind" has a misheard line that doesn't quite make sense.

Some have mistakenly thought the lyric "Concrete jungle where dreams are made of" was actually "Concrete jungle wet-dream tomato."

In 2018, musician Ed Sheeran even said he was one of many who misheard the line. 

"Burnin' Up" has one commonly confused lyric that some fans think even Joe Jonas doesn't know.

The Jonas Brothers' 2008 summer anthem "Burnin' Up" has one widely debated lyric in its chorus. A fan even reached out to Joe Jonas on social media in 2019 to ask if the lyric is "Baby, you turn the temperature hotter" or "Baby, who turned the temperature hotter?"

Instead of answering the question, Joe responded to the tweet asking people what they thought the lyric was. 

But in 2013, his brother Nick famously interrupted the band's Kiss 98.5 performance to set the record straight."

"Do you know it's 'WHO turned the temperature hotter?' cause everyone always sings 'YOU turn the temperature hotter."

Even the title of "Penny Lane" has been misheard by some listeners.

Released in 1967, The Beatles' "Penny Lane" is actually about a neighborhood Paul McCartney and John Lennon spent a lot of time in when they were younger.

But some people have been pretty confused about the track's title and lyrics — a number of listeners have mistaken the song as being about a woman called Aunt Elaine.

A hit song from "Grease" has been misheard as a bizarre fashion trend.

"Grease" (1978) is a well-known film, and the movie's hit "You're the One That I Want" is a popular duet.

But not everyone singing along has the lyrics quite right. Some have misheard "I've got chills, they're multiplying" as "I've got shoes, they're made of plywood." 

One of the best-known misheard lyrics is in Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze."

Jimi Hendrix's 1967 hit "Purple Haze" has a misheard lyric that's really made a name for itself.

The song goes "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky," but so many people have misheard it as "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" that some fans think Hendrix started singing that version of the lyric during live shows as a joke. 

"Kiss this guy" grew to become the grandfather of misheard lyrics and even inspired the name of the misheard-lyric website kissthisguy.com.

Listeners have a hard time understanding some lyrics of "Bohemian Rhapsody."

It seems fairly common to mishear the lyrics to Queen's 1975 hit, "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Many people sing the lines "Scaramouch, scaramouch will you do the fandango" and "Bismillah! No" incorrectly because of their obscure words and references.

But there's another line later in the song, right before the head-banging guitar solo, that's consistently misheard.

The real lyrics are "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me," but people have misheard it as everything from "Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard" to "The algebra has a devil put aside for me."

Keith Urban cleared up a debate about the commonly misheard lyric in "You'll Think of Me."

Grammy-nominated country singer Keith Urban is famous for songs like "Blue Ain't Your Color" and "You Look Good in My Shirt." But his 2002 track "You'll Think of Me" has left fans debating over a lyric in the chorus. 

Listeners couldn't decide if the line was "Take your cap and leave my sweater" or "Take your cat and leave my sweater" — it's actually the latter.

Urban confirmed the lyric in 2019 when "The Bobby Bones Show" reached out to him about it. He even followed up with a funny video, demonstrating the correct version with an actual cat.

"Dancing Queen" has a misheard lyric that turns the cheerful song violent.

"Dancing Queen" is one of ABBA's most iconic hits, but some listeners have grossly misheard the song's chorus. 

The actual lyrics  are "See that girl, watch that scene, diggin' the dancing queen," but some seem to think it's "See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen."

According to NPR, a British poll revealed that this particular line from "Dancing Queen" was the No. 1 most commonly misheard lyric in 2014.

Rihanna's background tracks on "FourFiveSeconds" are sometimes comically misheard.

The unlikely team of Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney came together to create "FourFiveSeconds," which they performed for the first time at the 2015 Grammys.

Rihanna has a few background tracks sprinkled in during West and McCartney's verses. During one of them, she says, "I'm on a mystery," but Capital East Midlands radio station pointed out that it sounds like she's saying "I bought a Listerine."

The rom-com "27 Dresses" helped highlight some commonly misheard lyrics in "Bennie and the Jets."

John and Bernie Taupin composed "Bennie and the Jets" in 1973, but the song's popularity resurged in 2008 when it was featured in the rom-com "27 Dresses."

In the film, Katherine Heigl and James Marsden's characters perform the song at a dive bar with some interesting lyrical decisions.

They get almost every lyric wrong, but one particular line that's even contested by some real-life listeners is "She's got electric boobs and mohair shoes." The line is actually "She's got electric boots, a mohair suit." 

The defunct app Vine helped make a "Because of You" misheard lyric famous.

Kelly Clarkson became a pop sensation after winning the first season of "American Idol" in 2002, and her track "Because of You" was released on her second studio album, alongside hits like "Since U Been Gone." 

"Because of You" is an emotional breakup ballad, but it received a funny twist in a clip for the defunct six-second video platform Vine. 

One user pointed out that the lyric "I never stray too far from the sidewalk" sounds a lot like "I never stray too far from the salad bowl." 

Some listeners were shocked when they thought Jake Owen was singing about drugs.

Jake Owen's "Beachin'" was a popular country song back in 2013, but a lot of listeners were confused by part of the song's chorus.

Many have misheard the lyric "White sand, cold can" as "White-sand cocaine," giving the song a slightly less chill-day-at-the-beach vibe.

Swift has another commonly misunderstood lyric on her "1989" album.

Another track from Swift's "1989" album, "I Wish You Would," has a misheard lyric that many fans didn't catch until "1989 (Taylor's Version)" was released in October. 

Some fans thought a lyric from the bridge was "Stand back wasted." But on the rereleased version of the album, where Swift is enunciating more, it's much clearer that it's "Stand back where you stood."

This story was originally published in June 2019, and most recently updated on November 6, 2023. 

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