The Smiley Smile Message Board

Not a particularly serious topic, this, but... Anyone else ever misheard a BB lyric? Found yourself convinced that they're singing one thing, only to find out it was something utterly different? Better yet (as has been the case with me), convinced that they were actually singing something seriously weird and/or wildly inappropriate (Roller Skating Child/Hey Little Tomboy don't count, as with those two it turned out that they really WERE singing something weird and/or wildly inappropriate)?

With me, i remain convinced that in How She Boogalooed It there's a line where they sing: 'Don't have to worry about a stupid disease'. Listen to it, for years i thought that really was what they were singing.

As for Amusement Parks USA, everything Mike sings 'when you stand in front of all the crazy mirrors' - well, i'm not going to write down what it always sounds, to me, like he's singing, it being a very offensive non-PC term indeed...

For the longest time I thought "My children were raised" was "My children were raped".




...Yeah.

"Well since she put me down
There's been owls jumpin' in my bed"

HA!   I used to think it was
"Well since you put me down I have now thrown in my hand"   I'm shocking with lyrics.

Funnily enough there was a sketchwriter (Simon Hoggart) writing in the Guardian newspaper (ooh, get me!) not so long ago, in which he was talking about how much difficulty he and some friends had had figuring out what the hell the opening lines to Help Me Rhonda actually were...

And my brother thought they were singing 'Found a mattress in my head' in the middle section of Breakaway - which is actually a rather nice, surreal, Brian-like lyric. 'I found a mattress in my head/Found a mattress in my head/I found a mattress in my head' - sing along to it, works a treat!

"No good will it do you
to stand there and growl at me"

http://www.banana-and-louie.org/cap.html

I get a lot of farts in the morning.

Brother Jooooeeeeeee!!!!

Ditto. Oh, but how my wife complains.

I know the discussion is about The Beach Boys, but another band, "Roxy Music," is celebrating an anniversary this year as well.  On their first album, "Re-Make/Re-Model," I always thought they sang, "She can help my mind create."  Instead Bryan Ferry and company sing, "CPL593H."

Kokomo:

"Vermont's a rotten state" instead of "Monserrat mystique"

Be True to Your School - (mostly from the Knebworth 1980 performance)

"I got a decal in back"

"I got my dick out in math"

Great stuff there.  :lol

My own personal mondegreen was from Surf's Up - hearing 'muted trumpeter swan' as 'mutant trumpeter swan'.

"The music holocostly bound"

But, to be fair, that's a great band name.

"I'm master of my bait"

VDP did that one on purpose

I always heard this one, as well! Never thought that maybe Van Dyke worked it in there on purpose, though.

"Well since she put me down
I bet I'll do it in my head."

That's the way I've always heard it. It never made sense to me....only recently did I look up the lyrics.

From Male Ego: "betcha boys will be doing it in their hand".  >:D

I will NEVER be able to hear this the same way ever again.  Thanks a lot!

  I met a fan years ago who thought for years the line was,
 And she'll have fun fun fun 'til her daddy takes the teapot away.

I had to explain to my girlfriend that No, you're not mistaken, he IS singing 'real good bread' in I Get Around.

Her:'But what's so special about him making some bread?'
Me:'Bread is a slang term for money'.
Her:'No it's NOT'.
etc.

Disney Boy, that's amazing  :lol

Belles of Paris: "In the open air the painter blows a fart" (I have never actually heard it that way, but for some reason, when ever the line comes I think of it thus ruining a good song.

Sloop John B: "Charyl John Stone" (I don't know why, but I found my self singing that in kareoke without thinking!

Speaking of mattresses, I can not not hear "She climbs hills like a mattress because my Honda's built pretty light". I prefer the alternate lyric that goes "She climbs hills like a champ..." because of this.

Here Today:

"I'm not sayin' you won't have a bit of a whirl" instead of
"I'm not sayin' you won't have a good love with her".

Trader:

"Sign said 'Sara Lee'" instead of "Signed sincerely". Apparently Carl was hungry for a delicious cherry pie.

Here's some lyrics I'm sure I must have misheard........


Hey, little tomboy, sit here on my lap
I got things that I gotta tell you
No more skateboards, put away your baseball mitt.
Your rough livin' days are through

You could find places to go
You could see that boys love you so
They're doin' it all over the world

Hey little hey little hey little tomboy
Time to turn into a girl
Hey little hey little hey little tomboy
They're doin' it all over the world

Hey, little tomboy, I've had my eyes on you
Thinkin' what a girl you could be
Mmm, I smell perfume, let's try some cut-off jeans
Look at all the changes I see


I'm gonna teach you to kiss
You're gonna feel just like this
They're doin' it all over the world

That reminds me I used to think instead of "Your rough living days are through" it was "Your Butt living days are through" assuming it was about a lesbian..lol

I heard "bread", but I also heard "bakin'" instead of "makin'". I'M BAKIN' REAL GOOD BREEAAAAAD.

My favorites have always been those who heard "HEY, HEY, YOU SON OF A BITCH" in "I Was Made To Love Her" and a guy who heard "She let another guy come between us and it shattered my gland" in "Rhonda".

Man. A lot of lesbians sure are doin' some butt livin'.

Wouldn't It Be Nice - "When we can say good night instead together"
Roller Skating Child - "We're leaving tomorrow when her mama's not around"

Not particularly interesting, but those had stuck for a while.

And before i forget: 'Two wisomed eyes both travelled by', All This is That. (No, i haven't a clue what that could possibly even mean either...)

When I Grow Up to Be A Man

I heard: "Will I love my mom for the rest of my life?"
Actually: "Will I love my wife for the rest of my life?"

The sad part is that I generally play very close attention to lyrics, listened in to this one, and decided that, even though it would make sense and rhyme, it *wasn't* "wife." So I just put in "mom" instead.

Yeah I think I misheard the part at the end where it sounds like a group of grown men seem to be gleefully grunting, laughing, and  menacingly circling around a girl, imploring her to put on lipstick and shave her legs. That cannot be what's on this song.

I thought it was will I love my mum for the rest of my life!  ah well, 

wendy-"Until you mated with another guy"..then when I found out it was "Made it" i was dissapointed because the other lyrics are better IMO..lol.. ;D it's kind of like how I always thought the Monkees song "daydream believer" should have had the lyrics "How many babies do we really need?" instead of "how much baby do we really need" because i thought they were talking about having babies but their grammer was bad only to be dissapointed in what was really being said "how much,baby,do we really need",,,

"Oh, keep digging it darlin'"
rather than
"Oh, keep dreaming it darlin'"

Don't lick your c*nt.  >:D

On which song? (If it's a dennis one, perhaps you haven't misheard....)

It's in that weird middle section of Wonderful from Smiley Smile. The correct line is "don't think you're god".

Ha yes, just had a listen, you're not wrong. That weird section in the middle of the Smiley Smile Wonderful is probably in my top ten favourite moments on a BB song...

I don't even think THAT'S correct. Regardless, I will now hear it as "Don't lick your c***" and wouldn't have it any other way.

I alwasy heard ...'Beautiful girl'....

I always thought they were saying "Don't eat your god"..

Oh wow...until now that's what I thought too...

I've misheard a lot of lyrics, and I've contributed some to the website someone mentioned earlier.  But I'll mention a couple here...

Kokomo:
"To the rhythm of a steel drum PAN" instead of BAND.  I figured this out at a concert in 2005...
"That mom's a rotten steak" instead of "That monserrat mystique".  I knew it had to be wrong, but I listened over and over as a 12 year old, and couldn't hear anything else!

Sunshine:
"Like a phone booth shinin' bright" instead of "full moon".

*********


Just revisited the Candy Apple Pee website...I forgot I also contributed this to the website (although my name is not listed, it's just my old e-mail address):

South American
REAL LYRIC: "I'm hungry and I'm doing lunch with Cameron Diaz."
HEARD AS: "I'm hungry and I'm doing lots of cows in the end." [Contributed by Goodvibz99@aol.com]

Back in 98/99, I didn't really think about it when I was singing along...I thought it meant eating lots of burgers...then I realized, wow, if that was the actual lyric, that could be interpreted in an awful way.

Just listened to Darlin' and it does sound like 'digging it', are we sure it's 'dreaming it'?

I always thought it was a non-lyrical kind of thing, which is featured in many a Beach Boys song. "Oh, dig-dig-a-dig, darlin'." Obviously I could be wrong.

Yeah I always assumed that it was something of an exaggerated stutter. Ooooh di-di-di-di darlin'"

I always sang it "Oh, keep diggin on darlin"...similar to what CustomMachine thought, but slightly different.

sounds like "keep diggin' it" to me


Brian's "what an elation" on GV sounded like "ovulation" for the longest time.

and Mike's "when I see my little girl" sounds like a racial slur on A Thing Or Two.

my girlfriend thought Breakaway was "Naked Eyes" for awhile


and how 'bout all those freaks who think Brian sang "fresh zen air" and "agriculture" on the I'm In Great Shape demo?  ;)

Huarache sandals (Surfin' USA) was... wear Archie sandals.

I read lots of comic books in those days, but not much about footwear.

Funky Pretty: The phuckin' pretty fadin' my heart

When I was a kid I thought Barbara Ann went "Bop bop bop, bop boparam."

And I swear a line in Sill Surfin' sounds like "Did you ever wonder what happened to Surfer Joe, He up and took his daughter down to Mexico."

In the studio version of Good Vibrations, am I the only one who hears the second verse as "Taste my eyes"?  ???

I used to think Car Crazy Cutie was super dirty because I thought the line leading out of the 2nd verse was "She likes to keep my engine clean and caps my plug"

From Rhonda:
"Til she let another guy come between us and it splattered our pants".

Threesies can be messy that way, can't they?

I simply thought Rhonda was: I've been out, to, and in my head. The out made sense, in partially, to, none!

When I was a very little kid, before I even knew the title of the song, I always thought they were singing "Bah bah bah, bah bobber Ann." Eventually I learned they must have been saying "Barbara."

Always sounded like "Change my eyes" to me, although I can hear "taste" into it, too. I knew it wasn't correct but took my sweet time in bothering to look into what it really was.

Also from Fun Fun Fun:
You're shootin' the wad now, you're shootin' the wad...

I hear girls are sometimes able to do that...more songwriting ahead of its time...

"love is here, today/ and it's gone, tomorrow/it's here and I'm So Fat"    :lol

This is inappropriate and I've reported you to the moderator authorities.

I always heard "Gosh Darn" and "sh*t" in the "black Widow" lyrics even though I really can't understand what he's saying those are the only two words that stick out for me..if they are in it..lol

On the famous Prayer session tape, I always thought it went:

AL: This could be considered a track?
BRIAN: Not really, we don't want to do that.
AL: But Brian, its beautiful.

But listening again recently, I realized its:

AL: This could be considered a track?
MIKE: No.
BRIAN: [overlapping] Not really, we don't want to do that.
AL: But MIKE, its beautiful.

Not sure if it was just me making that mistake or if I've made a new mistake! Curious to hear though.

My apologies to runnerdialzero and females everywhere...my little offering was premature.

^_^

Mentioned this thread to my son who replied  he always thought "...huarache sandals too " was "...wear out your sandals too"

Surf's up  -  A diamond necklace played the part, hand in hand some drunken long whore...

From the new album, in Mike's song:

"Wilson be together, never to depart..."

Is Mike really, totally burying the hatchet here and cementing a permanent BB reunion?

Haha, I also heard that!

And from Private Life of Bill and Sue:

"From Elvis Presley to monorail" instead of "From Dallas Texas to Monterey"

Always heard "Find a Ride" in "It's Ok" as "Thumbed a Ride" and "Pile All My Clothes Around You" in "Please Let Me Wonder"

First time listening to Daybreak over the Ocean, I could have sworn that Mike sang "Date Rape over the..." on his first line.

From Elvis Presley to monorail ALMOSSSST works. Past to future. But not quite as thematic as, say, "From Hank to Hendrix".

You guys are makin' me laugh!

Somewhere Near Japan - "...fairy tale girl in need of distress" "...Chinese chump" "faith you dear..."

Daybreak Over the Ocean "Wilson be together"

Surf's Up - "A diamond necklace played the part"

Beaches In Mind "Somebody's surfing again"

I Can Hear Music - "Whenever you left me, baby"

Good Vibrations - "..a Churchill wind..."

In "Surfer Girl,"  I used to think that they were singing "Little surfer, little worm" (instead of "little surfer, little one...")

And in "Dance, Dance, Dance," I used to think that the chorus was "I love to dance, dance, dance, now the pizza's hot!" LOL!  :-D

hehe..  Right there on the spot, this beach is really hot   :lol

I *swear* this one is true... when I first heard California Girls, I was thrown by the mention of a FRENCH bikini in the second verse and thought the full line was:

I dig a French Bikini
on Hawaiian island girls
by a palm tree in Lausanne

(As I'm sure many of you know, Lausanne -pronounced 'Lao-zann' - is a city in French-speaking Switzerland.)

It seemed to make sense, too, with the 'world travelogue' aspect to the lyrics.

And in Good Vibrations... for the LONGEST time, I just had no idea what one of the words in the second verse was.

Softly smile, I know she must be kind
When... I look in her eyes
She goes with me to a... SOMETHING world

I thought perhaps it was 'awesome' for a while, but I could tell there was some sort of 'b' sound on the front of it. So I used to sing 'blah-some world' when singing along, STILL without realising what it could mean, and without the penny dropping that it was just 'blossom' in a wide Californian accent...


:)

MattB

First couple of times I heard 'Your Imagination' I was kind of shocked because it really sounded to me like Brian sang "another f**k in the sand" (= "another bucket of sand").  ;D

I always heard it as 'I build all my Walls around you', implying he was bricking her up, never to escape!

I also heard GV as 'I hear the sound of a TURTLE word'

My girlfriend thought the same thing and now she can't stop singing "Date rape over the ocean" every time we have the album on!  We have quite the laugh over it.  ;D

From Brian Wilson (1988):

Rio Grande: Night-blowin' jazzmen, they come, and creep in through my window (Night-bloomin' jasmine, they come a-creepin'...)

Night Time: Don't lose our bean bags (colors are fading fast)

Me and mine are going to
Add ourselves to your late B-list of lovers

 ;D ;D ;D RUNNERS YOU DA BOMB!!!!!!  :smokin

lawl, that's really what I thought it was for quite some time. I had no idea what in the hell it meant, but yeah.

When I was younger, before I even got into the band (but knew Good Vibrations and a host of the other hits), I thought it was "I feel the sound of a Churchill World". Didn't know why they were singing about Winston Churchill, but hey, I didn't write it....

I was always certain (until recently) that the opening line to "You Need A Mess Of Help" was......

"I need a breeze blowin' softly to keep my wing ding from standin'".

I thought what a funny and clever way to express the old "My **** gets hard when the wind blows" line. Oh well.

I bought 20 Good Vibrations The Greatest Hits Vol. 1, when it came out. It was my first Beach Boys disc. I'm kind of glad it was. I got to enjoy the hits in mono, only to be blown away by the stereo remixes on Sounds of Summer a few years later. That was fun.

Anyways, very early on I thought that Mike said "Good night baby sleepin' on top of you baby" at the end of Wouldn't It Be Nice. It's burned in my brain, in a special place, among other fond memories I have of the year 2000. Watching the ABC miniseries. Eatin' a Big Montana (a long discontinued Arby's item) ... using a lot of hair gel, and thinking Mike said  "sleepin' on top you baby" ...

Strangely, I never had any trouble with "I've been out doin' in my head."  

But I definitely always heard "She climbs the hills like a mattress," and furthermore "When I go into the turn, nail your feet and hang on tight."  Guess that's one way to keep from falling off.

Also:  "He went to hell, then got some sandals new."

   Fun To Ride.................. Cobbles On The Beach At Night

More fun than a barrel of monkeys that two will bite.

edit: FUFUFUFUFCKASJFI

Until I moved to area with Arthur Murray Dance Studios, I always thought Mike must have sang Baker's Man and the line was "Uncle Murry's getting blurry tryin' to learn that jive"

Sorta on-topic of the thread:

Does anyone have *any* clue whatis being said in the backing vocals of "Slip On Through"?

I think the world "believe" is in there. Could be totally off. That's about all I can make out.

In TWGMTR,  I heard "crusin' at 7, push button heaven" as "cruisin' in 7th, push button heaven", which I much prefer to the actual lyric. 

Some variations on the words Baby, believe me now, oohs and stuff. It's fun to sing along your own gibberish imo

From Forever:

"I asked this guy just what we had..."

Screwed up my bampin' post horribly, it was something like this:

"We'll leave this ship and run to ostrich farms" on "Land Ahoy".

I seriously thought that was the lyric until a couple weeks ago.

Also, this morning I finally realized what "I've been out doing in my head" means. I heard it as "Outdoing in my head" and had no idea what the f*** it meant. Also, the moment I realized this was while listening to the Murry session when he asks Al what the opening line is and Al recites it.

I hear "Baby, baby, baby, believe me I do love, do love, do love you darlin', I love you".

Even when Dennis rawked, he had to be a total softie about it, didn't he?

I think it's:

Baby baby baby believe that I do rah loo rah loo rah darlin' I Love you.

I think you have it right that it's "believe that" instead of "believe me" - but I clearly hear "do love" instead of "loo rah". Plus, the "love" lyrics tie in with the "I love you" at the end of each phrase.

This is EXACTLY what I hear everytime!

Yep, I hear this too.

1) don't "out doing" and "outdoing" sound exactly the same because the only difference is a space?
2) what do either of them mean? I've never understood this line.

That line makes no sense both ways! If it was 'outdoing in my head', it would somehow mean that since his girlfriend 'put him down', Al Jardine is out-performing or out-witting something, but only in his mind.

Or, if since his girlfriend put him down, he's been out doing.... what? In his head? You can't be 'out' and doing things solely in the life of the mind? Or can you? Maybe since his girlfriend left, the Al Jardine of the real world is but a cipher, a tiny shell containing a whirlwind of psychological grief and torment that concerns his entire effort, leaving him stunted and unresponsive to external reality.

He's been out doin' in his head. He goes out and "does in" his head with, presumably, teh alcohol. He does himself in. Does his head in. Also clever with the whole "out doing in". Out and in! I like it. Or what hypehat said is totally possible, too.

Has it ever been discussed here how, despite being a fantastic song, the lyrics for this one are pretty absurd? I mean in terms of what the song is about. I like the lyrics, but they make me giggle with how... unrealistic they are? Something like that.

In my sig, from Friends. I know better but choose to believe those are the lyrics.

This is basically what I always assumed. The phrase "do in" is slang for exhausting or destroying, e.g: "That marathon nearly did me in." So,  I read "out doing in my head" as "out drowning my sorrows/memories."  Oddly enough, he's basically asking the girl to be a rebound affair.  So, the funny thing to me is, Murry had trouble with the implications in "Fun, Fun, Fun," but wanted Al to sing the rebound affair song more sexy.

I always thought that was more of a British turn of phrase.

oh I guess that is a sensible interpretation. and to me this song isn't very unrealistic, it's just really simple. guy breaks up with girl. guy sees different girl and thinks maybe getting together with her would help him get over his ex. the phrase "help me, Rhonda" is never uttered to the woman, nor does she ever learn of the backstory. this is all just going on in the narrator's head.

You ever hear lyrics incorrectly, and even after you know the correct ones, still try to pretend that yours are the real ones because the ones in your head are so much better?

Example:

"But in a child's eyes/there were feelings/touching my violent schemes", which I think is a lot better than "...my violent skin".

I always figured he was saying "Help me, Rhonda" directly to the girl. Feeding her a line to get some pity p*ssy.

That's one of the worst "lines" I've ever heard, then. Kind of reminds me of when Jessica Simpson (most famous for the "Chicken Of The Sea" incident on her dreadful reality show and not much else, although she claims to be a singer) divorced that d00d from 98 degrees and he came out with that song about being devastated from the whole ordeal. The final line of the chorus was something like "You can have what's left of me."

Like, really? Lots of people take up charity cases in relationships, I'm guilty of it and probably guilty of people being guilty of it toward me, that's all fine, but "You can have what's left of me"? What the f*** kinda sh*t is that? "I'm a totally compromised shell of a person because the love of my life destroyed me. God, I love her and miss her so much. I mean, I guess you're cool, too. You can have what's left of me." What a horrible thing to say to someone!

Obviously "Rhonda" is a little nicer about it than that and worlds more clever, lyrically (and in every other aspect, probably - I haven't heard the other song since it came out), but it's still just kind of amusing in that way.

(http://d.yimg.com/ec/image/v1/release/36369948;encoding=jpg;size=300;fallback=defaultImage)

"Oh God I'm a fucking mess. Help me. HELP ME. If you do, you can have what's left of me!"

My misheard BB lyric is from "Little Honda." I always heard, "more fun than a barrel of monkeys, that two wheel bike" as "more fun than a barrel of monkeys in a two way fight." Which, you know, might actually be fun...

Not that this is probably worth talking about any further, but, it's not about relationships. Guys play that angle on girls for one night stands all the time. Find some girl at a party with low self-esteem, tell her about how you just got dumped, it's your first time out since because you're having such a hard time getting over it. "Oh, if only I could find a nice girl. Hey, you seem nice, wanna go some place a little quieter?"

"I talked your folks out of making you cut off your head..."

I thought it was "violet skin"...

It is violet skin.

Right. I'm saying I heard it as "scheme", and I like that better than "skin".

A Thing or two:
Real: When I see my baby. When I see my little girl
What I thought: When I see my baby. When I see my n-word

She Knows me Too Well:
Real: I treat her so mean, I don't deserve what I have. And I think that she'll forget just by making her laugh
What I thought: Real: I treat her so mean, I don't deserve what I have. And I think that she'll forgive just by making her laugh

:lol :lol :lol

*or*

"I taught your folks how to make you count on your hands..."

Yes but violet not violent

Friends: "I talked your folks out of making you cut off your hair" / "I talked your folks out of making you cut off your head"
I was Made To Love Her: "Hey, Hey – yes I was made to love her"/ "Hey, hey - you son of a bitch..." (glad I was not alone here)
Trader: "Passing the Eden of Flowers" / "Can’t seem to eat enough flowers"
Marcella: "She’s a bright girl…" / "She’s a fat Girlfriend"  (I still hear this actually - the "f" sound still seems so clear to me)
Catch A Wave: "Just get away from that shady turf..." / "Just get away from that shitty turf..."

"A Thing or Two": When I see my baby/When I see my n*****/I'm gonna tell her about the lonely hours I just spent/And say the thing we got going hope it never ends
Well I'm gonna teach that n***** a thing or two

I swear that's what they say!

Well since she put me down
There's been owls pukin' in my bed.

They'll eat their words with a f*ckin' spoon

I would like to read the diary where he wrote them all down,if he didn't write them down he would forget them in awhile...

1st entry
(Feb 1st 1966-woke up to some bad gas,it must have been from the pizza I ate last night, must remember in the future to write this down as to not forget about it..)

Honkin down the highway- "Eat it if I have to act funny."

I'll let you look, but don't touch my custard machine!

heheh  :)

Admit it - you sang that, didn't you ? And now, the song will never, ever be the same.  ;D

.

Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

But that is what is sung.

I totally thought I heard that two the first time I listened to that song. 

And find a meadow filled with reindeer.

Yup. Damn catchy too :)

In 1965 I was visiting my aunt and uncle in San Jose during summer vacation and they liked the Concert and All Summer Long albums was I playing for them  But I could never figure out on a map where "Ballport, California" (concert intro) was until my uncle explained the Beach Boys were from "Hawthorne, California", and also I knew of Burlingame on the SF peninsula and figured it was a big town, but I didn't know about Blasingame, then my aunt told me Mike was really singing "I'm not braggin' babe so don't put me down", not "I know Blasingame's an awful big town". Then they played the Getz-Gilberto "Girl From Ipanema" album for me, and had to buy me a copy before I went home to the ranch. That opened up another whole new world of smooth Latin jazz.  And it was good to hear my aunt and uncle tell me about the Beach Boys concert they saw in Lake Tahoe in the mid-80's - - - and knew all the songs, even the one about Blasingame.

I really have to ask how you people heard hey hey you son of a bitch...I can MAYBE here you son but nothing else

"Date rape over the ocean"

It's the part that says "Yes I was made to love her",   It sounds like "you son of a bitch I love her"   I never heard it until someone on this board mentioned it,  now that's ALL I hear   ;D

Hey, there is another one from "Daybreak Over The Ocean"!!!

When Mike sings "We'll soon be together, never to depart", it sounds like he's saying "Wilson be together". :o

Yeah, it totally does!

Call me crazy, call me wacky (but don't call me at four in the morning*...) but I've always heard it as:

"Hey, hey/Yes I was made to love her"

Pretty rad, huh ?

[* unless you're Karen Allen]

Here's another real one: Until I read that the bg vox on Surf's Up were "bygone, bygone" I heard "Whine on, whine on"! :-D

‍

I'mma get together a punk band and cover Catch a Wave with these lyrics.

I'm sure it has already been mentioned here but in 'Don't Back Down' Mike does say "No, not my balls" instead of the intended lyric "No, not my boys".

I'm sure he did it for lols there and then and Brian decided it wasn't a prob...

When I 1st heard "I Can Hear Music", I thought it was saying "Since we disappear" instead of "Seems to...". Now, after finding & memorizing the right lyrics, I still hear/singalong wrong words.

"Trader": there are plenty examples, I'll name only the most glaring: "Who couldn't even write their names shake" (correct - shame); "Breathing to live" (correct - reason); "Like a buddy in rose" (correct - budding); "Fox afraid" (correct - folks are free). Btw, I mix "folks" with "fox" in almost every song, e.g. "Cabinessence".

"Funky Pretty": the very beginning of the song doesn't sound like English. Then again, it doesn't like any other language as well! Really one of the weirdest vocal moments by Carl.

"In My Car": "When I'm behind the rain" (correct - wheel). Also, for a short while the line "When on the road we roam we roam we roam roam" I heard as verbal nonsense.
 
"Somewhere Near Japan": "My angels" instead of "... engine's", "I think I'm sick and fat" instead of "... sinkin' fast". Other than that, it's one of the few songs where I understood everything without checking the lyrics' site.

Surfin USA

Seriously...Since I was a kid I heard...

"If everybody had a notion -  Across the U.S.A"

I read a great essay about that exact thing. Can't remember by whom. The author always heard it as "notion", and was very disillusioned when he found out it was ocean as notion seemed so much cleverer and....well he explained it better.

 8) Cool, I'd like to read that if you can remember where you saw it.

I wasn't disillusioned when the real lyric finally dawned on me -- no I was more like "oh, it's Ocean...duh!" But the word notion isn't a bad fit either - I have a notion to hop in my pool as soon as i finish mowing the lawn!

Hey little tomboy sit here on my lap I got things that I gotta tell you.




Oh wait that's the actual lyrics!  :o

There are no long vowels in Russian, are there? That of course makes it difficult for a Russian to distinguish short vowels from long ones in other languages. Like, in German there's always an ever so short pause between words, so to me as a German a language like French where all words are kind of glued to one another in the spoken language is very tough to understand. Reading French is way easier.

That's exactly how I heard this for years.  And it's hard to disprove strictly by listening.

The beginning of This Car of Mine:


"This car of mine, when I got her now what she wouldn't do... on an open road. This car of mine..."

Yes, there aren't. I actually didn't think over this theory, but now as you wrote it, I reckon that's the real reason. Thanks for the tip, Micha.

LOL!  Oh man now I'm only ever gonna hear that.  It kinda makes it a better song :)

‍

You mean it isn't notion?? Well bugger me. I've always thought that was the lyric - until now. As notion and ocean rhyme so well it seems odd they didn't use both words.

.

I used to think the lyrics to Keepin' The Summer Alive ended with a terrifying example of OCD.

"Grab your girl hit the road head on down to the beach/You'll be countin' all the sand in your shoes"

Two from Kokomo.

First is;

"Tropical drink melting in your hand" I heard as

"Tropical cake melting in your hand".

And

"Give me a tropical contact high" I heard as

"Give me a tropical contact eye".

I was young. I didn't know better.

I always hear this - kind of can't believe they didn't mean it... I mean, a  'fork and spoon'? Nonsense, I say.

This is not quite on-topic, but it occurred to me this morning that you could take the following lyrics:

Daybreak over the ocean,
moonlight still on the sea.
I pray the wave's gentle motion
will bring my baby to me

and sing them as if you were singing:

One arm over my shoulder,
sandals dance at my feet.
Eyes that will knock you right over.
Ooo, Marcella so sweet.

‍

Ew, no.  :P

"We'll do it holding hands, it's so cold I go brrr"

Oh wait these are the actual lyrics

and what great lyrics they are  :bow

"Where can I go when I fail when the friends got 'round"

But, to be fair, I'm not a native english speaker so I'd never come up with "fair weather friends cop out"

My friend thought it was
"A big buttered popcorn and an extra large coke
A few chili dogs and man, I'm gonna throw!"

TO GET TO BABY WENT THROUGH THE RING-AH

Initially heard the "deep and wide" line of "Time To Get Alone" as "EATIN', WOW!!!!"

I temporarily had no internet at the time and could not figure out the surrounding lines especially well, thus for a couple months I was doubting the guys were shouting "EATIN', WOW!!!" but had zero idea what else it could be. I still basically hear it as that even though I know it's very, very wrong.

I could swear that you've already posted it before. At page 3, f. ex.

Not sure if this is a mis-sung or mis-transcribed vocal, but in the second line of the first verse of Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl, there is no way - to my ears - that Mr Wilson sings 'Goddess'...what do others think?

I definitely hear "goddess". What does it sound like to you?

Why is there "no way" it's "goddess"? ??? It sure is.

http://www.clipfish.de/musikvideos/video/3560897/brian-wilson-forever-shell-be-my-surfer-girl-aol-sessions/

Ha I know there is nothing else it could really be!...it is just that on say the album version I don't hear much of an "s" at the end of the word!

no it is not true

This one is from "Goin' To The Beach"....


I initially thought it was "after Holden Caulfield lying in the sand."

Yep.

I always hear "the last gasp" from Cabinessence as "I pass gas." Sorry...

Brian has developed a pathological obsession with avoiding enunciating the 's' at end of the words and the 'g' at the end of 'ing'. I guess he doesn't like how those pronunciations create create slightly sharper sounds, but I think he's overthinking it, sort of like how he hates cymbals.

Darn it, I wish I knew what post/lyric this was referencing. :'(

Runners - 'Goddess' in Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl.

Now wipe those tears in the morning away  :)

Took me years to figure out that "Sleek trails of the Caribou" was really "She takes good care of us" re Endless Harmony.

Did an advanced search (user=runnersdialzero) & here it is:

I knew that you posted this comment. Turns out, have just forgotten where it was.

Heads You Win - Tails I Lose: "I'll load my dice and suck a dick and fix the odds again"

"Now I'm not sayin' you won't have a pill of a pearl"- Here Today

Yet more sixties "hip" slang I don't understand, I thought. 

Love him sober, now it's getting late

A lyric expressing the pain of living with a habitual over-drinker whose behaviour disintegrates over the evening

All summer long you've been with me, I can't see another year

A counterpoint to Girl Don't Tell Me, where the boy gets to play the uncommitted part - he's loved this summer, but he can't see it lasting

I may have already posted this in this thread since i'ts been around a couple years, but when I was a kid, I always misheard lyrics.  So I thought "Help me Rhonda" was "Help me Ronnie" (I'm named Ronnie).  So as a young boy, I went around singing this stupid fucking song with my own name in it, completely oblivious to the lyrics that I was singing about.  I knew the words, but thought it was "Ronnie" and never even realized what I was singing about.

Similarly, I had the Four Seasons confused with it.  Their hit "Ronnie" I thought he was saying "Rhonda".  Somehow I got the two songs perfectly confused, because they don't even sound like they're saying Ronda.  I think somehow I switched them in my mind because I liked the Beach Boys better. 

I admit I thought the same thing.  I always sang it as "Notion"

In "Goodnight Irene", I thought I hear the line "Sometimes I lives in the country" wrong, but then I went to check what's the deal with the "s" & turns out it's one of the core examples of old English. Cool to know stuff like that (though mind, Brian afterwards sings "Sometimes I live_ in town").

in Nighttime it really sounded like he says

"colors are beating fast
light covers the sun and lick no more"

I know it's a cover, but I always hear it as "I've given up on skis 'cause everyone fell through."

also guilty… guess it comes from being landlocked.

Let the wind blow- Lend the poor Fag Money.... (I always wondered what it was saying..)

also I could swear that they are saying "Screw 'em" as the background of "California Girls" , like it's subliminal..

"Violet Skin" sounds more poetic to me than "Violent"..

I hear "goddess" too. Know why ? Because that's what the lyric is as printed in the CD booklet !!!

Seriously (1) - does no-one here have the smarts to look in the booklet ?

Seriously (2) - WTF else could it possibly be ?

... and breathe.  ;D

blahrf

"Male Eagle walkin' down the street"

I was thinking about the title song to Friends, there's that lyric that sings:

"And days I was down you would help me get out of my hole"

I didnt realize that the lyric was "hole"...I thought it was "home"

How She Boogalooed It
"Don't have to worry about disturbing the priest"

Quite frankly, I didn't understand there a single word, except the title. All the words sounded twisted.

True. That song is bunch of jiving jibberish. Love it though, just can't sing along to it without making up words that don't exist.

.

"They'll eat their words with a fucking spoon"

http://youtu.be/xPNVknCRpTk?t=2m35s

That whole concert is funny as hell.

From "Live Let Live", I'm not even sure what the lyric is, I just looked it up and found 3 different versions online, but my preferred lyric is...

"God, help me forgive babies who cryyyyy.... live let live not dieeeee"

I thought it was rimjob, not handjob.

For a while, I thought I thought "need a little hand now" in "You're Still a Mystery" was "eat a little ham now."

Misheard the Nebraska lyrics. Instead of "Nebraska" I thought they sang "räven raskar över isen".

My brother, thinking correctly that LDC was referencing car parts etc, thought they were saying I got the big slip daddy.  A slang for some kind of racing clutch.   I felt bad telling him, after all these years, it was "I've got the pink slip daddy"



Also climbs the hills like a mattress was climbs a hill like a matchless, a desirable and fast motorcycle of the 60's when compared to the mildly powered honda 90 referenced in the song......a bit of bragging.....as it were.


And the most famous mis heard lyric, even misquoted on the lp cover;  Don't Break Down!


and as note by AGD and author Dave Barry, "We'll since you put me down there's been Owls Pukin in my Bed!

And my young nephew, fond of food, heard FFF as till daddy takes the T Bone away!

Which, itself, is a misheard vocal.

I misheard "Where Archie sent us to" instead of "Huarachi sandals too".

I always hear the chorus in Time to Get Alone as
"Away from the people,
The candy ass people"

To list how many mishearings I had during "Surfin' USA" would make me write down almost all the song lyrics. It's the whole 'nother story, not about surfing spots.

Honda Honda such a bastard bastard, Bastard!!! It's all right!!!

What does Carl say in the instrumental break in "Palisades Park"? It's not what the lyrics on surfermoon.com suggest, I take it (though that would be fun).

Not counting obvious "Yeah!", "Oh My God!", I hear it says, "Let's cook us some ... & stand". The missing word sounds like belle ache but not sure. Hope it make sense.

Bellyache?

According to AZ Lyrics http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beachboys/palisadespark.html (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beachboys/palisadespark.html), Carl is saying, "Those coconuts are bad in the ass damn."  I'm sure that's it!

I've always heard it as, "Oh my God, it's cooking' so bad I can't stand it!"

Great question. I always thought it was, "Yow...boy and girl...Let's go get some ??????? and dance"

I never figured out what they went and got! I used to think it was "Let's go get some pretty girls and dance" but I'm not sure. ???

"She kills people, withered hands" from Anna-Lee, the Healer. Creepy song.

 :lol :lol :lol

.

"Little two scoop"... obviously I knew it couldn't be, because the lyric is also the title, but I heard it as that.

All Summer Long:

"Miniature golf and Hondas in the heat"

wait, isn't it?  ;D

No, really, isn't it?

I just realized today that it was "hills" which makes more sense  :lol

hills rhymes with thrills so I guess this checks out

I never paid close attention to what Mike was saying for that particular verse :shrug.  a lot of times I don't pay attention to what they're saying because I'm blown away by the harmonies  :angel:

I'm the same way - I listen more for the 'feel' of the tune rather than the lyrics - so I think of songs like 'Little Honda (alternate)' and 'Cherry Cherry Coupe' as being sonic masterpieces rather than two great car songs.

In "The Night Was So Young", I everytime hear "please let me come home-ah to you" instead "over". Got used to sing it like that.

Well said, Jess. The Boys are really good at singing, it's impossible to give all the attention to the words. 2 rab2591, the thing about "Cherry Cherry Coupe" is Mike's groovy underneath bass vocal during the harmonies.

As I kid I could never make out what Mike was singing during Shut Down - "Cramin' Junction?"

What I want to know is....in the '70s at the end of "Good Vibrations" Carl would sing something, never could understand the lyrics...what was he singing???

I can't either  :lol

Time to bump up my favorite thread!  And add my two cents:

Just heard David Cassidy's cover of Darlin', which makes me think the BB intro is "Oh, keep dreamin' of Darlin" which fits with the rest of the lyrics. (Cassidy's intro is actually "keep dreamin' 'bout Darlin")

Previous post: In "Shut Down" Mike is worried because the 413 is "hot with ram induction." No clue what that means but these guys do: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_B_engine

The opening to Help Me Rhonda still gives me trouble.  I think that, ever since she put Al down, he's been "out toolin' in my head."  Toolin' fits well -- my slang dictionary sez: "To drive an automobile, esp. speedily and with confidence or skill."  But "head" isn't a car, it's a guy who likes cars -- "I'm a real cool head."  (Lots of other definitions for "head," but let's keep it clean here.)  So he IS a head, and he's out toolin', or maybe he's toolin' in his imagination.  Dunno.

Got too much time on my hands. . .

In I Get Around I always thought it was

Get around round round I get around
From Chinatown
Get around round round I get around
I'm a real cool head
Get around round round I get around
I'm makin' real good friends

I've since found they're singing about hedonistic pursuits.

When I was out in Winnipeg and 'we' [CFRW] presented the Beach Boys at the old Winnipeg Arena [circa late summer '82] one of the local papers...either the Free Press or The Tribune listed some of the songs the Boys sang in their revue of the concert.  One of 'em?   'Little Two Scoop'.  :lol   I thought THAT was absolutely priceless.  For awhile I called myself 'Little Two Scoop' on the Diamond Headz message board.  Why?  'Cause I think I'm really funny.  [Well...I AM most definitely *my* best audience.]

My #1 all time BB mondegreen is this:

Well since she put me down
There's been owls jumpin' in my bed.

Smell the kitchen now
Hear the maid whistle a tune,
My thoughts are fleeting now

Smell the kitchen now
Hear the maid, with solitude
My thoughts are fleeting now

Hey, I slayed their heads and stay in their safety zones.

Which one is the right one?

Also on Spring Vacation I heard:
Bees and honey (Wild Honey reference?)
or
Bees and money (what)
Ain't life funny?

Which one is right??

It's actually easy money.

Pretty sure it's the first one.

I used to think the tag of All I Want to Do went "uh ooh uh"... but upon closer listening, and consulting with noted BB scholars + experts, it's actually "uh oomp uh".

Oh boy. :)

Wasn't it "owls pukin' in my bed" two years ago? :)

Indeed it was owls Puking in my bed.  (From funny man and Florida satirist Dave Barry's book of Bad Songs.).  which included a nod to Susan Lang's fav tune "Yer havin my baby"  :p

We always sang "two scoops" on the backing vocals for LDC, a la Raisin Bran.

Here's one I should of mention before, it's a well-known song:

"She told me baby when you raised the dangers"
                             instead of

"She told me baby when you race today just"

Exactly plural 'dangers' & exactly past tense. Actually, when I 1st heard DWB, I thought, "What a cool line. Sounds good!". I still hear it that way.

When I was a kid I used to think Santa was riding around with a half a dozen beer in Little Saint Nick

Hauling through the snow at a frightening speed
With a half a dozen BEER with Rudy to lead

"Gone Away Ghost"? Maybe?

In "Tell Me Why" (BW):

"Kinda phony, but mostly sad"
instead of
 "Kinda funny...". As you all know, the real antonym of "sad" is "joyful", plus it does sound like "phony", doesn't it? :P

"Round, round, get around
Bag it around"
I literally thought this until like a month ago. That's a lot of years of me being stupid and not hearing correctly.

also the first few times I heard Surf's Up it sounds like
"The lamps come down in Auld Lang Syne"

And then there's
"I'm gonna chop down my vegetables"

I thought it was "Monserrat Mistake."

The correct name is "Mustique".

For years I could have sworn that:

"She makes me come alive, and makes me wanna drive..."

was

"She makes me come alive, and makes me wanna try..."

^ oh... I thought it was "cry." like crying out of happiness, I guess.

"She kills people with her hands; I'm just one of her many fans; Love to feel those healing hands of Anna Lee"

I didn't know the Beach Boys condone, support, and enjoy murder!

wait..it's not "I'm gonna chop down my vegetables" on Smiley Smile?

So Hoist up the John B.

Hoist up the John B.


So Horse Ba Jonky

Horse Ba Jonky

And When I Give Her my love it's between her and Me

And When I Give Her my Love it's between her Knees

I'm Pickin Up Good Vibrations, Shes givin me Excitations.

I'm Pickin Up Good Vibrations, She givin me Exi, Shauns Givin Me

I always heard it as "I'm gonna chow down my vegetables".

:-) certainly makes more sense. I always thought that line was weird.

No, it doesn't, unless you're unable to tell long vowels from short ones. Your old fox/folks problem.

Not as weird as "I know that you'll feel better, when you send us in your letter and tell us the name of your...your favorite vegetable".

Ha! True.

For years, I thought it was 'I was born in a luau', rather than 'Little Rock'.  Only heard the Stevie Wonder version recently.

"Oohh....keep givin' it,
oohh, oohh my Darlin' you're so fine...."

you know the rest (I think)

Aoomdap dit it, Aoomdap did it.................


Who is "Aoomdap" ?    And what in the world has he done ?

Little Saint Nick: "He's gotta wear his gargoyles 'cause the snow really flies" :-D

Didn't know the word "goggles" yet when I misheard that! :)

"She's giving me exultations"

As in, "sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation"

One morning, half asleep, was listening to Surfs Up.
Instead of 'bygone, bygone' I heard 'Mike Love, Mike Love'
Now I can't get that out of my head!

On the Lost Concert version of Little Deuce Coupe instead of 'well she blows them outta the water' it sure sounds like Mike is singing:
'Well she blows some marijuana'

There I heard at first "whine on, whine on" :-D

I got excuse for the latter - I didn't (then) know that Americans  say fox as [faks]. Been taught BrE in school.

I swear, the last verse of Catch a Wave sounds like someone is saying "Suck a D!$# Boy"

Re: Surf's Up: I thought it was "my God, my God" instead of "bygone, bygone"

"don't me manner" (YSGTM chorus)
"little might it sense" (BHITM, verse 1)
"foreigner" ("Hawaii", last verse, real lyric "far & near")
"and not a bay still lonely deck" ("Cindy Oh Cindy")
"DON'T little honda" (alternate take chorus)
HSBI - many to list. It's difficult to decipher beginning to end.

(NB: song titles should be with quotations " ")

Barbara Ann:  "Al and his famous ashtrays"

Barnyard: "Out in the barnyard, the chickens do their number"

Here Today - "Well I'm not saying you aren't the king of the world"  :lol

Heroes and Villains: “Stand or fall, night or day, there’ll be peace in the valley”.

The way “I know there shall” (the real line) is sung always throws me off.

I recently listened to That Lucky Old Sun while following along with the lyrics as printed in the album booklet. I was surprised to read that, officially, one of the lines of "Southern California" is "I heard the voice of my mind". I've always heard it as, "I heard the voice of my ma". I still hear it that way. After mentioning his brothers earlier in the song, I think it's fitting.

I can't be alone in this. Anyone else?

Aren't those the correct lyrics?  ???

They are.

I misheard it the same way as you. Although I thought the word was "mom". Kinda bummed to be wrong :( I dig the mom/ma lyric better than "mind".

Well how about that...  I must've read them off a site that incorrectly had them as "the chickens drew their number"

My earliest misheard BB lyrics were a couple of Brian's falsetto lines in "I Get Around":

"I'm a roo hoo hoo
[or "I'm a roo hoo wee", I could never decide]
I take a route on through" 

:lol

What does it mean "chickens do their number"? To me, phrase "do number" reads "dance". But, chickens can't. Any clues?

It sounds as if it means they do what they always do. See the second definition below:

do one's number:
1. to give a performance, to perform
Example: It's time for you to get on stage and do your number.

2. [Slang.] to behave in a predictable or customary manner
Example: Whenever I call, he does his number about being too busy to talk.

Source: https://www.wordreference.com/definition/nümber