Misheard lyrics make for fun listening

I’m proud to hail from the Shoals area of north Alabama. I was born in Helen Keller Hospital, only a few blocks from Ivy Green - Helen Keller’s birthplace - in Tuscumbia and I passed Fame studio on Jackson Avenue almost every day of my first 13 years of life.
The Shoals has a rich musical heritage. Anyone who knows me well enough can tell you I’m not a big Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, but I’ve got to give props to the boys for mentioning my hometown in their most famous song:
Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers,
They’re been known to pick a song or two.
They were right about that. W.C. Handy and Nat King Cole are just two of the many musicians to be born in the Quad-City area. Then there’s the fabulous Fame studio, where folks like Aretha Franklin, Boz Scaggs and Wilson Pickett have cut records. The Rolling Stones recorded “Brown Sugar” for their Sticky Fingers album there and a young Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band got his start playing back-up for “Wicked” Wilson Pickett of Prattville at Fame. (Allman also got his nickname “Sky Dog” there when he and The Wicked One laid down a mind-blowing cover of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”.)
Must be something in the Tennessee River water.
I like to think my birthplace played a major role in instiling in me a deep appreciation for music and especially rock ‘n’ roll. I’ll be the first to say I have little musical talent. I can hardly tell one end of a musical instrument from the other and my 1994 Buick “Lucy” (named for the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”) is the only person I subject to my singing - on my long drives to and from work, poor Lucy must suffer through my covers of songs by Roy Orbison and Smokey Robinson.
But like all the Harbuck kids, I pride myself in being a self-made rock guru. I can’t seem to learn enough about my favorite rock bands, albums and songs … And I’m still learning. I get cracked up when I, and other people, misquote (and mis-sing) song lyrics. But let’s face it - some lead singers don’t pronounce words very clearly, which can lead to some hilarious misheard lyrics. I thought I’d share with you some of my favorites:

ZZ Top, “Sleeping Bag” - That “little ol’ band from Texas”, as Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard call themselves, has produced some outstanding hits like “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and has fused together rock music, the blues and country in a way only true Texans can, but lead guitarist and singer Gibbons doesn’t always sing in a way that’s easy to understand. In the band’s hit song “Sleeping Bag”, “slip inside a sleeping bag” sounds an awful lot like “slippery, slimy, Superman”, doesn’t it?
Dobie Gray, “Drift Away” - Probably after “Stairway to Heaven” and “Don’t Stop Believing”, this has got to be one of the most requested songs of all time. Gray’s soulful voice and uplifting lyrics are inspiring. And apparently, for many fans of the song, Gray’s one heck of a Beach Boys fan. The lyrics “gimme the beat boys” can be misheard as “gimme the Beach Boys.” Well, at least Gray’s got good taste.
Elton John, “Crocodile Rock” - The “Rocket Man” might be the hardest working man is show business, but in his song “Crocodile Rock”, “I remember when rock was young” sounds like “I remember when Iraq was young.” Crocodile Rock was written in 1972. Does anyone know when Iraq became a country?
The Doors, “Touch Me” - “Lizard King” Jim Morrison was notorious for having some odd ways and he apparently has some odd lyrics. What exactly are those last three words he says at the end of “Touch Me” - “stronger than dirt”? What is stronger than dirt? Oh yeah, laundry detergent.
Stevie Nicks, “Edge of Seventeen” - Stevie Nicks recently turned six decades old, but she’s still a fox. Though she is probably best known as the seductive and raspy-voiced lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, she had several solo hits, probably the best-known being “Edge of Seventeen.”
Nicks is my idol, but I still cherish her as being one of the most hard-to-understand singers in the history of rock music. As a small fry, I always felt sorry for the “one-winged dove” in her song. If I were a bird and I only had one wing, I would be singing, “Ooo, baby, ooo, baby, ooo” too.

Along with Nicks, John Fogerty of Credence Clearwater Revival and Dave Matthews of The Dave Matthews Band are the lead singers I find most difficult to understand. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and Michael Stipe of REM are both runner-ups. And what about Van Morrison? Can anyone actually understand what he’s saying? *Sigh* If only all lead singers had clear, distinct (ear-splitting) voices like Roger Daltry of The Who.
But I could stop complaining about misquoted lyrics and just listen to lyrics that aren’t supposed to make any sense. How about the five minutes of Paul McCartney’s “Na-na-na-nana-na-na” vocal tantrum at the end of “Hey Jude”? Or what about “Do-wa-ditty-ditty-dum-ditty-do” by Manfred Man? Oh, and let’s not forget “Do-do-do, Da-da-da” by The Police and “Dum-doobie-wa, Dum-dum-dum, yep-yep” in Roy Orbison’s “Blue Angel.”
There’s a great old song that asks “Who put the bomp in the bomp-she-bomp-she-bomp?” and “Who put the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong?” My opinion is it doesn’t matter if the lyrics to your favorite songs make sense or not.
What does matter is if the music makes you feel good. So turn up the radio and sing loud - even if you don’t know all the words.
Send your favorite misheard song lyrics to or give me a call at (334) 687-3506.