All too often, listeners of all genres have either mumbled their way through or lyrically butchered a song; by definition, these misinterpretations are called “mondegreens.”

Many have caught a friend or relative either completely belting out the wrong line or just drowning the two or three words they know with an indistinguishable cross between a mumble and a hum.

“I hate it when people sing a song, only know a specific part of the song and then hum the rest,” said senior public relations major Ramon Rivera.

If you grew up in the same house as senior English major Michael McFarren, you might have gotten a few extra songs stuck in your head.

“When my dad sings he makes up his own words and melody,” McFarren said. “This would be great if he were a rock star.”

There are of course the commonly wrong lyrics like Elton John’s line “hold me closer, tiny dancer,” misheard as “hold me closer, Tony Danza” or the line “revved up like a deuce” by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band mistaken as “wrapped up like a douche.”

“Whenever I heard the song ‘Blinded by the Light’, I always though it said, ‘Wrapped up like a douche’,” said junior health science major Jenna Nelson.

Some may like to make up their own lyrics as a parody or just as a way of having fun. Almost anyone with ears has heard Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and nearly the same amount have heard someone say “excuse me while I kiss this guy,” rather than “kiss the sky.” Hendrix himself even sang the wrong line at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, according to spinner.com.

Senior music major Alex Gaither described a scenario where he was worked up and goofing around with friends when he sang a wrong line.

“I was singing the ‘Bare Necessities,'” Gaither said. “Instead of ‘Forget about your worries and your strife’ I sang ‘Forget about your worries and your knife,'” as he jokingly pantomimed running with a knife.

Gaither said he was not sure what made him say knife; he knew it was wrong, but that is just what came out at the moment.

A situation could arise where someone like junior accounting major David Fiedler is unsure what the lyric is or who is right about how to sing the line.

“I always sing ‘Medieval woman’ and my mom corrects me,” Fiedler said.

Well, Fiedler’s mom is right: the line is not “Medieval woman;” it is Electric Light Orchestra’s “Evil Woman.”

Others have found when they went to look up the lyrics they were wrong about more than just a specific line.

“I didn’t know the singer of Aerosmith was saying ‘Dude looks like a lady,'” said freshman criminal justice major Maria Ramos. “I looked up the lyrics and realized I was wrong about most of the song.”

Benjamin Dewey can be reached at [email protected].