Misheard Beatle Lyrics

[Vee-Jay]

Apparently, I had a number of these...

YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY
Any job, I got the sack
Monday morning, turning back,
Yellow dorrit's slow nowhere to go

(A perfect example of my American ignorance, never having heard the words "jobber" or "lorry" when I was younger.)

[mojofilter]

Misheard by the intern at Apple who was tasked with writing out the lyrics of TBOJ&Y for publication in 1969, by listening to the record. The one mistake he made persists in published sheet music and lyric sites worldwide to this day.

When quoting someone who spoke ungrammatically, it is common writing practice to follow the quote with "[sic]" - which means "that's what they said and how they said it."

"Last night the wife said "oh boy, when you're dead, you don't take nothin' with you but your soul" [SIC!]"

Not "Think!" That doesn't make any sense at all. That isn't something anyone would say. There is no 'th' sound at the start, and no 'n' sound just before the hard consonant on the end.

I've had people argue with me that it has to be "think!" because that's what the sheet music says, and because John was so deep and/or spacy. He may have been deep and/or spacy, but he was also very literate.

[onemojofilter]

How about John Lennon’s own “small co took a message and he wrote it on the wall”... from Chuck Berry’s Memphis, Tennessee? He sings this consistently every time the Beatles played it (or at least every time it’s been captured on tape) and was either never corrected, or never remembered the correction.

[Suzy Parlourphone]

How about John Lennon’s own “small co took a message and he wrote it on the wall”... from Chuck Berry’s Memphis, Tennessee? He sings this consistently every time the Beatles played it (or at least every time it’s been captured on tape) and was either never corrected, or never remembered the correction.

Yes, this one always makes me laugh. I hear it as Small Coat, but I have no idea what that would even mean. It makes no sense.

[mojofilter]

I've seen the fellow's name written up as "Smoke-O" somewhere, too.

[Applejam101]

I have a few

And Your Bird Can Sing

You may be a Vulcan, I’ll be round.

[Applejam101]

This one is more embarrassing

I Want To Hold Your Hand.

I know Dylan heard “I Get High I Get High”

I heard “I Get Hives I Get Hives”


Well girls back then had the cooties.

I know it was wrong but no matter how often I played it, I couldn’t figure it out.

[mojofilter]

Did anyone ever tell Paul that Long Tall Sally she's built for speed? I can't think of when I ever heard him sing it except as "pretty sweet."

[Vee-Jay]

Here's another one that I caught today on The Beatles Channel...

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in horizon she's gone

[mojofilter]

And it has that verse that ends with "the girl with colitis go by..."