Weird Niche: Songs with Commonly Misheard Lyrics
So, once again, I'm back with Weird Niche Wednesday and I'm loving this one.
You've heard of websites that publish lyrics to common songs, right? Well, today I discovered Misheard Music Lyrics.
It all started, innocently enough, on Facebook. My husband said “Come look at this.” Since he was at the computer, it was safe to assume that he meant “I found something funny.”
So I came over to see what he was up to.
He said “You know the Pearl Jam song, Yellow Ledbetter, right? Nobody seems to have figured out the real lyrics. And Eddie Vedder hasn't released them. So, this guy put together a video of what he THINKS the song says.”
And, then he clicked play. I laughed my butt off.
Here it is…
“Potato Wave” is my favorite part. 🙂
So, anyway, after that, I did some searching for misheard lyrics. I found a few sites and also an author who's published a series of books of misheard music lyrics, as you'll see below.
‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy And Other Misheard Lyrics
Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly And Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics
Is this a profitable niche?
Well, maybe. I think it could be profitable as part of a greater niche, for sure. The competition doesn't appear to be nearly as strong as in other niches I've researched (as far as their profitability). But, the number of searches doesn't appear to be very high for either “misheard lyrics” or for it's fancy name “Mondegreen” – yes, there's an official name for Misheard Lyrics. Who'da thunk it?
So, what are the lessons that I learned from this niche?
1. Viral video marketing works. I loved that video and here it is on my blog.
2. Perhaps adding this niche as a small part of one of your existing sites could help to draw traffic to that site. I don't think I'd set up a site strictly on this topic, personally.
3. While funny is good and it can bring traffic, it doesn't always make money.
4. This may be a cool way to make some money on Zazzle as a t-shirt seller if you use your creativity.
Click on the shirts below to learn how to sell on Zazzle:
Share your thoughts.
I'd love it if you'd share your favorite Misheard Lyrics. Mine was “I fight with Dorothy and Dorothy always wins” instead of “I fight authority and authority always wins” by John Cougar Mellencamp. But, those of you who have followed me awhile already know that. (It's Nik trivia time.) 🙂
Share your thoughts please. I'll be watching for your comments.
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
If you want to find a profitable online niche,
I recommend you check out these pre-researched packages:
The Mom
September 8, 2010 at 3:26 pmOkay, it’s The Mom again. Run, Nik, run!
Yes, I actually witnessed Little Nik sing her “I fight with Dorothy…” lyrics. True. And I must admit I let her sing them because it made me laugh. Sorry Nik. 😉
Can you make money with this niche? I agree, probably not a dedicated site but certainly products (T-shirts, mugs, etc.) should be a nice enhancement to a lot of sites. I’m not sure. Very funny and nice conversation starter. What does everyone else think??? I’m curious.
Again, apologizes to Nik for not correcting the lyrics; just so fun to laugh at a little girl singing her heart out… “I fight with Dorothy and Dorothy always wins.” Bad Mommy…. 😀
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:33 pmlol. MOTHER.
Remember the Journey song?
“Can’t fight this FEEEEELING…”
and I always sang
“Can’t fight the CIA”.
Made sense to me at the time. 😉
Andrea Amir
September 8, 2010 at 4:30 pmI love this niche… For a very long time I thought the song Dust on The Bottle by David Lee Murphy was Dust on the Bible. I couldn’t figure out why a song about meeting a girl at the bar was talking about how much the bible would help him getting a date.. LOL
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:34 pmToo funny! It makes sense to me. David Lee could have been saying “Stay out of the bars and find a nice girl at church instead.” lol!
Lain
September 8, 2010 at 9:09 pmThis is hilarious. Our family collects these!
Here’s one from Ben:
“When the moon hits your eye
like a big pizza pie
That’s from old age!”
And one from Kinsey:
“The bare necessities
the simple bare necessities
forget about your worries and your wife…”
Thanks for the laughs~!!
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:36 pmI love them! Sounds like a fun memory to scrapbook. 🙂
Loretta
September 9, 2010 at 4:22 amDefinitely a funny niche ~ I think the t-shirts idea could be cute and fun and maybe a little profitable, but even there the markup on those isn’t real high so not super profitable I don’t think.
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:31 pmAgreed on the t-shirts. I doubt it would make you a bazillionaire.
It’s just one of those little income streams where, if you set it up, it can trickle in for years to come. 🙂
Glennette
September 9, 2010 at 8:51 amGreat post, Nicole. My favorite misheard lyric is from when my brother was about 2-3 years old. He was singing and we thought he was saying “Bombing the USA”. Once we got over the shock, we realized of course that he was actually singing “Born in the USA”.
I hope this comment doesn’t get you too much traffic from the feds *LOL*
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:38 pmThanks a LOT, Glennette. Now, I’ve probably got an FBI file. 😉
That’s too funny. Thanks so much for sharing!!!!
Shannon Smith
September 9, 2010 at 1:16 pmI often sing Sammy Kershaw’s song “Love of My Life” to Andrew.
When I get to this part,
“I’ve never known love like this
And it fills me with a new tenderness”
He argues with me that “tenderness” is really tender swiss. I have not been able to convince them that it doesn’t even make sense.
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:38 pmooh. Yum. I love to be filled with Swiss cheese. I totally think it makes sense. 😀
Lisa Wells
September 9, 2010 at 2:38 pm‘Make me fries’ is my favorite part – this was hilarous 🙂
That reminds me of “Ding Fries Are Done,” a parody song to the tune of Carol of the Bells.
Zazzle would be the best bet I think because you don’t really have to spend any money at the outset – profit margin is pretty small though.
But people LOVE t-shirts that are unique. I was looking at creating t-shirts with Twitter ‘trending topics’ – definitely something to think about.
Nicole
September 9, 2010 at 2:41 pmOMG. I loved “Make me fries” in that video. What the heck is he REALLY saying, I wonder?
Oh yeah, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars (maybe thousands) on funny t-shirts over the years as gifts and for babies and kids, especially. It’s definitely a possible stream of income, especially if you’re clever.
Angela Wills
September 9, 2010 at 3:44 pmI don’t think I’ve ever heard this song before. Guess I’m not a big enough pearl jam fan! I did love them as teen though.
My brother used to think the lyrics for Everytime You Go Away (from the 80’s) said: “everytime you go away, you take a piece of meat with you” – instead of “piece of ME”
I used to think “the future’s so bright, I gotta weird shave” and always that that was stupid, come to realize “I gotta wear shades” makes a lot more sense, lol!
TheHappypreneur
September 10, 2010 at 10:10 amSeems I’ve been fightin’ Dorothy all my life! LOL! Too funny Nicole! I have a cousin that as a child when the song “Roll Over Beethoven” by Electric Light Orchestra came out (Ask Patti, she’ll know, he thought it was a song about his neighbor and sang “Run Over Betty Toberman” He was 8 and I was a teen. Gotta tell you, we still get a lotta miles out for that one!
Thanks for the fun!
Celene
Sammi
September 10, 2010 at 11:51 amNicole, you crack me up!
Note to self (and anyone else who can benefit from this statement):
Do NOT read Weird Niche Wednesday when recovering from major surgery! I laughed so hard at both article and comments I think I popped a stitch or two!
Love ya…funny days or not!
Sammi
Jendi
September 13, 2010 at 7:32 pmYou mentioned that not many people are searching for “misheard lyrics”; but there’s the possibility of people searching for the individual song names if they are trying to figure out the right lyrics.
Temi
September 14, 2010 at 9:36 pmMy favourite is Celine Dion’s My Heart will go on. The real lyric is “the Heart does go on.” I heard it as “the hot dogs go on”.
Misheard lyrics are fun — but they don’t solve anyone’s problem, it’s just entertaining for a short while. Maybe affiliate to music for the real songs?
Kent F
September 16, 2010 at 3:39 pm“Leave Him, come back” (Little Red Corvette – took me years to actually understand Prince had a song called Little Red Corvette)
An oldie….
“Drinking on booze at number” (Rikki Don’t Lose that Number – Steely Dan)
Ed
September 20, 2012 at 12:35 amDeck the Halls With Bows of Holly was misheard by a 10 year old as “Deck us all with Boston Charley.” And Rickey Don’t Lose That Number became “Rickey Goes to School In Lumber.”
One more, by an EX-girlfriend. The line ‘You and Me Endlessly’ by, I believe, The Rascals came out as “You and Me and Leslie”.
William
September 23, 2012 at 10:26 pmNow I see where Patti gets it, or is it the other way round…you find the coolest stuff….Thanks
Patti Stafford
September 24, 2012 at 6:18 amMy friend’s daughter used to sing, “see the talkin’ butterfly” for Heart’s Dog and Butterfly song.
I can’t think of any I’ve misheard over the years—and there’s been plenty. Guess they weren’t as memorable as the talkin’ butterfly. LOL
However, the singer in my husband’s current band mixes up a lyric on purpose. He sings, “just gimme those lines I’ll do them all by myself.” The real lyric is “Don’t hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself.” [Georgia Satellites] He only does it on the last verse. Sometimes the crowd catches it and sometimes they don’t. LOL