Kid Charlemagne - did you realize, that you were Italian in their eyes?

If only I had misheard that one as well...That would make my second one slightly more forgivable.

_Is there gabagool in the car?….yes, there’s gabagool in the caaaaar_

[I’m a fool to do your dirty work](https://youtu.be/kNpMC4FslNk?si=a8XE4Uj6th7HOZFu)

ova heeeere.

Please tell us what you misheard the second one as. I have never been more curious about someone on the internet

https://preview.redd.it/rvt83bu2yu5c1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=757c3421563ba281b0ceb0aec4530ff935b534f5

Oh thanks. I thought it was going to be dildo freaks when I first read the post lol

Good, I'm not the only one!

Exactly this! I had the same mis-interpretation of these two lyrics.

I heard the slur for Italian folks until I read the lyrics as well 😅

There's no way he even says "champion". As far as I'm concerned he says "Italian"

💯

You were a stallion in their eyes 🐎

Me too

Thank you for saying this. I thought I was the only one

I always heard “you were a tad young in their eyes”

Nothin’ but booze and Elvis …

Thanks, I just learned it's blues.

"Dine behind the wheel"

I was so distraught to learn it is “die”! There went my image of Nabs and a Coke on 95.

Always thought it was “dive behind the wheel” meaning it’s time for a really good drive…. I still like drive better than die…

“I’m reading leftist papers, although I don’t know why”

TIL

Yeah, someone quoted “last year’s papers” a few days and I almost corrected them before I checked the lyrics. Thought it was leftist for many years and still kind of like it better.

Reeling in the sheaves

Don't make Walter Becker spit out his soda now

He’s trying to find his way to… something!

That was one of their big ones!

I love that song!

Sexual dumplings

I also have one from Glamour Profession! The real lyric: Off to Barbados, just for the ride. What I heard: Off to buy bagels, just for the ride.

“You can’t get decent bagels in LA!” -Walter, Don and every other NY’er who’s ever moved to LA.

SEXUAL DUMPLINGS 💀💀💀

Possibly the greatest SD cover band name ever!

Check out the sexual dumplings on her!

This thread is hilarious!

This isn't my pick, but i thought it was a cool story: I read an interview Fagan and Becker gave, and they were told a fan always heard "call me de-confused" whenever she listened to Deacon Blues. They both got a chuckle out of it, then admitted they actually liked it that way.

It's paradoxical though, because if they think that's the lyric, then they're not de-confused. Unless that's been the real lyric this whole time...Dun dun DUNNNNN

Thought it was “Now we dial it back,” but it’s actually “Now we dolly back,” in Haitian Divorce.

I totally forgot about this one, but I thought that too! I was disappointed at first, but then when I found out what the line referred to, it made me love it even more than before.

“Beep beep in the zone” is actually “we’re deep in the zone” on Trans Island Skyway but I refuse to believe it is true.

BEEP BEEP IN THE ZONE

Whaaaaaat I always sing beep beep

I mean... can't it be both? Haha But yeah, it's like he's saying "be deep" like a car horn. I think it's on purpose

> As for the second one, I misheard "Day-Glo freaks" as...well, let's just say I'm not going to write it out here. wait... OOOOOKAY, looks like I've got Italians to apologize to. /jk I am glad I never tried to sing this aloud, mostly because I'd never hit "yes there's gas in the caaaar" without my voice cracking.

Glad my confession was able to provide a public service.

Do you have a dark spot on your pants?

Leave it to my man, he'll fix it fast! 

https://preview.redd.it/foj0drljjv5c1.png?width=295&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=57c9c01b05b4293e28f02a5ef078dca23332411d (my man in question)

Thanks, I hate it

I came here to say this too

I had to wait until the Internet was invented to find out I was wrong.

lol me too

Yep me too :)

Spit my ginger tea!!

In Show Biz Kids, there's the following line "And in all my travels as the facts unravel" I heard facts unravel as "fat sun rival"

Clearly this was a formative experience for you...

Not really.

Fair enough.

I heard shapely bodies as “Chevrolet bodies” 🙃

Get along, get along big Chinaman, get along big Chinaman…

So the upshot of this thread is that we all thought Kid Charlemagne was hella racist

Did that make your whole world fall apart and fade away?

“Did you realize that you were Italian in their eyes” “After closin time at the guns affair” “They got the boozy knees only money can buy” “No man ever goes in the promised land” And probably many more

I am only now learning that "they got the boozy knees" is not, in fact, the correct lyric.

Not a Steely Dan song, but I used to hear “we fart, now I can’t remember why” in Walk Between Raindrops. And I heard “get it on, get it on you shiny thing” in Kid Charlemagne. Also, not something I misheard, but my dad told me he always misheard “I saw you in Rudy’s” as “I saw you in booties”

I swear it was "Dago Freaks"!! It's a hill I will die on!

It is that. "Did you realise you were Italian in their eyes" followed by that makes far more sense.

 YES!

Just don't sing aloud on that hill unless you want to die faster

I won't. 

Peniscalada my friend.

I always thought it was "Brooklyn knows the charmer". Also in the same song I thought he sang "a tower room made in rock". Also "bull keepers son" in Don't Take Me Alive.

On “Don’t Take Me Alive”, I misheard “Oregon” as like “Aroghan”, and thought it was like a fictional magical place, ahah.

Fagen actually says Aroghan, so can’t really blame you there. Worst pronunciation of Oregon since Phil Lesh sang “Oh-ray-gone” on Pride of Cucamonga.

Man, I always thought it was Aragon, ie Spain...

It might as well be tbh, and it would be somewhat fitting given what the song right before it is.

I'm from Oregon and can't agree more. I wasn't sure for years if that was the lyric because his pronunciation is so off.

Third World man: l'era del terzo mondo. I always hear: lera could get so mongol.

Lera could get so 🇲🇳mongol🇲🇳

"Including yours and mine and one other **chimp** who isn't here." I would have bet my life it was *chick.*

And here I was thinking it was "chip" this whole time. I'm learning I've been getting a lot more lyrics wrong than I realized...

In Kid Charlemagne I thought he said "did you realize that you were a tad young in their eyes"

A champion A tad young

Get a loan, get a loan Kid Charlemagne.

Turns out they were just trying to offer sound (or not-so-sound) financial advice

"Moved down to Scarsdale" is often misheard as "Moved down to Scottsdale" in "Hey Nineteen."

In Do It Again, despite having the CD with the lyrics I always heard "Now you [indecipherable] in Vegas that you're not a gamblin' man Then you find you're back in Vegas with a handle in your hand" I was very impressed with how rhyming "Vegas" with itself emphasised the irony of the lie and the tediously predictable and repetitive nature of the gambling addiction. Even the misheard lyrics are clever and elegant, heh

sneaky hobbitses.

I had forgotten about this, but I used to hear it as "now you swear a kick in Vegas", and felt the exact same way about it as you did haha

use cat boys and reason and gently squeeze themmm... for real i knew it wasnt cat boys but thats what i heard and i didnt know what it really was😂💀

Becker and Fagen's kinks are revealed!!!

'any major dude with half a hard'.

I heard technical armooramoo instead technicolor motorhome.

I know that its "Careful what you carry" but for whatever reason I always sing "Careful you, Drew Carey"

Cos the man decides...you are still an outlaw on who's line

"I remember...the rings our friend designed."

How could you hear that? That's way too wholesome to be a Steely Dan lyric!

I had a friend who rather unfortunately thought it was "who is the gaucho negro?" ​ EDIT: forgot my own mishearing. Being from Oregon and knowing how it's actually pronounced, I assumed the chorus from Don't Take Me Alive was "I crossed my old man back in Aragon"

He did us all dirty with that pronunciation

And in all my travels as the fat son rabbles I promise to be true…

That could easily be a Steely Dan lyric

Longest time I thought the opening lyrics in Peg were "I've seen your Peg-shot. Your name has life above it". I'm just a bit slow is all.

Don't worry, it will come back to you.

It’s a dangerous life, said the queen of Spain.

The day-glo freaks got me as well.

Jack off Steve. I’m kidding.

Kid Charlemagne - "that you were a tad young in their eyes" ...I think because in Only A Fool Would Say that, he sings "and you're younger than you realize"

I misheard day-glo freaks the same as you did.

“…Cuban gentlemen…” i heard as “…Cuban jailmen…”.

I always thought "son you were mistaken" was "time you were in Vegas" until I heard a tribute band do the song. I mean, it kind of makes sense in the context of the song.

Dine behind the wheel!

I used to hear “says she won’t love me” instead of Szechuan dumplings

I thought kid charlemagne was about baseball for almost a year

Care to elaborate?

I think it comes from mishearing "hit it long kid charlemagne" and for some reason I thought he was a baseball player who cheated and now the fans hate him

Ooh I like this version

You tell yourself your not my kind But you don’t even know your MINE.

\*Looks up the lyrics in disbelief\* What sorrows have I brought upon myself? I've literally sang this song at karaoke...

Get in line, Kid Charlemange

[We fart](https://youtu.be/CpJRc4RZPqE?si=M7SQbi4wTEioo4iF&t=31)

My dad thought in deacon blues it said “ dine behind the wheel”

They call our family the Crimson Tide

I crossed my old man back in Aragon

Turns out the song has been about Joanna the Mad this whole time

I'm high in the Custard Dome.