The lyric that Bruce Springsteen has been singing wrong for nearly 50 years
We’ve all been there. Stood at a gig, singing the lyrics to one of our favourite songs at the top of our lungs, only to realise that we have been singing the wrong words this entire time. People turn to laugh, and you hide your head in your hands and refuse to bring it back up until the moment passes. Well, you’re not alone; many people have done this before, even Bruce Springsteen.
It’s not surprising that lyrics are often misheard. Given that writing music is a creative art, a lot of what is written is often left open to interpretation, and given that we’re all human, that interpretation is often wrong. This means that some words and phrases might make complete sense when sung but couldn’t be further from what we mean to say.
A lot of the time, these lyrics can be relatively harmless. For instance, some people, when listening to ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA, rather than singing “Feel the beat on the tambourine,” instead go for “Feel the beat on the tangerine.” However, there are other songs where the meaning is misinterpreted to the point that the entire song has a different meaning.
Consider The Beatles and the lyric “I want to hold your hand,” which is often heard as “I want to hold your man.” What is intended to be a straightforward love song takes on a new narrative about sexuality and infidelity, something that the crowds of the 1960s might have struggled to get on board with.
If you ever feel embarrassed when you get the lyrics to a song wrong, don’t. The truth is, it happens to everybody, and sometimes, even the person responsible for the lyrics can wind up getting them wrong. This is what happened with Bruce Springsteen when he finally revealed the correct lyrics to his hit song ‘Thunder Road’ and, in the process, revealed that he had been singing the song wrong for almost 50 years.
The line, in particular, comes at the very beginning of the track, as people worldwide have been debating for years whether or not Bruce Springsteen sings, “Mary’s dress sways,’ or “Mary’s dress waves.” In a bid to settle the argument once and for all, Springsteen brought a copy of the original Born to Run vinyl, complete with a lyric sheet. “The lyrics to ‘Thunder Road’ are in this album. The correct lyrics,” he says.
“I’ve been singing ‘Sways’ for almost 50 years,” he says as he opens up the LP and holds it to his chest while adjusting his reading glasses. “’The screen door slams, Marys dress… waves’,” he reveals to the crowd’s shock. As people cheer and applaud, Springsteen does what anybody would do if they found out they had been singing the wrong words to their own song for close to five decades: He closes the LP and declares, “This is wrong.”