Top 20 Craziest Music Examples of the Mandela Effect

While many of you might know that “Eternal Flame” was a song by the Bangles, there are a bunch of us who will swear, to this day, that it was Debbie Gibson who sang this number one hit back in 1989. But swear as we might, that doesn’t change the fact that it was always the Bangles. To be fair, we may all just be getting it confused with the slightly similar sounding “Lost in Your Eyes”. This Debbie Gibson song came up just two weeks earlier in 1989 and also rose up to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

There are a couple of lyrics in this one that some folks seem to have been singing wrong for decades. The song opens with, “Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you”. And not, what some of us remember as “Today is gonna be the day that it all comes back to you.” The next misremembered line comes just a second or two later as Liam Gallagher sings, “I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.” However, as one reddit user posted, the lyrics as they remembered them had always been “feels the way I feel.” Other posters pointed out that the second “feel” would ruin the rhythmic melody and argued in favor of “do”. How do you remember the lyrics?

Sometimes, one little letter can make a big difference. And in the case of this 1996 Jewel hit, that letter is “S”. This Mandela effect can go one of two ways. Either you know the song is called “Who Will Save Your Soul” and you remember the lyrics being the same. Or, you remember the lyrics properly as “Who will save your souls” (she sings it non-pluralized just twice at the end) and have always thought that, too, was the name of the track. Either way, we will admit that naming the song differently from the majority of the lyrics does set people up for failure.

The band Foster the People formed in 2009 and, in 2010, released their debut song, “Pumped Up Kicks”. Those are the facts, but that isn’t what everyone remembers from the time the song first hit the airwaves. And we’re not talking a few years off either. As multiple people have posted online, there are those who have a very clear memory of the song coming out in the 1990s. In fact, one person was so convinced of the idea that they said they knew every word as a kid… in the ‘90s.

If you’re a “Friends” fan, it might just be the song you’ve heard more than any other in your entire life. “I’ll Be There for You” by the Rembrandts was the show’s theme song for 10 seasons and we’ve all heard it so much we can sing along to every word… or can we? In the chorus, after the first line “I’ll be there for you,” what’s the line right after? You aren’t alone if you said, “When the rain starts to fall.” However, the actual lyric is “pour” not “fall”. Listening to it now, and hearing the “Like I've been there before” follow-up rhyme, “pour” is obvious. But, for many of us, it hasn’t been obvious for the last three decades.

We can all picture the opening scene of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”. It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday and sitting next to Joel is an older gentleman really enjoying his tonic and gin. Then the old guy asks Joel to play him something, but what? Many people will tell you he asks the piano man to play him a “melody”. And that would make sense of course. But it wouldn’t be very poetic, as opposed to the actual lyric which says, “Son, can you play me a memory?”. Later on in the chorus the word is used in the line, “Well, we're all in the mood for a melody” - but not in that opening verse.

The full title of this 1983 song by the Eurythmics is “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. And unlike the Jewel song mentioned earlier, Annie Lennox sings the lyrics exactly as they are presented in the song’s title. Yet, listen to people sing along with the track and you’ll no doubt encounter plenty belting out, “Sweet dreams are made of THESE”. Maybe it’s the way Lennox pronounces the word, or the subsequent rhyme with “disagree” and “seas”. Even knowing the truth, we’ll admit that we still hear “these”, so maybe this is less Mandela effect and more a case of mishearing. What do you think?

In the second verse of Green Day’s “Basket Case”, Billie Joe Armstrong sings about going to a “shrink” and then to a slur we won’t repeat here. Many remember this latter person he goes to as being female. However, listen again and you’ll hear that the lyric is actually “He said my life's a bore”. This seems as much of a Mandela effect as it is a misogyny effect with so many automatically associating sex workers with the female gender. And not only does Armstrong flip the stereotype on its head here, but listen to the previous lyric and the “shrink” is referred to as “she”. It’s a wonderful subversion of tired assumptions.

The refrain on Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” is one of the most recognizable in all of hip-hop. But would you believe you’ve probably been getting a crucial word wrong this entire time? For years, we thought it was “Been spendin' most our lives living in the gangsta's paradise,” but it was actually their. This might seem like a fairly minor mixup. But considering how it shifts the perspective of hook singer L.V., it might very well shift your perspective of the song overall. This might be the most shocking version of the song since Weird Al made a parody of it.

“You’ve been hit by, you’ve been...hit by?” As hard as it might be to believe, one of the King of Pop’s biggest songs of all-time isn’t remembered as clearly as we might have thought. During the first chorus for “Smooth Criminal,” Michael Jackson repeats “hit by.” But many of us remember him saying “hit by” followed by “struck by.” Fortunately, he does say the word later in the song. But the next time you try “Smooth Criminal” at karaoke night, keep this lyrical difference in mind. That is, unless you’re doing the Alien Ant Farm rendition.

“Cat’s in the Cradle” is a classic 1974 song by Harry Chapin about the relationship between a father and his son. The song earned Chapin a Grammy nomination and was his only number-one hit. However, maybe it’s the “Cat” in his name - but ask around, and you’re sure to find those who are convinced that the track was written and sung by Cat Stevens. Now, the truth is that Stevens did have a great song about a father/son relationship, but that was 1970’s “Father and Son” - not “Cat's in the Cradle”.

Since the lyrics to “Barbie Girl” aren’t particularly deep, it’s a little embarrassing that we had one critical word wrong all this time. The chorus is not “I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie World” as we had always thought. It’s actually “in the Barbie World.” Did we think that there were multiple Barbie Worlds, and that Aqua vocalist Lene Nystrøm was singing about one in particular? We don’t know, but we do know one thing: we can’t get “Barbie Girl” out of our head! And we bet you’re singing it too now.

While we all love Joan Jett’s rendition of this song, we haven’t been paying as close attention to it as we maybe should have. In the original version by British glam band Arrows, the line is “I saw her dancin’ there by the record machine.” In Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ version, the gender is swapped, so a woman approaches a man but the verb stays the same. However, many people seemingly remember the word ‘standin’ over ‘dancin’ as the verb being sung in the line in question, and apparently cover versions exist with these words switched as well, so we also assumed Joan did the same thing. While she definitely has a reputation for rebellion, Jett also adheres to tradition when she wants to.

How deep is your memory of this Bee Gees ballad? Probably not very if you remember a key line as “Need to know.” During the chorus, the brothers Gibb indeed ask the titular question. But the next thing they sing is: “really mean to learn,” not “really need to know.” The second sounds a lot more natural than the first one. However, we’re not one to argue with success. "How Deep Is Your Love" started a streak of number-one hits for the Bee Gees, It was also immortalized through its inclusion on the blockbuster "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack.

Warning! We are about to blow your inner-child’s mind with this one. Many of us have, at one point or another, headed off to work and - on our way - busted out the “Heigh-Ho” chorus from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. (Or maybe you did it as a kid on your way to school – same difference, if you ask us.) Either way, you probably sang, “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho/It's off to work we go”... But wait! Those aren’t the lyrics. This is how we’ve all been singing it our entire lives, but in actuality, the Dwarfs sing the chorus at the end of the work day as they are heading home. It’s “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho/It's home from work we go.” Kaboom!

Try to sing the last part of Queen’s “We Are the Champions” in your head. It should always end with “Of the world,” just like all of the choruses do, right? However, this classic anthem ends on a bit of a cliffhanger in at least one recording. On the studio album, News of the World, the outro repeats the titular refrain without the extra phrasing. But they did use the “of the world” ending for other performances, such as during their legendary Live Aid set in 1985. Maybe Freddie Mercury didn’t think it was necessary in the studio and figured the listener could fill in the gaps themselves?

Some of these lyrical misconceptions are cleared up by listening to the song in question. But in the case of The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'," it might only make things more confusing. For some, a crucial moment on this sunshine pop classic goes "I began to pray," but others hear "I pretend to pray." And some listeners hear both words at once. The official lyric for the song seems to be "pretend," but some still hear it as “began.” Whatever the word, we can hopefully all agree that “California Dreamin’” is a song we’ll always cherish.

You can’t talk about the 90s in hip-hop without talking about Outkast. And you definitely can’t talk about the Atlanta duo without talking about their hit song, “Ms. Jackson.” A few fans feel it came out in the 90s along with other Outkast singles like "Elevators (Me & You)" and "Rosa Parks." But André 3000 and Big Boi's first number-one hit actually came out in the 2000s, specifically the year 2000. Nonetheless, a few people and at least one Redditor remember it from the previous decade. But we’re sorry to say this track came out later than you might think, and we are for real.

We hate to be pedantic, but you might not be referring to some of the most popular bands by their correct names. Instead, you might actually be adding an unnecessary “the.” If we’re going by album covers, the band behind “Desperado” is Eagles and not The Eagles. Likewise, you may want to start referring to them as “Carpenters” and “Ramones” instead of adding the potentially superfluous article. But we think either version is acceptable, and in some cases, adding “the” can prevent potential confusion in conversation. But what matters most of all is the music, right?

A lyrical mixup for this Black Eyed Peas smash has also led to a release year mixup. Many remember Fergie saying "I'm so 2008. You're so 2000 and late," which would place this song in 2008. However, that's not the year she's referring to. She actually says "I'm so 3008," showing just how far off she is in the future. “Boom Boom Pow” actually came out in 2009. However, some listeners have recollections of hearing it in 2008 or even earlier in 2007. If it’s still being played in the year 3008, we wonder what the people of the next millennium will think of it.