Mondegreens
Created | Updated Apr 11, 2014
A mondegreen is a misheard lyric: haven’t we all had trouble at one time or another deciphering the words to a favourite song? They are called 'Mondegreens' from a Scottish folk song , 'The Bonny Earl of Moray'. The line 'they have slain the Earl of Moray and laid him on the green', was misheard as: 'they have slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen'.
Two of the most delightful mondegreens are 'the ants are my friends' for 'the answer, my friends, [is blowing in the wind…]' and the Jimi Hendrix line '…’scuse me while I kiss the sky' which was heard as '… ‘scuse me while I kiss this guy'.
Christmas is a rich source of mondegreens: who can fail to be fascinated by the 'one-horse soaping sleigh' from Jingle Bells, or to feel sorry for Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, when 'Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names' ?
'Big big plans are being made
for my sister’s wedding day', from the song 'My Sister’s Wedding', turned into
'Picnic plans are being made
for my sister’s wedding day' …. not exactly the dream wedding reception!
The Beatles don’t escape either:
'Paperback writer' becomes 'paid for my Chrysler'; from 'All my Loving' comes '… and when I’m away, I’ll ride home every day' instead of '… write home every day', and the exotic 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' from 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' becomes faintly pathetic as 'the girl with colitis goes by'.
The same litle girl who recited the nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet 'eating her curtains away' instead of 'eating her curds and whey', also believed God's name to be Harold, as in 'Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy name'.
Elvis, never known for his clear diction, gives us '…don’t you step on my Bruce Wayne shoes', and my personal favourite from 'Jailhouse Rock': 'everybody in the old cell block' is transformed into 'everybody in a wholesale frock'.
Doesn’t the mind just boggle at the picture of the whole Purple Gang all frocked up?
Two of the most delightful mondegreens are 'the ants are my friends' for 'the answer, my friends, [is blowing in the wind…]' and the Jimi Hendrix line '…’scuse me while I kiss the sky' which was heard as '… ‘scuse me while I kiss this guy'.
Christmas is a rich source of mondegreens: who can fail to be fascinated by the 'one-horse soaping sleigh' from Jingle Bells, or to feel sorry for Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, when 'Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names' ?
'Big big plans are being made
for my sister’s wedding day', from the song 'My Sister’s Wedding', turned into
'Picnic plans are being made
for my sister’s wedding day' …. not exactly the dream wedding reception!
The Beatles don’t escape either:
'Paperback writer' becomes 'paid for my Chrysler'; from 'All my Loving' comes '… and when I’m away, I’ll ride home every day' instead of '… write home every day', and the exotic 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' from 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' becomes faintly pathetic as 'the girl with colitis goes by'.
The same litle girl who recited the nursery rhyme about Little Miss Muffet 'eating her curtains away' instead of 'eating her curds and whey', also believed God's name to be Harold, as in 'Our Father, who art in Heaven, Harold be Thy name'.
Elvis, never known for his clear diction, gives us '…don’t you step on my Bruce Wayne shoes', and my personal favourite from 'Jailhouse Rock': 'everybody in the old cell block' is transformed into 'everybody in a wholesale frock'.
Doesn’t the mind just boggle at the picture of the whole Purple Gang all frocked up?
