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Poor Lady Mondegreen
- 07.14.08
Ever sang the lyrics to your favourite song only to have someone remark, “What on Earth are you singing?” as if you were completely gormless and the extent of your idiocy was glaringly apparent to everyone but you.
Okay, maybe that’s just me.
But if you have, you’ve just had a “mondegreen” moment. According to the 2008 edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, a mondegreen is "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung."
Merriam-Webster reports that author Sylvia Wright first coined the word mondegreen in 1954 in Atlantic magazine, when she confessed to a childhood misinterpretation of the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Moray." When she first heard the lyric "they had slain the Earl of Moray and had laid him on the green," she felt terribly sorry for the "poor Lady Mondegreen."
And, thanks to Merriam -Webster you can take the object of your friends’ amusement and turn it into your 15 minutes of fame.
As a copywriter, words are extremely important to me. So, you’d think I wouldn’t goof up lyrics too much, eh? As hinted above, I’m probably guiltier than most.
Yes, that was me singing, “If I had a rocket lawn chair” without questioning why Bruce Cockburn would ever want a rocket lawn chair and why some son of a bitch would die if in fact he did own such a spiffy devise.
And yes, that was also me happily singing, ”She had an aura of prunes. She was trying to cut my boot.” to David Bowie’s Scary Monsters. (Correct lyric: "She had a horror of rooms. She was tired, you can’t hide beat.”)
Equally, I had no idea why Roger “Chuckles” Waters would pen, “Meet me in the garden. I’ve got salmon in my ear.” (Correct lyric: "Meet me in the garden of Gethsemane, my dear.”)
What are your favourite mondegreens?
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three comments:
Let’s all sing along to Creedence Clearwater Revival..
“Don’t fool around tonight for it’s gonna take your life,
There’s a bathroom on the right”
There’s more from other people at Misheard Lyrics
http://www.kissthisguy.com/
and
http://www.amiright.com/misheard/
Funny stuff!
Jacki Hollywood Brown () (URL) - 07.14.08
My personal favourite is “Beauty is a buffalo” totally misconstrued from “Beauty is above the law.” But, I must admit “If I had a rocket lawn chair” from rocket launcher will make me chuckle for years to come.Adele McAlear () (URL) - 07.14.08
Thanks Jacki and Adele!Not mine, but one of my favs is from Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds:
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,
A girl with colitis goes by.
Thanks for your mondegreens!
Charlotte () (URL) - 07.15.08