WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A MONDEGREEN? AND A GIVEAWAY by Cheryl Pierson

by

 

I know you are wondering. Mondegreen is a word that means the mishearing of a popular phrase or song lyric. (BOY, have I been there many times!)

I found this information and a wonderful list of Mondegreens on Dr. Michael Barber’s link on the web.  Here’s what he has to say about the origin of the word Mondegreen.

The word Mondegreen, meaning a mishearing of a popular phrase or song lyric, was coined by the writer Sylvia Wright.

 

 

 

As a child she had heard the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray” and had believed that one stanza went like this:

Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands

Oh where hae you been?

They hae slay the Earl of Murray,

 And Lady Mondegreen.

Poor Lady Mondegreen, thought Sylvia Wright. A tragic heroine dying with her liege; how poetic. When it turned out, some years later, that what they had actually done was slay the Earl of Murray and lay him on the green, Wright was so distraught by the sudden disappearance of her heroine that she memorialized her with a neologism.

I have never heard of a Mondegreen before just about three days ago, and then, in the space of those three days, I saw it used twice in internet postings. I had to find out exactly what it was.

We’ve all done this, haven’t we? We want to sing along but we aren’t sure of the lyrics so we just…sing what it sounds like, even though it might not make the best sense. Later, we find out what we were singing was, well, not right, and didn’t make the best sense, as we’d always thought!

I’ll go first. When I was about 8, the James Bond movie Thunderball came out. The theme song was by Tom Jones.  Here’s the verse I always sang wrong:

He knows the meaning of success,
his needs are more so he gives less,
they call him the winner who takes all,
and he strikes like Thunderball.

Well, in my defense, I was 8 years old and what I actually sang made sense to ME: Instead of “they call him the winner who takes all” I sang, “the cold in the winter who takes all”—see? Perfect sense! Summer days were gone.

When Garth Brooks’ song Shameless came out, my sister and I happened to be talking on the phone one day about music and she said, “There is one song I don’t get. That song by Garth Brooks… “SHAVING”—why is he singing about shaving?”  I thought she was putting me on, but no. She really thought he was singing SHAVING instead of SHAMELESS.

My mom told me one time that when she was young, she and her sisters would go buy a Hit Parade magazine and gather round the radio listening to the “hits”, hoping they were in their magazine. They’d find it quickly in the magazine and try to memorize the lyrics along with the music. But there was one song that had some Spanish words in it and they just had to try to mimic the sounds, because none of them had a clue about Spanish, and I’m guessing that even if that song was included in the magazine, there would have been very little chance they’d have figured out the pronunciation on their own. I said, “Weren’t you embarrassed to be singing the wrong words?” She said, “No, because no one else could do any better.” HA! I have laughed and laughed about that through the years. The problem with a Mondegreen in another language is there are so many possibilities of what you might accidentally be singing about.

Here is a fun partial list of some Mondegreens you might recognize. For the full list, go to Dr. Barber’s page here: https://uh.edu/~mbarber/mondegreens.html

The artist is Elton John (Rocket Man), the Mondegreen is:  Rocket man, burning all the trees off every lawn. The actual words are: Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone.

The artist is Don Henley (Boys of Summer). The Mondegreen is: after the poison summer has gone. The actual words are: after the boys of summer have gone.

How about Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”? Mondegreen is: when the rainbow shaves you clean you’ll know. Actual words are: when the rain washes you clean you’ll know.

And here’s a good one too, from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising. The Mondegreen is a choice this time, with: There’s a bathroom on the right, OR There’s a baboon on the rise. Of course, it’s actually There’s a bad moon on the rise.

What about you? Do you have a Mondegreen to share with us today? Leave a comment for a chance to win a digital book off my backlist–or my latest story LOVE UNDER FIRE — your choice!  I really do love these!

 

Cheryl Pierson
Website | + posts

A native Oklahoman, I've been influenced by the west all my life. I love to write short stories and novels in the historical western and western romance genres, as well as contemporary romantic suspense! Check my Amazon author page to see my work: http://www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson
I live in Oklahoma City with my husband of 40 years. I love to hear from readers and other authors--you can contact me here: fabkat_edit@yahoo.com
Follow me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cheryl.pierson.92
https://petticoatsandpistols.com/sweepstakesrules

50 thoughts on “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A MONDEGREEN? AND A GIVEAWAY by Cheryl Pierson”

  1. Ha! Interesting Cheryl! No, I’ve not heard of it either! But, I’ve done it! My brother had a good friend that actually made up words to popular sings! We use to laugh at his creativeness of changing them! He was such a ham! I remember one song, “Rollcoaster of Love” And one phrase, “Toast in the toaster” and on he went. But I also thought a few songs words were different too. At least now days you can google lyrics!

    Thanks Cheryl! I learned something new today!

    • Hi Tracy, that is so funny about your brother’s friend. I remember a few times being in a car with the radio turned up loud with friends and getting to a part in a song and everyone just stops singing and starts mumbling til the next part of the song comes along that they know. LOL Afterward, we were all asking, “What are they saying in that one part…???” And no one knew. LOL Thank goodness for Google, right?

  2. When I was very young, we had an old wringer washer on the back porch and my mama would hang the laundry on a clothesline to dry. I never could figure out why they sang “Bringing in the Sheets” in church on Sundays.

    • HA! Rhonda, I thought they were singing Bringing in the Sheep! LOL It’s funny what kids think about words like that, but as a kid we put in a word that we are already familiar with, whether it makes any sense or not. LOL

  3. I have had a lot of Mondegreens over the years. The one I still laugh about was the song that came out in my teenage years….’Only the Lonely’. The little transistor radio I had, was quite tinny sounding, but I would sing along with the song, anyway Only bologna.

  4. There were a lot of songs we done that way and still do but can’t think of any right now. I always love Creedence and yes we sang it there’s a bathroom on the right.

    • Some bands are hard to understand, then and now. I loved Creedence, but there were times John Fogerty was really tough to understand. I always bought a Hit Parade like my mom did to try to stay on top of things. LOL

  6. this is fun. welcome today. and thanks for sharing. personally I have epilepsy, so my brain goes much slower than the normal. so growing up, I had to literally stay away from fast moving songs for I could not comprehend them and problems would set in. Now I am on a new medicine and can almost think like a normal person. Thank you Lord. But I remember my mm singing things that just didnt sound right. and sure enough when I found out the song, some of her words were wrong. Now I know the word for this mix up. LOL If she were still alive she would get a huge kick out of this article. quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

    • Oh, gosh, Lori! I knew flashing lights and tv could affect epilepsy, but I did not know fast songs could do that, too! That must have been very difficult! Especially since a lot of songs for younger kids are very fast paced. I think my mom would have gotten a kick out of the article, too, Lori. One of the songs they gave an example for as a BACKWARD mondegreen was the song, “Mairzy Doats”–have you ever heard it? My mom sang it a lot when I was little. The words sound like made up words, but what they sound like when you sing them are “Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy, a kid’ll eat ivy too, wouldn’t you?”

      • no I have not heard that song, but it sounds like a fun jump rope song. Yes I had mom and dad and three younger brothers and a younger sister. I was well looked after. When I started high school back here I had one brother with me. By the time I was a senior I had all three brothers in school with me. Because of my three brothers all the boys knew to leave me alone or they would deal with the three Dimmick brothers. LOL I didnt learn that until I found my husband years later. We married when I was 23 and all three of my adorable brothers shook his hand and clued him into some of the ways they had been watching out for me. And I am so glad they did. God is so good

    • That’s great that you had those watchful brothers looking out for you! That’s a whole lotta love and caring. You made me laugh when you talked about them shaking your hubby’s hand and cluing him in on things! LOL

  7. There’s a funny scene in 27 DRESSES with “Bennie and the Jets” by Elton John.

    I’d say the mondegreen is akin to the malaprop.

  8. I know there are some, but I can’t think of any off hand. I loved the examples the previous people talked about, especially the ‘bringing in the sheets’.

    • Now you’ll be thinking about this all day and you’ll think of a hundred of them, I bet. There are so many. I was surprised about the list. I was telling my kids about this yesterday and they knew a lot of the ones that were on the list already–even mentioned them before I could. Glad I’m not the only person who didn’t know this was a “thing”! LOL

  9. I don’t remember the name of the song, it’s a country song by a male artist, one like is “beer on ice” and I always hear “bear” on ice and the first time I wondered why they would say a bear on ice. There’s also the Horse With No Name Song that sometimes sounds like a horse with no brain

  10. Oh I loved reading this. I always think of the little one who asked his mommy on the way to church ‘if they would sing the peas song’. His mom had to think about that one. She finally figured out that he was asking about the song ‘Sweet Peace of God’s Love’.

    • Awww, that is sweet! Love that! There are so many hymns that little ones can confuse because there are words and concepts they’ve never been exposed to, so they substitute words they do know.

  11. I can’t think of any right of the bat, but I just had to go check the webpage for miss heard song lyrics, kissthisguy.com. I haven’t checked out that one for a while. This one made me laugh:
    Artist: Robert Palmer
    Song: Addicted To Love
    Real Lyric: Might as well face it, your addicted to love.

    The Misheard: Madonna had a face lift, your addicted to love.

  12. I had no idea there was a name for that! When I was a kid, I always thought Johnny Rivers was singing “secret Asian man” instead of “secret agent man.” LOL (The song was before my time, but I grew up listening to the “oldies” my parents loved.)

    • Christy, that’s one of the ones that was on that chart! I didn’t think that because it WAS during my time, and it said “Secret Agent” on the tv screen. Oh, lord, I bet I sang that song a million times, but Johnny Rivers was hard to understand at times in that song, and I’m sure I mispronounced and said those lyrics wrong every time I sang it.

  13. I do not know that I heard anything wrong, but I know some of my friends thought tge weird was perspire instead of conspire in the old Christmas song.

  14. Cheryl,

    Thanks for letting us know there’s a name for the thing! I like Michael McDonald whether solo or with the Doobie Brothers but to this day I usually don’t know what the heck he’s singing beyond ‘What a Fool Believes’…

    • Rachel, you are a kindred soul! I am the very same way with Michael McDonald! You know the weird thing? If you KNOW what he’s singing beforehand, the lyrics are a lot more understandable. LOL

  15. Cheryl, some of these are hilarious! Kids are always getting the words wrong to the National Anthem and are quite funny. I used to always sing the wrong lyrics to Desperado. A fun post. 🙂

    • Linda, now I’m curious as to what you sang when you sang Desperado! LOL I think I sand some of those lyrics wrong myself! LOL And yes, the National Anthem–that song is hard for kids who don’t understand when/where the song was written and what was going on–and of course, we never learned that in school! LOL (For a short while, I remember singing “the rockets’ red “BLARE” instead of “GLARE”)

  16. I can’t say that I do, at least I cannot remember one. It is difficult sometimes, no matter how long you listen to a song, some of the words do not come to clearly. It makes for some fun and laughs when you realize the real words!

  17. I guess this was more of a thing back in the 70’s with the rock versus now when I only listen to country and can understand them more!

    • Hadn’t thought about it, but I think that’s true–Country has always seemed to be more easy to understand and know the words to than other kinds of music. That’s interesting!

    • Colleen, when I read that word on those posts twice in three days, I knew I had to investigate and find out what it was all about! That image I posted of the bear and cool whip is so perfect for that verse of Hotel California. I had no idea there were so many of these “mondegreens”–kinda made me feel better to know I was not the only one out there singing stupid stuff and not even knowing it. LOL

  20. Lots, but the one that comes to mind first is:

    “Marsie dotes and dosie dotes and little lambs ie divie…”
    It should really be:
    “Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat Ivy…”

    • Ami, my mom used to sing that song to me all the time. I mentioned this in an earlier comment–they used this song as a reverse mondegreen because the words were ACTUALLY written like they “sound” but when you sing it, it sounds like it’s making sense with the real words that you said. Isn’t that interesting? I couldn’t do that in a million years–that takes someone thinking one a higher level, for sure!

  22. I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing. Nothing comes to mind but I’m sure I’ve had my fair share. They do this topic on a local talk radio station from time to time. Some of them are pretty funny. Thanks for the chance to win a prize.

  23. Off hand I can’t think of any right now, but I know there have been several I got wrong over the years. It has been interesting reading the comments. Some of the Mondegreens of popular songs I didn’t realize were miss said. All very interesting.

Comments are closed.