any new mondegreens?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 09:16 AM

Karen, in order to interpret mondegreens, you have to have what I call "mairzidoats ears". You have to hear them the way children naturally hear them.

Here goes:

1. (the famous Wildwood Flower)
"I will twine with my mingles of wavy black hair"
"I will twined midst the ringlets of my raven black hair"........ Maude Irving's original
(Also) "The pale emalita and eyes of dark blues)
          "The pale amanita and islips so blue" (no scientific mention of amanita in botanical journals.)

2. "Where the beer and the cantaloupe lay"
    "Where the deer and the antelope play".............Home on the Range

3.   "Free grapes and driving gloves"
      "Free Grace, undying love"...............................Ring Them Charming Bells

4.   (A variation on the Child Ballad, Lord Randal)
      "You picked a fine time to feed me loose eels"
      "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille.................Lucille
      (Kinda' fishy and maybe stretching a point)

5.   "You're infectious, blow your nose, honey snuffle Rose."
      "You're confection, goodness knows, Honeysuckle Rose..........Honeysuckle Rose

6.   "My country's misery, three cans of liver tea"
      (You know the rest).............................................................America

7. (for the sacrilegious here)
    "He maketh me to lie down in brown pastures"
      (Not sure this is a mondegreen but I thought funny)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 08:52 PM

For the recent holidays I learned John Prine's 'Silent Night All Day Long'.

It begins:

"A pantry had a window..."

Along about the fourth listen I finally heard:

"A pine tree at a window..."
(in a house on a hill
The treetop angel is standing perfectly still
She's watching the shoppers walk through the snow
With their arms full of treasures
and their hearts all aglow...

Neat song.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:37 PM

Another naughty one: "I'm in the nude for love" "I'm in the mood for love"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:35 PM

Here's a naughty one: Vernon Duke's "Taking a Chance on Love"

"Here I go again, I hear those strumpets blow again"
"Here I go again, I hear those trumpets blow again."

Then there's "Send in the Clones". (Isn't it rich?)

Another naughty one from "I'm Gonna' Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" (early Fats Waller tune.

"Kisses on the bottom, you'll be glad you got 'em"
"Kisses at the bottom, you'll be glad you got 'em"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 06:29 PM

Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen----The bear missed the train (not exactly a precise monde)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 11:24 AM

Thanks Joe, have Pm'ed you.

Forgive my aging memory if I've said this before but for years I thought it was "The Barnyards at break of day" (from my misheard Alex Campbell LP) instead of "Barnyards of Delgaty" (the latter being a wee place in Aberdeenshire). The song is usually spelled as I have there. tho' it's Delgatie Castle with an ie.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 06:46 PM

I was in the "My Dear Mister Shane" camp, too. I don't think I knew otherwise until the song came into discussion at Mudcat.

As Tattie Bogle says above, we have a doozie of a Mondegreen in the transcription of Dougie MacLean's "Caledonia" in the Digital Tradition:

I have kissed the ladies and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes there's no denying
I have traveled hard with coattails flying
Somewhere in the wind

Here's a transcription of the MacLean recording that most of us have agreed upon

I have moved and kept on moving proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing found others on the way
I have tried and I've kept on trying stolen dreams, yes there's no denying
I have travelled hard, sometimes with conscience flying somewhere in the wind

Now usually when I hear a Mondegreen that I know comes from the Digital Tradition, I can look at the singer's notes and see the song in the familiar Digital Tradition format. But this month, a Scotland-born friend sang the "coattails" version of the song, and he sang from tattered, handwritten notes. He didn't remember the source, but didn't think it came from the DT. I'm guessing that he and the DT got the Mondegreen from a common source.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 03:23 PM

Until my wife and I watched a documentary on the Andrews Sisters we both thought (separately) that Bei Mir Bistu Shein was actually called My Dear Mister Shane.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Ann N
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 02:58 PM

there's always Bach's Mass in B minor dedicated to " Agnes Day "    :D

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 02:45 PM

Come on baby light my pyre.

Dave H

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: JHW
Date: 22 Jan 13 - 02:34 PM

Met Office Samba Warning

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 31 May 12 - 03:04 PM

Heard on the radio, a cover version of "Light My Fire (original recording written and recorded by Jim Morrison and the Doors):

"...and our love become a funeal parlor..."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,jca
Date: 31 May 12 - 03:01 PM

On my first listening of Jim Moray's Low Culture album, the start of Leaving Australia (track 1) raised some eyebrows....

I sailed to the west with a schoolmate of mine
Together we shared the hot oil

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 May 12 - 10:10 PM

Lead on, Thou kinky turtle....
and never forget "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 30 May 12 - 01:00 AM

What Chicken Little was really yelling: Click here

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Jon Corelis
Date: 09 Mar 12 - 12:31 AM

Country Rose,
take me ho-o-o-me
to the pla-a-a-ce
I be-lo-o-o-ong ...


Jon Corelis
Windows of Air: Songs by Jon Corelis

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 08 Mar 12 - 08:54 PM

Just got these from Facebook posts - not mondegreens from songs but mondegreens nonetheless:

Reported widely in Australia after a flood: "30,000 pigs SWEPT DOWNRIVER"
Many newspapers picked it up and ran with the story.
Actually the original person had reporting it had said, "30 sows and pigs were swept downriver."



Someone called a Wal-Mart bakery to order a decorated cake for a going-away party for someone who was moving.   The beautifully decorated cake was embossed with icing reading, between the lovely rosettes:

Best Wishes Suzanne
Under Neat that
We will Miss you


Can you figure out what the person ordering the cake actually said to the Wal-Mart employee taking the order?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: PHJim
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 04:53 PM

John Hartford - "Give us this day hors d'oeuvres in bed."

(Hope I spelled that right.)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,chris green
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 10:42 AM

At a recent gig at a secondary school we had a complaint from an irate parent about obscene language and blasphemy in one of our songs. Apparently, although we'd sung 'Daddy Fox got up on a winter's night' she'd heard 'Daddy fucks God up on a winter's night'.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Stringsinger
Date: 18 Sep 11 - 05:06 PM

Jimi Hendrix' "S'cuse me while I kiss this guy." Predates gay pride movement.



Then there's a new tech song, "Send in the Clones". (isn't it rich?)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Tangledwood
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 05:18 PM

Heard at a concert a couple of weeks ago (three of us heard it)
The song - Away, away by Weddings Parties Anything.

"I'll see you in CPR, I'll see you in black and white."

correct lyrics "I'll see you in sepia, I'll see you in black and white."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 10:56 AM

Not strictly a mondegreen, but a Spanish hotel's attempt at a menu in English:
Omelette, with a choice of "feelings"!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 08:57 AM

"looking for a lover who won't blow my brother" is the funniest of all!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Cool Beans
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 08:31 AM

My daughter, ordering salad in a restaurant, was told that one of the dressings available was islamic vinaigrette.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Acorn4
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 04:15 AM

The song "Liverpool Town Where I Was Born" is now known as the "Centipede Song" from the line:-

"Where there are no trees or centipedes" (scented breeze).

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: kevthefarmer
Date: 17 Sep 11 - 03:51 AM

Two from the same song in the Copper Family repertoire- "Come all ye Bold Britons ". As sung, these are nonsense and surely detract from a powerful and appropriate song. Basically they are transcriptiom errors from way back.
   
Verse 2- "Let every farmer hear my thrive", should be " Then every farmer here might thrive"
   
Last verse- "for all the riches great and small", should be "for all the righteous great and small".
   
I love this song for it's drama, and since moving to NZ, I also sing a doggerel "Come all you bold Kiwis", where each verse ends "in New Zealand" and appropriate contextual changes throughout.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 11 Jul 10 - 10:59 AM

A Little Help From My Friends

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: bubblyrat
Date: 26 May 10 - 06:46 AM

Karen & I have long had trouble with "Oh Cumberland"--- We think it is something like ;
   " Fire in the Gas Fault, LA freeway" in the first line, but cannot be certain !! Anyone help ?? (That'll teach us to try learning from CDs !!)    Meanwhile;

   The Jamaicans are a resourceful race,able to make a sandwich from a beer -can ! " Hey, Mon ! I'm hongry ! Gimme a beercan sandwich !"

For years,as a child,I struggled with " Good King Wensless Last Looked Out" and " Syree Lives A Goodly Gence". But I'm OK now.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Snuffy
Date: 25 May 10 - 08:47 AM

Once I gathered wild flowers in the sweet countryside,
But my garlands have withered, my pony has died.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Tootler
Date: 13 May 10 - 07:53 PM

A beauty tonight from "A Fair Maid Walking in her Garden"

"I am your young and well hung sailor"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 01 May 10 - 11:43 PM

Morris Gershwin, father of George and Ira, consistently referred to their big Act 1 closer from LADY, BE GOOD! (1924) as "Fashion on the River" instead of "Fascinatin' Rhythm". He also claimed "Embraceable You" as his own personal song because of the line "Come to Papa, do".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 01 May 10 - 05:19 PM

On YouTube yesterday I found a video of Tish Hinojosa singing one of her original songs.

The video was listed as "House To Tennessee."

(For those not familiar with the song, it's "Taos," not "House.")

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 16 Apr 10 - 08:30 AM

Some of these are hilarious! Like "the wife of a clothespin." ROFL

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 15 Apr 10 - 01:17 PM

Speaking of Carly Simon, the first few times I heard "You're So Vain" I thought the line was "some underworld spy or the wife of a clothespin".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: pavane
Date: 15 Apr 10 - 10:18 AM

The lyric files supplied with commercial backing tracks are a rich source of material.

Just one example - I am sure that Carly Simon sings "Scarf which is Apricot", pronounced US style (A as in Apple rather than A as in Ace)

In the lyric file, it comes out as "Scarf which is Afric cut", whatever that might mean.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Weasel
Date: 15 Apr 10 - 09:57 AM

My dad used to sing along with that wonderful Paul McCartney song, Mollicking Time.

It was a couple of years before he saw the title written down and realised his mistake - ruined it for him.

Cheers,

Weasel

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,highlandman at work
Date: 15 Apr 10 - 09:20 AM

>In Sundayschool we would sing There is a greenhill far away without a city wall. I allways wondered why a green hill far away would need a city wall. I think I was about twentyeight when the meaning dawned.

Good grief, Joe, I've been singing that for years and just now got it!
And I am (alas) ever so much more than twenty-eight.
-Glenn

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 08:28 PM

I just heard, on an old LP,

Maxwell carousing, surely is a train.
I'm on my long dirty home.

Maxwell only got to carouse once, but *every* time, despite knowing the song, I heard "journey" as "dirty".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 02:23 PM

Not exactly a mondegreen, as it's not in a song, but a student I'm teaching 1 to 1 was listing what you would need ready for a new born baby (for a childcare lesson). She said - "oh, there are those squares of soft stuff, aren't there ... funny name ... they're called after a religion ... that's it ...Muslim squares. Why are they called after a religion?"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 07:12 PM

Not eactly new, but there's a debate about Carrickfergus: is it
To ferry over my love and I...............or
To ferry over my love and die ?????? (As he does eventually!)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 19 Feb 10 - 01:28 PM

Kat, thanks for the link to that holiday mondegreens website.

My favorite is "Noel, noel, noel, noel, Barney's the king of Israel." LOL

Of course, "Let men their sins enjoy" (Joy To The World) and "Six geezers laying" (12 Days Of Christmas) are close runners-up.

Another Christmas song that's often "mondegreened" is "Christmas Time's A-Comin'."    The line "I can't walk for runnin' - which tends to be pronounced "[Ah] cain't walk fer runnin'" - has been misheard as
"Cane foam's a-runnin'"
or
"Hockey foam's a-runnin,'"
and you'll find those posted fairly often online as the actual lyrics.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Ian Gill
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 05:09 PM

Apologies if it's already here but I've just found the first line of 'Little Sir Hugh':
"It rains, it rains in merry Lincoln" reported as
"It rains, it rains American corn" referenced in Bob Stewart's book "Where is Saint George?" which I've been re-reading.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 12:01 PM

From Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World'

'.........the bright blessed day,
The dogs say goodnight'!!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe Nicholson
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 11:58 AM

In Sundayschool we would sing There is a greenhill far away without a city wall. I allways wondered why a green hill far away would need a city wall. I think I was about twentyeight when the meaning dawned.

Joe Nicholson

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 05 Jan 10 - 01:51 PM

I just discovered a mondegreen that's in the DT for the song "Mary's Boy Child" (harvested from a post in a thread about "Mary's Little Boy Child."

The line in question is not actually from Jester Hairston's "Mary's Boy Child" but from the song "Oh, My Lord," which the group Boney M put together with Hairston's song as a medley.
Boney M: Mary's Boy Child / O My Lord

The line is actually "For a moment the world was aglow,
All the bells rang out, there were tears of joy and laughter."

But, with the Jamaican accent of the singer, whoever originally "transcribed" the medley and then shared it online at a "Lyrics" website heard it as:

"Oh, a moment still worth was a glow ... "

And that mondegreen seems to have been fruitful and multiplied, thanks to these "internets."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 09:27 PM

I heard someone mistake Dolores Keane for singing the line ...would moisten her eyes" as "...with mice in her eyes."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 08:14 PM

Not musical, But, whenever I hear a trail for the BBC Radio 4 programme "Crossing Continents"....It always sounds like "Cross Incontinents"...
Which, I suppose, would be more realistic.
Been there. Done that!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 06:33 PM

200

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 06:15 PM

Smedley: I sometimes make it "Sparsely sage, those wary in time" -- but that is deliberate.

*

Dave: Which do you think *is* the correct version? I have it as:
"They long did fight, that bitter night, their battle with the swell."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Guest, Dave in Michigan
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 04:42 PM

"bill\sables" (sic) wrote:

"A more common one is in the song "Three Score and Ten" I always hear the line;

They longed to fight the bitter night

instead of;

They long defied the bitter night."

I've always assumed it was either "they lost the fight" or "they long did fight".

And there's always the question of who the Swell was.