any new mondegreens?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 06:32 AM

Actually ... if I'd remembered the correct line as "weary soul aches" my sister's mondegreen would have made more sense!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Melani
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 02:04 PM

I guess this thread explains the Folk Process pretty well.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: dorareever
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 02:57 PM

Here's two folk mondegreens.I must say that when I did them I didn't know english very well... 1) Whiskey in the Jar (the Captain Farrell version sung by the Dubliners)...I misheard "come a band of footmen and likewise Captain Farrell" as "come a band of fat men and they looked like Captain Farrell".Thought about a family revenge or something....lol 2)Also sung by the Dubliners "Off to Dublin in the green"; "but the IRA is fighting for the land that the Saxons stole" ( I guess these are the right words...)misheard as "but the IRA is fighting for the land can have sex and all!" That ruined a bit the sense of the song and used to leave me a bit surprised.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 03:00 PM

Line in Vacant Chair, "Now a golden cord is severed and our hopes in ruin lie." Heard as: "Now a golden forty-seven and our hopes ...." Don't even ask me why.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 06:00 PM

I sent this one off to Dick Gaughan, whose version occasioned this one:

Bonnie Jeannie o' Bethelnie:

Nou Jeannie's gotten mairriet an her tocher's doun tauld

Bonnie Jeannie o Bethelnie wis scarce saxteen year auld

O Bethelnie, o Bethelnie, ye shine whaur ye staun

An the heather bells aroun ye shine owre Fyvie's laun

I kept hearing this as:

Bonnie Jeannie o Bethelnie wis scarce saxteen year auld

Oh, the felony, oh, the felony. . .

But then again, they probably had a different age of consent. . .

Cheers,

-- Arne Langsetmo

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 06:10 PM

Then there's the John Prine story.

A fan came up to him and asked if he could sing that song about the "happy enchilada". He said "I don't sing any songs about enchiladas, happy or otherwise". Then he figured it out:

"A happy enchilada and you think you're gonna drown."

Cheers,

-- Arne Langsetmo

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: bill\sables
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 07:36 PM

We were playing a venue in Bradford West Yorkshire when a bloke asked us if we knew "Itchy Fanny by Cliff Richard". It took us a while to realise that he meant "It's so funny, why we don't talk any more.
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.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: brid widder
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 07:44 PM

it's harvest time...as a child I often sang 'let us with a glass of mild'..rather than let us with a gladsome mind...on the other hand....

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 10:51 PM

Listening to "The Red River Valley" as a child I always thought it said "They say you are cake in the sunshine..."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: dorareever
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 12:53 AM

Then there's Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs"...they: "always speak out 'bout famines"; too bad it was: "always been out of our minds"instead!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Trevor
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 05:55 AM

My little brother always used to say, in The Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from eagles...."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Mr Red
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 05:44 PM

The Beatles song about Wigan - "wigan work it out"
the "Hook & Eye" song. "Hook & eye turn to when nobody needs me?"
Armegeddon sentimental over you
Butcher arms around me honey
Sam & Janet evening, you may see a strangler.
and from the Sound of Mucus.............

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Melani
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 05:57 PM

Last night I mentioned to my husband and mother that a kid I knew made Eagle Scout at 14. My mother, who is unfamiliar with Boy Scout ranks, thought I said Evil Scout, and commented, "Only in San Francisco!" My husband inquired whether he had gotten his merit badge for poisoning pigeons in the park.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Cobble
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 05:59 PM

" Like a dewdrop on the nose ".... hope the Scottish Bard will forgive...... " Like a dewdrop on the Rose"

Mrs. C

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 10:14 PM

From "Faded Coat of Blue" - No more the bugle calls the weary one - which I heard as "no more the bugle call's weary whine". I've heard some pretty pathetic buglers, especially in Boy Scout camp, so the line made sense the way I misheard it.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Bert
Date: 09 Oct 01 - 10:34 PM

'glass of mild'; I like the way your mind works Brid.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 04:35 AM

A cabaret band - who prided themselves on their vast repertoire - were playing a local Sunday morning residency and were approached by a punter who requested that they play "Paddy, Me Boy". They conferred amongst each other and, after much scratching of heads, were disappointed to find that none among them knew the tune. So they asked the punter if he could give them a few clues, hum a few notes, anything ...

He was surprised they didn't know it and sung the first line "Paddy, me boy, is that the Chattanooga choo-choo ..."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Scabby Doug (at work)
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 05:53 AM

I had forgotten about this one... a few years ago was listening to a pub band playing various covers of rocks songs, when they launches into "Whiskey in the Jar" (a la Thin Lizzy).

The singer very confidently produced the line "I fisrt produced my pistol, then produced my ray gun...

Cheers

Steven

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Whippet
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 06:03 AM

There's the Keith Donnelly one. Play me a Jazz Chord you know 'I Jazz Chord to say I love you' and the equally famous Vera Lynn Eskimo classic 'Whale Meat Again !!'

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Mr Red who's too lazy to log-in at work
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 08:29 AM

Keith Donnelly loves them, he did a few on stage at Bromyard. Like the hairy tongue song - "Her hair it hung over her shoulder, tied up with a ................
grafitto in NZ c1986 "When the atom drums bop - whale oil beef hooked"
thanks for the reminder Whippet.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Fortunato
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 08:41 AM

And then there was the Four Tops hit:

"Sugar pie, honey butt."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: VoxFox
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 09:39 AM

Madonna's song La Isla Bonita has the line - Last night I dreamt of San Pedro but my brother-in-law heard it as - Last night I dreamt of some Play-dough. We are still laughing. - VF

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: KitKat
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 09:51 AM

My daughter discovered one recently on the 'Mulan' soundtrack - on the song called 'I'll make a man out of you'. We thought we heard 'keep my hair immortal, and you might survive'. It was (we think) 'Heed my every order and you might survive'.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CapriUni
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 10:19 AM

Genie --

re: Round John Virgin

For the last couple of years, Fox has done an animated special for Christmas called "Olive, the other reindeer" about a little dog named Olive who thinks she may in fact be a reindeer that only looks like a dog, and she runs away to the north pole to help save Christmas when Blitzen breaks his leg... Round John Virgin is one of the people she meets along the way.

It really is a great special (my favorite scene is barroom at the north pole). It's now one of my favorites (along with "Grinch" -- the original).

BTW, where does the word "mondegreen" come from? Is that derived from a misheard lyric itself?

And perhaps the most famous misheard lyric, although old, may be Gringo -- the story (as I remember it) is that the Mexican fighter in the Mexican American war gave that nickname to the American soldiers because the troops kept singing "Green Grow the rushes, oh!" by Burns...

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: MC Fat
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 10:42 AM

My son when he was little used to sing the Billy Ray Cyrus hit 'Achy Breaky Heart' as 'Eggy Bready Heart'

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CapriUni
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 10:56 AM

MC Fat -- was/is your son fond of french toast, then?

;-)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: MC Fat
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 11:08 AM

He did have a bit of a liking for French Toast it was at times a speciality de La Maison Fat Bastarde. He absolutly hated sprouts though.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CapriUni
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 11:51 AM

MC Fat --

I don't know of any young boy who likes sprouts ... brussels *or* alfalfa ;-)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Deda
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 12:24 PM

Not exactly a song lyric -- My mother was once working in her rose garden when a thorn embedded itself in her ankle, causing painful swelling that went on for days. "That which we call a rose," she mused, "by any other name would swell my feet."

She was quite a wonderful piece of work, my Mom.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: DMcG
Date: 13 Oct 01 - 09:16 AM

Since we've moved onto what-people-say-sortof-mondegreens, when my daughter was about 4 she would often refer to 'The Dance of the Sugar-Lump Fairy'. Eventually, we tried to persuade her that it was Plum - so she just switched to 'The Dance of the Sugar-Plump Fairy'

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CapriUni
Date: 13 Oct 01 - 12:24 PM

LOL, DMeG, I think I like "Sugar Plump fairy" Better than "Sugar Plum"...

Total trivia point: Up through the 1800's what we now call "raisin" were what was referred to as "plums" ... so "Plum Pudding" was actually flavored with raisins....

So sugar plums were probably raisins coated in sugar, and maybe cinemon... talk about redundant!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Nigel.Parsons
Date: 13 Oct 01 - 07:07 PM

My childhood memories include confusion in church, singing "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild", when it came to the line "Pity mice implicitly!" Of course, I now know it should have been "Pity my simplicity" but what the hey?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 06:13 PM

"It's a long way to the shop if you want a Sausage Roll"

Instead of

"It's a long way to the top if you want to Rock & Roll"

Looks like we could get a complete song out of this start...
:-)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 07:21 PM

dorareever, I didn't know English very well either (we spoke German at home)when I and my brother just older, instead of singing "We praise thee, oh, God for the son of thy love", etc, soulfully sang, "You crazy old God".

I'll never forget the flabbergasted look on my very religious mother's face.

I remember we also sang lustily, "Rass q the pear ishing". My poor mother.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Nov 03 - 10:18 PM

Not exactly a mondegreen, but there was the story going around about the Beatles' song, Baby You're a Rich Man... It was cobbled together from a couple of disparate song fragments that John and Paul were each working on separately, the Lennon bit supposedly written for Brian Epstein (to tell him to relax now; he was rich)

The lyrics go:
Baby, you're a rich man
Baby, you're a rich man
Baby, you're a rich man too...

But some claim that John Lennon sings on one of the choruses: Baby, you're a rich fag jew...

I confess I can't hear where it's supposed to be in numerous close listenings to the song. But then again, I can't hear the infamous "I buried Paul" line either. Though I have heard other bits in other songs where Lennon obviously flubbed his lines.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 12:12 AM

One that I have been wondering about since I first heard "Rolling Home":
Is it "The gentry in their fine array" or "The gentry in their finery"?

So, it just now occurred to me I oughta search DT...
Found a link to John Tams's home page, so now I know it's "fine array". Thanks, Mudcat!

A couple of others:

"I love you honey, but you don't carrot all..."

When we were kids, my sister heard "Alone again, Angeli(que)" instead of "Alone again, naturally"

Cheers,

YY

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 06:58 AM

listening to my car CD player with the window open in heavy traffic produces some good ones on occasion, such as:
"not by brother, not my sister, but a mean old horse, standing in the need of prayer".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Barb'ry
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 08:40 AM

This isn't a musical one but when I was a little girl, I had to say my prayers at night time and used to say 'Gentle Jesus meek and mild, look upon thy little child, pity my SIMPLE SETTEE' (simplicity) and feel very indignant that he thought our settee (sofa) was simple!!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 09:25 AM

Here is a sort of antimondegreen, where the (to me) implausible reading turns out to be the right one. When I first saw in a text of Ewan MacColl's "Ballad of the Carpenter"

When Jesus was a little boy
The streets rang with his name,
For he argued with the aldermen
And he put 'em all to shame,

I guffawed. I had always heard it as "he argued with the older men". Hanging around City Hall at a tender age! I said. No wonder he came to a bad end! But it seems from _The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook_ that "aldermen" is what MacColl actually wrote. Even with the help of the OED, I still have trouble understanding that. I thought the people he argued with were rabbis.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Moses
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 10:24 AM

Not a mondegreen but I just love Sid Kipper's "We are the boys who are Norfolk and good"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GLoux
Date: 25 Nov 03 - 11:16 AM

When my twins were around 5 or 6 years old, we were travelling somewhere in the car and they asked to hear "The Mushroom Song"...my wife and I racked our brains trying to figure out what song they were talking about...sometime later, I happened to put a Best of Paul Simon CD on with Mother and Child Reunion..."it's only a MUSHROOM away!!!" That is "The Mushroom Song."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 12:41 AM

A couple from my kidhood:

Neil Diamond's "Forever in Bluejeans" which I heard as "Reverend Bluejeans" (I visualized a clerical version of Mr. Greenjeans from Captain Kangaroo... was he really Alice Cooper's father?)

And from the Steeler's Wheel (Gerry Rafferty) classic "Stuck In The Middle With You", the line:
"Losing control, yeah I'm all over the place"
I thought was:
"Who's been throwin' up all over the place?"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 09:48 AM

I usually rough-record new songs and then "filter" them through my family before inflicting them on anyone else. When I played "Lowestoft Rock" to my 17-year old daughter for the first time, at the end she looked at me incredulously and asked "What is the first line of the chorus again, Dad?".
So I repeated the line for her: "So what's to become of the large beamers now", referring to an alternative name for trawlers, but clearly a word she was not familiar with. "Thank God for that" she said, "I thought you were singing 'penis' instead of 'beamers'!".
She was right - the rough recording was very ambiguous around that word. So when the time came to record the song properly, I paid particular attention to that line. The result: I kept dissolving into laughter at that point for the first 5 times or so, and nobody could understand why, until I told them...

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: JWB
Date: 23 Dec 03 - 02:38 PM

I came across a Renaissance troup singing chanteys at the Cleveland, Ohio, tall ships festival. Their chorus to "Paddy Lay Back" went:

Paddy, lay back, take in your slack.
Take a turn around the capstan, heave and haul.
Around ship's station, boys, be handy,
We're bound for better horizons 'round the Horn.

The version most folks sing is:

Paddy, lay back...
Take a turn around the capstan, heave a pawl.
'Bout ship stations, boys, be handy,
We're bound for Val-a-pariso 'round the Horn.

Does this count as a variant?

Jerry

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 01:19 AM

"You're where you should be all the time
and when you're not you're with
some underworld spy or
the wife of a postman..wife of a postman"
- from Carly Simon's You're So Vain

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: jimmyt
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 12:34 PM

I know this is thread creep. but just as an aside, I was recently touring the Round Church in Cambridge UK, a very unique structure, most of the round churches in England have their origins from the Knights Templer, copying the Temple in London, which was supposedly based on the Jerusalem Temple. I asked a young man there, "Excuse me, is this a Templar Church?" "Oh, it is definately a church." he replied, thinking I was asking "is this a temple or a church." I thanked him and went on my way.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 09:24 PM

I found this one when I was looking up the lyrics to Okie From Muskogee (for the "No More Whorehouse" song challenge ) today. DK if it's a real mondegreen or just a typo, but the line
"We don't make a party out of lovin'.
But we like holdin' hands and pitchin' woo"
was posted on line as

"We don't make a party out of lovin'.
But we like holdin' hands and pitchin' wood."

Genie

Come to think of it, that CAN sometimes come from holdin' hands, can't it? §;-D

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Seoniad
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 10:13 PM

Remember when no bird of grace ever lit on "Auntie Griselda"?
I heard that phrase as "a Tinkerbell doll".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 08 Jul 05 - 10:21 PM

jimmyt , your "Excuse me, is this a Templar Church?" and the young man's reply reminds me of many years ago when I worked for a while at a health spa.   We were giving our "Sardoettes" -- small, purse-size towelettes infused with the bath oil "Sardo" -- to our members and guests as a promo.   Being Oregon in October, it was raining, of course.   When I asked one woman, "Did you get a Sardoette?" she blithely replied, "Oh, no, I brought my umbrella!"

Genie

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 10:56 AM

Hold me closer Tony Danza
Count the headlice on the highway