any new mondegreens?

Subject: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Karen in California
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 03:14 PM

It's Friday and I'm bored at work. Does anyone have any good "mondegreens" (misheard lyrics) they'd like to share?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Wesley S
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 03:33 PM

My mother always used to sing "Got a date with a daydream" instead of "What a day for a daydream". It used to bug the heck out of me.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:07 PM

I think Wesley's mum's line is actually better than the original.

This isn't exactly a mondegreen, but close. Recently on the Mudcat I was looking for a song called "The bears have got my Daddy", which I'd found on a tape of tunes from a sort of musical box.

Couldn't be found anywhere. Then someone who runs a site about musical boxes solved the puzzle. "The Boers have got my Daddy." A great little song.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Noreen
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:37 PM

"You don't have to say I'm lovely, just because I am"
instead of
"You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand" (Dusty Springfield)

Well, I was only about five... My daughter is now a Dusty fan and sings my words back to me! *BG*

Noreen

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: tiggerdooley
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:51 PM

My Uncle Terry thought that the song 'Airport' (you know the one, don't know who by: 'you took my baby to another place...') was called 'Ethel'.

I think he asked for it at the record store!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Hawker
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 04:55 PM

wHEN MY YOUNGER SISTER WAS LITTLE SHE USED TO SING:
LITTLE MISS MUFFETT SAT ON HER TUFFETT
EATING HER CURTAINS AWAY
CUTE REALLY!
LUCY

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Justa Picker
Date: 23 Mar 01 - 05:02 PM

Just listen to anything sung by Steve Winwood, and then try repeating what you think he said, and then later compare that to the lyrics on the CD folder.

I challenge anyone to correctly identify any lyrics he sings from just listening. Go to Mp3.com and listen to his version of "I'm A Man" (when he was with the Spencer Davis Group) or anything off of any of his other albums. Absolutely horrid enunciation and an absolute nightmare if you're in a band trying to do covers of his, armed only with the music but not the lyrics -- but his feel is great! :-)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Genie
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 09:44 PM

[Proud Mary] Until a fellow muscian suggested that our group do the song, for years I had thought the CCR/Tina Turner records went: "Brown Berry, keep on turnin'!" There is a saying, from an old song, Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella. The original song was, "Let Us Smile Be' Your Umbrella," with be' being a contration of "beneath."

Re: "Round Yon Virgin. Most singers (and congregations) sing the song wrong, as far as pauses and punctuation are concerned. They sing, "...all is bright (breath) Round yon virgin (breath) mother and child...," as though the song were punctuated, " All is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon virgin, mother and child... ." No wonder some kids think there are three people being mentioned in the line, and maybe that one of them is Round John Virgin! It should actually be punctuated (often is, in hymnals) "All is calm, all is bright 'round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace."

[We three kings of Orient Are] When I was a kid I always wondered where "Orient Are" was!

I also heard, "Lee Don, oh, King Eternal," for "Lead on, oh, King Eternal." and "Hark, The Harold Angels Sing!" (Angels named Harold?) There's another hymn, This is My Father's World, with a line, "... the music of the spheres ...," which I heard as "... the music of the spears... ."

My cousin used to get really confused on song lyrics. One day she sang, "Later on, we'll perspire as we sit by the fire." (Winter Wonderland)

And, as a child living near Brooklyn and rooting for the Dodgers when I first got a TV set and became aware of the national anthem, sung before each game, I thought it was their theme song -- "Oh, say, can you see by the Dodgerly light ...?"

I posted this last one and a couple of others under "lyr req: Round John Virgin et al.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Ebbie
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 10:32 PM

A few days ago, a Guest, I think it was, did one I love: 'Birds just like West Virginia cold'. (On the Ain't No Ash Will Burn thread)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 10:44 PM

I can't find 'mondegreen' in my dictionary. Can anyone give me the etiology of the word?

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 11:01 PM

A mondegreen site explains:

The word "mondegreen" was coined by Sylvia Wright, who wrote a column about them in the fifties, when she recounted hearing a Scottish folk song, "The Bonny Earl Of Morray." She heard the lyric, "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Morray and laid him on the green" as "Oh, they have slain the Earl o' Morray and Lady Mondegreen."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: CarolC
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 11:07 PM

Thanks!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 24 Aug 01 - 11:13 PM

"Donuts make my brown eyes blue," by Crystal Gayle. "Sweet jeans are made of these," by the Eurythmics. "Bob Duran," by the Beach Boys (you know, Bob Bob Bob, Bob Bob Duran?). Oh yes, and "he was clothed all in leather with a cat beneath his chin..." from Steeleye Span's "Misty Moisty Morning."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: pattyClink
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 03:35 PM

okay, well, there's this Jimmy Buffet line 'don't try to describe Wisconsin if you've never seen it'. Apparently HE was trying to say 'try to describe a Kiss concert'. I know what I heard.

But Crystal Gayle's "Donuts" are pretty priceless, I must say.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 04:16 PM

Mrs G still thinks there is a Marilyn Manson song called the Beautiful meatball (Beautiful people). Phil (FOG on this site) reckons I sing "With a ran tan tan and a Jimmy Jimmy Shand" during Three Jolly Sportsmen. My favourite of all time and I can never resist it is Desmond Deckers "Me ears are alight" though...:-)

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: iamjohnne
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 04:50 PM

Well, round john virgin was what i heard too. And ther is a song by ELO that I cant even quote because I am not sure what they are saying. My kids heard "free advice and you just didn't pay" instead of "free advice that you just didnt take" from the Alanis Morrisette song. And in "Winter Wonderland" I heard "in the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is parched and brown" instead of "Parson Brown" In the deep south we dont get many snow men so I had no idea that one couldn't be parched and brown.

Johnne "goin where the weather suits my clothes"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: The Walrus
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 05:41 PM

As a kid I "remember" Desmond Decker's "The Israelites" as having the line
"Wake up every morning, baked beans for breakfast..."

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Joe_F
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 06:13 PM

I once in print a text of "Lord Bateman" in which the line

This Turk, he had one only daughter

appeared as
This turkey had one only daughter.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 25 Aug 01 - 06:24 PM

This isn't a midheard lyric, but misinterpretted. A singer I played with in a Christmas group said she grew up thinking the hymn "Gladly the Cross I'd Bear" was really "Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear." A way different image. Oh, and on the carol "Three Ships" she thought the words were, "the birds and Mary and Christ were there" bringing in a whole pantheistic concept.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: MAG
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 12:46 AM

Actually, Phil, there is a whole book called *The Consecrated Cross-eyed Bear.*

Thank you ShanteyMatt for teaching me that "makes a can" should be "nets a cran."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 05:02 AM

Don Ross reports that his favourite (probably because it was actually a request a fan made of him) is "Slow-talking Walter, the fire engine guy".

or

"Smoke on the water, and fire in the sky."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Bernard
Date: 26 Aug 01 - 01:35 PM

Dire Straits - 'Money for nothing and your chips for free...'!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 28 Aug 01 - 09:57 PM

Just remembered Norma Waterson discussing "as shepherds washed their socks by night," instead of "watched their flocks by night" but that may have just been a childhood joke...

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: toadfrog
Date: 28 Aug 01 - 10:12 PM

Now, I really like these verses from "My Lagan Love," which are from the liner notes of Margaret Barry, I Sang through the Fair" (Alan Lomax Collection). The notes are by one Matthew Barton, although the story would be much better than if Lomax himself had written them. Clearly, Barton listened to the disk and wrote it down the way it sounded, rather than go to the original. .

And like a love-sick lemon,
She has my heart in thrall; No life I own, nor liberty,
For love is lord of all.

And often when the beetles' horns
Have lulled the eve to sleep,
I steal into her [unintelligible],
And there, adoring, peep!

I must say I like the mondegreenized version better than the original, it's kinda racy and fraught with mystery.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: toadfrog
Date: 28 Aug 01 - 10:20 PM

Sorry, should have given a link to the actual words. They're here: MY LAGAN LOVE.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Noreen
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 04:00 AM

Thank you, thank you, toadfrog, you have made my week! Words fail me about the love-sick lemon...

Noreen
withasillygrin

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Brian
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 09:19 AM

My wife was singing in the house, and did the Kipling/Bellamy song 'Rolling down to Rio'. The beloved girl-child retored "Mummy that's disgusting!". She thought the line was:

I'd like to roll to Rio some day before I mould.

regards

Brian

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Ringer
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 12:38 PM

The start of Halfway to Paradise: I want to be your Mother...

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: SharonA
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 04:10 PM

I heard both of these mondegreens on the radio (a deejay's send-in-your-misconstrued-lyric show)...

Richard Marx (in Hold On to the Night): "Hold on to the mammaries" (should be "memories"!)

Stevie Nicks song (not sure of the title): Should be "You'd better put your kingdom up for sale." Mondegreen: "You'd better put your key down my brassiere."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Deda
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 04:25 PM

This is probably old hat, but in place of "the girl with kaleidescope eyes", someone heard "the girl with colitis goes by". My husband also thought that dawn's early light was the "donzerly" light, and I thought the winter wonderland snowman was (pretend that he is)"parse and brown". I wasn't sure what that meant but I thought of it as a speckled snow, maybe covered with grass and dirt. Then one of the most famous is the rock line "excuse me while I kiss the sky" misheard as "while I kiss this guy" -- casting doubt on the sexual orientation of the singer.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 09:16 PM

There are those who maintain that Hendrix DID actually sing "kiss this guy" on occasion, while performing "Purple Haze"

I have just acquired a CD by the Irish band Anam and on the first line of their version of "Mary and the Soldier" they sing "Come all ye lads so fiery now" instead of "Come all ye lads of high renown"

Murray

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Melani
Date: 29 Aug 01 - 11:02 PM

There are always the classics--"Christ the royal master leans against the phone" and the famous Creedence Clearwater song "There's a Bathroom on the Right."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 03 Sep 01 - 11:58 PM

I recently heard Nanci Griffith in concert, and she sang a song that I had heard on a copied tape of one of her albums. This copied tape had no song titles printed on it, so I had to rely on what I thought I heard to figure out the titles and lines. This particular song hook line [title] was hard to understand on the tape, but the closest I could come was, "You're one date shy of a sure thing."

When I heard her in concert, she said the name of the song before she sang it, so there was no confusion: "One Blade Shy of a Sharp Edge."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,genie
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:03 AM

Another Beach Boys mondegreen. For quite some time, without listening carefully to the rest of the lyrics, I thought they were singing "Little Blue Scoop," instead of "Little Deuce Coupe."

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:13 AM

(I posted this under another thread, but people looking for mondergreens would be likely to overlook that thread, so I thought I'd add it here. It's one of my favorite mondegreens.

A guy I heard singing the Eagles' song, "Take It Easy," was singing the line, "...lookin' for a lover who won't blow my brother ...". I asked him about it, thinking he was trying to be cute, but he said he thought that was the real line (which, of course, really is, "...who won't blow my cover...".

Genie

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Alta Rigo
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:18 AM

Until I saw the words to "Mr. Bojangles" in print, I thought one of the lines was, "He looked to me to be the eyes of Ish as the smoke ran out."

I did not know what ancient deity "Ish" was, but I pictured a tropical island with a huge stone idol with smoke and fire pouring out of its eyes.

Now that I have seen it printed as " ... the eyes of age, as he spoke right out," I have little trouble hearing it correctly.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Callie
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 12:53 AM

This one comes via a work colleague:

he always misheard "two faces have I" as "do faces have eyes?" (to which the answer is, obviously, YES! TWO!)

There was a previous Mudcat thread on this where someone heard "My Son's A Prawn" instead of "Mason's Apron" - that one has stayed with me!

Callie

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,George
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 02:26 PM

Related to Brian's report on "Rollng Down to Rio":

I once heard a (reasonably well known - won't divulge names) group sing in performance: "I've never sailed the Amazon, nor yet been to Brazil, but down in the Magdelenas, they can go there whenever they will." (Rather than "...the 'Dawn' and the 'Magdelena'...")

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 03:38 PM

Heard a child singing "Come back yard, millor, come back yard" And our family favourite, from 'Bohemian Rhapsody'- "The air is bent where the devil had a sideboard built"

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Deda
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 05:38 PM

When (a close relative who shall remain nameless) first heard the Beach Boys' "Surfin' USA", he thought it was a recruitment gimmick song for the armed services -- "Servin' USA".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,George
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 06:30 PM

I'd intended, of course, to type "...the 'Don' and the 'Magdalena'..." (grumble, grumble)

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 08:38 PM

Once, I was listening to Nick Cave's "The Ship Song," and heard:

Come sail your ships around me And pull your britches down.

I immediately remembered that the "britches" part was actually "And burn your bridges down." But since then, whenever I hear The Ship Song, I hear "britches."

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 09:30 PM

The second line of "the Israelites" should be "so that every mouth can be fed". I heard it as "I solder every mouse and beef head."

In "Bohemian Rhapsody" the word "Bismillah" shows up. My brother explained that it's Arabic for "in the name of God". I thought they were singing "Miss Miller".

Hermans Hermits song about the Chinese girl: "last night I met a new girl and her name was Wu". (should be "in the neighborhood".

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Argenine
Date: 04 Sep 01 - 10:27 PM

I forgot the name of the song, but it's an early rock song that has a line, " ... dancin' with the chick in slacks ... ." I actually figured out what the line was fairly quickly, but it always sounded like " ... dancin' with the chicken slacks ... ."

It conjured up strange images of either a chicken wearing slacks or of some kind of slacks dancing by themselves but decorated with pictures of chickens.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Scorpio
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 12:32 AM

Putting several kids' mondegreens of the Lord's Prayer together, I came up with:

The Lord Sprayer

Our Father Richard in Heaven,
Harold be Thy name.
Thy king done come, Thy will be dumb
On earth a kiss in Heaven.
Give us this day our jelly bread
And forgive us our dads as we forgive our dadders.
And lead a snot into Penn Station,
But deliver us some email,
For Thine is the King Dome and the power and the glory forever, Ah, men!

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Scorpio
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 12:35 AM

Er, ... That's "on earth as a kiss in Heaven.
Scorpio

P.S. The individual mondegreens are real; I just combined them.

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Cappuccino
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 05:02 AM

There actually is an archive of mis-heard lyrics, at www.kissthisguy.com

As at today, it says it has 2,237 entries.

All the best -Ian B

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 16 Sep 01 - 08:39 PM

Thanks for the lead to that website, Ian.
I had another one I was going to post, but I dropped my laptop and had to reload the system software. I lost my bookmarks in the process. If I find it, I'll post that link, too.

Genie

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: GUEST,Argenine
Date: 07 Oct 01 - 11:04 PM

When I first heard "Bei Mir Bistu Shön," I thought it was "Buy Me a Beer, Mister Shane."
Arge

Subject: RE: any new mondegreens?
From: Aidan Crossey
Date: 08 Oct 01 - 06:31 AM

The Leaving of Nancy ... my sister used to mangle the line "the parting has come and my weary heart aches" ... "the parting has come and my *weary sore legs*".

A friend of mine who will remain nameless had a country-rock band who did a version of the Burrito Brothers' "Farther Along". There is a line about God looking down from his "home in the sky", which he sung as "hole in the sky". Which image I much preferred ...