What's a mondegreen? Well, it's a term coined in the 1950s by the writer Sylvia Wright (good name for a wrighter, er, writer), who, as a child, misheard the words the 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray."
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray,
And Lady Mondegreen.
And young Sylvia felt so sad for Lady Mondegreen.
Years later, she discovered that what they had, in fact, done was slay the Earl of Murray and laid him on the green, and so she came up with the term, "Mondegreen" to represent what she'd done to her now non-existent heroine.
Enough with the history lesson. You know what a mondegreen really is, don't you? It's all those songs that you thought you were singing correctly, blissfully unaware of why everyone around you was rolling around in laughter. Or those songs that made you go, "Huh?" as you tried to make sense of the lyrics. Like this one did to me:
Life would be ecstasy/You and me and Leslie/Groovin'...
I thought that was kinky, even for the swingin' sixties. It took me years to realise that the Rascals were actually singing:
Life would be ecstasy/You and me endlessly/Groovin'...
Judging from the entries at Kissthisguy.com (warning: many hours of mirth to be obtained there), I'm not alone with this song.
This one, though, I know is an original:
If I said I love you, do you mind?/Mick and I'll love you, Do you mind?
About twenty years later, after listening to it repeatedly on a really good stereo, I finally divined that what Tony Newley was singing was:
If I said I love you, Do you mind?/Make an idol of you, Do you mind?
I hope Mick didn't mind being left out.
My mondegreens aren't restricted to English. Listen to the first song on my playlist. When I was a kid, this was a hit Hindi movie song, and the words of the first lines are:
Aap jaise koi meri zindagi mein aayen/To baath ban jaayen
(Idiomatic translation: If someone like you came into my life, it would be wonderful news)
My young ears, however, heard them as:
Aap jaise koi meri zindagi mein aayen/To baap ban jaayen
(Idiomatic translation: If someone like you came into my life, you'll become a father) Did I mention I nine when I was belting out these lyrics? Precocious.
So, what are your favourite mondegreens?
2 Comments:
I always sung the lyrics "I'll stick with Dalona, there doesn't seem to be anyone around."
I knew a girl named Dalona but was quite curious that there was a SONG about her. And it was odd to me that she never claimed that song. Until I realized the lyrics actually say...
"I think we're alone now. There doesn't seem to be anyone around."
Ah, that makes MUCH more sense.
A song from the 80s: "Hungry Eyes." My room mate in college always sang it as "Concrete Eyes" and I couldn't convince her she was wrong.
And, of course, there's "America" and "Tinman." The lyrics are so strange that I thought for sure--until I found the lyrics online--that I had come up with a mondegreen. But I hadn't. The words really are: "And cause never was the reason for the evening or the tropic of Sir Gallahad." Though I did mess up and sing: "...When I say I'm spinning round, round, round, smoke that stain right from your image going down, down, down..." It's really "...smoke glass stain bright color." But, again, it doesn't make sense anyway.
Post a Comment