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A Mondegreen

Posted: November 12th, 2018, 2:12 pm
by Dod101
Not sure where this should be posted, but on the Readers' Letters page of The Times this morning, one correspondent tells us that he spent much of 1966 baffled by a Herman's Hermits hit that featured the recurring line 'She's a muscular boy'. Many years later he discovered that it was actually 'She's a Must to Avoid'

Some years ago there was a lengthy correspondence on the same Letters page, christening such confusion as a Mondegreen, the derivation of which was taken from that well known Scottish ballad about the Earl of Murray, as in 'They hae slain the Earl o' Murray and laid a Mondegreen'.

If you do not know, the actual words (in English) are 'They have slain the Earl of Murray and laid him on the green'

Dod

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: November 12th, 2018, 2:50 pm
by Breelander
Dod101 wrote:Not sure where this should be posted...

Curiosity Corner would seem appropriate.

My favourite Mondegreen is “Scuse me while I kiss this guy” - Jimi Hendrix.
https://www.nme.com/photos/30-hilarious ... fovs6HS.99

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 10th, 2018, 10:40 pm
by MrCPFG
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen has a Mondegreen thus...

Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard...

MrCPFG

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 10th, 2018, 10:44 pm
by staffordian
This one sticks in my mind...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 11th, 2018, 8:53 am
by marronier
In the mid '60s a mother wrote a letter to a magazine saying that one day, while busy in the kitchen, her 4 y o daughter came and asked her ," Mummy, what's ubay ?" Perplexed , mother asked where she had heard the word. " On the wireless. A man was singing ' I've got ubay' ".

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 29th, 2018, 9:52 am
by TUK020
The one that always catches me by surprise is the Rolling Stones song "Angie".
The correct line is "No more loving in our souls", but it sounds a bit different

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 29th, 2018, 12:35 pm
by PinkDalek
The misheard "Wrapped up like a douche …" is another often misquoted lyric although, perhaps, not as well known as Hendrix's.

On the former, this topic has caused me finally to look up the correct words and their meaning, as discussed and explained below:

https://www.quora.com/Song-Lyrics-What- ... night-mean

Manfred Mann's Earth Band's slightly rewritten version of Bruce Springsteen's song is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpq35wyDi7I

Wiki suggests Springsteen has joked that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a feminine hygiene product that it became popular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinded_b ... ght#Lyrics

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 29th, 2018, 6:22 pm
by XFool
Not sure if it's entirely the same kind of thing but I was always a little puzzled by: "Knights in white satin"

(Not just me, actually. I once heard a DJ sneer at them for being pretentious for spelling Knights without a 'K'!)

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 29th, 2018, 6:26 pm
by PinkDalek
XFool wrote:Not sure if it's entirely the same kind of thing but I was always a little puzzled by: "Knights in white satin"

(Not just me, actually.)


What puzzles you?:

http://pxhst.co/avaxhome/5f/b4/0036b45f.jpeg

:)

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 30th, 2018, 11:53 am
by bungeejumper
Breelander wrote:My favourite Mondegreen is “Scuse me while I kiss this guy” - Jimi Hendrix.
https://www.nme.com/photos/30-hilarious ... fovs6HS.99

I believe he may sometimes have done it deliberately, just to wind up the straights. I think his Woodstock appearance may have been one of them?

One of my cousins annoyed his parents with "Mummy is the root of all evil". But I doubt we'll ever forget how my little granddaughter brought the house down with her rendition of "Nellie the elephant back to front". :lol:

Mairzy doats and a happy new year to all!

BJ

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 30th, 2018, 2:48 pm
by panamagold
"I got my first real sex dream, I was 5 at the time."
Should be: "I got my first real six-string, bought it at the five-and-dime."
Summer Of '69 – Bryan Adams

"It doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not."
Should be: "It doesn’t make a difference if we make it or not."
Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

"And there's a wino down the road."
Should be: "And as we wind on down the road."
Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: December 30th, 2018, 4:14 pm
by XFool
staffordian wrote:This one sticks in my mind...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxELSzay2lc

Who knew? I never doubted it was:

"Got up in the mornin'
Same thing for breakfast
."

Then again...
XFool wrote:Not sure if it's entirely the same kind of thing but I was always a little puzzled by: "Knights in white satin"

(Not just me, actually. I once heard a DJ sneer at them for being pretentious for spelling Knights without a 'K'!)

Unless he was sarcastically sending up people who thought it WAS 'Knights in white satin'...

Re: A Mondegreen

Posted: January 3rd, 2019, 9:58 am
by Bink333
My girlfriend at Uni used to sing along to Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" with "I believe you're local. Where are you from, you sexy thing?"