By Sara Hoffmann
Senior Editor
Like a lot of editors, I enjoy wordplay. And not just the sophisticated kind of wordplay most editors would be proud to say they liked. I also like wordplay that’s just plain silly. In fact, one of my favorite things are mondegreens. Monde-what, you may ask? Mondegreens. They’re those goofy words or phrases that result when we mishear something. Some of the best mondegreens come from misheard song lyrics. Take these, for example:
• There’s a bathroom on the right (mishearing of the lyric “there’s a bad moon on the rise,” from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising”)
• ’Scuse me while I kiss this guy (mishearing of the lyric “ ’scuse me while I kiss the sky,” from Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”)
• Olive, the other reindeer (mishearing of the lyric “all of the other reindeer,” from the holiday classic “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”). (Incidentally, this last mondegreen was the inspiration for a cute children’s book by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold.)
We’ve all probably misheard song lyrics at one time or another. Or at least, I know I have. The Beach Boys songs I heard on the oldies station as a kid were particularly rich mondegreen fodder. For years, I was sure Brian Wilson was singing “bop a wren” instead of Barbara Ann. And was I ever surprised when I learned the song about the “little two scoop” was actually about a car.
What song lyrics have you misheard? Do you have any favorite mondegreens? Please share; I’d love to hear from you.
Francesca
I looked up “mondegreen” and found the source:
a mishearing of a 17th century ballad that relates how some people slayed an earl, and… “laid him on the green”,
misheard as “Lady Mondegreen.”
[From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen%5D
Gosh… are editors supposed to prefer sophisticated wordplay? I'm a sucker for stupid puns and misspellings that lead to rude misinterpretations…
Sara Hoffmann
Thanks for the info, Francesca. There's no shame in liking stupid puns! I like them too. 🙂
Buffy
For years I thought “Kind of a Drag” by The Buckinghams was a commercial for Canada Dry…and since the only soda my mom purchased was Canada Dry ginger ale, this seemed song-worthy to me.
Sara Hoffmann
HA! Canada Dry…I love it. Thanks for sharing this great mondegreen, Buffy!
Sara Hoffmann
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Sara Hoffmann
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