Misheard lyrics

stickywicket

These are usually called 'mondegreens'. The word was coined by the American author Sylvia Wright. When she was a child her mother read to her the ballad 'The Bonny Earl O' Moray'. As Sylvia heard it, one verse went:

'Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen. '

The actual last line should have been 'And laid him on the green'

Other famous examples are:

1. The hymn 'Gladly the cross I'd bear' which, for many listeners, becomes 'Gladly, the cross-eyed bear'. (My son once found an old teddy and christened him Gladly.)

2. The first line of The Lord's Prayer was, according to one young lad 'Our Father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name'.

3. 'Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you' is transformed for some into 'Every time you go away you take a piece of meat with you'.

4. The Beatles' 'The girl with kaleidoscope eyes' becomes 'The girl with colitis goes by.'

5. Somewhat devastatingly, The Monkees 'Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer' changed to 'Then I saw her face, now I'm gonna leave her.'

6. The old Dylan favourite The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.' became the more interesting 'The ants are my friends. They're blowing in the wind.'

GO ON. WHAT LYRICS HAVE YOU MISHEARD?

bubbadog

The good old song by Celine Dion from titanic, my heart will go on:-
Near, far wherever you are,
I believe that the hot dogs go on.

It should be:-

Near, far, wherever you are,
I believe that the heart does go on.

That's a classic 'mondegreens' !!

Numptydumpty

I remember, as a child, merrily singing "Seventy six strong bones in the hip parade"
It should have been "Seventy six trombones in the hit parade" :oops:

When Sting sang "Feel so lonely" many people heard "Feel Sue Lawley",
Lucky girl

dreamdaisy

My dad used to sing the 'proper' version when my Ma parped.

The only one I can cite is Desmond Dekker's (I think) 'My ears are alight' (the Israelites). I do know another one about the Lord's Prayer, namely;

Our Arthur
Who lives in Devon


and I remember a child wondering why the Queen liked plums so much;

Send her Victorias
Happy and glorious!

DD

villier

Cant think of one !!! brain fog's not the word for it..........sawdust I think :? xx

stickywicket

Numpty :shock:

numptynora

I was feeling quite down today but this thread has cheered me up and made me laugh out loud.


A Big Thank You

daffy2

"Seventy six strong bones in the hip parade"

Quite appropriate really, if disturbingly prescient Numpty, for an arthritis sufferer...
Perhaps begs the question 'How many arthritics do you need to get 76 strong bones in a hip parade?' Applies to OP sufferers as well.

BTW how does one get that clever coloured thing for cut & pasted quotes?

stickywicket

:? Am I right in thinking you've just answered your own question, daffy

daffy2

So it would seem - but as that's not how it comes up in 'preview' I didn't realise! Never mind, now I know, just a case of remembering for next time.

stickywicket

Remembering for next time - now that's a wholly different problem :roll:

dreamdaisy

So, there I stood yesterday, standing in a queue in the bank, merrily humming along to Prince's song, the one that goes on about a 'raspberry parade . . ' :oops: DD