Mondegreens - Misheard Song Lyrics

[[re...]]

The Corries The Bonnie Earl O'Moray

Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands, Oh where have you been? They have slain the Earl o' Moray And layd him on the green.

 

The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term "mondegreen" in an essay The Death of Lady Mondegreen, which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954. In the essay, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the final two lines of the above verse as "they have slain the Earl o' Moray, and Lady Mondegreen." She said that she always imagined the Earl dying beside his faithful lover "Lady Mondegreen", and refused to hear the real words, because they were less romantic than her misheard version. The term mondegreen has since been adopted for any misheard song lyric which changes the meaning of the original. Read more...

I thought it might be fun to post our own mondegreens here - lyrics we've actually misheard ourselves, or which we know others have misheard, or even lyrics we believe might easily be misheard.

 

I Wanna Be A ?? The Stone Roses

Having gone off on all these tangents now I've forgotten exactly which mondegreen inspired this post in the first place. So I'll just go ahead and post this instead. It seems many people are unsure whether at 2:05 the singer says he wants to be a dog or a door.

[[Fi...]]

There is this list of Pop Tune, "mondegreens" published by billboard.com in 2015:

 

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6722932/misheard-lyrics-pop-taylor-swift-ariana-grande-justin-bieber

 

[[Aj...]]

An old friend of mine used to think the lyric in Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust was -

 

‘making love with a seagull’

 

It is actually -

 

‘Making love with his ego’...

[[Yo...]]

A classic example is Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze...

 

Many hear excuse me while I kiss this guy, which is actually excuse me while I kiss the sky.

[[Fe...]]

CCR’s Bad Moon Rising was one for me. When I was a kid my mom let me believe the line was “there’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “bad moon on the rise.”

[[Yo...]]

CCR’s Bad Moon Rising was one for me. When I was a kid my mom let me believe the line was “there’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “bad moon on the rise.”

 

[[Li...]]

 

With only hearing Elvira on the radio, I thought most of the "Elviras" were actually "hell fire up." I worked sheet metal, and the guys at work cracked up when they heard me singing what I thought were the lyrics.

[[Fi...]]

 

With only hearing Elvira on the radio, I thought most of the "Elviras" were actually "hell fire up." I worked sheet metal, and the guys at work cracked up when they heard me singing what I thought were the lyrics.

 

[[or...]]

This isn't a song lyric . . . it's a prayer. (Yeah, I know ) When I was young I went to church and prayed: "Surely Good Mrs. Murphy will follow me all the days of my life" and it was years before I knew the prayer said: "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life". What a relief. I was worrying about that woman following me!

 

Katz

[[Fi...]]

" donuts make my brown eyes blue"

Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue - Crystal Gayle

[[Li...]]

Katz - Made me laugh. Thanks. My brother asked my mother who was "round John Urgin.' That was actually "round yon virgin." I wonder if my brother looked for John Urgin in the nativity scene.

 

Fi - LOL. Doughnuts. That's funny.

[[or...]]

My brother asked my mother who was "round John Urgin.' That was actually "round yon virgin." I wonder if my brother looked for John Urgin in the nativity scene.

 

 

 

[[Pe...]]

Invisible Touch by Genesis

 

Actual lyric "She seems to have an invisible touch, yeah!"

 

What I heard...

"She seems to have an invisible top shell.."  (like a turtle)   

[[Ho...]]

When I was a little kid Aerosmith had this great song called "Gorgeous Play"

 

[[or...]]

Beatles' "she's got a ticket to ride":

 

 

sometimes misheard as "she's got a chicken to fry" 

[[de...]]

Thai friend of mine: 

 

"I'm Just a Jealous Guy" - John Lennon. 

 

"I'm Just a Jelly Sky". 

 

Dee

 

 

[[or...]]

That old Christmas Carol:

 

"Jeff's nuts roasting on an open fire . . ."

 

for

 

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire . . "

 

[[...]]

This is the funniest thread ever!  Ok my friend's mom hears this:

 

Chuckie's in love    becomes    Truck gear in low

 

One love feeds the fire  becomes  one large pizza pie.

[[be...]]

CCR’s Bad Moon Rising was one for me. When I was a kid my mom let me believe the line was “there’s a bathroom on the right” instead of “bad moon on the rise.”

 

I think a lot of kids felt the same. It seemed exactly that for me too.

[[Bl...]]

Everyone knows " Hold me closer, Tony Danza" for Elton John's Tiny Dancer...😉

[[be...]]

[[or...]]

And that tasty old classic from The Beatles "I Wanna Hold Your Ham" for you-know-what 

[[Cr...]]

Beatles' "she's got a ticket to ride":

 

 

sometimes misheard as "she's got a chicken to fry" 

 

Haha, really Katz? LOL.

Dave. 

[[Cr...]]

Good For You by Selena Gomez

 

 

14 carats song lyric, commonly misheard as "farting carrots" LMAO.

 

Dave. 

[[Cr...]]

When I was a little kid Aerosmith had this great song called "Gorgeous Play"

 

[/quote

 

Ah, great song! Walk This Way!

Dave.  ]