Favorite mondegreens

Also

Also

Student of humanity
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I keep forgetting to come back here and start this thread. I have a few mondegreens that float around in my brain and every now and then pass by the viewing window like underpants in a front-loading washer, but for now I'll just drop in the original.

The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, recalling a childhood memory of her mother reading the Scottish ballad "The Bonnie Earl o' Moray", and mishearing the words "laid him on the green" as "Lady Mondegreen".
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I guess this could qualify:

At an open mic session some years back, I sang a song called "I Woke Up a Mess Again Today," written by Chuck McDermott for his group Wheatstraw. When the session was over, a gentleman came up to compliment me on my singing a certain song. Since I'd performed three songs, I asked him which one. He said, "I Woke Up a Mexican Today."

John Prine tells the story of a time he had a gig. The playlist for the second set his classic song "That's the Way the World Goes Round," which had the line "Its a half an inch of water and you think you're gonna drown." As he tells the tale, during the break between the sets, a woman approached him and asked to sing that song about the "happy enchilada."

"I've never written a song about any kind of enchilada," he replied. "I think you're confusing me with somebody else."

"No, you wrote a song about a happy enchilada."

"Well, how does it go?"

"It's a happy enchilada and you think you're gonna drown."

"I'm glad you like the words!"

And when the song came up in the second set's play list, that's the way he sang it.
 
The classic, usually mentioned by a guy who goes around NPR shows now and then, talking about mondegreens:

From Purple Rain, Jimi Hendrix

Scuse me while I kiss the sky
becomes
Scuse me while I kiss this guy
 
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And then there's the story about a kid who was drawing a picture of Christ's Nativity. It showed a mother, a child, and a fat, happy man. The teacher asked the kid "Is that supposed to be Santa Claus?" The kid replied, "No, that's Round John Virgin."
 
As a child, I heard "round yawn virgin." Thought she was sleepy.

I found out a week or so ago that the song is Judy in Disguise and not Judy in the Sky. Thought it was a play on Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
 
CatrionaGrace said:
As a child, I heard "round yawn virgin." Thought she was sleepy.

I found out a week or so ago that the song is Judy in Disguise and not Judy in the Sky. Thought it was a play on Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
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Or on that reference to Lucy, "The girl with colitis goes by."
 
One famous mondegreen is "There's a bathroom on the right". ("Bad moon on the rise", Credence Clearwater Revival)

Others include:

- "Hold me closer, Tony Danza" (Elton John, "Tiny Dancer")
- "Wrapped up like a douche" (Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded by the Light" - originally "revved up like a deuce")
- "Sweet dreams are made of cheese" (Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams")
- "Saving his life from this warm sausage tea" (Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" - originally "spare him his life from this monstrosity")
- "The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind" (Bob Dylan/Peter, Paul and Mary, "Blowin' in the Wind")
- "I want a piece of bacon" (The Ramones, "I Wanna Be Sedated")
- "Gladly the cross-eyed bear" (Hymn: "Gladly the Cross I'd Bear")

And I wrote several dozen songs based on mondegreens ... like "Running on XP" ("Running on Empty", Jackson Brown), "Jingle Bell Wok" ("Jingle Bell Rock", Bobby Helms), and others.
 
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Rath Darkblade said:
- "Wrapped up like a douche" (Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded by the Light" - originally "revved up like a deuce")
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Cecil Adams wrote a great piece on that very subject for his "Straight Dope" column:

www.straightdope.com

In “Blinded by the Light,” what exactly is the lyric following the title phrase?

www.straightdope.com www.straightdope.com

Rath Darkblade said:
"Sweet dreams are made of cheese" (Eurythmics, "Sweet Dreams")
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Who am I to dis a Brie?

And then there's that classic Rolling Stones song: "Don't wanna leave, your pizza's burnin'"...

But the most exemplary generator of mondagreens in rock and roll is the classic "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen, whose "extraordinary lack of elocution" led to, of all things, a federal investigation concerning the possibility that the lyrics were somehow pornographic. Cecil also wrote a column about that, from which I borrowed the "extraordinary lack of elocution" phrase because I couldn't top it:

www.straightdope.com

What are the REAL lyrics to “Louie Louie”?

www.straightdope.com www.straightdope.com

At this point, I must caution you that once you start reading a few of Cecil's essays, you suddenly find yourself having wasted an afternoon. Be warned!
 
JLT said:
Who am I to dis a Brie?
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:ROFLMAO:

Ceceil won my heart with the line: Note the subtle shifts of temporal perspective, and the refreshingly arbitrary substitution of the objective case for the nominative and possessive in pronominal situations. As a rock lyricist, Mr. Berry was clearly far ahead of his time.

As I told Homer, I'm a writer and not an English teacher, so I have only a vague idea of what that means- but I love it.
 
And then there's "I was born a rebel' which was transmuted into "I was Barney Rubble."
 
At least one person in a bar I was in once thought that "Welcome to the Jungle" was "Welcome to the Punk-hole". *shrug*

In his defence, he was (at the very least) tipsy, and heading right towards 'drunk' ... ;)
 
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A definite (and well-known) mondegreen, from Paul Young's "Every Time You Go Away": "You take a piece of meat with you".

Obviously, Paul was writing about his cat. Mystery solved! *nods authoritatively*
 
I always thought a certain section of the lyrics in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" were just a bunch of nonsensical utterances -

A-lu-latto -- a-bobino -- ma-muscado -- ma-mobito --
Just found out today it is actually - "A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido..."

 
June is bustin' out all over, from the musical Carousel, has often been misunderstood or deliberately parodied.

There's nobody named June among the characters. "Bustin' out" enjoyed conversational popularity for some years after the show, especially when talking about older sisters (of which I, however, have none).
 
I developed a lasting antipathy for Carousel thirty years ago when the chorale in which I sang (first sporano) was forced to do a program of some of the dumbest show tunes ever written. "This as a real nice clam bake; we're mighty glad we came." Ugh.
 
CatrionaGrace said:
I developed a lasting antipathy for Carousel thirty years ago when the chorale in which I sang (first sporano) was forced to do a program of some of the dumbest show tunes ever written. "This as a real nice clam bake; we're mighty glad we came." Ugh.
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I've never seen Carousel. The only thing I know from it is "You'll Never Walk Alone". *shrug* I'm not sure if I missed anything? :)

JLT said:
"Love is a nose but you'd better not pick it."
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What's the original? (I can imagine it should be "Love is a rose..." but the rest escapes me).
 
CatrionaGrace said:
I developed a lasting antipathy for Carousel thirty years ago when the chorale in which I sang (first sporano) was forced to do a program of some of the dumbest show tunes ever written. "This as a real nice clam bake; we're mighty glad we came." Ugh.
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I was never fond of Oklahoma, but until I looked the song up, I assumed that was the source of June is bustin' out all over. Just sounds like something a cowboy would get all enthusiastic about. And in fact, auto-correct assumed I meant to write June is bison out something or other.

All I remember from Oklahoma is Pore Jud (Fry) is Dead and The Little Surrey With the Friiiiinge On the Top (and Eisenglass Curtains that'll Roll Right Down in Case There's a Change in the Weeeeeather).
 
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