Showing posts with label people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label people. Show all posts

January 08, 2012

Mondegreens are us


“Mondegreen” is a term coined by Sylvia Wright for what happens when we mis-hear song lyrics. The word originated when Wright misunderstood the lyrics of an old ballad which she believed contained the lines that said
They have slain the Earl O' Moray,
And Lady Mondegreen.

The real second line said

“and laid him on the green.”

I think most people have come up with their share of Mondegreens, consciously or otherwise. When the Spousal Unit was a kid, she though the lyrics of Johnny and June Carter Cash’s "Jackson" started by saying “We got married in a peanut” instead of a fever.

El Cabrero, of course, is way above such silly errors. Although there was one time when the Stevie Nicks song “Edge of seventeen” came on the radio and I wondered aloud, “why the hell is she singing about a one-winged dove?”

I’ll bet you’ve got a Mondegreen or two up your sleeves as well, Gentle Reader.

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