Mondegreen

A mondegreen (also sometimes spelt 'mondagreen') is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase, such that it acquires a new meaning.

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The word 'mondegreen' is itself a mondegreen of "They hae slain the Earl o' Murray and laid him on the green", from the anonymous 17th century ballad 'The Bonnie Earl O' Murray', the last five words being misheard as "Lady Mondegreen". Sylvia Wright is thought to have coined the word to describe all such mishearings. While a common occurrence for children, many adults have their own collection, particularly with regard to popular music.

Related Topics:
17th century - Ballad - The Bonnie Earl O' Murray - Sylvia Wright - Children - Adults - Popular music

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Examples:

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• Australians all are ostriches (from the opening line of the Australian national anthem - "Australians all let us rejoice")
• O Canada, our home's on native land (from the Canadian national anthem - "O Canada, our home and native land")
• Ain't no woman like the one-eyed Gott (from the Four Tops's song - "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)")
• Scuse me while I kiss this guy (from a lyric in the song "Purple Haze", by Jimi Hendrix - "Scuse me while I kiss the sky")
• This guy is cryin (from a lyric in the song "The Sky is Crying", by Elmore James)
• Just labelmates and fitting rage (from a lyric in the song "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" by Metallica - "Just labeled mentally deranged"
• The girl with colitis goes by (from a lyric in the song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", by The Beatles - "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes.")
• It is hard to wreck a nice beach (from a story, perhaps apocryphal, about one of the earliest speech recognition programs being presented, at a demo, with someone saying "It's hard to recognize speech" and producing that phrase as the output)
• There's a bathroom on the right (the payoff line at the end of each verse of the rock song Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival — "There's a bad moon on the rise")
• Climb every woman (from the Whitney Houston song I'm every woman)
• Play that fucking music right boy (from the Wild Cherry song Play that funky music )
• Spare him his life from his pork sausages (from Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen - spare him his life from this monstrosity)
• It's a hard egg (from It's A Heartache by Bonnie Tyler)
• Bullshit! (from Push It by Salt-N-Pepa)
• Me Ears Are Alight (from a mishearing of "The Israelites" in the Desmond Dekker song of the same name)
• Sue Lawley! (from a mishearing of So lonely by The Police)
• They paved paradise, and put up a fucking lie (common mishearing of "put up a parking lot" from Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell)
• My lover's got no money, he's a goddess from Belize (mishearing of he's got his strong beliefs in Free from Desire by Gala)
• I buried Paul (from Strawberry Fields Forever, really says "cranberry sauce", part of Paul Is Dead rumors)
• Donuts make my brown eyes blue (from Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, by Crystal Gayle)
• There's no sign of life, it's just a positron instead of "a power to charm" (from Modern Love, by David Bowie)
• 45 virgins and a pelican instead of Glorified version of a pellet-gun (from Glorified G, by Pearl Jam)
• I farted instead of I've got it (from Independent Woman Part 1 by Destiny's Child)
• Hold me close you Tony Danza instead of "hold me close young tiny dancer" (from Tiny Dancer by Elton John)

One for highbrows:

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• The Buttocks-Pressing Song by Zoltan Kodaly (from a mishearing of Malashkin's song titled "Could I But Express in Song")

And some children's ones:

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• ... Harold be thy name... (from the Lord's Prayer - "... hallowed be thy name ...")
• ... and lead us not into Penn Station... (from the Lord's Prayer - "... and lead us not into temptation...")
• ... blessed art thou, a monk swimming ... (from the Hail Mary phrase "... blessed art thou amongst women ...")
• ... Gladly, the cross-eyed bear... ("Gladly, the cross I'd bear...")
• I am the Lord of the Dance settee ("I am the Lord of the Dance said he...")
• Lettuce with a gladsome mind ... ("Let us with a gladsome mind ...")
• The piece of cod which passeth all understanding ("The peace of God which passeth all understanding")
• Olive, the Other Reindeer ... (from the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer "... All of the other reindeer ...") (this mondegreen has become the title of a children's book, which was later made into an animated holiday program featuring the voice of Drew Barrymore)
• Barney's the king of Israel... (This mondegreen was featured on the comic One Big Happy, and comes from The First Noel, when it goes "Born is the king of Israel.")
• How long is a bay in China? ("Hao Long is a bay in China.")

Quite a few mondegreens may be seen in captioned live TV broadcasting of impromptu speeches, interviews, etc. (One local news report of a "grand parade" was captioned as a "Grandpa raid".)

Related Topics:
Caption - Live TV - Broadcast

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Some mondegreens arise from false friends. A phrase in one language may be misheard as a semi-sensical phrase in another language. The humorous aspect of these has given rise to a music video genre known as animutation, in which music in a different language (typically Japanese) is "misheard" into English, and illustrated. This also happens when English are reproduced by foreign language singers. A notable occurrence of this trend appears in the ending sequence to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion where the song Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra inadvertently became Fry Me To The Moon when preformed by a Japanese artist.

Related Topics:
False friend - Music video - Animutation - Japanese - Anime - Neon Genesis Evangelion - Fly Me To The Moon - Frank Sinatra

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Mondegreen is also a game on the popular Australian music quiz show, Spicks and Specks

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