Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

So what's a mondegreen? It's a phrase misunderstood by a listener, and then repeated incorrectly. Here are a couple of famous mondegreens.

"There's the bathroom on the right" from "Bad Moon Rising." The real line is "There's a bad moon on the right" as everyone knows.

Here's another one. "...the girl with colitis goes by" from "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." The real line is "...the girl with kaleidescope eyes."

One that I misunderstood was "Pictures of Living" instead of "Pictures of Lilly." Another one that I still haven't figured out to this day is "...tell 'em a houkah smoking color crayons has given you the call..." from "White Rabbit."

And here's another one that we butchered on purpose from the Carpenters "Close to You"
"...so they sprinkled walnuts in your hair, and golden starlight in your eyes like glue."

What are some of your favorite mondegreens?

(It's late Friday night, I don't have a gig, and I'm bored. I'll admit it.)
JimK

I learned about one recently that shocked me, in "Tangled Up in Blue" by Bob Dylan.

I always thought the line was "Split up on the docks that night", but as it turns out, the line is "Split up on a dark sad night"!

I have to say, this is a case of me liking what I heard much better than what it really is!

She Loves You - I always heard "Why's it hers to do" for "Pride can hurt you too."

Jim - "Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar has given you the call." Also it is "There's a bad moon on the rise."

My Mom always heard "Tony Baloney" for "Only the Lonely."

I thought goo goo gajoob was koo koo kachoo. Does that even count?

Johnny Rivers' "Secret Asian Man"

In some instances, the Bee Gees' "More than a woman" sounded like "Bald-headed woman" to me.

"'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy." Well, I didn't know you cared, Jimi...

Ummm, Jim, it's actually "There's a bad moon on the rise".

I think I just witnessed my first double mondegreen.

North of Malibu performs "Secret Asian Man", Richard...

I always thought it sounded like Secret Asian Man too!

"He's a carpet cleaning man..."

Theme from "Shaft"

"She's got a moose smell" -Billy Bragg
"The ants are my friend, they're blowin' in the wind"- Robert Allen Zimmerman
"She's got electric boobs, her mom has two" -that jerk guy
"Doughnuts Make Your Brown Eyes Blue" -Crystal Gayle

Because it is too much to ask for some stars to enunciate clearly, Bawb, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and the list goes on are susceptible to generating lots of mondegreen potential (okay, it is a little harder to make out any real words with Vedder sometimes.)

I'd heard a different term for this phenomenon, but can't recall it.

My examples: sister thought Beach Boys' "God only knows" was "got on my nose"

Friend's kid thought Paul Young's "every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you" was "every time you go away, you take a piece of meat with you."

Friend thought Pogues' "Dirty old town" was "dirty old sow".

"There's a bathroom on the right" was used in a spoof of the song. I've got a collection of such parody songs on tape, including "If you fry your cat in Crisco" (If you're going to San Francisco), but those are purposely mangled lyrics.

To all those who corrected my quote of "Bad Moon Rising" what can I say? It was late Friday night, and ......well thanks. I knew that.

These are hilarious. More?

JimK

"If you fry your cat in Crisco" (If you're going to San Francisco), but those are purposely mangled lyrics.

Sounds like a Weird Al Yankovic parody. Is it?


JimK

Jimk, it's not Weird Al, but I don't know who. Someone long ago gave me a tape they recorded when a Baltimore station played a whole show of parody songs, by different artists. Some are hilarious, some are a bit of a stretch. For example, "Clean the catbox" (Rock the Casbah) not so good.

10th Avenue Freeze Out from Springsteen... I kept hearing "Tent Devil you'll freeze out."

I knew it made no sense... I mean, what the heck it a tent devil?