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. . . . Mondegreens


A mondegreen is a mishearing of a polular phrase or song lyric.
The term was coined by the writer Sylvia Wright.

As a child, she had heard the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray"
and had believed that one stanza went like this:
. . Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
. . Oh, where hae you been?
. . They hae slay the Earl of Murray
. . And Lady Mondegreen.

Years later, she learned that the last line was actually:
. . And laid him on the green.

Wright was so distaught at the loss of her heroine,
she memorialized her with a neologism: mondegreen.

Since then mondegreens have proliferated
and have been swapped across the internet.
Here are some of the well-known mondegreens.


The hymn: "Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear."

The Pledge of Allegiance lends itself to children's mondegreens:
. . I pledge a legion to the flag
. . of the United States of America,
. . and to the republic for Richard Sands,
. . one naked individual
. . with liver tea and just this for all.

Many people thought we lived in a "doggy dog world"
populated by people with a "no holes barred" attitude
or who "drank themselves to Bolivia."

In the old song "Sidewalks of New York",
me and Mamie O'Rourke "risked our lives in traffic."

The was the Bob Dylan song with the memorable strain:
"Dead ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind."

Crystal Gayle's "Donuts Make Your Brown Eyes Bue."
Maria Muldaur's "Midnight After You're Wasted."
Jose Feliciano's "Police Naughty Dog."
Another Latin song: "One Ton Tomato."

Paul McCartny's Michelle: "Michelle, ma bell,
Sunday monkey won't play piano song."
Another McCarney lyric: "The girl with colitus goes by."


Christmas songs are fraught with monedgreens.

"Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!
Barneys' the king of Israel."

"Get dressed, ye married gentlemen,
Let nothing through this May ..."

"Good King Wences' car backed out
On the feet of heathens ..."

"Good king wants his applesauce
At the feast this evening ..."

"Joyful oily nations rise;
Join the triumph of disguise.
With the jelly toast proclaim ..."

"Bells on Bob's tail ring
Making spareribs right ..."

"Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing on eggs all stationed ..."

"Round John Virgin, margarine child,
Holy imbecile, tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peas ..."

"We three kings of porridge and tar ..."

"While shepherds washed their socks by night ..."

"In the meadow we can build a snowman
and pretend that he is sparse and brown ..."

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Last edited by soroban (2009-09-20 03:02:58)