it's time for some mondegreens!
For those who don't know, mondegreens are words of songs that have been heard wrongly, but the result is better or funnier than the original. The term came from an old Scottish ballad which apparently tells how:
"They have slain the Earl O'Murray, And Lady Mondegreen." The real words are: "They have slain the Earl O'Murray, And laid him on the green."
Here are a few classic mondegreens from popular songs:
"Since she put me down there's been owls pukin' in my bed" (the Beach Boys "Help Me Rhonda") Actual lyric: "Since she put me down I've been out doing in my head."
"The girl with colitis goes by." (The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds") Actual lyric: "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes."
"There's a bathroom on the right." (Creedence Clearwater Revival "Bad Moon Rising") Actual lyric: "There's a bad moon on the rise."
"Everybody in a wholesale frock, dance to the jailhouse rock" (Elvis "Jailhouse Rock") Actual lyric: "Everybody in the whole cell block, dance to the jailhouse rock
"The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind" (Bob Dylan "Blowing in the wind") Actual lyric: "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind"
"Every time you go away you take a piece of meat with you" (Paul Young "Every time you go away") Actual lyric: "Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you"
Check out more mondegreens here, here and here, and get the background at Wikipedia.
Labels:
fun
:)
ReplyDeletei've got a couple for you:
Bruce Springsteen's Blinded by the Light - last time i heard it on the radio i KNEW i was hearing it wrong, but i honestly could not remember what the correct words were, which is funny because this line is repeated several times so i had plenty of opportunity...the actual lyric is "revved up like a duece, another runner in the night" but the word deuce sounds an awful lot like another "D" word that it rhymes with, which i won't leave on your blog:)
another one that cracks me up is Elton John's Tiny Dancer. The character Phoebe on TV show Friends once sang the line "hold me closer tiny dancer" as "hold me close, young Tony Danza!" and now that's all i think of when i hear that song.
these are particularly funny to me, but i almost never hear all the words to a song correctly.