Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Poor Lady Mondegreen

When I wrote about misheard song lyrics, I didn't know there is actual term for them.  They are called 'mondegreens'.

A writer named Sylvia Wright, who wrote for Harper's Magazine wrote this in 1954:
"When I was a child, my mother used to read aloud to me from Percy's Reliques. One of my favorite poems began, as I remember:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray,
And Lady Mondegreen."

The actual words of the ballad are:

Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands,
O where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl of Moray,
And hae laid him on the green

Every time I read this, I just roll all over the place because it is so hysterical and I would so have done this myself.   I keep seeing poor Lady Mondegreen, slain beside her earl.

A few more wrong lyrics have popped into my head since I wrote that post, so here are a few more.  Sadly, in some of these cases, I used to know the correct words and someone told me how they misunderstood and now I can't remember which is the correct phrase when I actually hear the song!  Please add your own in the comments.

"I should get kisses"should be "passionate kisses"

"I haven't seen you in a dress"  should be "I haven't see you in ages."

"Wasn't very long, up in Everett, man took me in off the street" should be "Wasn't very long, a benevolent man took me in off the street"

"She'd never heard of Mr. Crowe"  should be "she'd never heard a rooster crow" although k-ster thinks it's "east of crow" which he says is like the middle of nowhere.  He's wrong, but he insists "east of crow" is a real term.  Maybe in Hazzard County.

Linking here:
http://www.myturnforus.com/2014/01/freedom-fridays-with-all-my-bloggy_16.html

1 comment:

  1. My ex was notorious for singing the wrong words along to songs. I used to correct him, but I gave up after a while.

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