Hi everybody! We haven’t been chattering as much as usual of late because we’ve been out visiting our boy, Worthington, in Michigan. That’s him in the middle, with Wilma on the left, and (me) Welly, on the right. We just got home so we’ll be starting up again soon!
In today’s puzzle, 3D was Misunderstood song lyric like “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” The answer was MONDEGREEN. I hope you’re familiar with the term — it’s when you mis-hear a song lyric with amusing results. In the puzzle clue, of course, the actual lyric was “kiss the sky.”
The commentariat was rife with examples. From Silent Night: Round John Virgin.
From Bad Moon Risin’: There’s a bathroom on the right.
From Pabloinnh: Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with the light from a bulb.
Lewis chimed in with: The mondegreen of my early early youth was in the song “Runaway” by Del Shannon, where what I heard was, “I’m a walkin’ in the rain / Through the groin I feel a pain”.
From Barbara S.: Petula Clark: “Listen to the rhythm of the crackers in the city” or sometimes when I really heard the F-sound “Listen to the rhythm of the catfish in the city.”
From JonB3: “Now that you’ve gone, all that’s left is a xylophone”
From Carola: Heard in church as a child: In “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” “Christ the royal master leans against the phone” (= leads against the foe). Obviously from the olden days of wall phones. [very olden]
“Hold me closer, Tony Danza.”
From egsforbreakfast: My favorite Mondegreen came from a neighbor kid who thought that “She’s got a ticket to ride” was “She’s got a chicken giraffe” (and she don’t care!).
Burtonkd had a good one: “The girl with colitis goes by.” (kaleidoscope eyes)
Personally, I like the line from Dylan’s Jack of Hearts: “Rosemary combed her hair and took a cabbage into town.”
Taylor Slow explained where the term comes from: The word originates with journalist Sylvia Wright, who wrote a column in the 1950s in which she recounted hearing the Scottish folksong The Bonny Earl of Morray. Wright misheard the lyric “Oh, they have slain the Earl o’ Morray and laid him on the green” and thought it was “Oh, they have slain the Earl o’ Morray and Lady Mondegreen.”
Did you know the difference between a mondegreen and an eggcorn? A mondegreen is a misconception based on a song lyric. An eggcorn is when it derives from anything else.
Did someone say Del Shannon? Remember this look?
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 