Comments on: Friday Fun Thread: Mondegreens!

By: Friday Fun Thread: This Song Does Not Mean What You Think It Means - The Pursuit of Harpyness

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:02:18 +0000

[...] posted about mondegreens, when people confuse the lyrics of a song. But sometimes listeners confuse the whole damn song. [...]

By: miss_g

miss_g — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:37:46 +0000

Some girlfriends decided that the line from Madonna’s Ray of Light was “And I feel like a disco gnome”. I think it makes more sense than the original.

By: Isa

Isa — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:15:30 +0000

In Opeth’s song The Drapery Falls I heard ‘deadly patterns’ as ‘deadly badgers.’ Well, I didn’t really think it said that, but that’s what it sounded like.

Deicide’s song Dead By Dawn… the line in the chorus sounds like “Take My Car.”

Also my brother’s friend swears he heard the words ‘disco inferno’ in a Vital Remains song.

By: dcardona

dcardona — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:51:29 +0000

@The Goldfish – I’m pretty sure heaven is a place on Earth.

When I was 10 years old I didn’t realize the singer of “Fast Car” was a woman – Tracy Chapman – so while I didn’t have a mondegreen for the line, I never understood exactly what “he” did in the market…

“And I work in the market as a checkout garble-what-now?”

The very moment I discovered the singer was female I knew she was a checkout girl.

By: Ocean_breeze

Ocean_breeze — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 16:28:04 +0000

@ Richard lol I always thought the second part to that was, “as we dream, light the fire” And when I was in my teens I was confused a bit by the ‘erotic’ line.

By: Richard

Richard — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:15:43 +0000

For years I could never figure out why the singer in “Winter Wonderland” was singing “Later on, we’ll perspire/as we dream, by the fire”. It made logical sense of a sort- fire is hot after all- but it didn’t really seem like something one would normally sing about, especially in a Christmas carol.

By: Ocean_breeze

Ocean_breeze — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:17:30 +0000

As a child I was very fond of singing, ” we wiskey a merry Christmas and a happy New York!” No one caught on till I was about six that the song I kept singing was a bit off.

My girlfriend was very confused when I lost my lunch laughing at her, “don’t fear the reefer…” from Blue Oyster Cult. She has spent the last 21 years wondering why her father laughed himself stupid everytime he heard her sing this song.

By: Struwwelpeter

Struwwelpeter — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 06:05:22 +0000

Beverly Cleary’s character Ramona (in Ramona the Pest) hears the line “by the dawn’s early light” in the national anthem as “by the dawnser’s lee light”. Being 5 years old, she assumes “dawnser” is just another word for “lamp”, one that emits lee light..

By: Alicia Maud

Alicia Maud — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:47:54 +0000

My 4 year old cousin (who is now a 30 year old smokejumper) made us sing the “right words” to Tears for Fears’ “Shout”. All summer, at his insistence, the whole fam sang, “Shout, shout, bang it on out. Fees after fees I can cue a doubt so come on. . . ”

Now it seems like an abstract prediction of the current banking industry issues. . .. spooky. (;

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:08:41 +0000

A very well-known mondegreen (which is a fantastic term, and the origin hilarious – I’d never heard it before!) in my corner of the internet is the mis-hearing of Fall Out Boy’s line “i’m oh so intricate” as “i’m also into cats”. Folks are perpetually making jokes about singer Patrick’s fondness for felines. It still delights me!

There’s an entire video dedicated to mondegreening the song, if anyone’s curious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LucfKdukf10

Another favorite part: “I dye grass” instead of “I digress”. Teehee.

So many of the ones in the comments made me laugh, but my favorite has to be “Yeah, Well, I Know You Are Here.” CRYING with laughter.