Comments on: Mondegreen Blues

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 03:45:39 +0000

Yes, other people’s dreams are tedious, but certainly not their mondegreens. I, too, hate it when I think my mondegreen is better than the original. Classic example is “Signs” by Five Man Electric Jam (remade by Tesla). It’s not, “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign / Talkin’ up the scenery, breakin’ my mind.” Very poetic, I thought, until I discovered that the signs are merely “blockin’ out” the scenery. Sigh.

By: robin d. gill

robin d. gill — Thu, 22 Jul 2004 04:16:18 +0000

never heard the word mondegreen before but the words to a song found in a luxurious 3-record set “Mercury Country” released in Japan:
“Jesus brought me a blue owl in my caboose” when carefully listened to revealed
“Jesus brought me through all my troubles.”

You must admit the English heard by the Japanese transcriber was far more interesting than the real(?) thing!
This is taken from ch.7 of “Orientalism & Occidentalism — Is the Mistranslation of culture inevitable” (info at http://www.paraverse.org).

And I must confess to appreciating Stardust Memories more when I thought the last words were “the memory of love refrained.”

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 13:08:31 +0000

Judging by the sales of Gavin Edwards’s four (!) books of mondegreens, yes, you are the only person in the world who feels that way. Just as I am the only English-speaker on the planet who hasn’t read The DaVinci Code.

By: Prentiss Riddle

Prentiss Riddle — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 22:01:12 +0000

Am I the only person who finds listening to other people’s mondegreens as tedious as listening to other people’s dreams, however fascinating one’s own?

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Sat, 19 Jun 2004 04:18:47 +0000

Yeah, I was disappointed when I realized that the line in Robyn Hitchcock’s _Listening to the Higsons_ ran _I’m running out of living_ instead of _I’m running out of lyrics_. I’ve even been tempted to pen a song myself, just to use that line.

By: Erika

Erika — Sat, 19 Jun 2004 03:01:09 +0000

I always find myself supremely annoyed when I think my mondegreen lyrics are better than the original. One song in particular I had thought heartbreakingly lovely, until I consulted the lyrics sheet in the CD insert, and discovered that the lyrics were nowhere near as good as I’d been giving the author credit for.

Ruined the whole song for me.

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 14:51:41 +0000

I like it! BTW I think the lyrics actually go “If you gots the poison, I gots the remedy”, but when it comes to mondegreens, it’s all good. And now that you remind me of it, that one definitely goes in my list of unusual constructions in songs. Except maybe it’s a standard construction in BVE. Hmmm.

By: sven lauer

sven lauer — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 14:24:09 +0000

my favourite mondegreen is one a friend of mine once pulled: in high school, she sort of was a fan of the podigy and liked their song "poison", which includes the line I got the poison, I got the remedy over and over again. what she hear, though, was I got the poison, I got the remoulade, for, you see, she was still learning english and did not know the word poison yet, but she did know the french word poisson, which means fish, so she just assumed that poison does mean fish as well. and what do you eat with fish? of course, remoulade.