In the midst of a YouTube spiral, I recently came across the video above. I enjoyed it, and I learned a new word. What more can you ask?
The video is from watchmojo.com, which specialises in this sort of thing. The YouTube description said:
“…we count down our picks for the 5 most popular mondegreens, and as a bonus, we suggest 5 clips that would be hilarious if we could rewrite the lyrics.…”Wait, what? Mondegreens? Turns out mondegreen is a neologism created just for this sort of thing. And it’s a needed word, I think.
However, the mondegreens in this video are not ones that affected me, though I’d heard about some of them. Here's my biggest one: In 1975, Elton John released a song called “Island Girl”, which went number one in the USA. The following year, Elton said he was bisexual. So, some time after that I was with friends (especially Jason, who can verify this) and we heard the song. “That’s rather inconsistent, isn’t it?” I asked. My friends were confused. I thought the lytic was “I like girls”. I was mistaken.
We all mishear lyrics, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes it’s our fault (not paying enough attention), and sometimes it’s the artist’s fault (they mumble). But however it comes about, it’s harmless. Best we laugh at ourselves and move on.
And, one day, we’ll all mishear again.
4 comments:
Wrote about a while back: http://www.rogerogreen.com/2010/08/30/monday-monday-no-wrong-mamas-papas-song/
Yes, I remember that. And anyone who follows that link will see another of my own modegreens. And that I'd forgotten you mentioned the word mondegreen which is ironic, since you'd forgotten it, too.
Ew…
One of my favorite is rock the cat box instead of rock the casbah.
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