MCA4ever
07-20-2012, 12:36 PM
I found this article hysterical. Remembering all the stupid lines I would seriously sing "along" with :)
The 6th Floor
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/canceled-berets-cross-eyed-bears-and-other-enduring-mondegreens/?pagewanted=print
JULY 20, 2012, 7:00 AM
Canceled Berets, Cross-Eyed Bears and Other Enduring Mondegreens
By ADAM STERNBERGH
This week's Riff essay by Willy Staley deals with rap lyrics and mondegreens - specifically, the previously nonexistent word "fanute" which was born from people's mishearing a verse by rapper French Montana on Rick Ross's "Stay Schemin'." (WARNING: Adult lyrical content.) (You can hear the "fanute" line in question at 3:35 of the video.) (WARNING: I mentioned the adult lyrical content, right?)
The essay also refers to a 1954 essay in Harper's magazine by Sylvia Wright, in which she coined the word "mondegreen" after explaining her childhood belief that a lyric from "The Bonny Earl O'Moray" was not "Laid him on the green," but rather "Lady Mondegreen."
Anyone who has ever listened to music has likely had a similar experience. I once had a surprisingly heated argument in college over whether the Beastie Boys song "So What'cha Want" contains the line: "I'm coming over to Quebec." (I was right; it does not. The line is "I'm coming off as you can bet.")
(Another favorite personal Beastie Boys-related mondegreen is a longtime mishearing of the lyric "I've got more spice than the Frugal Gourmet" as "I've got more spice than the Philly Colonnade." I did not know for certain that there was a place called the Philly Colonnade in Philadelphia, but I assumed the Beastie Boys knew better than I did, and that the place in question was, in fact, spicy.)
Such is the magic of the mondegreen.
No doubt you've had similar experiences. Gavin Edwards, a frequent contributor to the magazine, is the author of four popular collections of mondegreens: " 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics," "He's Got the Whole World in His Pants and More Misheard Lyrics," "When a Man Loves a Walnut and Even More Misheard Lyrics" and "Deck the Halls With Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics." We asked him to provide a curated list of some all-time classics, and he happily obliged.
Jack Hitt, a contributing writer for the magazine, performs this insightful monologue on the mondegreen in his one-man show "Making Up the Truth" (now touring!):
But the fun with misheard lyrics did not stop there. We asked Times Magazine staff members and our readers (or, at least, our followers on Twitter) to submit some favorite mondegreens. Here they are. Please add yours in the comments.
(Police hold doors in the commons?)
No, I said, please add yours in the comments.
A college roommate swore that Billy Idol was singing not "...eyes without
a face," but rather, "How's about a date?"
"Why don't you cancel my beret?" ("Why don't you answer my prayer?") from the song "I Say a*Little Prayer."
I thought the line from Counting Crows' "Long December" was "It's one more day I've been the canned yam." (Actual line: "It's one more day up in the canyon.")
A friend of mine used to seriously sing the chorus to "A Natural Woman" as "you make me feel like a man does a woman."
A friend of mine always sang "There's a bathroom on the right..." Instead of: "There's a bad moon on the rise."
I thought Kim Carnes's "Bette Davis Eyes" was "Better Days Inside"
"The kid is not my son" in Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean." To Spanish speakers especially, that line sounds like, "Tu quieres una manzana?" ("Do you want an apple?")
I always thought "Karma Chameleon" was "Come On, Amelia" and wondered how Boy George knew about my dawdling sis.
"Meet Joe Biden" instead of " I want'cho body" in T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" is my favorite mondegreen.
From Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know": "It's not fair to deny me/Of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me." (Actual lyric: "Of the cross I bear that you gave to me.")
The 6th Floor
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/canceled-berets-cross-eyed-bears-and-other-enduring-mondegreens/?pagewanted=print
JULY 20, 2012, 7:00 AM
Canceled Berets, Cross-Eyed Bears and Other Enduring Mondegreens
By ADAM STERNBERGH
This week's Riff essay by Willy Staley deals with rap lyrics and mondegreens - specifically, the previously nonexistent word "fanute" which was born from people's mishearing a verse by rapper French Montana on Rick Ross's "Stay Schemin'." (WARNING: Adult lyrical content.) (You can hear the "fanute" line in question at 3:35 of the video.) (WARNING: I mentioned the adult lyrical content, right?)
The essay also refers to a 1954 essay in Harper's magazine by Sylvia Wright, in which she coined the word "mondegreen" after explaining her childhood belief that a lyric from "The Bonny Earl O'Moray" was not "Laid him on the green," but rather "Lady Mondegreen."
Anyone who has ever listened to music has likely had a similar experience. I once had a surprisingly heated argument in college over whether the Beastie Boys song "So What'cha Want" contains the line: "I'm coming over to Quebec." (I was right; it does not. The line is "I'm coming off as you can bet.")
(Another favorite personal Beastie Boys-related mondegreen is a longtime mishearing of the lyric "I've got more spice than the Frugal Gourmet" as "I've got more spice than the Philly Colonnade." I did not know for certain that there was a place called the Philly Colonnade in Philadelphia, but I assumed the Beastie Boys knew better than I did, and that the place in question was, in fact, spicy.)
Such is the magic of the mondegreen.
No doubt you've had similar experiences. Gavin Edwards, a frequent contributor to the magazine, is the author of four popular collections of mondegreens: " 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy and Other Misheard Lyrics," "He's Got the Whole World in His Pants and More Misheard Lyrics," "When a Man Loves a Walnut and Even More Misheard Lyrics" and "Deck the Halls With Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics." We asked him to provide a curated list of some all-time classics, and he happily obliged.
Jack Hitt, a contributing writer for the magazine, performs this insightful monologue on the mondegreen in his one-man show "Making Up the Truth" (now touring!):
But the fun with misheard lyrics did not stop there. We asked Times Magazine staff members and our readers (or, at least, our followers on Twitter) to submit some favorite mondegreens. Here they are. Please add yours in the comments.
(Police hold doors in the commons?)
No, I said, please add yours in the comments.
A college roommate swore that Billy Idol was singing not "...eyes without
a face," but rather, "How's about a date?"
"Why don't you cancel my beret?" ("Why don't you answer my prayer?") from the song "I Say a*Little Prayer."
I thought the line from Counting Crows' "Long December" was "It's one more day I've been the canned yam." (Actual line: "It's one more day up in the canyon.")
A friend of mine used to seriously sing the chorus to "A Natural Woman" as "you make me feel like a man does a woman."
A friend of mine always sang "There's a bathroom on the right..." Instead of: "There's a bad moon on the rise."
I thought Kim Carnes's "Bette Davis Eyes" was "Better Days Inside"
"The kid is not my son" in Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean." To Spanish speakers especially, that line sounds like, "Tu quieres una manzana?" ("Do you want an apple?")
I always thought "Karma Chameleon" was "Come On, Amelia" and wondered how Boy George knew about my dawdling sis.
"Meet Joe Biden" instead of " I want'cho body" in T.I.'s "Whatever You Like" is my favorite mondegreen.
From Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know": "It's not fair to deny me/Of the cross-eyed bear that you gave to me." (Actual lyric: "Of the cross I bear that you gave to me.")