Mondegreen Edit Meaning

1.

noun. A misheard lyric in a song. The term comes from an old song which contains the lyric "They slew the Earl of Moray and laid him on the green." It was commonly misheard as "They slew the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen."

"There's a bathroom on the right" is a mondegreen of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "There's a bad moon on the rise."

"Louie, Louie" is full of mondegreens.

2.

A mondegreen (also sometimes spelled "mondagreen") is the accidental mishearing of a phrase in a poem, or song in such a way that it acquires a new, and usually humourous meaning.

In "The Death of Lady Mondegreen" from Harper's Magazine November 1954, the American writer Sylvia Wright coined it:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,

Oh, where hae ye been?

They have slain the Earl of Murray,

And Lady Mondegreen.

actually, the line should have been:

And laid him on the green.

See poetry, mondagreen, humour

3.

A misheard song lyric. A symptom of "kiss this guy" syndrome

4.

A misheard song lyric or occasionally other utterance. The funnier the better. Originated when the seventeenth century ballad "The Bonnie Earl of Moray" was misheard; "they have slain the Earl of Moray/ and laid him on the green", became "They have slain the Earl of Moray/ And Lady Mondegreen".

Examples of mondegreens:

The ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind. (After Bob Dylan).

They've all come to look for a miracle. (from "America", by Paul Simon.)

Jumbled shack flash is a gas, gas, gas. (Rolling Stones.)

Lock the cash box, lock the cash box. (The Clash, "Rock the Casbah".)

Olive, the other reindeer. ("Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer".)

There's a bathroom on the right. (Originally "there's a bad moon on the rise", from "Bad Moon Rising" by Credence Clearwater Revival.)

The girl with colitisgoes by. (The Beatles.)

Jose, can you see? ("The Star-Spangled Banner".)

Blessed art thou, a monk swimming. (Catholic prayer " Hail Mary".)

See song, lyric, mistake, humour, error