Excuse me while I kiss this guy......what is a mondegreen?

[Blumlein 88]

Excuse Me While I Kiss This Guy

The science of misheard lyrics and the “mondegreen,” a misheard word or phrase that makes sense in your head, but is, in fact, entirely incorrect.

www.newyorker.com

I of course know of many such lyric mis-hearings, but didn't know there was a name for it. Mondegreens are like the Jimi Hendrix lyric often heard as Excuse me while I kiss this guy when it is actually Excuse me while I kiss the Sky.

Of course I still don't know what the real lyric is for that Steve Miller tune the Joker.
I am referring of course to the pompetus of love line in the first 30 seconds of this song.

 

[earlevel]

Didn't know "mondegreen", but the origin is explain here: Mondegreen

More on "pompatus" here: Pompatus

Another common Hendrix (Dylan via Hendrix) mis-heard is "plowman dig my earth". Since it follows "drink my wine", people tend to hear something about "herb" ("come and take my herb", etc.). I remember as stoner calling in to a radio show to request "don't fear the reefer" (other requests I heard were "walking in a lake" by Missing Persons, and "master in sevens" by Depeche Mode). I've had a friend tell me about the reference to Ronald Reagan in I'd Love to Change the World, which is apparently a common one (actually: "till there are no rich no more").

Steve Miller reveals he basically misheard a lyric to end up with pompatus (queued to 1:38):

 

[DanielT]

 

[litemotiv]

Zoing the seeds of love is one of my favorite misheard lyrics videos:

 

[solderdude]

Your Mondegreens are equivalent to 'mamma appelsap' songs in the Netherlands.
In (general English) music sometimes words are/can be heard as Dutch words.
Once you heard it (was pointed to it) you cannot unhear it.

The words 'mamma appelsap' come from a Michael Jackson song.
There are hundreds of them, some funnier and clearer to hear than others.

 

[Grumple]

This is the classic English comedic example, surprised no one posted it yet!

 

[Fahzz]

The Johnny Rivers classic: "Secret Asian Man"

 

[BDWoody]

The line from 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' when "the girl with Colitis goes by" has to be my all time favorite.

 

[ahofer]

The line from 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds' when "the girl with Colitis goes by" has to be my all time favorite.

beat me to it. I dated a girl with colitis. She doesn't find this amusing for some reason.

 

[thegeton]

Johnny Cash covering "Hurt" - What have I become, my Swedish friend?

 

[Grumple]

In the Happy Mondays song Kinky Affro, Sean Ryder sings "You come around here, and you put both your feet in", but it sounds like he says "You come around here with your butt f*****g feelings".

 

[thegeton]

Or my other favorite from a friend of a friend: In Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy," that guy thought the chorus was, "Fresh! Fresh fish from the sea!"

 

[pjug]

My wife's understanding in CCR's Bad Moon Rising - There's a bathroom on the right

(for the girl with colitis?)

 

[DVDdoug]

KissThisGuy.com is a whole website dedicated to misheard lyrics. (I actually never misunderstood "Kiss the sky".)

Of course, there are plenty of lyrics that I do mishear. I'm a Creedance Clearwater Revival fan from the old days and for years I thought the lyric in Proud Mary was clearly "Bummed a lot of change in New Orleans". In the Ike & Tina Turner version you can hear "Pumped a lot of pain" which didn't make sense until I found out it was really "Pumped a lot of 'pane" (propane).

Years ago before you could look everything up on the Internet, there was a radio station that had a "guess" the lyrics contest... It could get pretty funny!

Mondegreen is a new word for me, but I know malaprop.

 

[DVDdoug]

My wife's understanding in CCR's Bad Moon Rising - There's a bathroom on the right

There's a rumor that John Fogerty actually sings it that way in concert sometimes, just to be silly. But, who can tell???

And Johnny Rivers does pretty-clearly pronounce it, "Secret Asian Man", which is slightly annoying in an otherwise cool song.

 

[thegeton]

KissThisGuy.com is a whole website dedicated to misheard lyrics. (I actually never misunderstood "Kiss the sky".)

Of course, there are plenty of lyrics that I do mishear. I'm a Creedance Clearwater Revival fan from the old days and for years I thought the lyric in Proud Mary was clearly "Bummed a lot of change in New Orleans". In the Ike & Tina Turner version you can hear "Pumped a lot of pain" which didn't make sense until I found out it was really "Pumped a lot of 'pane" (propane).

Years ago before you could look everything up on the Internet, there was a radio station that had a "guess" the lyrics contest... It could get pretty funny!

Mondegreen is a new word for me, but I know malaprop.

I always thought it was "pumped a lot of 'tane" (octane)

 

[JSmith]

KissThisGuy.com is a whole website dedicated to misheard lyrics.

Damn there is some gold there.

1. Stevie Wonder: Signed, Sealed, Delivered
   Down to the river, Onions!
2. Smash Mouth: All Star
   So much to do, so much to see, so much wrong with Nick from...
3. Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar on Me
   Living with a lover with a red IPhone
4. Robert Palmer: Addicted To Love
   Might as well face it, you're a dick with a glove.
5. Sir Mix-A-Lot: Baby Got Back
   I like big butts in a can of limes.
6. Hozier: Take Me to Church
   Take me to church, I'll wash you like a doll in the Saturda...
7. Abba: Dancing Queen
   See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen
8. Madonna: Into the Groove
   I'm tired of dancing in Obama's self
9. Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
   The algebra has a devil for a sidekick eeeeeeeeee....
10. Madonna: Like a Virgin
    Like a virgin touched for the thirty-first time.

... I must say though I do like big butts in a can of limes, how did they know.


JSmith

 

[Grumple]

Damn there is some gold there.

... I must say though I do like big butts in a can of limes, how did they know.


JSmith

Touched for the thirty-first time! All the lols, reminds me of that joke about having sex with thirty nine year olds!

 

[Killingbeans]

 

[Grumple]

I don't think I can stop now, "Music Reach 1,2,3,4" by The Prodigy, the sample is "makes me want to shout". But, it's clearly another word that begins in sh, and ends in t! Given my Experience with the chemicals associated with the scene, it always made me want to sh*t.