Mondegreens: Muted Mumbles Misheard May Be Magical Quiz

Answer: completely made up word based on a mishearing

In 1954 Sylvia Wright wrote a magazine article explaining an episode from her childhood where she misheard the words of a poem "The Bonny Earl of Murray"

"Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray,
And Lady Mondegreen."

In truth, the Earl was alone. Wright was surprised to learn later that the last line is actually "And laid him on the green".

She thus coined the term in the article, "mondegreen" to mean a misinterpretation of words in a phrase which gives the line new meaning. Wright went on to suggest the new meaning should be better than the original.

Over time the term has come to be applied almost exclusively to misheard song lyrics and the element of "better than the original" has been lost a bit. Though to be fair to those perpetrating this corruption, I can't help but question the validity of that element in Wright's original case. There is something poignant about the Earl being laid to rest on the green and furthermore, the young miss Wright's modification only served to double the tragedy! So I would submit that the supposed betterment is only from the nostalgic air of her memory of the poem as she first (mis)heard it.

The point is well taken though and I sought after misheard lyrics that seem to go at least a bit above and beyond just a simple homophonic blunder. I accept the possibility that for some of these it might be just me as well, but I hope you have at least one "Hey Me too!" moment somewhere in here.

Answer: 4 Non Blondes

The muddle on this one starts right out of the gate with a title, which is not in the lyrics. The refrain is "What's going on?", setting up a pattern of confusion as many misremember this as the song title.

At first glance the modegreen in question is just a simple trick on the ear and the misheard version seems silly enough to be discarded immediately. There is nothing wrong with the true line "I pray every single day, for a revolution!", but upon further reflection, it seems maybe an opportunity was missed here with the misheard version forming a poetic line of a potential pro-women's anthem wherein the singer is longing for release from the drudgery of kitchen chores, stereotypically heaped upon her by default. This alternate is not completely out of the blue in context either as an earlier line about the world being run by a "brotherhood of man" already set that tone. I suggest the wrong version is better than the real line, or maybe I am reaching and just hate to admit I was wrong.

Answer: caught a rabbit

This is a case of the true line being almost as odd as the misheard inventions. (Well, most of them anyway.) I bring it up specifically to illustrate the phenomenon of multilayer mondegreens. Some lines are so baffling at large that multiple alternates are devised and widely accepted. I once asked what he was saying on this one and had my incorrect guess "gonna rabbit" corrected incorrectly to the "gone rabid" version.

Answer: Eyes Without a Face

If the misheard line happens to also be the song title, the mondegreen effect usually relies heavily on not knowing the title as having that knowledge in advance helps one decipher it correctly and sidestep the silent question "what did he/she say?" which leads to such creations.

On the other hand, if seeing a mondegreen for an unfamiliar tune written out as misheard version vs real lyrics side by side sometimes the two versions seem different enough to ask "how the heck can you hear that instead of THAT?" I I could easily see that happening here. I never had a problem with the English half of this line as I knew the title before hearing it so the somewhat odd pronunciation didn't fool me. My trouble was with the first half of the line in French and trying to make the sounds I was hearing into English (which is another common source of mondegreens in multi-language songs).

Answer: Like a Virgin

The true line is "Like a virgin, touched for the very first time"

The wrong answers were not random choices as Madonna is a hotbed of Mondegreens, probably owing to a combination of her often racy lyrics coupled with human nature and a seeming tendency for minds to jump to the gutter when in doubt.

Some others of hers for the wrong answers:

Into the Groove
Correct line: At night I lock the doors where no one else can see.
Mondegreen: At night I love the goat that no else can see

Material Girl
Correct line: Only boys that save their pennies make my rainy day.
Mondegreen: Only boys that save their penance make my rainy day.

La Isla Bonita
Correct line: A young girl with eyes like the desert.
Mondegreen: young girl with eyes like potatoes.

Answer: Pour Some Sugar On Me

The Iphone wasn't seen until 2007, twenty years after the song was released. I suppose a mondegreen is a mondegreen and the retroactive circumstance doesnt really matter but I feel it lets the artist(s) in question off the hook a bit in cases like this since they had no reasonable defense against it other than a crystal ball.

What makes this one a true mondegreen to me (better than the original lyrics) is Iphone has tangible meaning, but for the original words, what the heck is a radar phone?

Answer: cross-eyed

The misheard phrase in question is "(Gladly) the cross-eyed bear"

Morissette's 1995 hit is the song of the woman scorned, and the line in question is, "Its not fair to deny me of the cross I bear that you gave to me." Which puts a humorous spin on a perfectly good angry rant by shifting the focus away from the weightier matters of a typical romantic breakup and over to a plush toy with an eye problem.

In the case of the church mishearings, mostly by adults who were children at the time, memories are a bit rusty for many recalling the mix-up and some people cite scriptural readings instead of hymns, but they all add on the "Gladly" element which adds even more absurdity.

The hymn is Fanny J Crosby's "Keep Thou my way, O Lord" where the line is "Gladly the cross I'll bear."

What makes this one so special is how widespread this mishearing was and the gentle bit of irreverence having evolved into a fond memory for so many who heard it this way. It has even inspired a non profit organization called "Gladly the Cross Eyed Bear", which will send a stuffed toy "Gladly" bear to anyone in need.

Answer: False

Yes even commercial jingles, usually sanitized for ease of digestion by wide audiences, are not immune to misheard lyric meltdowns. The correct wording is "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee"

This one seems fairly innocuous on the surface as both phrases have essentially the same meaning. Perhaps it was years of grammar lessons, railing mercilessly against the use of the dreaded double negative, which made those in the "does it like" camp (including myself), unable to even fathom the possibility of "nobody doesn't like...".

This may also explain the sometimes extreme reactions from those finding out the truth about something seemingly so trivial. I discovered the true version only by seeing it written on the side of a Sara Lee delivery truck when walking to a college class, and I can tell you after that bombshell, I got very little out of the remaining classes that day.

Answer: The Go-Gos

The fallout from this one was wide reaching. DJ's in Australia were particularly frustrated by this American recording for a while, reportedly demanding on air that listeners stop calling and requesting a song that did not exist.

It wasnt just an accent barrier that drove the confusion though. People all over the world misheard it the same way inspiring at least two other bands to record parody versions with lyrics about a seal. I mentioned a girl band specifically, to avoid confusion because Fun Boy Three released their take on it about a year after the Go-Gos and both versions were hits in various parts of the world.

Writing credit for the song is shared between Go-Gos guitarist Jane Wiedlin and Fun Boy Three singer Terry Hall. The song is about an affair shared between them while on tour together that occured while Hall had a girlfriend. The lyrics are about the desired secrecy, more so on his end. Perhaps this is why the Go-Gos version is a bouncy carefree tune while the Fun Boy three version has a more sober tone, complete with much clearer enunciation and none of the confusion about marine animals.

Answer: False

The line that has caused so much mystery and confusion (from the Manfred Mann version) is:

"Blinded by the light,
revved up like a deuce
Another runner in the night"

a Deuce refers to an automobile usually the same "Little Deuce Coupe" of Beach Boys fame. and, "revved up like a deuce" is a street racing reference which is used here to mean, very excited.

The most commonly misheard alternate for the second line above is "wrapped up like a douche". This alternate line doesn't make much sense but in fairness to this and many other preposterous seeming combinations for mondegreens, songwriting is an artistic venture and funny phrases from poetic license or just flat out nonsense lyrics abound in the musical world. With a jargon laden phrase such as this, simple slurring of words, a thick accent, or any combination thereof, almost anything is possible.

When this mondegreen gained prominence, mainly from Mann's more widely popular remake, Springsteen mused that the song was never quite as popular as it could be until Manfred Mann rewrote it to be about a feminine product. The Boss himself was not immune to this mistake though. His version has the slightly different second line "cut loose like a deuce", which has had its deuce similarly misconstrued by listeners.