Author Topic: Mondegreens  (Read 99746 times)

Lightnin' Rod

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2005, 04:38:47 PM »
Quote from: "princessofcairo"
Quote from: "Rod"
Oh Georgina!  Oh Georgina!

pretty sure now that its "o my jesus!"

"In My Time of Dying."


i used to think it was "on my genius"


Well, considering their egos at the time, a reasonable assumption.  Makes more sense than O Georgina!
and any fool knows
a dog needs a home
a shelter
from pigs on the wing

princessofcairo

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #16 on: February 08, 2005, 11:53:43 AM »
"i wanna be a wombat, i wanna be anemic"

that was listed in a book of mondegreen for soul II soul's "back to life" (which is currently playing on smotth fm)

ggould

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California Dreamin'
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2005, 01:52:07 PM »
My daughter and I both used to think the song went:

"I got down on my knees, and began to pray"

When it's supposed to be:


"I got down on my knees, and pretend to pray"

It never dawned on me that the singer was pretending, so the preacher would let him stay in the warm church.  Well, maybe it half-occurred, since it says "You know the preacher likes the cold, he knows I'm gonna stay"  but I never heard the word 'pretend'

And I've been listening to this song for almost 40 years!
Don't stand in the way of LOVE!

Gazoo

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Re: California Dreamin'
« Reply #18 on: February 20, 2005, 08:02:42 PM »
Quote from: "ggould"
My daughter and I both used to think the song went:

"I got down on my knees, and began to pray"

When it's supposed to be:


"I got down on my knees, and pretend to pray"

It never dawned on me that the singer was pretending, so the preacher would let him stay in the warm church.  Well, maybe it half-occurred, since it says "You know the preacher likes the cold, he knows I'm gonna stay"  but I never heard the word 'pretend'

And I've been listening to this song for almost 40 years!

Don't worry, 90% of karaoke artists and cabaret pianists sing it as "began."  The lyric makes sense either way -- either he's faking it just so he can stay warm, or he's really praying for a way out (which makes the preacher, who likes the cold, a symbol of what he wants to escape).
“The choir of children sing their song.  They've practiced all year long.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.”

princessofcairo

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2005, 08:02:20 AM »
i always thought it was "began," also.

ggould

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I Call Your Name
« Reply #20 on: August 11, 2005, 07:42:47 PM »
watching a Mamas and Papas documentary on KQED, and a really old Shindig tape, I finally heard
Quote
You know I can't sleep at night
I don't know who can
when I always thought it was
Quote
You know I can't sleep at night
I don't often can
What the hell I was thinking, I don't know!
Don't stand in the way of LOVE!

ggould

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cross-linked mondegreen
« Reply #21 on: December 30, 2005, 05:00:14 PM »
spurred on by Mike's WLNG post, I tuned in to hear what I always heard as "Oh A Tree in Motion!"

this really takes me right back to the street I lived on then.
Don't stand in the way of LOVE!

Gazoo

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2007, 08:35:40 PM »
Not musical, but I was just reminded today of one of my childhood mondegreens -- from the pledge of allegiance: "and to the republic, for witches' stands" (me, age 5: huh?) ... I don't think I'd ever heard the pledge of allegiance before kindergarten, and basically recited the pledge phonetically until I could piece together what was going on.  Never did gain a contextual appreciation of its actual text.
“The choir of children sing their song.  They've practiced all year long.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.  Ding dong.”

RGMike

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #23 on: February 01, 2007, 01:11:27 PM »
KCDX just played Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City", which contains the phrase "It's a girl, my lord", cribbed from "Take it Easy". So I googled to see if I could find it in a third song for M3S purposes. No luck, but I did come across 2 "Take it Easy" mondegreens:

"It's a girl, my lord, in some fathead's Ford"

"Lookin' for a lover who won't blow my brother"

(!)
You spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round

ggould

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slide rule
« Reply #24 on: March 29, 2007, 10:45:15 PM »
ALL these years, I thought the lyrics to Sam Cooke's What a Wonderful World was:

Don't know much about geography,
don't know much trigonometry.
Don't know much about algebra,
don't know what it's like through this world

turns out, now that our band is playing it, I find out it's about slide rules!:

Don't know much about geography,
don't know much trigonometry.
Don't know much about algebra,
don't know what s slide rule is for.
Don't stand in the way of LOVE!

RGMike

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MONDEGREENS
« Reply #25 on: March 30, 2007, 07:19:39 AM »
Quote from: "Gazoo"
Not musical, but I was just reminded today of one of my childhood mondegreens -- from the pledge of allegiance: "and to the republic, for witches' stands" (me, age 5: huh?) ... I don't think I'd ever heard the pledge of allegiance before kindergarten, and basically recited the pledge phonetically until I could piece together what was going on.  Never did gain a contextual appreciation of its actual text.


"and to the republic, for Richard Stanz"
You spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round

ggould

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Re: California Dreamin'
« Reply #26 on: March 31, 2007, 09:31:31 PM »
Quote from: "ggould"
My daughter and I both used to think the song went:

"I got down on my knees, and began to pray"

When it's supposed to be:

"I got down on my knees, and pretend to pray"

It never dawned on me that the singer was pretending, so the preacher would let him stay in the warm church.  Well, maybe it half-occurred, since it says "You know the preacher likes the cold, he knows I'm gonna stay"  but I never heard the word 'pretend'

And I've been listening to this song for almost 40 years!

and tonight at band practice, we were going over this song, and the lyrics the guitarist pulled off the web said "began!"
Don't stand in the way of LOVE!

urth

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Potato wave
« Reply #27 on: May 31, 2007, 05:58:17 PM »
This could have gone in the YouTube thread, but I think it belongs here. You'll see why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU
Let's get right to it.

mshray

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Re: Potato wave
« Reply #28 on: May 31, 2007, 08:46:24 PM »
Quote from: "urth"
This could have gone in the YouTube thread, but I think it belongs here. You'll see why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU


what I could see was funny, but it kept stopping at the 59 second mark.
"Music is the Earth, People are the Flowers, and I am the Hose."

--Carlos Santana, 2010

princessofcairo

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Re: Potato wave
« Reply #29 on: June 01, 2007, 04:45:24 AM »
Quote from: "urth"
This could have gone in the YouTube thread, but I think it belongs here. You'll see why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLd22ha_-VU


c'mon, m.c. escher, make me fries! i laughed so hard i'm crying. i'm a little frightened to view the other videos.