Confusing Song Lyrics:
Who’s Lady Mondegreen?
The art of mishearing or confusing song lyrics is a common phenomenon known as a mondegreen. Listeners interpret the lyrics of a song incorrectly, creating phrases that deviate from the original text. In 1954, Sylvia Wright introduced the term. She misheard the words “laid him on the green” from a Scottish ballad as “lady Mondegreen.” Such instances provide a humorous glimpse into how our brains can unintentionally distort auditory information.
According to a Spotify poll, many people thought the Eurythmics line “Sweet dreams are made of these” claimed that “Sweet dreams are made of cheese.” My mother would undoubtedly have found the second version to be true. This simple misinterpretation showcases the extent of what one’s mind might conjure in the absence of clarity.
Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash
People think of food more than songwriters understand. The Starship song “We Built This City on Rock ‘n’ Roll” often gets revised to “We Built This City on Sausage Rolls.” And, of course, there is the Fifth Dimension song “This Is the Dawning of the Age of Asparagus.” Speaking of cheese again, the song “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vidi” (which is itself a mondegreen for “In the Garden of Eden) has been confused with “In a glob of Velveta, honey.” Personally, I like the cheese versions better.
That’s Not What They Said
Sometimes, our misunderstood song lyrics turn the song’s meaning in the opposite direction. Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” twisted from “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot” to an opposing plea, “If it ain’t paradise, then put up a parking lot.” I’m still convinced Mungo Jerry wasn’t looking forward to summer because of the women but because “You got swimmin’. You got swimmin’ on your mind.” That’s how I sing it during karaoke nights. These revisions raise the question of how listeners project their interpretations and thought processes to what they hear or think they hear.
Fun-loving songs may turn violent. ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” may go from “See that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen” to “See that girl, watch her scream, kicking the dancing queen.” Jimi Hendrix gives us one of the most confusing songs. His “Purple Haze” line, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky,” should not be confused with “Excuse me while I kiss this guy.” People may be disappointed to learn their sense of direction is wrong when they misunderstand the Credence Clearwater Revival song “Bad Moon On the Rise” and hear instead, “There’s a bathroom on the right.”
Misunderstood and misquoted song lyrics remind us of shared experiences as listeners prone to mutilating our favorite songs.
Singing it Wrong
Growing up in a church-going family, my siblings and I regularly butchered gospel and southern bluegrass song lyrics. An old song that whined, “wasted years, wasted years, oh, how foolish,” came out, “Pasted years, pasted years, oh, how gooey.” As a young and always hungry child, I thought the song “I’ll Never Be Lonely Again” declared, “I’ll never be baloney again.” That’s how we rural Pennsylvania folk pronounced “bologna.” And what was that tiny girl Shelbee doing in the middle of the song from Handel’s Messiah? “Wee Shelbee changed, oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh! Oh!”
My mother used to tell the joke that God’s name was Andy because the song says, “Andy walks with me. Andy talks with me. Andy tells me I am his own.”
Why Do We Misunderstand Lyrics?
Why do we so frequently confuse song lyrics? Understanding songs requires auditory accuracy and cognitive clarity. We need to hear it correctly. We need to comprehend what we hear. As a small child who had yet to waste years of her life foolishly, I could only relate to my kindergarten art class. When we listen to music, our minds automatically fill in gaps, often leading to the mishearing of lyrics. Context and familiarity drive this mental process. I hear what I know. When I hear a particular phrase, I unconsciously substitute unfamiliar words with those I find more relatable or easier to understand.
Cultural background significantly influences how individuals interpret song lyrics. Different cultures have unique linguistic constructs and societal norms that affect comprehension. As a result, a lyric referenced in one cultural context may be missed or misinterpreted in another. So, for me and my family, most lyrics involve cheese. Repetition fixes mangled phrases into our consciousness. The more we hear a particular misinterpretation, the more we believe it to be true. Auditory distortions, cognitive factors, and cultural differences create a humorous landscape of confusing song lyrics.
A Master of Confusing Song Lyrics
Sometimes, though, confusing song lyrics provide delightful entertainment. Weird Al Yankovic and the Christmas music group ApologetiX have developed the mondegreen into a parody art form.
I’m no Weird Al, but I learned to revise song lyrics to fit my circumstances in my younger years. Once, my dad mowed the grass, which had grown unusually high. He didn’t want clumps of dead grass scattered across the yard, so naturally, he demanded my kid sister and I follow behind the mower and wagon and gather grass with our bare hands. I found the tune “Greensleeve,” also known as “What Child Is This?” to fit my need for a complaining song. It went like this:
My knees are green from picking grass
I feel like a slave, I feel like an … (I didn’t sing it but couldn’t miss the obvious rhyme.)
Apple trees don’t require my knees,
But they’re gree-een from pi-icking grass.
In my teenage years, I was both impressed and repulsed by beer commercial jingles and decided to do something about those beautiful tunes. I created a medley of redeemed beer jingles to make a Sunday school teacher proud. “There is only one beer to have” transformed into “There is only one way to Heaven.” “Here Comes the King” easily converted into a Christian message. “When You Say Bud” became “When You Say Love,” but someone stole and marketed that one soon after. My parody career nearly ended then.
As an educator, I used mangled song lyrics to teach the parts of a business letter, how to add and subtract integers, and as a reminder to solve multistep algebra equations correctly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t deliver the song with Bob Seger’s angst (“Old Time Rock & Roll)” when I serenaded my seventh-graders:
Just take that old pencil in your hand.
This ain’t no time to be a lazy man.
There’s only one sure way to make sure it’s fine.
Rewrite each step of that equation line.”
Your turn: Revising Song Lyrics
Music has a way of connecting people, not only through melodies but also through the misunderstandings of what we hear. These confusing song lyrics can turn an intended message into something entirely different and far more humorous.
So now it’s your turn. Share your confusing song lyrics, whether accidentally misunderstood or intentionally revised. Brainstorm some of your favorite songs to kick off this activity. Listen closely and jot down the lyrics as you hear them, particularly phrases that may lend themselves to amusing misinterpretations.
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