The Mondegreening of America [by Sharon Mesmer]

My first poetry teacher, Paul Hoover, once said to us (quoting Eliot — or was it Pound?  I think it was Eliot): "All mishearings are poetry."  Probably half of every poem I write consists of mishearings — I've trained my brain to rearrange what I hear.  So just now I almost burned the pierogies when I heard on the radio (on John Schafer's WNYC show "Soundcheck") that there's actually a word for these mishearings, and it's been around for a while, too: mondegreens.  I won't explain why "mondegreen," since I'm sure it's only me who doesn't know this.  Anyway, on the show, listeners called in to share their fave mondegreens from pop and rock songs.  Here are some, excluding the totally obvious ones by Hendrix and CCR:

" ... is it just a debt to be a debt to me" (from the Knack's "My Sharona" — the song I hate most in this world, btw)

" ... a fake Chinese Robert Plant" (from Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees")

"Jeez, a slushy Mormon you may know" (from S&G's "Mrs. Robinson")

" ... stepped on her Pop-Tart" (from Warren Buffett's brother's "Margaritaville")

"Call the Coast Guard!" (from the Ohio Players' "Love Roller Coaster")

Now THIS may be the best mondegreening of any song: Joe Cocker doing "With A Little Help From My Friends" at Woodstock, with subtitles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4_MsrsKzMM

Please feel free to post your poetic mondegreens in the comments field, knowing that I will probably use them in a poem if you haven't.   Or even if you have!

Comments

[The Best American Poetry]

I love mondegreens and have followed them forever, it seems. I do think the mishearings are psychologically revealing, if not deep. I had a young (19) coworker many years ago who heard the lyrics of "There's a Party in My Pants" (which a local radio station would play every Friday) as "There's a Party at My Parent's." When my sister was learning to drive, the Beatles "Paperback Writer" was "Take the last right turn." And a man I know thought the Bananarama "I'm Your Venus," was "I'm Your Penis" (I thought it was "I'm Your Fetus") and that "Mask of Play" (What Kind of Fool Am I?) was "Mass Souffle." These crack me up! Stacey

[The Best American Poetry]

One more: Remember 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry"? I was camping in the mountains with a friend and we were singing that song. Instead of "Hush hush, keep it down now, voices carry" she sang the last two words as "it's so scary." Not too much of a stretch but we were camping and it was scary. sdh

[Sharon Mesmer]

Re: "I'm Your Fetus" -- there's a song by Elton John on the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" LP called "Grey Seal," the lyrics of which go: "if the phoenix bird can fly then so can I." Well, it goes without saying what I thought he was saying. And I put it in a poem!

[Peter P]

I always heard Jimi Hendix's "'scuse me while I kkiss the sky" as "'scuse me while I kiss this guy."
ooooops
hehehehe

[T.]

I like to refer to this phenomenom as "Interpretive Hearing."

[Sharon Mesmer]

"'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" — Hendrix would actually sing those words occasionally, I heard (or misheard?).

"Interpretive hearing" -- I LURVE that!!!!