Not a mondegreen but… From the lines:
In the meadow we can build a snowman.
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown.
He’ll say are you married we’ll say No Man!
But you can do the job when you’re in town.
I thought it was an invitation for promiscuity.
I always thought it was “and pretend that he is parse and brown.”
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, my class was caused to sing a version of Como’s C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S. As a Jewish kid, most of the words meant nothing to me, and since we were taught it orally, with no reference to written lyrics, I wasn’t helped any. For years I thought the line “R’s for our Redeemer” was “R’s for R. E. Deemer,” which made much more sense than “R” standing for “Our.” (It didn’t help the song any that this is the only line where the acronym is interrupted by an extra word.)
It’s not a mondegreen unless someone really thought they heard the lyrics that way. When I first heard “Silver Bells”, I thought it began like this:
City cyborgs, busy cyborgs, dressed in holiday style . . .
From Snopes. They’ve got a few more.
Good King Wences’ car backed out
On the feet of heathens
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight
Gath’ring wine and gruel.
Good king wants his applesauce
At the feast this evening
When the snow lay round about,
Deep and crisp and even.
And imagine that! Another yutz who didn’t read the OP! :smack: :smack: :smack: