Mondegreens you carried into adulthood

The Game Room
1

We all suffered some Mondegreens, or mishearings of classic texts, in childhood.

Example:

Thou hae slain the Earl of Murray
And Lady Mondegreen.

Beautiful and romantic, but incorrect. The original ballad reads:

Thou hae slain the Earl of Murray
And laid him on the green.

Other examples are “to the Republic for Richard Stanz” and the hymn “Gladly, the Cross-Eyed Bear.” (And a friend of mine who attended a graveside funeral at the age of five thought he heard the preacher say, “In the name of the Father and the Son, in the hole he goes.”)

But–

What Mondegreens did you carry with you into adulthood? I was in my thirties before I learned that Scott Joplin did not compose “The Make-Believe Rag.”

Any others?

2

This isn’t a mondegreen, just a long-held misinterpretation.

I loved George Harrison’s “33 1/3” album, and one of my favorite tracks was “Crackerbox Palace,” a whimsical, Beatlesque song that ended with the line “Know that the Lord is well and inside of you.”

Now, George had a LOT of religious songs, and I while I never knew what the song was supposed to mean, I always assumed that line was saying God/Jesus was inside every human being.

Duh! Totally wrong, and I only found out a few months ago. “The Lord” George referred to wasn’t God or Jesus- it was Lord Buckley, one of George’s favorite comedians. Lord Buckley lived in a house that he called Crackerbox Palace.

3

All these years and I thought they were singing “Bucku oh bucky ba” :rolleyes:
Magic Bus

4

What I heard for the past 39 years:

Doe, a deer a female deer
Ray, a drop of golden suuuun
Me, a name, I call myself
Fa, a long long way to ruuuun
So, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow so
Tea, a drink with German bread (:confused: why German?)

Just now, while watching an old Muppets show, I finally heard it:

Tea, a drink with JAM AND bread :smack: (my life makes so much more sense now!)

5

Not a mishearing of mine, but I love the seasonal joke about the little kid who drew a picture of the Nativity scene. His mother complimented him but asked who the very fat man sitting with Mary and Joseph was. The boy told her “That’s Round John Virgin”

6

I’d always thought John Lennon’s “Watching the Wheels” contained the line:
*
Don’t you miss the big time boy, you no longer run the ball?*

Seemed odd for Lennon to include a football reference, but I went with it for years, until I learned the correct lyric is:
Don’t you miss the big time boy, you’re no longer on the ball?
I like my version better.

7

From Mary Poppins, “Feed the Birds”:

“All around the cathedral the snakes and opossums
Look down as she sells her wares”

Turned out it was “saints and apostles.” Go figure.

There were also a bunch from Damn Yankees, a show that I listened to the OriginalCastRecording of frequently as a child and then didn’t hear it again for years. One example of several: It turned out that the line “Fetus Fleetus’ Mercuries!” (which I thought referred to some strangely-named dude’s car dealership) was actually “feet as fleet as Mercury’s,” which was a little different.

8

There were some that I knew were mondegreens, but had no idea as a child what the actual words were. Gladly the cross-eyed bear comes to mind.

9

I have a good friend who has been very hard of hearing all his life. He told me that, as a child, he thought the opening line to Chattanooga Choo-choo was

Pardon me boy, is that the cat who chewed your new shoes.

10

I always thought it was German bread too. Who knew? :eek:

11

A friend of mine was having ‘tea with Jan and Fred’. Do you suppose they might enjoy some pumpernickel or rye?