# More Mondegreens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [July 11, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987 "2020-07-11T00:53:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2020, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/21 "2020-07-20T21:13:22Z")
“Hold me closer, Tony Danza! Count the headlice on my hiney” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/22 "2020-08-13T03:35:01Z")
I was listening to “Summer in the City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful yesterday. And I realized for the first time that the line was _“All around, people looking half dead/Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.”_ Which makes sense. And rhymes. But for some reason I’ve always heard the line as _“hotter than a mattress”_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/23 "2020-08-13T05:16:39Z")
This whole song is one string of mondegreens: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7seZjqkk2n0) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/24 "2020-08-13T20:06:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was listening to “Summer in the City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful yesterday. And I realized for the first time that the line was _“All around, people looking half dead/Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.”_ > > Which makes sense. And rhymes. But for some reason I’ve always heard the line as _“hotter than a mattress”_. Ohhhh… and I always heard it as “[something] in a mansion.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/25 "2020-08-13T20:11:59Z")
“California Girls” was on the same CD. Turns out the line is _“I dig a french bikini on Hawaiian island dolls/by a palm tree in the sand”_. Not _“I dig a french bikini on a wild-eyed doll/it’s like poetry in the sand”_. ---
**Author:** ![Bayarea4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bayarea4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayarea4)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/26 "2020-08-15T06:27:59Z")
A line in the Stones song "Paint it Black’ always sounded to me like: “No more will ugly seagulls/Turn the people blue” What it really says: “No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/27 "2020-08-15T19:21:46Z")
City of New Orleans, sung by Arlo Guthrie [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NGIaZxyPozI/hqdefault.jpg "The City of New Orleans (with lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIaZxyPozI) Not Grave yards full of old black men it is really: _Freight yards full of old black men_ _And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles_ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/28 "2020-08-18T16:29:09Z")
It’s been One Week since I found out that there is no X-Files episode that features Donna Mason. Literally, one week ago I read the real lyric. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/29 "2020-08-18T16:35:26Z")
It’s 2020. We’re all Donna Mason now. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/30 "2020-08-18T17:00:22Z")
Yes we are. But are we all doing it doggy style so we can both watch? Yes, I have conflated two different songs in my head. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/31 "2020-08-18T18:10:00Z")
_Sealing_ wax - used to seal documents. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/32 "2020-08-19T14:16:19Z")
I would have thought that obvious from my response. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/33 "2020-08-28T19:52:17Z")
You gotta be of a certain age (and from the US) to misremember this song. Look for the union label when you are buying a coat, dress or bows. Remember somewhere our union’s growing. Our wages going to feed the kids. Around the house we work hard, but whose complaining? We take the IRT and sometimes the D! So always look for the union label; it says we’re able to make it in the USAAAAAAAAA!!! I see you probably have to be a bit of a New Yorker to understand my misunderstanding. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/34 "2020-08-28T21:55:44Z")
Ok, so “bows” should be blouse - but I’m not sure that qualifies as a mondegreen, because it really doesn’t change the meaning. Or is there another mistake? ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/35 "2020-08-28T22:18:44Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > 19th Nervous Breakdown: this isn’t really a Mondegreen, just a homophone. I always wondered why her father was “still perfecting ways of making ceiling wax.” > Who the hell waxes their ceilings? Well. Mark today as the day I figured out the lyric’s in Disney’s _Alice in Wonderland_ are: **To talk of other things** **Of shoes and ships and sealing wax** **Of cabbages and kings** Since I was a small child, I thought THAT was “ceiling wax” also, which somewhat made sense because of the nonsensical bits around the rest of the song… And I have also somehow just realized I never read Lewis Carroll’s original Alice books… ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/36 "2020-08-28T23:01:47Z")
The union people are not riding the MTA. What they are actually singing, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/37 "2020-08-28T23:45:41Z")
_Look for the union label_ _When you are buying a coat, dress, or blouse,_ _Remember somewhere our union’s sewing,_ _Our wages going to feed the kids and run the house,_ _We work hard, but who’s complaining?_ _Thanks to the ILG, we’re paying our way,_ _So always look for the union label,_ _It says we’re able to make it in the USA!_ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7Lg4gGk53iY/hqdefault.jpg "Look for the Union Label 1978 ILGWU ad") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lg4gGk53iY) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/38 "2020-08-28T23:47:58Z")
Damn, I got the phrasing all wrong! But my way is the way I hear it in my head. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/39 "2020-08-28T23:51:15Z")
That is what makes it a mondegreen! 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987/40 "2020-11-04T02:42:36Z")
According to [this page](http://womenatthecenter.nyhistory.org/look-for-the-union-label), the correct lyrics are: “Look for the union label, when you are buying that coat, dress, or blouse, Remember somewhere, our union’s sewing, our wages going to feed the kids and run the house, We work hard, but who’s complaining? Thanks to the ILG we’re making our way, So always look for the union label, it says we’re able to make it in the U.S.A.” The ILG(WU) is the International Ladies’ Garment (Workers Union). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-mondegreens/914987.md?page=3)