That’s the Lyric?
Currently, I’m playing Jack’s Mom in a production of Into the Woods. Sondheim’s lyrics challenge the best performers, and each of us cast members has mis-sung a word (or ten) in the process. In the dressing room the other night, we were listening to the princes’ duet, and a fellow cast mate started laughing. As the men sang the line, “and you cry on their biers,” she admitted that she had been singing “and you cry on their beards” before looking at her script. She did think it was a bit strange, but, hey, stranger things have been the subjects of songs, so she continued on her merry musical way.
This is an example of a mondegreen. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, a mondegreen is “a word or phrase that results from a mishearing especially of something recited or sung,” e.g., “beards” for “biers.”
Mondegreens often change the meaning or intention of the lyrics. More often, the singer does not realize that the mondegreen-ed lyrics no longer make sense. Or, if they do make sense, it’s not at all what the lyricist meant to communicate.
What a Modegreen is NOT
For the “not” examples, I turn to my family’s history.
My dad was famous for forgetting lyrics, particularly the ones in Bob Hope’s famous song, “Thanks for the Memory.” (Ironic, isn’t it?) Preparing for a solo he landed with his men’s singing group, he rehearsed through the house and the neighborhood singing, “Thanks for the memory. La da da da da da, Ba da da da da da…” Eventually, he did fill in the “La da da” blanks with the actual words and he performed them to rousing applause. To this day, my siblings and I celebrate Dad’s memory with his version of the song.
But that’s not a mondegreen. That’s just faulty memory that created a fabulous family memory.
Here’s another non-example.
Our parents loved listening and dancing to the great singers of the 40s. And could our parents swing! We’d sit in rapt amazement as they cut a rug to the hits of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Rosemary Clooney, and Peggy Lee. As a result, we four siblings can stop, drop, and belt almost any of their hits. At an early age, our brother, the youngest of us, was captured at on cassette tape (yes, a cassette tape) singing along to a Tony Bennett hit, serenading us all with, “I left my heart in Han Han Hitco.” For our family, these are the definitive lyrics.
But this is not a mondegreen; this is a case of mispronounced lyrics by a little kid. Now, as a grown man, he croons with the best of them—and almost always gets the words right.
Personal Mondegreens
There are lots of famous examples that can be found online, but my own foibles offer plenty of fodder.
Abba offered me plenty of opportunities for mondegreens. In their song, “Dancing Queen,” you’d hear me sing “Watch that screen” for “Watch that scene,” “Night is young and the music’s hot” when the music is actually “high,” and “With a hit of rock music” instead of a “bit” of the music. The first two kind of work. I said kind of. Okay, perhaps only in my mind.
I have also bludgeoned Elton John’s hits. To me, the tiny dancer was a “singer in the band.” Silly me. She’s a “seamstress for the band.” Imagine my surprise when I read the lyrics “Pretty-eyed, private smile” when I’ve been singing, “Pretty guy, pilot light.” Sort of changes the song a lot, doesn’t it?
And my lyrics to Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” were recently brought to light by my daughter. I’m rocking out the chorus singing, “Keep on with the post op/Don’t stop ‘til you get enough.” My cool factor definitely slid down the chart when she laughingly told me the real lyrics: “Keep on with the force, don’t/Don’t stop ‘til you get enough.” I stopped after, obviously, getting enough.
Mondegreens in Your Writing
Don’t let mondegreens cause a problem for you and your writing. Do your research so you get ‘em right when you need ‘em to be exact for the situation. Make ‘em clever when you need to highlight something about the character’s intelligence or creativity or vulnerability or whatever quality that needs to shine through with the intentional or unintentional twist of words.
Share your personal mondegreens! I promise to sing along.