08/10/2026
FUN WITH WORDS
One of their recent topics was “Mondegreen”.
There was no word for this phenomenon until an American writer, Sylvia Wright, wrote an essay about misheard lyrics.
She recounted hearing an old Scottish murder ballad called ‘The Bonnie Earl O’Moray’. In it is the line, ‘They hae slain the Earl o’ Moray and laid him on the green.’ As a young girl she understood the line to be: ‘They have slain the Earl o’ Moray and Lady Mondegreen,’ making it a double murder!
As there was no word in existence for the phenomenon of mishearing a phrase and thereby giving it new meaning, she took it upon herself to coin one. The word ‘mondegreen’ has found its way into the lexicon.
Peter Kay, comedian, has a sketch about Misheard Lyrics (on YouTube), and it’s hysterical.
Some misheard lyrics are:
* Adele – ‘Chasing Pavements‘ – “Should I just give up chasing penguins?” (“pavements”)
* Arlen & Harburg, ‘Over The Rainbow‘: “weigh a pie” (way up high”)
* Celine Dion, ‘My Heart Will Go On’: “The hot-dogs go on” (“The heart does go on”)
* Benjamin Britten, ‘Oliver Cromwell‘: “There grew an old lavatory over his head” (“There grew an old apple tree over his head”)
* Bob Dylan, ‘Blowin’ In The Wind‘: “The ants are my friends, they’re blowin’ in the wind” (“The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind”)
* Jimi Hendrix, ‘Purple Haze‘: “Scuse me while I kiss this guy” (“Scuse me while I kiss the sky”)
Thanks to Ann and John for this contribution. We may post some queries in the coming weeks to see if you can decipher the correct lyric and song the mondegreen comes from.
