Just like the one-winged dove....

[Livia]

http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs....604230350/1024

Article published Apr 23, 2006
Peas, love & (mis)understanding
It's not just you: Everyone's singing the wrong song lyrics
By STACY NICK
[email protected]

Everyone has gotten in the car, cranked up the radio and, at the top of his or her lungs, sang that favorite song - completely wrong.

Misheard lyrics - or "mondegreens" as they are called - run from the good (Nirvana's famously garbled "Smells Like Teen Spirit") to the ridiculous (why exactly would anyone write a song about a "bathroom on the right"?) to the downright ugly (Isn't "Louie, Louie" just one big "Huh?" moment?).

The term "mondegreen" was coined by Sylvia Wright in 1954.

As a child, Wright had listened to the 17th-century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray," which included the lines, "They had slain the Earl of Moray/And Lady Mondegreen." Years later, she realized this was actually, "They had slain the Earl of Moray/And laid him on the green."

The fact that there's an actual name for this dilemma is comforting to Denise McFadden. For years, the Fort Collins resident thought Stevie Nicks was singing about a "one-winged dove" in "Edge of Seventeen."

"I'm not alone," McFadden said, relieved.

No, Denise, you're not alone. Even music ex- perts, ahem, have fallen prey to the "elocution-challenged" singers of today. Up until about five years ago, I thought Irene Cara's song "Flashdance" held the line, "Take your pants down."

It's actually, "Take your passion," but c'mon, the song is "Flashdance." Whatever - I was 8 when it came out. It could happen to anybody.

And apparently, it has. When the Coloradoan sent out the call for people to write in with their best mondegreen, we received a ton of submissions of the "girl with colitis goes by" kind.

Here are a few of our favorites:

How does that song go?
Growing up in the '50s/'60s, there was always the threat of the cold war, with air raid shelters and atomic bombs. At a Christmas concert, we overheard my younger sister singing, "Oh, Tomic Bomb. Oh, Tomic Bomb." We still give her grief over this ...
Jan Scherer
Windsor

I am a huge Jimmy Buffet fan. Because he has been around for a few years, I remember listening to him in elementary and juniorhighschool. Now, "Margaritaville" is a favorite song of mine. However, as a child, I didn't even know what a margarita was. So here are the lyrics I used when I sang along to the radio: "Wasted away again and I'll get rid of it. Lookin' for my-y lost shaker and song."
Mikey Payne
Fort Collins

In the 1970s, a group named "10cc" released the song, "I'm not in love." Toward the end of it, a woman whispers, "Big boys don't cry" several times, which for years I interpreted as "requesting quiet." I learned the correct lyric from a friend less than 10 years ago.
Patrick Kavanagh
Fort Collins

I think I have been suffering from a hearing disorder since I was a child. Whenever I heard "Jingle Bells," I couldn't figure out what a "one-horse soapen sleigh" was. I used to look for airplanes in the sky with a fruit motif painted all over them because of the line "above, the fruited plane!" from "My Country 'Tis of Thee." My sister died out laughing after my rendition of "Bobby McGee," when I sang "windshield wipers, turpentine" for "windshield washers slappin time." My brother was a little snooty when, while singing "Sweet Baby James," I sang "Though the birches seemed green like on account of that frostin.' " OK, I had never heard of the "Berkshires." I do believe I come by this hearing disorder honestly, as I very distinctly remember driving down Lovers Lane in Dallas, Texas, and my mother saying, "I think this song is sacrilegious!" When I inquired about it, she said, "Whoever heard of a reverend in blue jeans?" Blaring on the radio was Neil Diamond's, "Forever in Blue Jeans!"
Lenoir Melton
Fort Collins

When my daughter was a pre-teen, she loved to listen to Julie Andrews and movie soundtracks. One day I was surprised to hear her singing "Bomb city is out, bomb city yourself part of the family." She was equally surprised to have me tell her that the real words were "Consider yourself at home, consider yourself part of the family." The vocalist had a heavy British accent, which made it difficult to understand the lyrics.
Rosanne Knight
Loveland

My daughter (who is now 15) used to get very revved when singing "Knocking on Kevin's Door" as a toddler.
Felicity Morton
Fort Collins

My all-time favorite misheard lyric is "Someone shaved my wife tonight" from Elton John's "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." There is another Elton John song, but it would not likely be printed in a family newspaper.

(Reporter's note: Sir Elton does provide some great ones, like Julie Kilgore's re-write of "Tiny Dancer" - "Hold me close, I'm Tony Danza.")

Also, from "Twistin' The Night Away" - "Dancing with the chicken slats," which is actually, "Dancing with the chick in slacks?" As a child, I assumed Chicken Slats was a well-known person in someone's world, like Minnesota Fats or something.
And from "Passionate Kisses" - "Friends that won't run out on me," which is actually "Pens that won't run out of ink."
Jo Royal
Fort Collins

I had a friend of mine who thought the A Flock of Seagulls song "I Ran" was about the country Iran. I used to laugh at him about it, but if you think about it, it was popular right after the Iran hostage crisis, and we were at odds with Iran and Khomeini at the time. The lyrics do say "and Iran, Iran so far away ... I couldn't get away."
Mark J. Nicklay
Fort Collins

When I was a teenager, I thought that Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" said, "Dreadlock rock star," instead of "Dreadlock Rasta." My cousin, Bob, used to sing "Doctor cashbox," instead of "Rock the Casbah" in the Clash song.

Also, I recently caught my husband singing, "Sooo, I walk through the door ..." instead of "Soy un perdidor" in Beck's "Loser."
Christie Lurie McPhail
Fort Collins