my Finnish GF supplied these two:
from the second birthday song
“…for he’s a jolly good fellow, and nobody can be nice” (nobody can deny)

from the cartoon show Transformers song
“transformers, robots in the skies” (in disguise)

CJ: Now that’s an interesting idea. Maybe an alien who starts to learn human language through music but keeps getting the words confused? I might have to steal that for my writing!

Thanks for the mondegreens as well. I can see that about the Transformers; it sounds so similar. But the birthday one’s unforgivable.

CJ: It could be that, Lolly; I’m afraid I don’t know the song that well to know the lyric, but Am I Right shows quite a few people have misheard the lyric, so maybe it is fairly common. I like that one, though; some of these mondegreens are classics.

CJ: That’s a good one, DG. Maybe that’s where the leprechaun myth comes from.

CJ: Can’t say I have. But Weird Al Yankovic did a parody called Alimony. That’s very funny.

Oh yes, some of us (if we’re old enough) understand Bohemian Rhapsody. Some of us even inflict our 1970-80’s sensitivities on our offspring. At my daughter’s 16th (she’s nearly 20 now) she did Bohemian Rhapsody karaoke, not a word wrong and including air guitar. Sadly she’s flat as a tack and at that age didn’t even have alcohol as an excuse. LOL

Nice blog, I will visit occasionally (because it’s horrible to have your parents’ acquaintances impose themselves upon you). LOL

CJ: Hi Kate, thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry I missed those in SMH; it would have been fun, keeping track of all the different ones. I guess now there are websites like Kiss This Guy dedicated to mondegreens, though, there’s not as much point doing them.

Bohemian Rhapsody is actually one of my favourite songs; it just sounds so weird when you hear it for the first time. Not sure I could go as far as karaoke, though! Must have made for a memorable 16th.
Feel free to drop by whenever you like; I always enjoy meeting new people and MQ has great taste in acquaintances. Look forward to having a look at your blog too.

John Lennon sometimes sang ‘I wanna hold your gland…’ instead of ‘I wanna hold your hand’ during concerts. No one could notice it though because of all the screaming.

CJ: Glad I’m not the only one! It’s not being that much of a snob, though… we all like to have something which is just ours, or be the first to discover something. When it catches on, it doesn’t feel as special. That’s why I’ve started going for more alternative artists. If they never catch on, I don’t have to share!
I didn’t know that about John Lennon. That’s a good one and I could see him doing that… probably a lot of singers do, actually. If you think about how many times they sing a song, it must get monotonous sometimes. Maybe that’s where a lot of mondegreens come from, they just start experimenting.

“Old King Grollie on the Mountain”

When I told it was Glory not grollie, they insisted it was and said it was a song about sneezing…

CJ: Old King Glory’s about sneezing? Wow, I’ve had the meaning wrong all these years! I guess it could have been worse; they could have thought “the mountain was so high” meant pot.
If they still think it’s wrong, you could show them the lyrics online… that’s funny, though. I remember I used to get mixed up with Young Hunting when I was younger a bit like that. I could have sworn “light down upon my hand” was “lie upon the sand”…

I have had a few mondegreen myself. One I rember was when I was in second grade.
The song Rock the Casbah was on at a rolling skating party I was at.
The older kids were singing it at the top of their lungs and I really thought they were singing F**** the Casba.
I remember thinking, should I sing it with them so they like me. I think I ended up muttering it and then abruptly stopping because I did not like the way I felt doing something I should not have been doing(cursing):).

CJ: It’s so annoying when that happens, isn’t it? I remember hearing Snow Patrol for the first time and liking them, but then finding out that everyone was talking about them… it just didn’t feel the same after that.

Rock the Casbah’s an interesting one. I think some schools banned it here for being “culturally insensitive”. I always took it as being about the banning of rock music in Iran, so I guess they didn’t hear the same thing I did.
That’s funny what you heard it as, though. Good thing you didn’t sing it more loudly, eh? I don’t think I could have brought myself to say it either.

“They have slain the Earl of Moray / And laid him on the green.”
I love mondegreens, and this are some great ones, even if the Bad Moon Rising example sounds a little far-fetched to me!

CJ: I love that it’s a monegreen itself. You can just imagine children crying over the death of poor Lady Mondegreen, only to find out later that she never existed! Classic.
Bad Moon Rising’s an interesting one… it’s actually the second most common mondegreen, but I’m with you, it’s the one I’m the least likely to mishear. Most people don’t hear that in Truly Madly Deeply, though, so I shouldn’t complain!
Welcome back, btw. Hope you enjoyed your holiday.

And then there are vile people who distort songs intentionally, with the sole aim of confusing their kid sisters. Hint: Such vile people resemble my brother. Closely.

He taught me a song, where the lyrics had been replaced by swear words. And I sang that in my school. My Catholic school
CJ: It’s a funny kind of name, isn’t it? It’s good there is a name, but a misheard phrase isn’t the first thing you’d think of with mondegreen… sounds more like a mouldy cheese.

So people really do that? I’ve had people try to convince me that the wrong lyrics were actually the right ones even when they knew they weren’t, but to do that to a song on purpose… and then let you sing it in school… I can just imagine how that must have gone. Ouch.