Mondegreens: When They Meant One Thing … But You Hear Something Different
Could “The answer my friend” be “The ants are my friends”?
When I was growing up, I thought Bob Dylan’s song, “The Answer Is Blowin’ in the Wind,”was “The ants are my friends, they’re blowing in the wind.”
Aretha Franklin’s “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” was “You Make Me Feel Like a Manchurian Woman.”
And I was certain that Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “The Girl from Ipanema” was “The Girl with Emphysema.”
When my daughter was at a recent sorority rush, Afrojack’s “Take Over Control” was blaring. She could have double-sworn they were singing “Take Your Birth Control.” (I think she’s right.)
What is all of this nonsense? It’s called a mondegreen.
PRONUNCIATION: MON-di-green.
MEANING: (Noun) Most often created when someone listening to a poem or song mishears a word or phrase, and substitutes words that sound familiar and make some kind of sense.
The phrase was coined in 1954 by American writer Sylvia Wright. As a girl, when her mother read to her from Percy’s Reliques, in the fourth line of the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray”, she misheard the lyric “layd him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen.”
My favorite of all mondegreens is by Elton John. “Bennie and The Jets.” To see what I mean, hit the YouTube link. (Feel free to sing along.)
Bennie and The Jets
Hey Q Chain the Lous Together The spy is hitting zombies That are known to chafe in leather, We’ll kill a fatty cop tonight So stick around You’ve got a hairy leg Trick music, malt balls of sound, Oh Kerry and Romney, Have you seen them yet? Oooh, cuz they’re so spaced out, B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssss, Oh the sweet and the wonderful, Oh man, she’s a rent-a-cane, She’s got electric boobs, My ma has two, You know I read it in a magazine, oh, oh, B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssss. Hey Keys, Why don’t you plan it to the faceless, Maybe they’re blind, but then again they’re faceless, Reach out to take ourselves home alone, Well, we found a pair of sarongs In the street, but we couldn’t be wrong,
REPEAT Oh Kerry and Romney,
Have you seen them yet?
Oh, but they’re so spaced out,
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets.
Oh, but the wheels are so wonderful,
Oh man, she’s a rent-a-cane,
She’s got electric boobs,
My ma has two,
You know I read it in a magazine, oh, oh,
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jetssss …
Bennie, Bennie, yeah, yeahhh,
Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, oh Bennie and the Jets,
Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, Bennie, yeah, yeahh.
P.S. Since one of my nicknames is “Benni,” I thought Elton John wrote this song for me. If I listened more carefully, I would be able to hear that he meant “Bennie.” Not “Benni.”
Bonni Brodnick is the author of the just-released memoir, “My Stroke in the Fast Lane: A Journey to Recovery” and “Pound Ridge Past,” now in its second edition. Formerly with Condé Nast Publications, Bonni has written scripts for Children’s Television Workshop, was a weekly newspaper columnist, and was editor of two academic magazines. She is an award-winning communications specialist, a member of Pound Ridge Authors Society, and blogs at bonnibrodnick.com. Bonni is also an ambassador for the American Heart Association and a proud Stroke Survivor.
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