Tuesday 13 September 2016

I didn't know there was a word for that!

Mondegreen.  Strange word isn't it?


In my last post I mentioned the Scots ballad The Bonnie Earl O'Moray.  In the first verse are the lines - "they have slain the Earl O'Moray and laid him on the green".  Sylvia Wright, an American author coined the term in 1954 after she discovered she had misheard the lyric to the ballad. She thought the words were - "they have slain the Earl O'Moray and Lady Mondegreen."!  The term Mondegreen has been in use ever since.


I know that this has happened to me - I recently saw the actual words for a song I thought knew well and realised that I had been singing the wrong lyrics for years.  It was Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way".  I thought part of the lyrics were "you can call it thunder along the way" - actually its just "you can call it another lonely day"!
What lyrics have you got wrong?  Talking of Fleetwood Mac here's a link to an amazing song - Landslide.  It's just Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham.  Grab a coffee and prepare for a few emotional moments.  I've been playing it a lot recently, it is so beautiful.  Enjoy!

Love, Liz

2 comments:

Lynne said...

Good Morning . . .
I have received a few posts up in the past few days looking totally different and I couldn't leave a comment.
This morning "short bread and ginger" looks like YOU!
Great seeing you again.
I loved seeing your colorful "tea cozies!"

mamasmercantile said...

Beautiful song. I have never come across the word before.