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Christmas Music LyricMondegreens for You for
Christmas Yes, I have mondegreens for you! Arent you thrilled? If you're not sure, you aren't alone. Its a word that sounds vaguely familiar , and might be something you'd like to get. I mean we have lots of "greens" at Christmas - trees, wreaths, apparel, and "monde," well doesn't that mean "world"? But ... huh?
When Christmas carols burst upon the scene with their unfamiliar or vaguely familiar and sometimes archaic lyris (i.e., "to certain poor shepherds"), hark! (Listen!), we have the makings of a wassail (beverage) bowl of confusion, or, more precisely, a wassail bowl of mondegreens. "Mondegreen" means a mishearing of a statement or song lyric. Kinda like the old game of "Gossip" where you whisper something to the first person as fast as you can, they whisper it to the person next to them, and after 9 people, the last person recites what they heard and you laugh! The term was allegedly coined by Sylvia Wright, a columnist, who wrote of her dismay in discovering that she had misheard the lyrics to the Scottish folk ballad, "The Bonny Early of Murray." It goes "They hae slain the Earl of Murray, And they laid him on the Green," while she had always heard "They hae slain the Earl of Murray, and Lady Mondegreen." Oh my! Examples abound, especially where children are involved because of their limited vocabulary for understanding, and their unlimited capacity for passing on misinformation. I think of my son, for instance, whose favorite Christmas song was, in his words, "Frosty the No Man." Snopes.com has collected these faux pas from Internet postings, books, and reader e-mails. Perhaps you have your own collection. Here you can see a list of some of them. There is also also Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Carol Lyrics, by Gavin Edwards, which contains quite a few more, with great illustrations. Now, technically, a mondegreen is a true misunderstanding, not one of those parody songs. Here are a couple of examples: "Olive, the other reindeer" ("All of the other reindeer" -- "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer") "Round John Virgin" ("Round yon virgin" -- "Silent Night") "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, youll go drown in Listerine." ("Youll go down in history." - "Rudolph") Were compiling a list on Club Vivo Per Lei / I Live for Music ( www.susandunn.cc/vivoperlei.htm ) for your enjoyment, so, O Come Hoggy Faithful (another example), drop by and submit yours and enjoy those of others. If your familys like mine, you have "stories" about these you tell every year, particular from back when the kid were young. P.S. Cant you imagine the little darling who thought is was "Making a list, chicken and rice? Featured Christmas Sites:
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