And Lady Mondegreen

Anyone who knows me knows that I love words and word-related humor. I giggle like a child at silly typos and the like- embarrassing, but true. I promise to make this relevant to music therapists, but I'm going to begin by telling you about a new term I discovered that I think is brilliant. It's called a "mondegreen".

Definition of MONDEGREEN

: a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung <“very close veins” is a mondegreen for “varicose veins”>

(taken from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mondegreen ) 

This word originated from an old Scottish ballad that contained the line "and laid him on the green". Apparently, it was often misheard as "and Lady Mondegreen". And so the term was born.

There are many more of these today. A couple of the most famous follow:
- The mishearing of "excuse me while I kiss the sky" in Jimi Hendrix's song "Purple Haze" as "excuse me while I kiss this guy."
Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSNkopRnuNc
- The mishearing of "there's a bad moon on the rise" in CCR's Bad Moon Rising as "there's a bathroom on the right"
Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

This is only the beginning. There are tons of these, some more convincing than others. For more, see my new favorite website (I wasn't kidding when I said I love these...) http://www.kissthisguy.com/ .

These happen to me all the time. I've always noticed about myself that I'm a music, then lyrics person. I can know a song very well before I put any thought at all into the lyrics. And usually, by the time I take the trouble to think about what the song is talking about, I've made up some pretty interesting lyrics for the words that are difficult to hear.

Some of my personal favorite mondegreens:
- My own mishearing of a line in Taylor Swift's "Sparks Fly". "You get me with those green eyes baby" became "You hit me with those street lights baby", and I didn't even notice what I was saying until I was singing it in the car with a friend who pointed it out.
- Beyonce's "Single Ladies": "Up in the club, just broke up" became "up in the club, just woke up"... I guess I was thinking she slept all day so she could party all night??
- Tody Keith's "Made in America: "He's got the red white blue flying high on the farm, Semper Fi tatooed on his left arm" --> "He's got the red white blue flying high on the farm, a separate flag tatooed on his left arm". Another noticed by my roommate as we were singing in the car.

These are pretty hilarious (if your sense of humor is like mine), but the fact that this phenomenon has its own term is a testament to the fact that it's a problem. One of the things that separates an MT from a violinist or a trumpeter is the fact that we play AND sing, and the words we sing can make a big difference for our clients. Often, our clients already know the words to whatever we're singing, so it's not a problem, but not always. It's important that we remember what we learned in voice lessons or voice class: diction! If our clients are having trouble discerning what we're saying, we are not going to be as effective.