Friday, May 30, 2008

My mondegreen

Last night I had the radio on while I was sweeping the porch, and the song "I'd Really Like to See You Tonight" by England Dan & John Ford Coley came on. I've always liked this song, with my main reason being the beautiful line "there's a warm wind blowing the stars around." As I was singing along, I heard my husband chuckle. "It's not blowing the stars around," he laughed, it's the stars are out - how could stars blow around?" So I dropped my broom, went on a lyrics website and sure enough he was right. Much to my dismay, that warm wind was not swirling the stars above me. The stars were simply "out". The website went on to explain that this was a commonly misheard lyric, also known as a mondegreen. So now I don't feel quite so embarassed to have gotten it wrong, but I must say I like my version better and will continue to sing it that way!

3 comments:

Nan said...

Oh, I love this! There are so many lyrics that I think I may have wrong. Here's a funny story. When my girl was 10, she, in all seriousness, asked me if Jimi Hendrix was gay. I said, well, no! and asked her why she wondered. It was because of the lyric, 'excuse me while I kiss the sky.' She heard it as, 'excuse me while I kiss this guy.' Since then, I've seen a book of misheard lyrics with this very title.
PS I like your version better, too.

Susan Moorhead said...

I always thought it was the way you heard it also!

alison said...

That's hilarious, Nan! I can certainly "hear" why she thought that!

Now I'm wondering what other lyrics I sing, incorrectly, with gusto!

Hi Susan - I'm glad I'm not the only one! :)