Music Origins

Where on Earth – Mondegreen Mondays

randydafoe13 Comments

Today we talk about songs that have a connection to a place or location. Afterall, it was the poem “The Bonnie Earl o’ Moray” that inspired writer Sylvia Wright to give us the name Mondegreen. The ballad references the Scottish Highlands, that being the more mountainous regions and the Lowlands, being the flatter parts.

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh where have you been?
They have slain the Earl o’ Moray
And laid him on the green.

As a young child, when heard as a song, Wright imagined not only the Earl, but also his poor Lady to have been both slain together.

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh where have you been?
They have slain the Earl o’ Moray
And Lady Mondegreen.

Our first landmark…

“Waterfalls” by TLC, written by Marqueze Etheridge, Lisa Lopes, and Organized Noiz (Sleepy Brown and Ray Murray).

Not sure who he is but apparently some are hearing “Don’t go Jason Waterfalls” instead of the real words “Don’t go chasing waterfalls”. Just think if this song had come first we would be calling them “Jason’s” rather than Mondegreens. How silly is that, I mean it doesn’t even rhyme with Mondays!

“Our Lips are Sealed” by The Go-Gos, written by Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall

As the song goes “Doesn’t matter what they say, In the jealous games people play, Hey, hey, hey, Our lips are sealed”. It seems some hear “Even Dallas games, people play”. Cowboys and Mavericks fans unite!

“Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by The Eurythmics, written by Annie Lennox and David Stewart.

If you recall from an earlier post, Sweet Dreams are made of Cheese. Well, there are new words to mishear today, “I travel the world in generic jeans” rather than “I travel the world and the seven seas”. I’m afraid those pants are getting wet Stella.

“Africa” by Toto, written by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro.

The lyrics are “It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you, There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do, I bless the rains down in Africa, Gonna take some time to do the things we never had”.

Dare I say, some are speculating here…”I guess it rains down in Africa”.

“The Sidewinder Sleep Tonite” by R.E.M., written by Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry.

Even if you are not familiar with the song, you may guess the inspiration was “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”. And to think we were just speaking of Africa!. Well it seems we have other travel plans as the line “Call me when you try to wake her up” has been heard by some as “Calling Jamaica“. Sure, I’ll bite.

“Vertigo” by U2, as are all of their songs, credited to U2. Lyrics written by Bono and the Edge.

As one might imagine given the title the words are “Hello, hello! I’m at a place called vertigo, It’s everything I wish I didn’t know, Except you give me something, I can feel, feel”.

We have a mishearing of “Hello, hello! I’m in a place called Oregon“. Never been myself but I have heard tell that some of the vistas can make your head spin.

“La Isla Bonita” by Madonna was written by herself with Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch.

The “Beautiful Island” song lyrics say “Last night I dreamt of San Pedro“. Apparently there are some that have other things on their mind, “Last night I dreamt of soft bagels“. Talk about waking up hungry. I’ll have mine toasted please!

For more on music you can check out Lines by Leon.

13 thoughts on “Where on Earth – Mondegreen Mondays”

  2. The only mondegreen for me among the songs you highlighted is Toto’s “Africa”. Even though their vocals are pretty clear, I thought Bobby Kimball was singing “I guess the rain’s down in Africa”. More embarrassingly, I couldn’t really understand what David Paich was singing in the second verse, but thought it was about a “leopress” – i.e. a female leopard, perhaps? – rising above the Serengeti, when he in fact sang “Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti.”

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  4. Another entertaining post, Randy! 🙂

    I can confirm I first heard “Jason” as well when first listening to “Waterfalls.” I didn’t know what I was experiencing. Now thanks to you I know it was a mondegreen! 🙂

    I can also hear “Dallas” in the Go-Go’s song.

    Instead of “I bless the rains down in Africa,” I remember I first heard it as “I touch the race down in Africa.” 🙂

    While “generic jeans” and “soft bagels” made me laugh, I’m having trouble hearing these mondegreens. I also don’t hear Oregon in U2’s “Vertigo.”

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  5. mmm soft bagels! LOL. I always liked ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’, which was a single but wasn’t a massive hit, but I’ll give the confused that one – I really only half knew what michael was singing on it and ‘calling JAmaica’ or something like that sounded about as plausible as the real lyrics. Stipe was rarely one of the easiest singers to decipher both because of his delivery and some obscure, odd lyrics. It kind of added to REM’s early appeal but made it darn near impossible to do accurate karaoke to, I’d imagine!

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    • You said it for the two of us again today Dave. Seriously “soft bagels?’ Even into your fourth beer of the night mishearing something so badly as that has to make you stop and think ‘that can’t be right…’ It’s so far away from the rest of the song lyrics. In any context singing that is nonsensical.

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