For those of you fairly new to the Editor’s Corner, we have a fan favorite for you today: mondegreens. Mondegreens are misheard song lyrics. The latest purchase I’ve made is called Hit Me with Your Pet Shark: Misheard Lyrics of the 1980s, by Charles Grosvenor Jr. Here are the top nine reasons Mr. Grosvenor gives for people mishearing songs:
1) Secret belief that all songs are dirty
2) Singer has a thick accent
3) Listener made up a word or phrase to fit the rhyme
4) Words are slurred together to form a new word
5) Dropped a leading or trailing consonant
6) Use of an unusual proper name
7) Lyrics are not in a listener’s native tongue
8) Music is too loud
9) Lyrics are sung too fast
I have my own for number 10: Listener is under the influence of some mind-numbing substance.
Here are your lyrics for today:
| Song Title | Artist/Group | Mondegreen | Actual Lyrics |
| Take on Me | A-Ha | I’ll be coming for your love of cake | I’ll be coming for your love, okay? |
| When Smokey Sings | ABC | When smoke gets in, I fear violence | When Smokey sings,
I hear violins |
| Back in Black | AC/DC | I got nine lives,
cat-size |
I got nine lives,
cat’s eyes |
| For Those About to Rock | AC/DC | For those who bought the Rock, we sell Luchoo | For those about to rock, we salute you |
| Der Kommissar | After the Fire | Calm your sausage down | Der Kommissar’s in town |
| Dude Looks Like a Lady | Aerosmith | · Do it like a lady
· Do the dragon lady |
Dude looks like a lady |
| Venus | Bananarama | Gladys on the mountaintop | Goddess on the mountaintop |
| Walk Like an Egyptian | The Bangles | The Hardy Boys call it gamblin’ | The party boys call the Kremlin |
Kara Church
Technical Editor, Advisory
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