Who knew that misinterpreting lyrics had a technical name? I should note the irony of talking about mondegreens. My sisters and I live miles away from each other and as a means of communication, we have an email chain where we share our thoughts, opinions, and memories of each other at least twice a day. The current topic? The butchering of song lyrics by my oldest sister, Karen which has led to an embarrassing incident for my other sisters and me. When we were younger, my sisters and I pretty much followed my oldest sister in whatever she did. We wore her hand-me-downs, we watched the shows she watched, and we listened to the same songs she did. So when she sang the lyrics, we would sing along with her. What we did not know was that she is a member of the Mondegreen club. Her most offensive one to date is her rendition of Alanis Morsette’s “Ironic.” She believed that the first line of the chorus of that song went something like this: “It’s like ra-eah, are you ready for me?” We came to realize the actual lyrics one fateful day in an embarrassing fashion. My next door neighbor had a patio on which we would perform songs like we were famous singers, belting out the songs like it was our farewell concert. We decided to sing “Ironic” the way we understood it when her father came to the backyard and summoned his daughter. He said in a concerned voice, “Stella, it’s rain on your wedding day.” He had pulled her aside, but we knew he was talking to all of us. Imagine our embarrassment as this 40 year-old man tells his daughter that we taught her the incorrect lyrics to a mainstream pop song.
I guess when we were younger, we never really listened to songs for lyrical content. Had we done that, the correct lyrics would have made more sense. The song was about ironic situations and certainly “rain on your wedding day” is more ironic than screeching “Ra-eah, are you ready for me?” We didn’t know it then, but contextual clues could have helped us figure out the right lyrics. I know now to make sure that the lyrics I think I’m hearing match the overall message of the song to avoid creating mondegreens! Here’s a piece of advice for everyone. Don’t just use your ears to listen; include higher levels of processing in your lyrical quest!
This week’s blog entry also reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend recently about singing incorrect lyrics. She claims that since she first learned it a certain way, it’s harder for her to sing the correct lyrics even after learning them. Her argument suggested a primacy effect. I disagreed. In my own experience, it’s harder not to hear the correct lyrics after knowing them. Chris Daughtery, one of my favorite singers, tends to slur his words. When his most popular hit, “Over You,” came out, there was one elusive lyric that my friends and I could not figure out. When we looked up the lyrics online, it was hard not to hear it. I can’t even remember what I thought it said before finding out the truth. It’s like the visual illusions we were shown in class; we can never not see the dalmation anymore!
