Editing Mondegreen (section)

===In songs===
<!-- This section is for NOTABLE AND SOURCED examples that have some SPECIFIC SIGNIFICANCE to the genre. It  is *not* an exhaustive listing of everyone's favorite misheard lyrics! -->
The national anthem of the United States is highly susceptible to the creation of mondegreens, two in the first line. [[Francis Scott Key]]'s "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" begins with the line "O say can you see, by the dawn's early light".<ref>Francis Scott Key, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130126153519/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html ''The Star Spangled Banner'']}} (lyrics), 1814, MENC: The National Association for Music Education [[National Anthem Project]] (archived from {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120529014555/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html the original]}} {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130126153519/http://www.thenationalanthemproject.org/lyrics.html Archived]}} 26 January 2013, at the [[Wayback Machine]]. on 26 January 2013).</ref> This has been misinterpreted (both accidentally and deliberately) as "José, can you see", another example of the [[Hobson-Jobson]] effect, countless times.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTk3rBRTueE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/ZTk3rBRTueE |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |title=Jose Can You See – Angels In the Outfield |via=YouTube |date=30 June 2011 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/anthem.html |title=Jose can you see? The controversy over the Spanish translation of the Star-Spangled Banner |last=Baron |first=Dennis |access-date=22 December 2016 |archive-date=17 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917191521/http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-/faculty/debaron/essays/anthem.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The second half of the line has been misheard as well, as "by the donzerly light",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amiright.com/misheard/song/starspangledbanner.shtml |title=Misheard Lyrics -> Song -> S -> Star Spangled Banner |access-date=9 January 2017 |archive-date=2 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161102073856/http://www.amiright.com/misheard/song/starspangledbanner.shtml |url-status=live}}</ref> or other variants. This has led to many people believing that "donzerly" is an actual word.<ref>{{cite web |title=Misheard lyrics #3 Teaching Resources |url=https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/misheard-lyrics-3-6402560 |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220150726/https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/misheard-lyrics-3-6402560 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Religious songs, learned by ear (and often by children), are another common source of mondegreens. The most-cited example is "Gladly, the cross-eyed bear"<ref name="Wright">{{cite magazine |author=Sylvia Wright |year=1954 |title=The Death of Lady Mondegreen |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-magazine_1954-11_209_1254/page/48 |magazine=Harper's Magazine |pages=48–51 |volume=209 |issue=1254}} Drawings by [[Bernarda Bryson]]. Reprinted in: {{cite book |author=Sylvia Wright |url=https://archive.org/details/getawayfrommewit00wrig/page/105 |title=Get Away From Me With Those Christmas Gifts |publisher=McGraw Hill |year=1957}} Contains the essays "The Death of Lady Mondegreen" and "The Quest of Lady Mondegreen".</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|author=William Saffire|title=On Language; Return of the Mondegreens |date=23 January 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/magazine/on-language-return-of-the-mondegreens.html |access-date=22 March 2020 |archive-date=22 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200322180302/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/23/magazine/on-language-return-of-the-mondegreens.html |url-status=live}}</ref> (from the line in the hymn "Keep Thou My Way" by [[Fanny Crosby]] and Theodore E. Perkins: "Kept by Thy tender care, gladly the cross I'll bear").<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/k/e/e/keepthou.htm
 |title=Keep Thou My Way
 |author=Frances Crosby
 |work=The Cyber Hymnal
 |access-date=6 September 2006
 |author-link=Frances Crosby
 |archive-date=14 May 2012
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120514091858/http://www.hymntime.com/tch//htm/k/e/e/keepthou.htm
 |url-status=dead
 }}</ref> [[Jon Carroll]] and many others quote it as "Gladly the cross ''I'd'' bear";<ref name="Carroll" /> note that the  confusion may be heightened by the unusual [[Object–subject–verb|object-subject-verb (OSV)]] word order of the phrase. The song "[[I Was on a Boat That Day]]" by [[Old Dominion (band)|Old Dominion]] features a reference to this mondegreen.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Dominion — I Was On A Boat That Day Lyrics {{!}} Genius Lyrics |url=https://genius.com/Old-dominion-i-was-on-a-boat-that-day-lyrics |access-date=16 August 2022 |website=genius.com |language=en |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816023803/https://genius.com/Old-dominion-i-was-on-a-boat-that-day-lyrics |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Mondegreens expanded as a phenomenon with radio, and, especially, the growth of rock and roll<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics|date=February 2010|volume=43|issue=1|pages=55–56|author=Don Hauptman|title=It's Not Easy Being Mondegreen}}</ref> (and even more so with rap<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Lady Mondegreen and the Miracle of Misheard Song Lyrics|author=Willy Staley|date=13 July 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/lady-mondegreen-and-the-miracle-of-misheard-song-lyrics.html|access-date=22 March 2020|archive-date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218234541/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/lady-mondegreen-and-the-miracle-of-misheard-song-lyrics.html|url-status=live}}</ref>). Among the most-reported examples are:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://flatfieldrecords.com/whither-the-mondegreen-the-vanishing-pleasures-of-misheard-lyrics/|title=Whither the Mondegreen? The Vanishing Pleasures of Misheard Lyrics|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220154546/https://flatfieldrecords.com/whither-the-mondegreen-the-vanishing-pleasures-of-misheard-lyrics/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Carroll" />

#"There's a bathroom on the right" (the line at the end of each verse of "[[Bad Moon Rising (song)|Bad Moon Rising]]" by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]: "There's a bad moon on the rise").<ref name="Konnikova" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics|author=Alexander Theroux|publisher=Fatntagraphics Books|year=2013|pages=45–46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gavin Edwards|title=Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy|year=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=92}}</ref>
#"’Scuse me while I kiss this guy" (from a lyric in the song "Purple Haze" by [[The Jimi Hendrix Experience]]: ("’Scuse me while I kiss the sky").<ref name="Konnikova" /><ref>{{cite book|author=Gavin Edwards|title=Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy|year=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|page=12}}</ref>
#"The girl with [[colitis]] goes by" (from a lyric in the [[The Beatles|Beatles]] song "[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]":  "The girl with kaleidoscope eyes")<ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Gary|title='The girl with colitis goes by' – the meaning and origin of this phrase|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/361050.html|access-date=5 February 2021|website=Phrasefinder|language=en|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127202413/https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/361050.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Both Creedence's [[John Fogerty]] and Hendrix eventually acknowledged these mishearings by deliberately singing the "mondegreen" versions of their songs in concert.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2023/08/27/ccrs-john-fogerty-theres-the-bathroom-on-the-right-not-really/?sh=1d2ef690d438|work=Forbes|author=Jim Clash|title=CCR's John Fogerty: 'There's The Bathroom On The Right' (Not Really)|access-date=3 November 2023|archive-date=3 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231103153839/https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2023/08/27/ccrs-john-fogerty-theres-the-bathroom-on-the-right-not-really/?sh=1d2ef690d438|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last1=Shapiro
| first1=Harry
| author-link1=Harry Shapiro (author)
| last2=Glebbeek
| first2=Cesar
| title=Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy
| location=New York City
| publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]
| year=1990
| page=148
| isbn=0-312-05861-6
| url=https://archive.org/details/jimihendrixelec000shap}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/apr/26/leadersandreply.mainsection2 Letters], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 26 April 2007.</ref>

"[[Blinded by the Light#Lyrics|Blinded by the Light]]", a cover of a [[Bruce Springsteen]] song by [[Manfred Mann's Earth Band]], contains what has been called "probably the most misheard lyric of all time".<ref name="blinded">{{Cite web |url=http://blogcritics.org/q-blinded-by-the-light-revved/ |title=Q: "Blinded By the Light, Revved Up Like a…" What? |access-date=20 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802103921/http://blogcritics.org/q-blinded-by-the-light-revved/ |archive-date=2 August 2016 |url-status=dead }}, Blogcritics Music</ref> The phrase "revved up like a deuce", altered from Springsteen's original "cut loose like a deuce", both lyrics referring to the [[hot rod]]ders slang ''deuce'' (short for [[1932 Ford#Deuce coupe|deuce coupé]]) for a 1932 Ford coupé, is frequently misheard as "wrapped up like a [[douche]]".<ref name="blinded"/><ref>The comedy show ''The Vacant Lot'' built an entire skit, called "Blinded by the Light" around four friends arguing about the lyrics. One version can be seen here: {{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9_3nQFNy-w |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/U9_3nQFNy-w |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=The Vacant Lot – Blinded By The Light|via=YouTube|year=1993
|access-date=25 January 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Springsteen himself has joked about the phenomenon, claiming that it was not until Manfred Mann rewrote the song to be about a "feminine hygiene product" that the song became popular.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Bruce Springsteen |series=[[VH1 Storytellers]] |network=[[VH1]] |airdate=23 April 2005 |number=62 }}</ref>{{efn|See this video of the mondegreen phenomenon in popular music.{{cite web|title=Top 10 Misheard Lyrics|via=YouTube |date=20 February 2013 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZhxLjDLu6Y |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/VZhxLjDLu6Y |archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=18 March 2014}}{{cbignore}}}}

Another commonly cited example of a song susceptible to mondegreens is [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]'s "[[Smells Like Teen Spirit]]", with the line "here we are now, entertain us" variously being misinterpreted as "here we are now, ''in containers''",<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8015543/REM-song-is-most-misheard.html|title=REM song is most misheard|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=21 September 2010|access-date=8 March 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220130233/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/8015543/REM-song-is-most-misheard.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/misheard-song-lyrics-6787|title=The Top 40 Misheard Song Lyrics|date=16 June 2016|website=NME |language=en-GB|access-date=8 March 2020}}</ref> and "here we are now, ''hot potatoes''",<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kimpton|first=Peter|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/sep/23/misheard-lyrics-under-threat-i-stir-the-cocoa|title=I stir the cocoa: is the joy of misheard lyrics under threat? {{!}} Peter Kimpton|date=23 September 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=8 March 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> among other renditions.

In the 2014 song "[[Blank Space]]" by [[Taylor Swift]], listeners widely misheard the line "got a long list of ex-lovers" as "all the lonely [[Starbucks]] lovers".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/article/2015/05/25/taylor-swift-starbucks-lovers-mom/ |title=Even Taylor Swift's mom thought it was 'Starbucks lovers' |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=7 August 2023 |archive-date=27 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027131809/https://ew.com/article/2015/05/25/taylor-swift-starbucks-lovers-mom/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Rap and hip hop lyrics may be particularly susceptible to being misheard because they do not necessarily follow standard pronunciations. The delivery of rap lyrics relies heavily upon an often regional pronunciation<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/speak/words/sezwho/hiphop/reprint/|access-date=8 August 2024|title=Hip Hop Nation|author=H. Samy Alim|publisher=[[PBS]] }}</ref> or non-traditional accenting (see [[African-American Vernacular English]]) of words and their [[phonemes]] to adhere to the artist's stylizations and the lyrics' written structure. This issue is exemplified in controversies over alleged transcription errors in [[Yale University Press]]'s 2010 ''Anthology of Rap''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2275145/|title=Stakes Is High|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |year=2010|author=Paul Devlin|access-date=9 December 2010|archive-date=17 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217220616/http://www.slate.com/id/2275145|url-status=live}}</ref>