In my post on terms for mistakes in English, I left out a whole category: Mondegreens or misheard lyrics (Mondegreens actually refer to mishearing and misunderstanding any phrase). The name comes from the American writer, Sylvia Wright who recalled how when her mother used to read her the 17th century ballad "The Bonnie Earl O' Murray.", she thought one line was: "And Lady Mondegreen." In fact it was, "And laid him on the green."
One of the most popular mondegreens is the hearing "Excuse me while I kiss this guy" from Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze. The actual line is, "Excuse me while I kiss the sky".
So I bring this up because there is a popular song here in Kazakhstan called Song #1 by a Russian band, Serebro (or silver). It was Russia's entry in the Eurovision 2007 contest. I have to say to their credit that I thought the song was sung by a British band. Their accents are pretty good. As a pop song, it's pretty well structured and catchy without being obnoxious. But I swore I was mishearing half the lyrics in the song, because the song didn't make a lot of sense. It turns out that I was right in some places and wrong in others.
Here's the video:
And now the lyrics with commentary about how incredibly stupid they are:
It’s a dirty money track What the heck is a dirty money track? I thought they were saying, "A flirty money track," which still doesn't make sense but at least combines sex and money in some way.
Girls kick the flow!
When I catch you picking me How can you catch someone picking you? I think she means "When I catch you looking at me" or "checking me out"
You better get a chill "To get a chill" means to be sick from cold. I think she means "get a thrill" or "feel a chill"
Boy you wanna take on meOK, Aha did it but the proper word order is: "Take me on"
Cuz I’m your killing pill
Can’t you see the way I move
My dress, my flashy skin I think this is a Mondegreen: "My flash of skin" is more likely i.e. my showing you skin.
Listen up you know I got
The place you’ve never been
Slow down
Boy you don’t wanna let me down
You better stop, you know what! No, I don't know. What?
Oh! Don’t call me funny bunny Why would I call you funny bunny? That sounds like a cartoon character on a kids show. I thought this line was "Don't call me honey, honey." As in, "if you call me a pet name, I'll call you one, too."
I’ll blow your money money
I’ll get you to my bad ass First huge Mondegreen: I swore they were saying "black ass" which makes no sense as all the girls in the band are clearly white! Another lyric site had this line as "back ass", which either makes no sense or is redundant; of course the ass is in the back. However "get you to my bad ass spinning for you" doesn't make sense either! I think she means, "I will do sexy things to you," but it doesn't really come through.
Spinning for you
Oh! I’ll make it easy honey
I’ll take your money yummy How does that make it easy for me, if you steal my money? No doubt she meant "I will make it easily i.e. I will achieve my goals of stealing your money and conquering you without difficulty
I’ve got my bitches
Standing up next to me Are they normally lying down? Of course they are standing up. I think she meant "standing up for me" i.e. supporting me. Or she meant something like, "at my back" i.e. very close by and waiting to help me. Oh those phrasal verbs!
...
You get the idea. This is a very fun game if you're a grammar nerd like me. Take you favorite song and analyze the lyrics. Often they make absolutely no sense! And thank God they weren't saying
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"It’s a dirty money track". At all related to the usage of dirty cash by Nenah Cherry? oops no, make that Adventures of Stevie V. apparently. Either that, or perhaps they are suggesting this style of record is not their norm, and that they just need a hit to bring some money so they can continue to record the sort of songs that are true to their heart. lmao. probably not :)
"You'd better get a chill" - As in chill out/relax?
"When I catch you picking me" Perhaps the man is in a large group of men, and those men are deciding which bloke will try and chat up which woman?
"Oh! I’ll make it easy honey, I’ll take your money yummy " - Perhaps she is reassuring the man that he need not get confused choosing expensive gifts to impress her... she'll just take the cash directly?
Finally, what is the opposite of a mondegreen? For example, listen to the very end of Queen's "One Vision", and they do in fact sing Fried Chicken, not One Vision.
btw there is an issue with posting comments, at least if you choose the Name/URL option, each time I've tried in the last week or so, I get red text stating "Your request could not be processed. Please try again.", the second attempt always works.
I'll check out the commenting issue.
I think you are absolutely right on the "I'll make it easy on you/I'll take your money yummy." That makes sense. And I secretly sort of like the slant rhyme of money and yummy--because let's face it, money is yummy!
Love mondegreens! You have some I haven't seen before. It's amazing to me how many mondegreens come from rock music.