Be a Georgia Gnome

“Georgia gnome” is my favorite mondegreen.

Even if you don't know what the word “mondegreen” means , you are probably familiar with them. They will sometimes appear in our conversations and produce momentary confusion or amusement. They are everywhere in popular music. Dave Barry has an entire chapter devoted to them in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs.

Mondegreen is the mishearing of a word or words in such a way that the interpretation of the new words change the original meaning of the conversation or lyrics of a song. American writer Sylvia Wright made up the term in 1954. She was remembering a poem her mother used to recite to her, one line being:

They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,

And laid him on the green.

She heard instead:

They hae slain the Earl O' Moray,

And Lady Mondegreen.

Sylvia called this mishearing a “mondegreen”.

Creedance Clearwater Revival's “Bad Moon Rising” contains a classic mondegreen in the title line:

There's a bad moon on the rise.

It has been heard, however, by generations of CCR fans as:

There's a bathroom on the right.

Bob Dylan's “Tangled Up in Blue” has a line that sounds like:

We split up on the docks that night.

The lyrics, as written, are actually:

We split up on a dark sad night.

And there is the classic Jimi Hendrix line:

'scuse me while I kiss the sky.

heard as:

'scuse me while I kiss this guy.

This last example has given its name to a website that has archived over 1,300 lyric mondegreens.

My husband, in a desire to expose our youngest daughter to the richness of classic rock music, gave her a Buffalo Springfield CD to listen to. She liked it. She especially liked Stephen Stills' rendition of “Rock and Roll Woman”. She commented, however, that if she was hearing it correctly, it contained one of the stupidest lyrics ever written. One verse sounds like this:

There's a woman that you ought to know

And she's coming, singing soft and low

Singing rock and roll, she's a Georgia gnome.

When Stephen Stills sings that last line, that's exactly how it sounds:

...she's a Georgia gnome.

Of course, the actual lyric is:

...she's a joy to know.

We were all amused at her mishearing of that line. I started telling our daughter that she was a “Georgia gnome”. I even went so far as to make her a birthday card one year telling her so. I found an image of a Georgia gnome. (Yes, there is actually a company in Georgia that sells a garden gnome with the “G” of the University of Georgia emblazoned on its front.) I put the image on the front of the card and on the inside wrote “You are a Georgia gnome.” She was amused.

Our lives are full of mishearings and misunderstandings. Some lead to confrontation and tragedy, but many can be truly amusing. Of course, we are called to rehear and seek out the true meaning of what is being said, especially in our conversations. But sometimes, the mishearing is a lot more fun, even if we are the ones being misheard. With the right attitude, we can maintain our sense of humor and be a Georgia gnome...

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and to laugh at them in our turn?

- Mr. Bennett, Pride and Prejudice