Tag: mondegreen

Saturda’s Theme Music

Papi cat is not happy. I know this because of the shouting meows. Not just the sound. He faces me and leans into it. Stretches his jaws wide. He’s Maria Callas using his diaphragm to belt it out.

“I know,” I tell him.

Rain fell all night. Sometimes in buckets. Papi is not a friend of rain. We also re-installed the pet door. In days past, Tucker slept on the mat in front of the pet door. That meant no other animal was entering. With Tucker gone, we decided the food bowls needed to be moved further away.

Background is, we had a buncha cats at one point. They usually didn’t get along. So we had three feeding stations. One in each the laundry room, the office, and the bedroom. In the bedroom, the feeding station lives by the wall beside the sliding door where the pet door resides. We thought it needed to be moved further away so that some passing animal didn’t sniff the kibble richness and come in through the pet door. Since Tucker is no longer guarding the pet door.

But all that change has Papi irritated. Pour the rain on top and he feels that the world is a cruel and injust place.

“I know,” I tell him. “I had to change my diet due to high blood pressure. It sucks.”

“Meyeah,” Papi wailed back.

Yes, it has rained all night. It’s wet and chilly this morning. 44 F and rain. The high will be 51 F and rain. The low will be 41 F and rain. The rain is good for the land, we remind each other. The pep in our pep talks is petering out, though. Everyone wants sunshine until they don’t. Then we want rain. Until we don’t. It’s the cycle of complaint. Weather version.

This is Saturda. April 26, 2025. Still spring in Ashlandia. And typical Ashlandia spring weather.

I’m a little miffed. I had yard plans. I’d been making progress. The rain has placed a pause on the cause. I can’t do the things planned, cause rain and electric power equipment. I’ve read somewhere that they are not a good combination.

I’m happy it’s Saturday. The news cycle slows on the weekends. News doesn’t stop but less people are reporting and airing it. Much as I’d like a break from it, we need to stay vigilant against the Trusk Regime’s evil. That evil goes 24/7. Just when you think their empathy has bottomed, they show a lower side. Most recently, they deported a two-year US citizen. Because, Trump. He no like the 16th Amendment. So he decided to ignore it. Because that’s what you do if you dislike laws. It’s the Trump U.S.A. way.

Snark alert: The other ‘good’ news is that the number of measles cases keep rising. Looks like RFK Jr’s plans just can’t get an angle on stopping it. Probably because he eschews using science and medicine.

Final bit of irritating news. Trump says he’s talking to China about the tariffs. China says, “No, he isn’t.” Either side could be lying. Given Trump’s record, I believe it’s him. Trump is lying. Yet again.

Puttering through the kitchen at pre-coffee speed, The Neurons raised a line in my head. “Let me remember things I don’t know.” I further slowed. I know the line. That wasn’t the line. That was a mondegreen: a misunderstood song line. Urging The Neurons into more effort, the song and real line punched in:

“Let me remember things I love, Lord.” CCR. “Green River”.

Coffee has made a safe landing in my body. Dressed, fed, and caffeinated, I am re-animated for another day. Hope you have a day that works in your favorite. It can happen. Cheers

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Floofdegreen

Floofdegreen (floofinition) – Song lyrics deliberately misinterpreted or changed to be about animals.

In use: ‘He loved making up floofdegreens and sharing them with his cats, such as his take on “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. In his version, it’s “A kitty went into the kitchen, he was looking for treats to steal, he was feeling fine, just marking time, and not willing to make a deal.”‘

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Tuesday’s Theme Music

Terrible Tuesday is back. Today is May 4th, 2021, and oh, how the net is crazy with that whole schmeer – “May the fourth be with you.” I think we’ve all been locked up too much.

Sunshine came upon us over the horizon in Ashland at 6:03 AM. We’re on the cusp of breaking through that six A.M. Finally, after all these years, the six A.M. barrier will be broken. Sunshine will vacate the region at 8:13 PM, giving us quite a long spring day. Weather cooperation has been achieved, so highs will touch in the seventies. Ah, lovely. Just give me some ocean views and sounds to go with it.

“Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” is stuck in my head this dawn. The song is by Jason Derulo. Except there’s also Jawsh 685. I’d only known this 2020 song as “Savage Love” until I read a Wikipedia article this morning and then a few others. Glad the two artists worked it out and brought us this tune. It came to be in my head this A.M. because, yes, dream. I woke up thinking about what a dream meant. That morphed into the thought, “I gotta know.” That phrase segued into “Savage Love” because I thought, in a classic mondegreen moment, that when he sang “Savage love” on the radio when the song first came out, that he was singing “I gotta know.” See?

Stay positive, test negative, wear a mask, and get the vax. Cheers

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Wednesday’s Theme Music

Something mellow popped into my head yesterday. I’d finished some yardwork and was enjoying the warm late afternoon air. The temperature, sunlight, humidity, and silence combined into a rarefied sense of relaxation. “Groovin'”, the Rascals’ hit from 1967, began wending through my memory stream.

Thinking about the song reminded me of an incorrect lyric where people sang, “Life would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie.” Everyone wondered, “Who is Leslie?” Leslie was “endlessly” misheard as Leslie. It’s a fun mondegreen, innit? I like singing Leslie instead of endlessly because it makes me laugh inside. Yes, I’m a simple-minded guy.

Hope you soon have some sunshine and time to relax and do some groovin’. If you’re not sure how to groove, I can’t help you. I think it’s something that you need to grok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUWlKc0-tE

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Sunday’s Theme Music

Sly and the Family Stone gave us a lot of awesome music when I was young. Today’s theme song, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) is a favorite. This song’s deliberate mondegreen in its title delighted me. I always knew it as just “Thank You.” When I bought the greatest hits album (actually, on an eight-track tape that the machine ate within a year, but not before torturing the sound into a strange warbling), the full title baffled me. I’d always heard the lyrics correctly, not something that always happened with songs, but did happen at the time. That’s when I was first introduced to mondegreens.

That greatest hits album deserved that title, and that’s why it was worn out. That was common for that time, to wear music out because of its medium, whether it was tape or vinyl. Digital has made a huge difference.

Onward.

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Tuesday’s Bumper Sticker

This bumper sticker cracked me up. Did it result from a mondegreen? (“All we are saying, is give peace a dance.”)

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Thursday’s Theme Music

I heard today’s song yesterday and started laughing in memory.

The song is “Animal,” by Def Leopard. One line is, “I got this feeling in my blood.” A friend told me years ago, “For the longest time, I thought they were singing, “I got this feeling in my butt.” I couldn’t figure out why they had a feeling in their butt, or why they were singing about it.”

Ah, a classic mondegreen, but if you casually listen, you might hear it, too.

 

 

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Today’s Theme Music

Today’s music comes because my wife and I mis-heard song lyrics. This is sometimes called an ononym, but is often called a mondegreen.

Jon Carroll used to write about mondegreens in his SF Chronicle column.  (Maybe he still does. My subscription ended.) Along with his commentary about his cats, Archie and Bucket, I enjoyed these mondegreen columns. Although I didn’t know what a mondegreen was, I first encountered one with Jimi Hendrix. He was singing, “Excuse me, while I kiss the sky.” I heard him telling me he was going to kiss a guy. Like most mondegreens, I wasn’t alone in my mis-hearing.

That’s the same today. There’s a Calvin Harris song out called “Feels.” The song features Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean. It was the Katy Perry part that confused us. We were certain Katy was singing, “Don’t be afraid to catch fish.”

Being semi-rational sentient individuals, my other and I wondered, what the hell? Why is she singing about fish? Is this a reference to there being many fish in the sea? Perhaps fish was another euphemism for dating or sex.

What? Really?

Reaching home, I employed a minute to search for the truth. First, I wasn’t alone; lots of us thought Katy Perry was singing about fish. Most of us are older.

Second, Katy Perry was singing, “Don’t be afraid to catch feels.”

Well, honestly, ‘catch feels’ made little more sense than catching fish, but at least we knew the truth. Listen for yourself, then tell me that it doesn’t sound like fish.

 

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Today’s Theme Music

Today’s song is one of many that suffered from mondegreens. ‘Alive and Kicking’ by Simple Minds came out in 1985. Stationed at Shaw AFB in SC after returning from Okinawa, I was assigned to the 1701 MOBSS.

I lived in Columbia, about twenty-nine miles away, and a straight shot down the highway. The MOB in our unit designation was short for mobility. We went on temporary duty to other locations regularly. Sometimes I drove to those locations, such as Eglin AFB in Florida. Between that and my daily commute between Columbia and Shaw, I listened to a bit of radio.

When the song came out, I swore they were sometimes singing, “I like the chicken.” Naturally, that’s what I walked around singing. Still do when I stream the song in my head.

Here they are. From 1985, Simple Minds with ‘Alive and Kicking’. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqpBB2uhRSM

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