{"id":442,"date":"2008-07-10T16:26:56","date_gmt":"2008-07-10T23:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=442"},"modified":"2008-09-30T16:55:36","modified_gmt":"2008-09-30T23:55:36","slug":"jack-ely-of-kingsmen-enters-hall-of-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.louielouie.net\/blog\/?p=442","title":{"rendered":"Jack Ely of Kingsmen enters Hall of Fame (?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love my spies. Today, my pal Pamela Meyer<\/strong>, who runs Alchemy Jewelry<\/strong><\/a> of Brooklyn, sent me an article from the Chicago Tribune<\/a> about the topic of mangled lyrics. Here’s a few excerpts that seemed LOUIE-worthy:<\/p>\n

On the few occasions when I’ve checked, a song’s actual lyrics turn out to be less interesting that my mistaken understanding of them. Bob Seger<\/strong> is actually singing, “Call me a relic, call me what you will” on “Old Time Rock & Roll.” But I prefer my misinterpretation: “Call me a rabbit, call me what you will … ”<\/p>\n

The apparent name for this phenomenon is mondegreens<\/strong>, a word coined by writer Sylvia Wright<\/strong> in the 1950s to describe her childhood misreading of an old Scottish folk song that referred, or so she thought, to “Lady Mondegreen.”<\/p>\n

Instead, the song described the slaying of a noble and the townspeople who “laid him on the green.”<\/p>\n

The all-time greatest mondegreen may be “Louie, Louie.<\/strong>” The song has been recorded by hundreds of artists, but I refer here to the 1963 hit by the Kingsmen<\/strong>. When the song came out, some parents thought lead singer Jack Ely<\/strong>‘s slurring of the lyrics masked indecent or obscene statements.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the first time, I’ve heard of the term “mondegreen,’ so I’m glad to see that someone’s come up with name for this kind of thing.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, I recently stumbled upon a book that covers some of the same material. When a Man Loves a Walnut<\/strong> by Gavin Edwards<\/strong>, is a fun little book about mangled lyrics that I recently picked up at a local bookstore.<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

As I read this book, I discovered that Jack Ely has been honored with entry into the Misheard Lyrics Hall of Fame<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n

This is good. I’m glad to see Jack receive more credit for what he’s done.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, this book has some wonderful illustrations by Shary Flenniken<\/strong><\/a>, a cartoonist that created Trots & Bonnie for the National Lampoon<\/strong> magazine. Check out this funny illustration she did for an misinterpretation of a Buffalo Springfield<\/strong> song:<\/p>\n

\"Cows<\/p>\n

This is a fun little book, and I’d recommend it to anybody that wants a good laugh. If you’d like to buy this book, and support this webpage, I’ll share an Amazon<\/strong> link that will give me a little kickback. If enough people use LouieLouie.net as a referral to Amazon, I might even be able to buy a cup of coffee! Woo hoo!<\/p>\n