"He's making a list, chicken and rice.", When I was pregnant with my son, Alex, I was quite ill. Friends of mine, in a valiant attempt to make me feel better, gave me three humor books of misheard song lyrics by Gavin Edwards; 'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy, He's Got the Whole World in His Pants, and When a Man Loves a Walnut. It turns out there is a word for misheard song lyrics; they are called "mondegreens." And they can be seriously funny. I laughed a lot when I read them, which didn't exactly settle my stomach. But at least I was distracted! Recently I ran across another of Edwards mondegreen collections, Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics. In case it's not obvious from the title, this book is full of misheard Christmas song lyrics.
The format of this book is similar to Edwards' other books; the wrong lyric is written first, then the title of the song, then the correct lyric. (The other books also include the name of the artist singing, but because Christmas songs are so ubiquitous, that really isn't necessary for most of the Christmas tunes). For example, you find "Sleep in heavenly peas," "Silent Night," "Sleep in heavenly peace" as one entry.
The entries themselves are amusing, but somehow didn't strike me as being as funny as the mondegreens in Edwards' other collections. I think this is due, at least in part, to the fact that Christmas songs aren't necessarily associated with a particular artist. If you know the Elton John song "Tiny Dancer," for example, you'll know exactly why someone might hear "count the head lice on the highway" instead of "count the headlights on the highway." It's not just the lyric; it's Elton John's mushy diction. That being said, this collection is still worth going through, because Christmas songs are so universally known. It might make you feel better to know that you're not the only person to hear "Chipmunks roasting on an open fire" or "Chet's nuts roasting on an open fire" when "The Christmas Song" is sung.
Edwards' collections always include illustrations. In the case of Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly, Ted Stearn is the illustrator. He does a nice job with black and white (presumably ink) drawings of some of the mondegreens. For example, the song "Children Go Where I Send Thee" has a lyric that goes "He was born, born, born in Bethlehem." Apparently some people hear "He was bored, bored, bored in Bethlehem." Stearns has drawn a cartoon-like picture of two shepherds, one of whom is jumping up and down, saying "C'mon! The Savior is born!" The other shepherd is sitting on a rock, looking bored and saying, "Oh, how exciting." And I won't give it away, but it might be fun for you to guess how he's illustrated "Round John Virgin..."
Mondegreens are funny, and we can all relate to them because we have all heard a song lyric incorrectly once or twice. Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics is a fun collection, and unlike Edwards' other collections, you don't have to be familiar with popular music to enjoy it. I enjoyed reading it and I'll give it a recommendation. It might also make a nice stocking stuffer for someone on your holiday shopping list.
The format of this book is similar to Edwards' other books; the wrong lyric is written first, then the title of the song, then the correct lyric. (The other books also include the name of the artist singing, but because Christmas songs are so ubiquitous, that really isn't necessary for most of the Christmas tunes). For example, you find "Sleep in heavenly peas," "Silent Night," "Sleep in heavenly peace" as one entry.
The entries themselves are amusing, but somehow didn't strike me as being as funny as the mondegreens in Edwards' other collections. I think this is due, at least in part, to the fact that Christmas songs aren't necessarily associated with a particular artist. If you know the Elton John song "Tiny Dancer," for example, you'll know exactly why someone might hear "count the head lice on the highway" instead of "count the headlights on the highway." It's not just the lyric; it's Elton John's mushy diction. That being said, this collection is still worth going through, because Christmas songs are so universally known. It might make you feel better to know that you're not the only person to hear "Chipmunks roasting on an open fire" or "Chet's nuts roasting on an open fire" when "The Christmas Song" is sung.
Edwards' collections always include illustrations. In the case of Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly, Ted Stearn is the illustrator. He does a nice job with black and white (presumably ink) drawings of some of the mondegreens. For example, the song "Children Go Where I Send Thee" has a lyric that goes "He was born, born, born in Bethlehem." Apparently some people hear "He was bored, bored, bored in Bethlehem." Stearns has drawn a cartoon-like picture of two shepherds, one of whom is jumping up and down, saying "C'mon! The Savior is born!" The other shepherd is sitting on a rock, looking bored and saying, "Oh, how exciting." And I won't give it away, but it might be fun for you to guess how he's illustrated "Round John Virgin..."
Mondegreens are funny, and we can all relate to them because we have all heard a song lyric incorrectly once or twice. Deck the Halls with Buddy Holly and Other Misheard Christmas Lyrics is a fun collection, and unlike Edwards' other collections, you don't have to be familiar with popular music to enjoy it. I enjoyed reading it and I'll give it a recommendation. It might also make a nice stocking stuffer for someone on your holiday shopping list.
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