[Dixielandjazz] A jazz chord; mondegreens

[Dan Augustine]

>From: "John Farrell" <stridepiano@tesco.net>
>Subject: [Dixielandjazz] A jazz chord
>Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 21:08:42 -0000
>
>I was playing in a night club and getting a few requests and small tips.
>Towards the end of the night, a man walked up with a wad of money in his
>hand and asked me to play a jazz chord. I played an Amaj7.
>He said, "No, no. A jazz chord."
>I did a little improvisational thing, but he didn't like that either.
>"No, no, no! A jazz chord. You know, "A jazz chord, to say, ah love you"'
>
>John Farrell
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John and others--
    I could have sworn we had a thread about 'mondegreens' earlier (this year? last year?).  No?   Well, if not, here we go:

from: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen

"Mondegreen
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase, such that it acquires a new meaning. The word is a mondegreen of "They hae slain the Earl o' Murray and laid him on the green", the last five words being misheard as "Lady Mondegreen". While a common occurrence for children, many adults have their own collection, particularly with regard to popular music.

Examples
*Australians all are ostriches (from the opening line of the Australian national anthem - "Australians all let us rejoice")
*Excuse me while I kiss this guy (from a lyric in the song "Purple Haze", by Jimi Hendrix - "Excuse me while I kiss the sky")
*This guy is cryin' (from a lyric in the song "The Sky is Crying", by Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Some mondegreens arise from false friends. A phrase in one language may be misheard as a semi-sensical phrase in another language. The humorous aspect of these has given rise to a music video genre known as animutation.

External Links

*KissThisGuy.com - The Archive of Misheard Lyrics -- Based on Jimi Hendrix's lyric, this website is a collection of many mondegreens of popular songs."

    I hadn't known that about Australians....

Dan
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** Dan Augustine - ds.augustine@mail.utexas.edu             **
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