Lady Mondegreen Rides Again!

NaBloPoMo Day 2!

It’s an enduring cultural phenomenon — a rite of passage, even. If you’ve ever been a) a teenager or 2) a middle-aged relative of a teenager, you’re probably familiar with some version of the following interpersonal transaction (if you’re lucky, you’ve been on both sides of it!):

“Turn down that cat-alley moaning! You call that music?”
“I like it! It’s cool!”
“But you can’t even understand the words!”
That’s the idea! 😛

We might have the impression, based on this exchange, that it’s only in that crazy noise that the kids are listening to these days that the words are hard to understand. Not so fast! Opera and classical choral music provide us with plenty of opportunities to be completely in the dark about what we’re hearing, especially when you factor in the multiple languages represented in the repertoire.

Case in point: here’s a video my friend Andy sent me, that made me laugh til I cried!

In addition to almost spewing coffee all over my keyboard, I marveled anew at the human cognitive ability to make stuff up fill in the gaps when things are unclear. A mind is a terrible thing! 😛

There’s a name for these lyrical assumptions, by the way — Mr. Readmore would like to introduce you to Richard Stans, and other colorful characters — ‘scuse me while I click below!