A Mondegreen is an accidental mishearing of a phrase. There’s a word for it. Helen’s childhood version of ‘Tis a gift to be simple was good - and the Candice Bergen / Jack Nicholson / Art Garfunkel filmCarnal Knowledge might have had the best ever.
The original Mondegreen was a mishearing of:
Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,
Oh, where hae ye been?
They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]
And laid him on the green.
where the last line became And Lady Mondegreen.
Helen’s Mondegreen comes from the bastardised version of ‘Tis a Gift, the execrable Lord of the Dance, which contains the line:
Dance, then, wherever you may be For I am the Lord of the Dance, said he
which Helen innocently converted to,
Dance, then, wherever you may be For I am the Lord of the dance settee
where a dance settee then became an object of idle theological speculation.
But the Mondegreen from Carnal Knowledge is, instead of:
Gladly the Cross I'd bear
the excellent mishearing,
Gladly, the cross-eyed bear
