Howdy Horn Honkers!

Howdy Horn Honkers!

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Howdy Horn Honkers!
Howdy Horn Honkers!
We Built This City on Sausage Rolls

We Built This City on Sausage Rolls

And other misheard lyrics in my life.

Therra Cathryn Gwyn's avatar
Therra Cathryn Gwyn
May 16, 2021
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Howdy Horn Honkers!
Howdy Horn Honkers!
We Built This City on Sausage Rolls
11
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Howdy Horn Honkers.

The other night my pal Tommy and I were on Twitter in our DMs discussing one of our favourite subjects: Bob Dylan.

We’re both wide-ranging music fans so there’s a few crossroads where we handily meet up, put our feet up and chat a while. Bob Dylan is one of those rest stops.

I mentioned I recently read the lyrics for Dylan’s “Jokerman” and was disappointed to find I’d heard a phrase in the song incorrectly.

Tommy countered with a misheard lyric from “Tangled Up In Blue” that it turns out we both misinterpreted and suddenly I realized I’d been singing it wrong since I was 12.

I was shook.

“Mondegreen" is the proper definition for a misheard lyric. In other words (pun intended) when you were a child and thought the song was called “He’s Got The Whole World In His Pants” that’s what that was. There’s even a book by Gavin Edwards with that title, chockfull of misheard song lyrics, a few of which I contributed when he put out a call years ago.

There’s so many mondegreens floating around the sound waves that Edwards wrote two more books on the subject, “When A Man Loves A Walnut” and “‘Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy.”

While misheard lyrics are not exclusive to rock music they flourish in the genre. Especially in classic rock. Back then we might have first heard a song on AM/FM radio in the car (not the best sound quality) or perhaps got song lyrics sideways because one or more of us was higher than God’s hairline.

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