Q 01/05

What is the proper name for a misheard lyric?

A) A malaprop

B) A mondegreen

C) A spoonerism

D) A eggcorn

Answer · why

B) A mondegreen

Sylvia Wright coined it in a 1954 Harper's essay after mishearing a Scottish ballad as a child.

Q 02/05

The term for a misheard lyric came from a child hearing 'laid him on the green' as what?

A) Lady Mondegreen

B) Laden Mordecai

C) Lady in the Green

D) Ladle in the Green

Answer · why

A) Lady Mondegreen

The ballad was 'The Bonnie Earl o' Moray', printed in Thomas Percy's collection of 1765.

Q 03/05

In 'Purple Haze', Jimi Hendrix asks to be excused while he kisses what?

A) This guy

B) The sky

C) The night

D) Her eyes

Answer · why

B) The sky

The mishearing is so famous that Hendrix played up to it on stage, pointing at his bassist as he sang the line.

Q 04/05

Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Bad Moon Rising' is endlessly misheard as warning about what?

A) A bathroom on the right

B) A bad man in the night

C) A bad move in the fight

D) A barroom on the right

Answer · why

A) A bathroom on the right

John Fogerty eventually started singing the wrong version live, on the grounds that everyone else already was.

Q 05/05

Which 1963 garage-rock single triggered an FBI investigation into its supposedly obscene words?

A) Wild Thing

B) Louie Louie

C) Gloria

D) Hang On Sloopy

Answer · why

B) Louie Louie

The lyrics were innocuous but nearly unintelligible; the investigation ended with no prosecution and made the record a classic.