It's Don Knotts!

Some time ago, I posted some of my favourite literal videos. Of course, there are many more delights available at YouTube. Today I would like to draw your attention to some "misheard lyrics" videos. I trust we've all heard of mondegreens? My personal favourite comes from the Deep Purple classic "Smoke on the Water": Slow talkin' Walter, the fire engine guy... About fifteen years ago, a group in Victoria did an entire song based on this mondegreen. It was an enormous improvement over the original lyrics, but I suspect Deep Purple didn't think so (or, more likely, their record company or music publishers). I've searched the internet high and low, to no avail.

However, I can offer you some of my favourite YouTube "misheard lyrics". These, like literal videos, are very, very difficult to do well. The granddaddy of them all (or so I surmise, as she's been heavily and inadequately copied) is Kewen's take on Wish Master by Nightwish. I'd never heard of this song, which isn't to my tastes, but this video is so good-naturedly funny that knowledge of the song or group isn't necessary. I haul this one out on my worse days. It invariably makes me feel better:

Next, a song I know very well, so maybe you won't find this as funny. Here's Wreznor's take on Mott the Hoople's version of David Bowie's All the Dudes:

The last two I first viewed at Rob Saunder's Eine Kleine Nichtmusik. When Rob isn't battling injustice, he's posting loopy videos. This one is a mishearing of O Fortuna from Carmina Burana. I'm rather sorry that my late father-in-law couldn't have seen this. He belonged to the Victoria Choral Society and complained at length about having to sing Carmina Burana every other year. Although, as a rather Edwardian Anglican clergyman, he might have taken issue with some of the references:
And he definitely wouldn't have appreciated this little number, which reeled me in as a regular reader of Rob's blog:However,the Resident Fan Boy, being a Preacher's Kid of the "Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear" variety, enjoyed this immensely.

Hope you enjoy these. If you're having trouble, you could, uh, Google You-Tube...