Running Man

Sometime a few weeks ago I was reading some novel — I'm afraid I don't really remember what it was, but it almost certainly was a modern crime/mystery novel — when one of the characters made a passing reference to Paul McCartney & Wings, and their long-ago hit song "Band on the Run".

"Band on the Run", I thought, "Band on the Run". I wonder how that goes. I'm sure I've heard it before. Oh, my goodness, could it be that song that I've thought for some 30 years or so was called "Man on the Run"? Yep, it could, and it was. Which is a bit of a tragedy, this personal mondegreen, because I think "Man on the Run" sounds rather more intriguing, although that might be because it sort of makes me think of "Psycho Killer" ("Run run run run run run run away" seemed related in my mind to "Man on the Run", at least, with all those "runs," the psycho killer was certainly a man on the run).

It sort of amazes me that I've gone this many years without ever discovering the "real" name of "Man on the Run". Then, as salt in my wounds, I was enjoying luncheon only a few days later when the next track of the dining-room music was — wait for it — "Band on the Run".

Still sounded like "Man on the Run" to me, I thought smugly.

Posted on June 29, 2007 at 23.38 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Old Fartdom, Reflections

4 Responses

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  1. Written by Tim Wilson
    on Sunday, 1 July 2007 at 09.39
    Permalink

    I won't even start trying to list all the mondegreens I've foisted on myself over the years. I'm only here to tag you with this meme. Silly, no?

  2. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Sunday, 1 July 2007 at 17.27
    Permalink

    Amazing; I thought I was the only one. I had the same thing happen with a very popular song in which I misunderstood the word "clouds." I thought for a long time it was "clowns."

    As best I can recall, the first two or three times I heard "Band on the Run," it was on a low-fi, AM car radio. I,too, sort of assumed it was man on the run. Then, I heard it on the stereo receiver, clear and precise as could be, and realized it was "band." So, I can certainly understand how that could happen to you.

  3. Written by chris
    on Sunday, 1 July 2007 at 17.38
    Permalink

    I didn't get that mondegreen, but I'm fairly sure I saw the title of "Band on the Run" in text form at the time it was frequently playing on the wireless, which short-circuited any potential mondegreen.

    I did have a self-imposed mondegreen in the words for "Flashdance / what a feeling". There's a line in there about "take your passion / and make it happen / mumble mumble dancing for your life". What I heard was "take your pants off / and make it happen…", which I think is MUCH more amusing.

    oh yes, and then there's Chapel of Love. "Spring is here / and the sky is strawberry blue". sigh.

  4. Written by chris
    on Tuesday, 10 July 2007 at 06.48
    Permalink

    speaking of mondegreens:

    there is apparently a gameshow hatching featuring same —
    http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Television/article/234105

    though how they can report on this, giving examples no less, and never once mentioning the name of the late, lamented Lady Mondegreen, is beyond me. Philistine

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