Your host has written about mondegreens before, but today he wants to talk about a slight variant -- an attempt to get people to think they're hearing something different.
A recent Coca-Cola commercial features a guy in a lab coat staring at a can of Coke and a lime. He's got something of an Alfred E. Newman look on his face while trying to figure out what to do with them. These visuals accompany a soundtrack of a reggae song, which sounds to your host's ears like it goes "Put the lime in the coconut, and drink them both together". But on the screen, subtitles claim that the words are "put the lime in the Coke, you nut". So at first SC thought it was a misheard lyric just like the original "Lady Mondegreen" (actually, "laid him on the green").
But after seeing the commercial a few times last night, your host decided that it was absolutely impossible that the words he was hearing could be phonologically parsed as "in the Coke, you nut". No matter how many times he listened, he could only hear "in the coconut". (Read the next two words in the style of Richard Dawson) Google says? It's called Coconut, it's written by a singer named Harry Nilsson, and the line is, in fact, "Put the lime in the coconut". This fan site dedicated to Mr. Nilsson suggests that the lyrics were changed for the commercial. On the other hand, it also indicates that the musical performance is actually by Harry Nilsson, who died in 1994, and could not have rerecorded the song with altered lyrics. Adweek's citation of the commercial also supports the idea that the music is the original, and that only the subtitle introduces the "you nut" material. So it would seem that Coca-Cola's marketing gurus are trying to pull a reverse mondegreen, making you think that you hear something in the song that you probably don't.
You know, I saw that. The song is a Harry Nielsson tune, and the actual line is "You put the lime in the coconut". So some necro-sound guy went and dug up poor Harry and fudged the lyrics to make them fit the campaign, which is probably why it doesn't sound right-- it's being piped through long-dead vocal chords.
Posted by: Infant Tyrone | May 16, 2005 at 11:01 AM
The song used in the commercial is the same as the studio version on Nilsson's Nilsson: Schmillson album (RCA; 1971). It doesn't sound like it's re-recorded at all; our host is correct in his conclusion that the subtitles are present simply to make us think the lyrics are saying one thing, when they, in fact, aren't.
Posted by: Hal | May 16, 2005 at 12:32 PM
That's what a mondegreen IS: misheard lyrics. If they re-recorded the song and actually SAID "Coke, you nut," it wouldn't be a (reverse) mondegreen -- or funny. Um, in my opinion.
Posted by: nbm | May 16, 2005 at 01:01 PM
Imagine how complicated it's all going to be when Coconut Coke is introduced.
Posted by: Matt | May 16, 2005 at 01:20 PM
Matt: too funny. Though I have no authority, I proclaim yours post of the week.
I was blown away the first time I saw this ad. I had no idea what they were getting at until I saw the subtitle (which isn't until near the end... very nice). Awesome work. Before the ad aired, the song had been rolling about in my head and I tried to post about it, but had nothing. These guys nailed it.
I've always been annoyed when adwriters mess with an existing song ("Dr. Pepper, gimme the news, I got a bad case..."). You hear the song begin, think it's the real deal, begin to sing... duped again! So cheap.
Posted by: eric morse | May 17, 2005 at 04:56 AM
Okay, you people are really making me feel OLD! I remember hearing this song on the radio! I even bought the 45! (Oh, that's right - you don't even know what a 45 is!) Harry Nillson wrote some really great pop songs like "Everybody's Talkin'" from the movie "Midnight Cowboy". He was also known for being John Lennon's drinking buddy during his proverbial "lost weekend" that lasted a year or two. Pop culture just changes so rapidly these days. I thought you might like to hear a bit from an old hand (I'm 41, by the way).
Posted by: Chris | May 17, 2005 at 08:49 AM
Okay I am 40 and I want to know if anyone else remembers either 7up or maybe sprite commercial back in the 70's or 80's where they sang this tune?
Posted by: Bailey | June 01, 2005 at 05:43 AM
Well, Fred Neil wrote "Everybody's Talkin'" though Harry N did a great job singing it!
Posted by: johnshade | June 16, 2005 at 01:04 PM
I personally felt that the subtitles were describing what the research scientist was "hearing" - showing the viewer that it was HIM that suffered the Mondegreen. I'm not convinced that Coca-Cola are trying to dup us at all!
Posted by: Peter | November 01, 2005 at 06:39 AM
and isn't it a great song, too ?
Posted by: tristan forward | April 21, 2006 at 09:41 AM
Ahh ... so sad, Harry, Fred and John have ALL passed on ....... only the good die young?
Posted by: NB | August 03, 2006 at 05:34 PM
Here is the link to download the Sprite Commercial Soundtrack - I’m falling away
http://www.sendspace.com/file/hd3hw8
Posted by: Richard Gens | January 02, 2007 at 06:49 PM
Great article!
Posted by: Paul | August 04, 2008 at 06:13 PM
The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride f*cking with you. F*ck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps.
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Posted by: Clint | April 06, 2009 at 09:21 AM