Christmas Songs: 11 misheard Christmas lyrics named - and what the songs actually say

Despite the countless times we’ve heard Christmas staples over the years, their lyrics still manage to leave room for the occasional mondegreen.

A mondegreen, you may ask? It's a misheard or misinterpreted lyric that gives a song a whole new, often humorous, meaning. The term was coined by American writer Sylvia Wright in a 1954 essay for Harper's Magazine. She described how, as a child, she misheard a line from the Scottish ballad 'The Bonny Earl of Murray.'

The actual lyric was 'They hae slain the Earl o' Moray, and laid him on the green,' but Wright misheard it as 'They hae slain the Earl o' Moray, and Lady Mondegreen.'

This misunderstanding gave birth to the term, which has since been used to describe any amusing or puzzling misinterpretation of song lyrics or phrases.

While Peter Kay may have brought the idea to the stage with his stand up routine, we’ve decided to have a dig around the internet to find 11 Christmas songs with lyrics that have been misheard.

Were you confused though by any of the lyrics on our list, or have you your own mondegreen you’d like to share?