To have it handy

[flemmings]

So here are the lyrics to O Fortuna:
O Fortuna
velut luna
statu variabilis,
semper crescis
aut decrescis;
vita detestabilis
nunc obdurat
et tunc curat
ludo mentis aciem,
egestatem,
potestatem
dissolvit ut glaciem.

Sors immanis
et inanis,
rota tu volubilis,
status malus,
vana salus
semper dissolubilis,
obumbrata
et velata
michi quoque niteris;
nunc per ludum
dorsum nudum
fero tui sceleris.

Sors salutis
et virtutis
michi nunc contraria,
est affectus
et defectus
semper in angaria.
Hac in hora
sine mora
corde pulsum tangite;
quod per sortem
sternit fortem,
mecum omnes plangite!

And here are two instances of misheard lyrics to O Fortuna:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwrgAnx6Q8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scCTty3KDLk

And even with the lyrics in front of me, half the time I still hear the mondegreens. (The other half I think 'Reaching a bit, aren't we?')

Comments

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I had to memorize that one in less than a month for my first Carmina Burana. I took the lyrics everywhere with me, muttering them over and over every chance I got. German Latin pronunciation, natch.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I think it may be the German Latin pronunciation that leads to the mondegreens, because what those choirs do things like crescis and aciem is nothing I learned in either classical or medieval Latin.

[feliciter.livejournal.com]

(going through friends' journals individually to see what I missed)

Thank you for the welcome humour! Some of those mondegreened lines are definitely pushing it, but the "SALSA COOKIES! WINDMILL COOKIES!" will forever replace the relevant lines XD