I have electric red hair.

Not one bit natural, but then I am not a natural kind of gal.

I’ve been dying my hair since I was 16. Standard issue brown replaced by phases of magenta, platinum, and blue black.

I always come back to red, though.

What does any of this have to do with Mondegreen, you might ask.

Mondegreen, the definition of which is “a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung”, is something that drives me crazy being the lyric centric person that I am.

I had mondegreen all over the place when I was young (and of course before the internets where one can now look up most song lyrics). There was hardly an Abba tune that I got right.

You can hear all sorts of good (scary) mondegreens in the Contrast Podcast Mondegreen Episode here. I actually sing in my intro for that episode.

Now you are probably asking what this all has to do with Nick Cave.

Well, back in my twenties, I had a particularly difficult break up. I left a boyfriend of many years, that I still cared about deeply, to move on. A fellow music nut, he would make me mixtapes in the ensuing weeks that had all manner of “take me back” kind of songs or just songs that he knew would strike a chord with me.

One mixtape contained ‘The Train Song’ by Nick Cave.

My eyes would always brim with tears when Nick Cave sang, sadly, “And did she dye her hair?”

Fast forward to 2012. I asked my piano teacher to arrange ‘The Train Song’ for me. To make it easier, I printed her out the lyric sheet to the song.

“And did she TIE her hair?”

WHAT?????

T-I-E?

T?

An exquisite memory in a beloved song changed forever. I cannot go back. I can never hear ‘Dye’. And that makes me sad.

How about a Happy Salad? A MondeGreen Salad full of herbs that is even more delectable from the sweet figs and the crunch of the walnuts. The Cheese takes it all up to the next level of goodness.

A delicious salad.

Yes, you heard that right.

Mixed Greens And Herb Salad With Figs And Walnuts

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 ounces (2/3 cup) dried Black Mission figs, thinly sliced
8 cups mixed greens
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tablespoons torn mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped dill
2 tablespoons snipped chives
1 ounce fresh pecorino, shaved

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast until golden, about 10 minutes; let cool, then coarsely chop.

2. In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the figs, greens, parsley, mint, dill, chives, pecorino and walnuts and toss gently.

Serves 4 to 6

Recipe from Food & Wine Magazine

What else could we possibly listen to but The Train Song?
Nick Cave-The Train Song

Check out Nick Cave on the band Website and buy the music there.

Cheers!