braw gallant" (Scots, calland) , was most likely composed by one of his supporters. The words "Oh he might have been a king!" should not be taken to imply that he could have become King . More likely, they conveyed the sense that he possessed the required attributes of a king and so could easily have been one. It is from the first verse of "The Bonnie Earl o' Moray" that the term mondegreen, meaning a misheard lyric, came into popular use among folk musicians. Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands, Oh where have you been? They have slain the Earl o' Moray And layd him on the green. When the ballad is sung in Scots, the form is different from the more anglicised version in the Child catalogue. For example, the verses given above are sung with these words: Ye Hielands an ye Lowlands O, whaur hae ye been They hae slain the Earl o' Moray And lain him on the green. Now wae betide thee, Huntly And whaurfor did ye sae? I hae bade ye bring him wi ye But forbade ye him tae slay. A German translation by Johann Gottfried Herder, Murrays Ermordung, published 1778–79, was set to music by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The ballad was also set to music by Hugh S. Roberton and Benjamin Britten. Mondegreen The American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term "mondegreen" in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen," which was published in Harper's Magazine in November 1954. In the essay, Wright described how, as a young girl, she misheard the final two lines of the above verse as "they have slain the Earl o' Moray, and Lady Mondegreen." She said that she always imagined the Earl dying beside his faithful lover "Lady Mondegreen", and refused to hear the real words, because they were less romantic than her misheard version. The term "mondegreen" has since been adopted for any misheard song lyric which changes the meaning of the original. Recordings Versions of the ballad can be heard on Isla St Clair's album Great Songs and Ballads of Scotland and Irish-American singer Robbie O'Connell's album Close to the Bone. It was also recorded by Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor for the album Scottish Choice (1961). Live version recorded by The Corries on their album "Live from Scotland Volume 4" (1977). English composer Benjamin Britten arranged the song for voice and piano sometime