A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from April 12, 2022
“And crown thy good with Robin Hood” (“America the Beautiful” mondegreen)

“And crown thy good with Robin Hood” is a mondegreen of “And crown thy good with brotherhood,” a line in the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful.” The misheard lyric has been cited in print since at least 1949.
 
“And crown thy good Red Riding Hood” is a similar mondegreen.
     
       
Wikipedia: America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful” is a patriotic American song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey.
 
Wikipedia: Mondegreen
A mondegreen /ˈmɒndɪɡriːn/ is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense. American writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in 1954, writing that as a girl, when her mother read to her from Thomas Percy’s 1765 book Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, she had misheard the lyric “layd him on the green” as “Lady Mondegreen” in the fourth line of the Scottish ballad “The Bonny Earl of Murray”.
       
Google Books       
Today’s Education
Volume 38
1949
Pg. 477:
Third-grade pupils of Emma Lou Wades of Vincennes, Ind., contributed this thought while they were singing “America”: “And crown thy good with Robin Hood.”
   
Newspapers.com
9 October 1960, Ponca City (OK) news, “Nearly News,” pg. 1, col. 1:
With all the enthusiasm a six-year-old can muster, she sang, “and crown they good with Robin Hood, from sea to shining sea.”
 
Newspapers.com
13 November 1962, Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR), “NWA Has Many ‘Dennis the Menaces,” TIMES Contest Reveals,” pg. 3, col. 1:
Little Chris Venema, age 5, is most like “Dennis,” says his mother, because of the cute things he says and does. For example, he proudly sings America, the Beautiful, “...and crown they good with Robin Hood….”
 
Newspapers.com
6 August 1967, Nashville (TN) Tennessean, “It Happened Hereabouts” by Murff, magazine sec., pg. 16, col. 2:
MY YOUNGSTER came home from kindergarten and said he was going to sing AMERICA for me.  He proceeded, “.....and crown they good with Robin Hood…..”
Mrs. James Lynch, 606 Freedom Court
 
Twitter
Matt Elggren
@MattElggren
@jakematic yeah, and we used to sing “America the Beautiful”. I thought it went: “and crown thy good with Robin Hood…”—srsly cool
9:57 AM · Feb 20, 2009·Twitter Web Client
   
Twitter
Ken Smith
@KSmith2040
A kid I grew up with would sing “and crown thy good with robin hood” too funny 😊
10:25 AM · Nov 21, 2009·Twitter SMS
   
Twitter
J.S. Larochelle
@quotemeal
Misheard Lyrics: And crown Thy good with Robin Hood | Who died beneath a tree.
8:18 AM · Jan 22, 2010·Twitter Web Client
 
Google Books
Mondegreens:
A Book of Mishearings

By J. A. Wines
London, UK: Michael O’Mara Books Limited
2012
Pg. ?:
ORIGINAL LINE:
‘And crown Thy good with brotherhood’
MONDEGREENS:
‘And crown Thy good Red Riding Hood’
‘And crown Thy good with Robin Hood’
     
Twitter
Adri
@AMommyB
Replying to @jimmyfallon
@jimmyfallon my 2yr old sis “and crown thy good with Robin Hood from sea to shining sea”#MisheardLyrics
7:54 PM · May 24, 2015·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Jacey
@BlueHills50
Replying to @RayNothstine
When I was little I thought America the Beautiful went “And crown Thy good with Robin Hood…”
8:59 PM · May 16, 2020·Twitter Web App
 
Editor’s Corner
Editor’s Corner: Special Edition
Posted by: episystechpubs July 2, 2021
(...)
From America the Beautiful, we have these:
 
And crown Thy good, with brotherhood
And crown Thy good Red Riding Hood
And crown Thy good with Robin Hood
From sea to shining sea
From sea to Chinese sea

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityMusic/Dance/Theatre/Film/Circus • Tuesday, April 12, 2022 • Permalink


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