I think some people here like puns and I wonder if thy think this qualifies:
Obama's Elf

I think it is, agreeing with this comment.

To me it's a mondegreen. Sure, an intentional one, with the visual representation probably necessary for full effect, but a mondegreen nonetheless.

However, I then wikipedia'd pun, only to find a number of definitions and examples which suggest otherwise. So ... [my 2c] To label something a pun, the key word or phrase should have two meanings, one of which is contextually appropriate and the other humerous / insightful. [/my 2c]

Some people like poking themselves in the eye with a sharp stick. If there were some context to hang the phrase "Obama's elf" on I might consider it a pun. Failing that I think it's just a mondegreen.

doc thank you profusely for that as it's not every day I learn such a new and useful term, incidentally:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mondegreen&r=66

I agree with the commenters who think it's a forced whatever-it-is.

Like Faldage says, as a pun, it doesn't have much of a leg to stand on unless Obama puts Orlando Bloom (or some other elf) on his staff (Bush did have a Brownie as FEMA director).

As a mondegreen, you sort of need to mis-hear most of the song, unlike, for example, Purple Haze (kiss the sky/kiss this guy) which isn't about the sky. It's not a requirement but it would help. Like:
Things just don't seem the same, acting funny, kiss this guy.
vs.
Never needed anyone, living alone, nobody's home, Obama's elf.

I never heard that requirement. The term comes from the line "And they laid him on the green" misheard as "And the Lady Mondegreen."

In a related story, I've heard it claimed that Creedence Clearwater Revival would sometimes sing "There's a bathroom on the right" when doing Bad Moon Rising in concert.

Um...

It's easier to believe the mis-hearing is actual rather than contrived if the mis-heard term isn't hinted at, paraphrased, or repeated in a more understandable version at some other point in the song. Even then that doesn't apply to little children. I myself used to sing the Easter hymn "Up from the gravy, a rose" before I learned to read despite whole sermons about arising from graves.

The liner notes on the vinyl copy of The English Beat's "Save It For Later" I used to have change the lyric to "save it fellator" in the part where it's repeated in the fade out at the end of the song. And of course, the Sly and the Family Stone song is actually titled “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"

Ha! How would they have fit that in?

It never corresponds with the music of the first line.
It could correspond with the rhythm of the second line

"I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin.
I see bad times today.

Chorus:
Dont go around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
Theres a bad moon on the rise."

"I see the bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin.
I see bad times today.

Chorus:
Dont go around tonight,
Well, its bound to take your life,
There's a bath room on the right."

And that's just the way it sounds. Doesn't have to make sense; it's not like we listen to the meaning of the songs. This ain't hip-hop.

> it ain't hip-hop.

heh

Speaking of Mondegreens, Me ears are alight

Ah, the sting was in the chorus. It is funny, as are the enlightened ears.

John Fogerty has an interesting style and the way he sings it, the first line sounds to me a lot like:
I see huh badduh oomah eye zing
or perhaps
I see her better rumor I sing

So in the first line, "bad moon" is "badduh oomah" but in the chorus, it's "baaaaa doom" so even if you get one, it's easy to miss the other.

I always kind of liked that song. Lots of doom and threatening things and rivers overflowing but in the end it was completely unclear what it really was about.