“God shared his grapes with me” (“America the Beautiful” mondegreen)
“God shared his grapes with me” is a mondegreen of “God shed his grace on thee,” a line in the patriotic hymn “America the Beautiful.” The misheard lyric has been cited in print since at least 2003.
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”.
Newspapers.com
14 April 2003, Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY), “Web sites can help get lyrics right” by Mark Cooper, pg. 6A, col. 5:
That’s where you’ll find lines like “God shared his grapes with me” instead of “God shed his grace on thee” from the “America, the Beautiful.”
Google Books
Lucky Stars
By Lucy Frank
New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
2005
Pg. 54:
“America, America, God shared his grapes with me….”
Discuss Cooking
Coney Island Chili
buckytom
12-16-2005, 09:49 AM
(...)
“from seaaaaa tooooo shiiiinnniiiiiiing seeeeeeaaaaaaa”
(or my favorite ending “god shares his grapes with theeeeeeeeee)
Twitter
Leah Westmoreland
@Leah_Anais
Angelica! Angelica! God shared his grapes with me!
7:13 PM · Nov 17, 2010·Twitter SMS
Google Books
Mondegreens:
A Book of Mishearings
By J. A. Wines
London, UK: Michael O’Mara Books Limited
2012
Pg. ?:
ORIGINAL LINE:
‘America! America!
God shed His grace on Thee’
MONDEGREEN:
‘America! America!
God shared His grapes with me’
Twitter
Lucas Blinn
@Lerkis_Blern
America America, God shared his grapes with me.
10:43 AM · Jul 11, 2012·Twitter SMS
Twitter
jameciajhorne
@_JameciaJ
America!!! America!!! God shared his grapes with ME
4:04 PM · Oct 1, 2012·Twitter SMS
Twitter
hannah
@hannahsautner
Angelica Angelica god shared his grapes with me
9:36 PM · Feb 12, 2013·Twitter for iPhone
Twitter
Tom
@NowWeAreAllTom
America. America. God shared his grapes with me.
12:55 PM · Jul 4, 2016·Tweetbot for iΟS
Twitter
Sle dasse
@ShannonEdwardsL
Replying to @TheAuthorGuy
America! America! God shared his grapes on me! Uhh
10:27 PM · Feb 7, 2019·Twitter for iPhone