Everybody has had that awkward moment in the car when you’re jamming with your friend listening to your favorite song and then BOOM. Someones song lyrics don’t match up. Both of you insist the lyrics you sang were correct. You are not alone.
There has been research investigating the reason behind these continuous misheard lyrics. The researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany suggested, “our expectations and prior knowledge can strongly influence how we perceive things — including song lyrics. It’s a phenomenon called ‘mondegreens,’ and it happens all the time.”
Most of the time, we are just guessing when hearing something for the first time. David Gow, PhD, a clinical instructor in neurology at Harvard Medical School compared mishearing lyrics to attempting to understand someone with an accent. Both are open to how the listener interprets what they are hearing.
Korin Miller’s article “Even Taylor Swift’s Mom Got That ‘Blank Space’ Lyric Wrong — Here’s Why” states, “Gow’s research has determined that our brains tend to go into guessing game mode when we hear something, especially if we didn’t hear it well. For the first two tenths of a second, we just try to make sense of a sound, he explains. Then, we try to guess words. Once we have a guess, it actually affects the way we hear and interpret the sound because we may miss out on other verbal cues.”
Once a mondegreen is experienced, it is inevitable that you’ll hear it again. Next time you run into a case of the mysterious mondegreens, embrace it! After all, research has shown that the listener hears what they most identify with.
Thanks to our summer intern Maria Pizzati for digging up this interesting info! What are some of your best mondegreens?
My sister sings along to the chorus of “Drift Away” with “Gimme the BEACH BOYS and free my soul” (beat boys..haha Candi!)
-Mandi@1063RL
“Diamonds rising up out the dust” is misheard for “Diamonds rising about the dust”
-“Diamonds” Johnnyswim
Johnnyswim addresses the song lyric confusion in their New Music Monday video.
“Got a long list of ex-lovers” is mistaken for “All the lonely Starbucks lovers”
-“Blank Space” Taylor Swift
-https://www.yahoo.com/health/even-taylor-swifts-mom-got-that-blank-119948277022.html
“…scuse me while I kiss the sky” is mistaken for “…scuse me while I kiss this guy”
-“Purple Haze” Jimi Hendrix
