Popular Song Lyrics – Why Do Get Them Wrong So Often?

One of the funniest morning radio show segments we've done was a few years back when we were recalling all the pop song lyrics we had gotten wrong over the years.

Check out Creedence Clearwater Revival's Have you Ever Seen The Rain for a classic misinterpretation of an entire song!

A couple of example from an on-line site with the Top 40 most misheard lyrics.

“Money for nothin’ and chips for free”. Correct lyric: “Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free” from Dire Straits’ ‘Money For Nothing’.

“We built this city on sausage rolls”. Correct lyric: “We built this city on rock ‘n’ roll” from Starship’s ‘We Built This City’.

“Sweet dreams are made of cheese”. Correct lyric: “Sweet dreams are made of these” from The Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams (are made of this)’.

“Here we are now, in containers”. Correct lyric: “Here we are now, entertain us” from Nirvana’s ‘Smells like teen spirit’.

You get the idea, it's easy to mishear song lyrics, but did you ever wonder why?

With a lot of songs, the music can drown out the lyrics. So the noise that hits our ears has to be decoded to be understood. Science says that if your brain can't initially comprehend a lyric, if offers up an alternative to quickly solve the problem, and that rendition can stick in your head, even once you learn the correct lyrics.

Also, just knowing the wrong version of the lyrics can prime your brain to hear them instead of the correct ones.
They're funny and who couldn't use a laugh on the weekend!

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