If you’ve ever wondered why Jimi Hendrix needed to be excused to kiss that guy in ‘Purple Haze’ or why Flume sampled a guy banging on about a “hip shaking llama,” then you’re not the only one.
A list of Australia’s most misheard song lyrics – or mondegreens as they’re technically known – has been compiled from a nation-wide survey, showing that some singers’ ambiguous diction has resulted in some fairly common misinterpretations, from lung-belter Adele warbling about “chasing penguins,” to the Eurhythmics’ Annie Lennox crooning about “sweet dreams are made of cheese.”
As the Daily Telegraph reports, popular Swedish-based music service Spotify compiled the list of the most misheard lyrics in Australia, drawing the Top 10 results from a poll of 107 people through social media and surveymonkey.com.au from June 11th and 14th this year.
Crowning the list is veteran British singer-songwriter Elton John, with 19% of people confusing the chorus of ‘Tiny Dancer’ as affection for an 80s TV star, hearing “hold me closer Tony Danza.”
ABBA’s iconic disco classic ‘Dancing Queen’ comes in second as the most misinterpreted song, with 13% hearing the lyric “see that girl/watch that scene/digging the dancing queen” as the altogether more violent “see that girl/watch her scream/kicking the dancing queen.” From lung-belter Adele warbling about “chasing penguins,” to the Eurhythmics’ Annie Lennox crooning about “sweet dreams are made of cheese.”
Confusingly, Jay-Z falls in the Top 5, with 11% of those polled hearing the refrain of “concrete jungle where dreams are made of” – from the rap mogul’s Alicia Keys-featuring hit ‘Empire State Of Mind’ – as “concrete jungle wet dream tomato.” Just as many people mishear Avril Lavigne singing the chorus of ‘Complicated’ as “You promised me I’m never gonna find your bacon,” (or maybe it’s a bizarre insight into the strange wedding rituals of the Canadian pop-punkster and Mr. Avril Lavigne – Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger).
A number of rock classics pop on the list, namely Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ – mixing up “kiss the sky” with “kiss this guy” – and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, with the incorrect line “it doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not.”
Aussies don’t have much luck with more contemporary songs either, with the soul sample of Sydney beatmaker Flume’s ‘Holdin On’ gaining 6% of those surveyed to be “I’m a hip shaking llama” rather than “my hip shaking mama;” a while a similarly simple word substitution affects Aqua’s cheesy Europop hit ‘Barbie Girl’. People thinking that the gruff interjections from chrome-headed singer René Dif are “come on Barbie let’s go potty” instead of “party”.
So if you’re one of those people who’s been singing “she’s got better days aside” to Kim Carnes’ ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ (guilty), then take solace in the full Top 10 list in the slideshow below.
