Ah! Something after our own hearts!
We have heard, read about, and researched many of the songs and lyrics mentioned in this “The Most Commonly Misunderstood Lyrics in Music” infographic. Perhaps the most prevalent, well known and talked about are those of Jimi Hendrix, Bon Jovi, and The Beatles. We are certain that there are many more classic songs, but we cannot recall them off the top of our head right now.
However, we cherish “Benny Lava”. This was the “creation” of a Westerner (who goes by the sobriquet of Buffalax) who was attempting to listen to a Tamil film song. The truly funny thing is that the “lyrics” are exactly what the Tamil words appear to be. Of course, the scientific explanation is that it is the brain’s attempt to make sense of what we are hearing, or receiving through our senses. Even more famous examples of this are the appearances of figures in clouds, and of the face on Mars. Nevertheless, the YouTube video is very funny, and it has generated at least six million views (and probably far, far more but Buffalax may have taken down the original video).
It is also somewhat sad. For those of you who may not know the intricacies of the song, it is a song and dance routine taken from a Tamil film which starred Prabhudeva. Prabhudeva is one of the world’s foremost dancers and choreographers, and is known as the Indian Michael Jackson (for his skills in dancing, not in singing). Yet, to millions of people, he is simply Benny Lava.
Likes: This inspires us to do more research on those classic mondegreens.
Dislikes: It would have been better if the author of the infographic had done more research and included more of those classic mondegreens which we are certain to exist.
The lyrics to songs are not always the easiest to understand, and people are constantly embarrassing themselves at the karaoke bar by singing the weirdest lyrics imagined. The reason for the confusion is because of mondegreens. A mondegreen is a misinterpretation of a phrase due to homophony. Here is a complete list of the top mondegreens in music history created with DirectLyrics.
