Six song lyrics you're probably still singing wrong!

Image: Reuters

The 2018 BET Music awards are happening this weekend, celebrating music excellence from all over the globe. Some of the acts up for awards include our very own Mufasa , Cassper Nyovest, Omunye hit makers Distruction Boyz as well as actor turned musician Sjava.

However, if you find yourself embarrassed because you keep signing the lyrics to your favourite songs wrong, this phenomenon is called mondegreen which happens when you misinterpret or misunderstand a word or phrase in a song.

So before you start your weekend or sing along to some of your favourite tunes, here are a few songs you might want to start learning all over again.

Boom Shaka - It's About Time

Now here is a song that has caused more nationwide confusion than Zuma's cabinets combined. If you thought Thembi Seete's rap solo went along the lines of, "you got to sneeze the disease with ease" you actually were not too far from the truth. What she actually said was, "you got to cease the needs that disease with ease," and if that doesn't make sense, then you the opening line from the rest of the lyrics on online mag FDBQ, "Oh yeah! This is the time for Boom Shaka, No need to boo me, It can do something for you, 'Casue yeah, Thè [Thembi Seete] is the place and I'm gonna kick the roster, I break it, I kick it, I hit hard, yeah."

This is the official music video of former kwaito/afro-pop group Boom Shaka from South Africa. Boom Shaka dominated the African music scene in the 90s.


T-Pain - Buy You a drank

It was hard to ignore T-Pain's music back in the mid 00s, alongside Lil Wayne the two were dreadlocked and running the auto tune game. Which may have been the problem with this song we got oh so wrong, in the chorus line what sounds like "lemme buy you a drank, ooh wee, Imma take you home with me is actually confused with "lemme buy you a drank, and then, Imma take you home with me." Yup, childhood ruined right there. Don't believe us? Check T-Pain's corrections from his Twitter page above.


DJ Khaled, T Pain, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and Ludacris - All I  Do is Win

While the song is about being a winner all the time, T-Pain stays confusing us with his lyrics. This 2010 hit features an all star rap ensemble and a mondegreen no one saw coming. T-Pain took to Twitter to confirm that his line in the song is not "everybody hands go up...and they stay there, and they stay there," is actually, "everybody hands go up...and they stay there, and they say yeah."

DJ Khaled "All I Do Is Win" feat. Ludacris, Rick Ross, T-Pain & Snoop Dogg / Victory In Stores Now Download the song http://bit.ly/aJwyup


Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule  - I'm Real

Artists often give each other shout outs in their music. Whether its a whispered Darkchild or that electronic voice that reminds you Mike Will Made It it's always nice to give credit to singers, producers or rappers in the beginning of your song. In I'm Real, J Lo starts her first line with what we all thought was "are you early" and oh boy, did we have get it wrong! The actual lyric answers the very obvious question presented by featured artist Ja Rule, "what's my motherf*****ng name?" to which she replies. "R.U.L.E." Even Apple Music got this one wrong.


Zahara - Loliwe

This lyrical confusion still baffles people today. While the song uses the same chorus, verse and shakes it up in the bridge, a number of people weren't sure what Zahara was actually saying about this mysterious train in her song. It's not "Loliwe, loliwe, why did you lie? Loliwe, why did you lie?" it's actually sung in isiXhosa as "Loliwe, loliwe, wayi dudula, loliwe wayi dudula."


Missy Elliot - Work It

Missy Elliot music videos are always a fun trip. Whether they were weird, wacky or just really out there, one thing remained constant - her great music. But sometimes we tend to get a few details wrong. Turns out, part of the chorus for Work It were not a jumbled up mambo jumbo but edited into reverse speech. The verse first goes, "I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it," and she literally does it in the next line, "Ti esrever dna ti nwod gniht ym tup I." if you're still lost, you can read that lyric with a mirror.

Got a bad case of the mondegreens? Share your favourites to see what other people have been hearing.


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