Misheard Song Lyrics (computerised)

As enthusiasts of kissthisguy.com  (* see note below) will know, the task of correctly identifying pop music lyrics is not always 100% straightforward. Here’s one to try . . .

Difficulties arise not only for human listeners, but also for computerised speech-recognition systems. In spite of, or perhaps because of its inherent complexity, there are quite a number of academic papers on the subject, some of which can be read in full online. May we recommend. :

• Rhyme, Rhythm, and Rhubarb. Using Probabilistic Methods to Analyze Hip Hop, Poetry, and Misheard Lyrics

• INTERLINGUAL NEAR HOMOPHONIC WORDS AND PHRASES IN L2 LISTENING: EVIDENCE FROM MISHEARD SONG LYRICS

• SOLVING MISHEARD LYRIC SEARCH QUERIES USING A PROBABILISTIC MODEL OF SPEECH SOUNDS

* Note: The name of the website derives from the lyrics of Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix

– specifically line 4, “Scuse me, while I kiss the sky” – which Jimi himself occasionally amused himself by mis-singing as “Scuse me, while I kiss this guy”